Prompt 1
192 words
I came to the carnival later in the day, after noon for sure. I’d been having a fun time with all the games, but what I was looking for was to catch a glimpse of one of the wild horses nearby. Just after I’d finished losing at ring toss, I began wandering the carnival. Not long after, I found my way over near the dunk tank, where I saw several people missing the target. I was intrigued and began to head over, but suddenly I saw a flash of brown behind the dunk tank booth. I stopped in my tracks and began approaching, when I heard some scuffling too! I quickened my pace and came around the back of the stall, when I found myself nose to nose with this wild horse! We were both quite surprised, but she was astonishingly calm for me having sprung out in front of her. She even let me reach out and pet her nose, leaning into my hand. It’s safe to say that this stunning Dunskin Sabino was acting as if she’d known me her whole life, and I wasn’t planning to change her mind.
Prompt 2
423 words
I knew from the earlier announcement that the wild horses found here were quite tame, and that thanks to the disturbance they’s been causing, the carnival had requested them to be removed. I wasn’t against removing her, but she didn’t seem to want to move. I then remembered that I still had an apple in my pocket that I’d brought for my horse, Umbra! It might not work, but it was surely worth a shot. I pulled out the apple and it immediately caught her attention. I began backing away, holding the apple in front of me, and she started following! I bit my lip to keep from making any sort of sound, and together we slowly made our way over to where I’d parked Umbra. Once we’d gotten close, I let her catch up to me and gently take the apple from my hand. I wasn’t sure how she’d react to having a halter on, but I figured that it was the only way to keep her from running off and causing trouble again. With that in mind, I pulled out Umbra’s spare halter from his saddle bag and held it out to her, letting her sniff it.
I wanted her to be as comfortable as possible with the halter before I tried to put it on her, since I really couldn’t afford to spook her since I’d run out of apples. She seemed perfectly okay around the halter, and I had a sense that said I would be able to safely get it on her. I carefully brought the halter up to her head and put it on gently and slowly. She held still for me the entire time, and she was perfectly fine even once I attached my spare lead rope to it. It was the leading part that would be hard, I soon found out. As I tried to gently tug the rope to encourage her to move, she was completely steadfast. Nothing I tried would convince her to move no matter what I did. At this point i was ready to give up, and Umbra was getting antsy without any food. As a last-ditch attempt, I pulled out the small feed bag of grain that I’d brought for Umbra, and I offered her a hand full of it. That got her attention, and when she moved to follow the grain I tugged the lead with her, encouraging her to keep moving. Finally, I was able to coax her into moving, and I gently led her and Umbra home.
Prompt 3
621 words
As I rode Umbra home, leading my newest horse in tow, I began to wonder what I’d name her. It was hard to tell what her pattern was, mainly due to the pure amount of mud caked onto her. I decided to wait until she was clean and her colors were really visible before I named her. I love naming my horses after their colors anyways. After what felt like an incredibly long ride, we finally managed to make it back to my stables, where I dismount and put away Umbra before I deal with my muddy statue of a horse. I went back to where I’d tied my carnival horse, and found her still standing there, just calmly waiting for me to return. I led her into the crossties, this time not needing any additional motivation to convince her to come. She was wary at first when I brought out the curry comb, but quickly relaxed when she realized that I was just trying to help by removing the dry and caky mud. It took me quite a lot longer than I thought it would, and once I finally finished with the curry comb I put it away and retrieved the hard brush.
I then started using the hard brush to loosen and remove the remaining mud from her fur. However, once I had finished with the hard brush and the soft brush, she still had mud in her mane. I didn’t want to spook her by using a hose, so instead I took an old rag and soaked it in water. Then, I gently ran the rag down the muddiest parts of her mane, carefully paying close attention to her mood. Whenever she got uneasy, I would head around to her face and do my best to calm her, even offering her some apple slices at times. Eventually, I finally managed to get her entirely clean, and by this point I could tell that she was done with being handled. I decided to find her a stall and call it a day, we’d get saddle trained and fitted soon enough, but her comfort was a first priority.
…
After several months of saddle training and several saddle fittings, it was finally time to ride Carla. I’d decided on the nickname mainly because I found her at the carnival! Although she had seemed quite calm when I met her, she had proved to be skittish and jumpy around everyone else. It took quite a bit of behavoiur training before she was comfortable around the stable hands, but I was the only one who could saddle her. As I mounted her for the first time, I felt her tense underneath me. I could tell that she didn’t fully trust me, and I half expected her to just bolt the moment that I sat up. However, Carla was still full of surprises and stayed completely still while I adjusted myself. She has now surprised me in many way, so many times I’ve lost track. I think the most memorable time was probably discovering her stripes, which I’d never seen the likes of on a horse before.
I shook off my thoughts and gently urged her forward, surprised to see how well she listened! I was still thinking about that when she suddenly broke into a trot, and then a canter. I tried to slow her gently, but she wasn’t having it. Then, Carla reared, and I almost went crashing to the ground. Finally, she slowed to a walk again, and I was able to breathe. Carla was definitely one of the much more unpredictable horses that I’ve owned, but I could get used to it. After all, what’s a horse without personality?
Total word Count:1236
