by G.L'S » Mon Nov 27, 2017 10:06 am
Username: G.L'S
Show Name: NW Warriors of the Sun
Barn Name: Batal
Gender: Stallion
Age: 19
Main Halter Color: Kelly
Secondary Halter Color: white
Story: Now out to pasture, Batal remembers his early years long before he came to Nile Waters. Long before he began his dressage career, long before he even had a name. When Batal was only a yearling, for a little under a year, Batal was a Calvary horse in the middle of a war.
At the turn of the millennia, a war had broken out on the borders of Eteria and Ethiopia. He was sold into the cause and immediately trained for combat. Alongside camels and tanks, peacekeepers and military advancement, he carried and ran in a landscape no horse would ever get used to.
In the battle of Belessa, his scars came from their advance into the desolate mountains where the war as at it harshest. With little water and no connection back to their base, they advanced, laid and wait in the rocky territory. The long hours, the sounds of warfare, and men popping in and out of trenches slowly wore away at all of them, making the young stallion constantly nervous. They were caught by surprise early one morning during their advance when his rider was knocked off and he was snatched by an enemy soldier. He was cut in the gory scuffle and by his new rider as they fled the battle. Batal witnessed and was caught in the middle of guerrilla-style warfare for another three months before he became too flighty for use and escaped a tie-up one night.
In his escape and his time at the front, his wounds scarred, his weight plummeted, and his mind was lost to fear. Luckily, he was not alone for long and was quickly discovered and rounded up again. He only improved after we bought him at a final auction and he began to trust again: returned to a healthy weight and addressed his jittery nature. Six years later in the arena, no one would have suspected that the next future dressage prospect used to be a war hero.