What was I doing here?! Where were my friends? Only hours ago we were frolicking in the lush open pastures, smelling the sweet grass as yearlings should, our mothers watching nearby. That was before they came; two legged beasts with leather contraptions to fit into our tender mouths, to make them bloody and sore! To think, I had been parading around that very day, kicking about like a weanling; they couldn't hurt me! Oh, how very wrong I was!
At first, I didn't notice we were being gathered. It looked like any other feed day. Naturally, I wanted the good grain, so I tussled, shoved and bit my way to the front of the fray, scattering the other colts in expectation of the finest feed available. Instead, the monstrous thing threw an old dry rope around my neck and jerked it with aggressive force. It had happened; I was being taken!
I jumped and pranced, lunging at the human but he just tightened the rope until it cut away at my shining chestnut hide, dampening it with blood. When I ceased to struggle, he forced a leather contraption over my head, and a cold, split metal bar into my mouth that tore at my tongue. I wanted to spit it out, so nasty it tasted; but he hit my face and pushed it further back, cutting into my soft gums.
In shock, I screamed for my mother and my friends, who were also being harangued. A little black filly with a sorrel star on her forehead that had been my playmate since foal days toppled over in fright as she tried to escape, receiving a brutal slap from a leather strap.
I jumped and plunged, aching for the safety of my dear mother's side. Through the craze, I spotted her, a brilliant sight with her ears pinned, teeth bared while two humans tried to subdue her, her long, graceful neck arched high in protest as she screamed to the heavens for me.
"No," I cried and started at the sting of something slapping my rump and was forcefully led away.
Slam! They had put a cloth over my eyes so I couldn't see and they led me to a cold room with dank floors, shutting me in with an intimidating bang. I shivered and backed into another horse that bit me hard enough to make me jerk about.
"Watch yourself!" he screeched, stamping his hoof.
"Sorry…" I whimpered, ducking my head.
I hated the cloth; it was supposed to calm me, yet I hadn't the faintest idea where I was. I wasn't home; where were my mother and the rest of my friends? Where was that beautiful black filly and the field we had danced across like wind-bound feathers?
Struggling, I managed to tear the cloth away.
"Oh no!" I panicked with a whinny, rearing up and kicking out; I was enclosed in a dark pitiful space with a large number of my kind, with barely any room to stand.
A drop of water fell from the leaky roof and onto my once-shining coat; I sidestepped as if the floor had turned molten.
"Pipe down, ya rube!" an old horse snorted.
"Where are we?" I wondered. "Why aren't we at home?"
"Because they want us." The old horse replied.
"Who's they?"
"The two legged vermin who brought you here. If you're lucky, you'll be sold; if not, you'll be slaughtered. I would not hope much for the former."
My eyes rolled with fright.
"But we must get out!"
Those around me wuffled with laughter.
"Are you mad, horse? They have dogs who will chew the hide off of you!"
"But-"
"No, you calm that princely face of yours; there's no use trying to help yourself."