[gr3ystones]

Username: Fire-of-Shadows
Name: Mirrah
Gender: Mare
Colour: Chestnut tovero
Eye Colour: Lush meadows
Genotype: ee/AA/Toto/Oo

[Fire-of-Shadows]

I wish to claim this horse!
Username: Fire-of-Shadows
Name: Mirrah

[Fire-of-Shadows]

Training one - Name
Amy runs her hand over the slick, cold bars of the corral. She flinches when she feels a dent on one of them, in part because the metal jutted out on one side. Quickly grasping a tissue in her pocket, Amy switches her gaze from the bars to the horse they contained.

Though the corral is only large enough for a standard Mustang, it looks like an oversized set piece with Amy's latest acquisition in it. Standing almost perfectly diagonal to Amy, caked in so many layers of mud that one would think that it was icing greedily applied on a cake by a child, was a mustang mare. At only 15 hands, most other folks at the rescue had passed her up for taller steeds.
Amy had waited almost the entire event for someone else to claim her, but as the herd had gotten smaller, the short mare had never left the arena. Amy wasted no time in claiming the horse as her own. Unfortunately, her assumption that nobody wanted the mare was disproved when she saw someone else try to claim the mare right after her. If claiming hadn't been strictly first-come first-serve, Amy would've happily ceded the mare to the poor soul. Alas, that hadn't been the case, so Amy made sure that the person would get first dibs on the mare when she put it up for sale later.

Snapping back from that little reminisce, Amy checks her finger before slipping the tissue away. She watches as the mud-caked mare trots along the corral fence counter-clockwise, cutting across the arena just before reaching the toes of her pink-dyed boots. Amy smirks as she adjusts the brim of her equally pink ten-gallon hat to block out the morning sun. This mare, with its confident yet small step, seems more like a mirage than a small horse. A name lingers in Amy's mind, playing with a few words before something clicks.

Amy softly says the name out loud, "Mirrah."

A momentary slack in the mare's pacing, an ear flicking towards the pink-clad cowgirl. Amy reaches down to the ground and picks some grass, then offers it to the mare.

"Mirrah!" Amy says louder.

The mare halts, glancing over her back as if searching for whoever had spoken. After some hesitation, she cautiously approaches Amy, who then drops the grass into the corral.

Just to be sure, Amy calls her name a third time,
"Mirrah!"

Mirrah looks up, leaning an ear towards her.
3/22/2019:
Finally got the untamed mare today. Quite muddy for a wild horse, I wonder where they caught those horses from? She passed a basic visual evaluation, but I am not in the clear yet. Still ought to have my vet take a look at her before the month is up. First, I want that mud off of her.
Had little trouble finding a name for the mare. Mirrah. She learned her name unusually quick for a Mustang. If she trains as well as she responded today, I could have her saddle-broke by the end of the month. This might turn out to be a worthy investment.

Training two - Space
Normally, it is a bad idea to try to work with a horse in the middle of the day. All of the horses are cranky, there's a sun beating down mercilessly on everyone's skin, and everyone reserves that time for lunch. However, with a schedule as busy as hers, Amy learned a long time ago that sometimes you had to sacrifice breaks to keep up a training schedule. Today is one of those days.
Amy's stepfather had fallen ill recently, so she had to plan a sudden out-of-state trip. She had just arranged for a good friend of hers to take care of her horses while she was away. Unfortunately, this meant that Amy had to skip ahead in her normal training regiment to address the crucial issue of space. She had squeezed in some time the day prior to work with Mirrah on it, but she wanted to be nothing less than sure that the concept would stick.

So, before Amy opens the gate to Mirrah's corral, she checks to make sure that Mirrah is far away from it. As she had been the past few days, Mirrah is right there in front of the gate. Amy moves her arm up to left in a short sweeping motion. Mirrah points her ears at her. Amy repeats the motion. This time, Mirrah takes a step back.

"Good, good, keep going," Amy calmly praises her. Mirrah takes another step back, then pauses. Again, Amy makes the back up gesture. This time, Mirrah takes seven steps away from the gate. With another praise, Amy opens the gate and walks through it. Before she can close it, however, a black horse bolts through the opening. It slides to a stop in front of Mirrah, wind pushing its forelock aside to reveal a star as dust visibly collects on its two socks. Amy sharply inhales and barks, "Harlequin!" He snorts with his gaze still on Mirrah, his tail constantly smacking at nonexistent flies. Mirrah returns the snort as she pins her ears. Harlequin steps closer to her, making her back away from him and Amy by extent.

Amy, meanwhile, carefully circles around the two horses until she knows that she is in both horses' line of sight. She barks at the black stallion again, "Harlequin! Out!" His only response is to step closer to Mirrah again. This time, Mirrah trots off to the left. Harlequin catches up to her quickly, nipping her shoulder to make her halt before making her back away from Amy again.
Finally controlling her thoughts, Amy whistles for Harlequin. This time, he snorts at Mirrah before obediently trotting up to Amy, who immediately grabs his blue halter. She quickly trots him out of the corral and closes the gate, scolding him for not listening to her. After putting Harlequin in a pasture and assuring herself that the gate is indeed adequately locked, Amy returns to Mirrah's corral. She looks over Mirrah from the other side of the fence.

Mirrah stops her pacing and backs up from the gate, pinning her ears again. Amy sighs. After watching Mirrah for a few more minutes just to confirm that she is alright, Amy walks away from the corral. So much for a thorough training.
3/24/2019:
Tried to train Mirrah to avoid crowding humans. Harlequin got out while I was working with her. Wouldn't have noticed if he hadn't run right in front of us. Thankfully, I stopped him before things could escalate. That's what I get for using my repair funds to buy a horse. Must note to move him into the empty pasture until I get back. Also note to save socialization for another month.

Training three - Touch
Amy sets down a gray bucket in front of the corral gate. Mirrah gazes up at her as she shifts her weight and sets her outside hind hoof back on the ground. Once Amy closes the gate again, Mirrah trots up to her while nickering in anticipation. Before Amy can put the bucket on the ground, Mirrah sticks her muzzle into Amy's chaps' pocket. Out of habit, Amy pushes the mud-caked mare away from her.

"No," she says firmly. Mirrah raises her head up, backing away while flicking her ears a few times. She does not move again until Amy exits the corral. Pushing the brim of her hat up, Amy looks over her shoulder at her. Mirrah is gazing at the gray bucket, occasionally lowering her head towards it in small movements. Amy grimaces as she walks away, realizing what had just happened.

She returns later to collect the gray bucket. When she exits the corral, however, Amy only places the bucket next to the gate. She re-enters, making kissing sounds to recapture Mirrah's attention. Only a small moment of hesitation passes before Mirrah eagerly trots up to Amy. She halts in front of Amy, who raises an eyebrow. Instead of sending Mirrah away with a gesture as the mare expected, Amy slides down from the fence. She reaches into her pocket and takes out a mint, unwrapping it. Mirrah nickers immediately, reaching out to meet Amy's palm. Amy holds her empty hand out, palm facing down. Mirrah, of course, touches her hand in the desperate search for the mint. Once Mirrah realizes that there is no mint, Amy lets Mirrah eat the mint. As she does that, Amy reaches up to Mirrah's neck and rests her hand on it. Mirrah shies away from Amy and trots around the corral. When Mirrah is done with that, Amy approaches her and again distracts her with a mint. This time, Amy manages to give Mirrah a gentle pat before she shies away. This routine she repeats a few more times until she successfully is able to rest her hand on Mirrah without her scurrying away.
"Good girl, Mirrah," Amy praises in her calm, even tone, "I don't hurt you. You're alright in here." With that, Amy decides to walk away and leave Mirrah alone before she reverses the progress.
3/30/2019:
Mirrah seemed to be shaken up after Harlequin broke into her corral, so I left her alone when I came home yesterday. Today, when I brought her food, Mirrah attempted to steal a mint from my pocket. I pushed her away by accident. Didn't know how to react, poor thing. I came back after feeding time and worked with her on handling.

Training four - New Objects
Amy sits on the corral fence, watching as Mirrah looks up from her feed bucket with newfound interest. Resting beside Amy are a simple brown western bridle, a brown western saddle with peeling leather, and a dusty white saddle pad. Leaning against the fence on the other side of the fence under the saddle was a pink umbrella. A green water hose lay nearby them, partially uncurled. All equally unfamiliar to Mustangs like Mirrah.

At first, Mirrah does not notice them. Rather, she trots up to Amy and looks at her, before turning back to the feed bucket. However, she soon catches the scent of the leather saddle. She looks back, spotting the tack. Amy makes kissing sounds at her. Mirrah walks back to Amy, though she still keeps the tack within her sight. Amy briefly pets Mirrah before placing her hand on the saddle, which was closest to her. Mirrah follows her hand, then reaches out to touch it with her muzzle. Amy quickly pulls her hand out of the way and gives Mirrah a treat from her pocket. She places her hand on the saddle pad, which Mirrah immediately sniffs. Another treat for Mirrah. Amy slides down to the ground and walks to the bridle, then she taps it with her hand. Mirrah stares at Amy. She taps the bridle again. Mirrah shakes her head, then proceeds to rub her face on the bridle. Amy chuckles, giving Mirrah a treat before patting the saddle. In this manner, she had Mirrah sniff each individual tack piece at least four more times.

Next, Amy pulls the umbrella through the corral bars. She waits patiently as Mirrah circles around the corral, before hesitantly sniffing the umbrella from behind. With a quick gesture to send Mirrah away, Amy peels the Velcro strap off the umbrella and places her hand on the bottom spring. Once Mirrah halts in the middle of the corral, Amy throws the umbrella open. Mirrah sidesteps out of its way, but she just as quickly turns around and walks up to the umbrella, touching it with her muzzle before looking at Amy expectantly. Promptly treated, Mirrah trots back to the middle of the corral. Amy closes and opens the umbrella twice more. Neither time did Mirrah do anything but touch it with her nose and wait impatiently for her treat. Confident about her training session, Amy soon returns the umbrella to its spot and picks up the water hose.
Unfortunately, Mirrah watches Amy do this and confuses the water hose for a snake. She whips around and bolts to the other side of the corral. Amy raises her eyebrows at this, but she decides not to enter the corral and leaves the hose nearby instead. She puts up the tack and the umbrella, then goes into her house without putting the hose away.
4/1/2019:
Made some progress with Mirrah. Introduced a few spooky objects to her. She handled umbrellas and tack exceptionally well. Not too fond of the water hose, though. Just my luck. Gonna work with her until she accepts it; that poor horse desperately needs a bath.

Bath Time.
4/12/2019:
I finally broke Mirrah's water hose fear. About time. The poor girl's been caked in mud for long enough. I'm pretty sure anyone watching me would believe I was heading to a show today. Isn't that a good joke? They can keep their fancy show parade away from my premises. Right now, this mare's getting a bath. Let the rain begin.

Amy sets the worn-down brown pocket notebook on a barrel behind the faucet. Mirrah begins to paw the ground, swishing her tail impatiently. She stands tied to a hitching post, wearing an old red halter that had clearly suffered plenty of water damage.

With a quick "ah-ah!" to stop Mirrah's pawing, Amy walks over to the faucet. She turns it on and watches as water slowly flows out of the hose. Amy picks it up and begins to approach Mirrah, but she stops. She sets the hose on the ground before dashing into her house. A few minutes later, Amy walks out holding a digital camera. She had promised to send before and after pictures to her family when she finally got the chance to wash Mirrah. She lets Mirrah sniff the camera. Then, after taking a short moment to frame the shot, Amy takes a photo of her. Then she places the camera on top of the notebook and picks up the water hose.

She lets Mirrah inspect the water hose as water runs through it. Mirrah rubs her face against the hose, the water removing some of the mud as she did so. Amy bites her tongue in a failed attempt to contain her laughter. Mirrah turns her attention to Amy, giving her a concerned look. After struggling through her laughing fit, Amy pats Mirrah while adjusting her grip on the hose. Finally, Amy begins Mirrah's bath.

[gr3ystones]

Great work- you got a chestnut tovero! <3