Three glorious steps later, I crashed to the ground, but I had a new-found desperation to be on my feet. I could not run when I was trapped on the ground. I scrambled up, tipped forward in my excitement, and scrambled up again. Shaky step by shaky step, I ventured into freedom.
I heard Eli and my dam laughing. I looked over at them, by my dam was tearing at the grass and Eli's face was as yet unreadable to me. I snorted and tossed my head. Then I set my attention once again on the grass beneath my hooves and I began to move again. I leaped up, and began to run, more slowly at first, but as the days passed, I began to get faster and faster, and ate more and more.
My mother was almost always busy eating, and so I had to entertain myself, but doing so was easy enough. I could run, now, and jump, and stop and turn and slide across the muddy parts of the paddock with ease.
I was throwing myself into the air with abandon when Eli and his friend Dan came to us again. I stopped to listen to them.
"Look at her. She's only a few months old and just look at the way she moves!" Eli's voice sounded excited.
"She's a looker too." Dan added, turning toward my mother. "You bred her well, Eli. I thought you were an idiot taking a season off to breed Wind, but maybe you played your cards right after all."
"This way, even if they take Wind, I'll have the filly to train up. I was harder than I thought it would be, taking the season off the breed her, but I'm glad I did. Soon as I wean the filly, I'll put Wind back in training."
I wondered for a moment what Eli meant, but the odd feeling in my head passed momentarily, and I kicked up my heels and came to screeching halt in front of the fence, blowing air in his face.
