[sprig]

Username: Lyrebird
Name: Malibu Classic / "Rum"
Gender: Mare
Eye Color: Blue
Dam:
Sire:

1. First encounter - Complete!
2. Adjusting to the new home - Complete!
3. Introduction of the halter - Complete!
4. Meeting a friend
5. Gaining your horse's trust
6. First time with saddle
7. Ground work
8. First ride
9. Free spot

[chaton,]

ahh she's gorgeous thank you!
name: Malibu Classic / "Rum"
gender: mare

and if i'm not mistaken we need to write/draw everything on the list in the event post? like first meeting, ground work, ect.?

[chaton,]

xxxxxxxxx

xx

tolter number | 2717
show name | Malibu Classic
barn name | Rum
age | Three
gender | Mare

sexuality | Bisexual, preference towards mares
mate | None and open

discipline | Unknown
liniage | Unknown
artist | vintage rose

Did you really think this mare would be anything other than wild? She's not skittish by any means of the word, rather... she takes joy in causing problems for others. She's a rebel, a prankster of the worst type. It's not certain people or horses, either. It's everyone. You can be sure that if she sees you, here comes trouble.



ｉｆ  ｙｏｕ＇ｒｅ  ｌｏｏｋｉｎｇ  ｆｏｒ  ｔｒｏｕｂｌｅ，  ｙｏｕ＇ｖｅ  ｈｉｔ  ｔｈｅ 
ｊａｃｋｐｏｔ


- Troublemaker - Olly Murs
- Dangerous - Before You Exit

[chaton,]

It was a typical tuesday morning for Songbird Acres; stable hands and horses alike finishing breakfast before readying for the day's events. Today was a lazy day, you could say. There were no shows, and most of the horses were just being taken out for a trail ride or children's lessons. Me? Well I was taking one of the younger mares, Etch, out to stretch her legs after she'd been cooped up with her new foal.

Etch and I stayed with the other riders most of the way, though Etch was reluctant to get too close to any of them but her mother, Tex. Around the mile mark, when the others began to turn back, we kept going. The trail led off on a cliff overlooking the ocean and a beach populated by tourists. We never were able to get there, though.

A few yards from the cliff's edge, Etch began to act strange, stopping every few steps with her ears perked and chewing on the bit as if nervous. I tapped her sides with my heels, asking her to walk on out loud as well, but she refused to budge. Instead, she let out a nicker, and from the forest on our side, there was an answering one.

Now, my first thought was one of the other horses had gotten loose this morning when the hands opened the gates but... they would've alerted me immediately if that had happened. I ruled out a wild horse; there was just no way. But as we stood there and waited for the clopping hooves to come closer, I realized the shaggy off-white horse was indeed, wild. Well... of-white was an exaggeration. The mare was more like brown, though I could tell it was mostly dirt or scabs.

Now, this mare, this wild horse, did something I've never seen before. As Etch and I stood there, she just walked right on up and started to sniff at Etch, the saddle, my clothes, then gave me the most expectant look I've ever seen.

I always kept an extra rope halter and small lead on my saddle in case one of the horses had gotten loose, and now as I slipped the halter on the mare she seemed to be trying to help me. That was, until the halter and lead was successfully on. Once the knots were tied, the mare took off, almost pulling me with her. If Etch hadn't run with her we would've had an enormous problem. But as it were, Etch was able to keep up with the mare easily, and even helped with steering her down the trail back to the pasture, which both horses jumped the fence of easily.

Once in the pasture, the mare calmed down immediately, or at least she seemed to. Taking no chances, I switched to a larger lead rope and tied her up to one of the posts of the rain shelter. All the other horses, now back from their rides and lessons, approached her and were immediately scared off. The only one that stayed? Etch.

I made plans for the following day; naming, bathing, and getting a real halter on her. My grooms were terrified of her, and I realized I'd have to do it all myself. But... strangely that didn't bother me as much as it should.

word count: 555 words / 2908 characters

[chaton,]

The next morning, I went out to check on the mare. She continued to blow my mind; during the night, she'd chewed the rope tying her to the shelter apart, and was stood at the window to Etch's stall, and Etch was feeding her hay through the bars. Not only had I ever heard of a wild horse tame enough to stay inside a pasture with low fences, but she was also making friends with Etch, which was a rather big deal seeing as Etch hated all the other horses.

Unfortunately, Etch had a show today, and once she was gone the mare went right back to acting up. Spitting water at the stable hands, urinating in the water trough, trampling the seedling trees at the far edge of the paddock, and just all around causing trouble. Around lunch, I'd had enough of the constant complaints and problems, and marched out there myself to catch her.

This time, she resisted, jerking her head away so I couldn't get a hold of the rope halter. I had to jump to catch it, and even then she really didn't want to be held. In the end, it took a handful of molasses treats to get her to calm and follow me to the grooming bay, where I tied her up as securely as I could and left a bucket of oats to occupy her.

I started with a quick bath, hosing her down and getting the worst of the dirt and grime off. She became brighter and whiter, showing off a snowcapped rump I hadn't been able to see before. Then, came the clippers. And what a wild ride those were. As soon as they flicked on, she was no longer interested in the oats. Instead, she lipped at the device and tried to take it from me, and when it touched to her shoulder, she panicked and screamed and kicked at the wall, though I suspect she wasn't actually scared. At any rate, it riled up the other horses and sent Bacardi to kicking and bucking until his rider could get him under control again. I began to hope for Etch to come home early.

After hours of sweaty, slow work, I was able to trim the mare's coat to a reasonable length, and treat any of the scratches or scabs she had gotten out in the woods. By now, the sun was beginning to set, and I could hear a trailer rattling up the drive to the ranch. Finally, Etch was home.

The buckskin mare was set to groom beside the wild one, calming her down enough for me to finish up grooming and check on the availability of the vet and farrier.

-

The next day was much better, as Etch could stay with the mare, who'd I'd now named Rum, the entire time. The vet and farrier came and went, administering the proper shots and floating, as well as giving her a shiny new pair of shoes and trimming excess hoof growth. Surprisingly enough, those few hours were the easiest all day.

word count: 513 words / 2662 characters

[chaton,]

It was a few weeks before anything else happened; I was taking it slow, letting Rum get more and more comfortable. Eventually, she expanded her circle of friends to include Etch's brother, Bailey, and the troublemaker, Bacardi, which continued to prove a bad thing. The two constantly terrorized the staff and other horses. Poor Shinedown looked like he was going to have a heart attack every time he even so much as caught a scent of the duo.

On the two week 'ainniversary' of her arrival, I got Rum an official halter. Now, this halter was special; I'd hand-designed it myself rather than buying one or having a friend design it. It was modeled after the Malibu Rum bottle, with the orange from the sunset over everything but the cheekstrap, where it said her name between two silver studs.

Of course, I knew I still had the issue of getting the halter ON her, but that seemed like less of a problem that it turned out to be. After all, she'd had a rope halter on the entire time she was here! But as soon as I was able to catch her and confine her, she began to act up, even though Etch was at her side. She snapped and pinned her ears, kicking at the walls of the stall and I knew it was all an act. She wasn't the kind of horse to be afraid of something like a halter.

I backed up, letting her calm down and lower her head, though she still eyed me warily. And still I waited. I waited until one of the hands brought up sweet feed for them, until she'd let her guard down and was about to lower her head to eat, and then I pounced, slipping the halter on and just barely being able to clip it before she brought her head back up.

This time, she just... looked at me, utterly bored and wondering what all the fuss was about. I was baffled for a minute, but decided to shake my head and just move on. The rest of the afternoon was spent training her on the lead, and teaching her basic commands 'come', 'heel', 'walk on', ect. All my horses were voice-trained as well as lead-trained, in case anything happened.

The mare learned quickly, and by the end of the next day, whenever I would come to take her halter off, she'd try to get it back on herself.

word count: 412 words / 2163 characters

[sprig]

Congratulations!
You have successfully coaxed "Malibu Classic" into her halter!

[chaton,]

"Alright, Rummy, got a surprise for you today."

The mare's head jerked up from her feed, ears swiveled expectantly towards me. It'd been a few months since her arrival, and she was settling in well, and seeming to mature at the same time. She didn't cause me much trouble, but for the stable hands it was still just like day one.

"Someone's here to see you." As I spoke, I quickly--

ahhh noo! i wasn't able to finish D:
well here's what i had anyway
i had to leave as soon as i started ;n;

[sprig]

Congratulations, your Tolter has been tamed!
This Tolter is now eligible for breeding.