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Username: Stumpy STMP
Name; Kerik
Gender: Stallion
Halter Colour: preset
(all art by me)
Personality: Kerik is a gentle and loving soul never doing anything to harm anyone unless he deems it 100% necessary. When he was a foal he was more shy and nervous but while growing up he learned to never show that side of himself burying it deep within and drawing strength from his ability to face any fears he may be presented with.
His Backstory:
The white flakes are once again started tickling my nose as I move to greet the elderly two-leg who was coming to feed me a treat. He was my person, having always been there my entire life as a foal he took care of my mother, then when she left he was still there. He is slowly lurching towards me now, it saddens me to see he has gone lame in one of his legs. He used to do more yard work and take care of his place but he hasn't been doing so well. He winces when mounting and riding so I try to go easy but there are days that I forget. While I think of all the old days were we would go out to ride on the pasture, he starts hobbling over to where some rocks formed a natural mounting block. I look at him and sigh watching the puff of warm air disperse in the chilly breeze. He wants to go for a ride now? Even I can feel a storm is coming but I will oblige he has never led me astray before. Sauntering up next to him I stand still as his familiar hands press into my back and he slowly shifts his weight so he is leaning onto me. I feel his booted foot bump my side a few times as he tries to get it up high enough to slide into a seated position. There it goes, now he is mounted and gives me the signal to move forward so I head off towards the endless white.
It has been a long time now of just walking straight and I don't understand where we are going or what he mutters to himself between shivers. The wind has picked up throwing the snowy fields into chaos and lashing at us with the falling flakes. I think we should head back but he urges me on. As we are going I am starting to recognise this way but I am confused even more now. Why would we need to go there? Where monsters roar and the other horses jingle and flash like wind chimes? I flick my ears around in interest and confusion as he takes me through the secret trail he had made that leads off the reservation. As the storm picks up he has me stop at a little outcropping of rock between the trees and I wait while he dismounts. Now he is sleeping next to a fire while I stand guard in the wiping winds, there isn't much to do so I think back on some of our best memories...
~~~
I am a colt at this time and just learning to stand still while he covers me with the colourful blankets and applies paints. I am shifting restlessly while he rubs this stuff onto my legs and hips. I don't like it but I am alright with it at this point. He does wince a few times when I jerk once in a while and hit an old bruise from our other attempts at putting paint on my legs. I don't like him touching my legs but I'll tolerate it more now. I swivel my ears around as he grunts his approval after finishing the final leg, then I look beneath me to see it better myself. He laughs at me and I snort in return before observing him closely while he walks to my head carrying the bowl. I am eyeing him with concern at this point as he mutters stuff and swirls some fingers in the substance that he has been marking me with. He has this look about him that makes me nervous like he knows I won't like this part. I can see it in his eyes he is amused and apprehensive. I soon learn why as he lifts his hand up to touch the paint to my face, reaching to touch my nose with it. The second it touches me I flinch and jerk my head to the side which only gives me a jagged line of the cool stuff across my muzzle. So I squeal and run off a few steps to get away from it, when the paint stays on, I do the next best thing and bend my head to rub it off. I hear him sigh and grumble at me while I smear more paint onto my head and in my mane since the stuff on my legs hadn't dried yet either. I remember the embarrassment of being led to were he could wash it all off, and the other horses with their paint watching me curiously and with snorts of laughter...
~~~
Now I am older and going on my first ride with the group or warriors. I now bore my paint proudly but for some reason, my human was the only one who didn't like to put any paint around my nostrils, not since that first day. I prance about proudly nonetheless, and am eager to get in the front though I keep getting held back. It isn't a race and since this is my first time out I have to be kept in check so I don't interfere with the experienced teams. This was just for experience nothing more so we rode around fairly well. At one point the spirited little horse in front of me bucked and caught a hoof on my leg, so I started limping a bit. At first I kept going but my rider pulled me up to check it. I wasn't injured enough to worry but he decided to turn around and walk me back to a stream so he could see through the mud on my legs better. It was when we had separated from the group, a man on foot leading an injured horse that a cougar came upon us. It came after me but I wanted to protect my human, and so I ignored the biting teeth and shredding claws. The worst ones were on my neck and hind leg, which have the red paint to highlight my scars. The neck wound was when the cat slid over my shoulder but tried to keep a hold of my neck with the claws. My constant bucking knocked it loose luckily so I tried to run it down. It slid through my hooves and came up behind me where it kept swiping at my legs. Only a few of those cuts marked the fight later but I guarantee you they all hurt. The other riders an hear the commotion and soon I have help to drive the cat away. Even injured I make sure I am in the front and I've called my challenge to the beast before turning back to my human. Now the walk home is proving even worse with being lame in one leg and scratched and bloodied.
~~~
Today is the day he has decided to take me somewhere secret as he sneaks out of camp and mounts me in the dead of night. He urges me into a trot before pushing me for a gallop, which I happily oblige. With my focus on the wind wiping my mane and the pounding feeling of my hooves striking the ground I almost miss it when he pulls me up and I am being turned towards the tree line. Now I am cautious, he has never taken me here before and I have never seen others go this way either. I continue though despite my swiveling ears and tentative sniffs of some new smells. As we pass a rocky area he mutters something to himself but keeps me moving forward. When we come out of the forest I am surprised to see a fence and someone new riding a horse. Though I am not sure it is a horse, there is something covering it and sparkling in the moonlight, plus when it moves to call a greeting a tinkling sound follows. My ears are fully forward but I do as my rider has asked, moving forward to stand at the edge of the fence. He says something to the other person and they approach to stand at the other side of the fence. I see my rider reach out and take the hand of what I now realize is a female two-leg, she is smiling and his voice takes on a tone I hadn't heard before. However, I am quickly drawn back to the other horse standing in front of me. I stretch my nose out nervously and our muzzle touch tentatively. I can tell she is a mare but before we can investigate each other further our riders move us forward until we come to a gate. The female reaches down and opens it, while my person pushes me to walk through and join them on their side. He closes the gate behind us and eagerly leans towards the woman so their faces touch at the mouth, I have seen others do this and have decided it must mean affection. They both turn us towards the large flat ground and urge us to run, we oblige happily. Yet to be known to me then, this will be something we'll start doing almost every night.
~~~
I start out of my thoughts as a hand falls on my shoulder, he is ready to go again and I approach the rocks so he may mount up. We continue on our path towards the meeting place but the others are not there. We go through the gate and soon find them waiting by one of the loud monsters that only move on the flat expanses of what looks like rock to me, sometimes gravel. He gets off of my back and comes to my head. He pats me a few times with kind words then hands my rope to his offspring another young man who was waiting patiently sitting on the mare. Only now do I realize that my two-leg has a bag with all his belongings and I whinny to him while he gets in the car to join his mate. There is a final goodbye gesture and they go away, I'll only see him a few times more after this point.
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