Disclaimer: this is just something different I wanted to try. I am not familiar with horses or horse training, but I thought I would write this little one shot as the idea struck me and it would not go away. No slash or anything like that here. I know this is different from what I usually write, but I wanted to expand out a little bit. Sidney, Meadow, Luckystar, Whiteout, and Thunderbolt are my characters. No flames or harsh comments. Constructive Criticisms welcome. Enjoy!
There she was, a black horse parading around the farmland, as if she owned the place. Her black mane shone brightly in the morning sun. Her strong legs carried her as she galloped, practicing for when her rider came. Her strong back was already "broken" for potential riders. No one would have ever known that this frisky young horse had once been unwanted, unloved, and on the verge of starving.
Little Sidney, who absolutely loved the horse, always remembered how she had found the horse, who she had named Luckystar, due to the small white spot on the horses face, just above the eyes. It had been over a year ago when Sidney was visiting the barn of a farmer who thought that black horses were bad luck, especially little female black horses. Sidney was heartbroken when she looked in and saw the young foal struggling to get up. The foal had obviously been pulled from her mother at too young an age, but the foal had a fighting spirit, one that resonated deep into Sidney's soul. Sidney made one decision that day; she was going to do whatever she could to make sure that little black female lived. The farmer, upon seeing how much little Sidney loved the horse, gave the "worthless" horse in his mind to her, as he was not planning on doing anything with it other than sending it to the glue factory.
Little Sidney was extremely excited, as she and her parents already owned many horses, but this little black filly captured Sidney's heart. And since her parents did not want the precious little filly to go to the glue factory, they agreed to allow Sidney to care and feed the young foal. Sidney was excited, but she did not realize how much of an uphill battle it would be to try and train this horse who so many had given up on. But Sidney was not planning on giving up, now or ever for that matter, but would she have the patience to deal with this wild little foal that had not even been trained to recognize humans or other horses as friends?
The first day Sidney went out to train the little foal, and boy what a disaster that day was. The foal, very skittish, jerked away and reared up, almost landing right on top of Sidney. Sidney did not understand, but began to realize that she would need a lot of patience to work with this special little foal. And so, Sidney put away the bridle and rope and just tried sitting in the same stall as the little foal, just to get the little filly used to being around her. Day in and day out, for the first two weeks, all Sidney did was sit in the stall, getting the little one used to her presence. After day 3, the foal stopped bucking and whinnying and observed Sidney from the far side of the stall. By day 7, the foal came close to Sidney, but refused to let the girl touch her. By day 10, the foal allowed Sidney to pet it, but it would still run away if Sidney tried to get up. By day 14, Sidney could stand up and pet the lovely little black filly, as trust had been established.
Part 1, done, but now comes part two, trying to coax the filly to come out of her little stall. But that was not as easy as it sounded. Little Luckystar was scared and was not going to come out of the stall for love or money. Sidney realized that more patience was required. Each day, for nearly two weeks, Sidney would open the stall door, allowing the filly to realize that nothing bad was going to happen when the door was open. By day 5, little Luckystar stopped running around in circles in her stall. By day 9, the little filly would come near the door, but then runaway. By day 12, the little filly would stand by the door, watching the other horses as they left their stalls to go out to the pasture. By day 14, little Luckystar took her first tentative steps outside her stall.
Sidney was happy when Luckystar finally was willing to come out, but then a big brown mare named Meadow walked by, intimidating the little foal. Meadow was an older mare that had raised her share of foals, and the way she eyed the little one scared little Luckystar. Sidney sighed as much of the progress she had made with the little horse went crashing down. Sidney was frustrated, it had taken her a month to get Little Luckystar to get out of her stall and now the little one was bucking and running around scared. Sidney tried to approach the horse, and though it was scared, she was able to get close to it.
After another month or so, Sidney was finally able to coax little Luckystar out of her stall again, but it seemed that every time Sidney brought out little Luckystar, Meadow was out watching and waiting. Meadow had established herself as the head mare amongst the herd and no one joined unless the mare approved. Sidney hated it, but there was little to nothing she could do about it. Sidney was worried about how exactly Meadow would take to the excitable young filly, as it was obvious that Luckystar knew very little about dealing with other horses.
Sidney watched as Meadow pushed the little one over onto her side. Sidney was worried, as she did not understand what was going on. But before Sidney could get up, little Luckystar was getting up on her own, shocked at what had happened. But before little Luckystar could fully get set, Meadow knocked her over again. Sidney was frustrated. Why was Meadow being so mean? But as Sidney continued to watch, she saw that the little black filly remained laying on the ground as Meadow approached and sniffed the little one. Sidney was confused, as she did not understand what was going on. Then Meadow got closer to Luckystar. Sidney covered her eyes, hoping that Meadow would not harm the little one.
But when no cries of distress were heard, Sidney looked up, wondering what had happened. And then Sidney's jaw dropped as she watched the tough old mare take the little filly "under her wing." Sidney could see that the old mare was extremely patient with the little one, and Sidney had to laugh as Meadow chased off one of the young stallions, a brown and white colt named Thunderbolt, who had come too close to the young filly. All in all, Sidney realized that Meadow was not going to hurt Luckystar, she was helping her. Sidney, wanting to test something, then headed out into the pasture with the horses.
All the horses knew Sidney as she had worked with or trained them, with the exception of Meadow. Meadow watched her with a cautious eye, as Meadow was skeptical of what Sidney was coming for. Sidney held her breath as she slowly approached, trying not to upset the old mare. Little Luckystar just looked up at the mare, wondering what she should do. Sidney got within 10 feet and then just stood there, hoping that all would go well. Sidney watched as Meadow studied her, keeping Luckystar away, should Sidney prove to be a threat. Sidney was a little scared when Meadow came right up to her, within only inches of where Sidney stood. Not daring to move, Sidney stood there frozen as Meadow gave her the "once over." Sidney was relieved when the old mare nuzzled her and then allowed Luckystar to go to Sidney. Sidney then realized that Meadow had accepted her.
From that day forward, Meadow and Luckystar were inseparable and Sidney used the relationship between the two to help train little Luckystar. In the meanwhile, little Luckystar began to thrive. She was transforming into quite the young filly, and catching the eyes of many of the young colts, but they stayed far away as Meadow was very protective of the young filly. And as the summer faded into fall, Luckystar continued to bloom. Meadow took excellent care of her and integrated the little filly among the herd. Even the old white Stallion, Whiteout, was happy with the young filly and accepted her into the herd, even going so far as to nip any "potential competition" in the bud.
Over the hard winter, Luckystar remained in her own stall which had been moved from where it was to right between Whiteout and Meadow, which made the little one happy. And even though the winter was hard, it so came and went, and Luckystar had grown so much in the time since Sidney had taken her from her previous predicament. Now that it was spring and she was bigger, it was time to train her for carrying riders. Fortunately, Meadow had been trained to allow riders to ride her, even though she was picky at who could ride her or where she was in the pack. Sidney used the same determination that she had used to get little Luckystar to trust her to train the young filly. Thankfully, with Luckystar's gentle demeanor and welcoming personality as well as help from Meadow, Luckystar was quickly trained into being a horse one could ride.
And now as Sidney looks back on the day she saved the little filly, warmth fills her heart, as she stares at the black horse still galloping alongside meadow. Luckystar truly had found a home, and she was happy, and that much Sidney could tell. And then something caught Sidney off guard as she looked at Meadow and Luckystar, both were carrying little unborn foals. Sidney smiled as she knew Whiteout finally had his chance at little Luckystar and Meadow. It was funny how life works, and thanks to Sidney's love and determination, Luckystar, the lonely, scared, love deprived horse was now thriving.