Chapter 2

Training

The next morning, I woke up early. I heard the sounds of footsteps. My mother was awake too. There was Rob, staring at us. "Hey girl. Jeff! What do you think we should call this mare?"

Jeff came and looked at my mother. "Well Rob, I think you should call her...Inferno. I mean, she does have a fiery attitude when you first caught her, right? So call her Inferno. It fits her personality." Inferno, my mom's new name. I wonder if she liked the name. It seemed like she did because she nickered in pleasure.

"Now, what should we call the colt," asked Rob. He looked at me with a questioning look. I looked back at him the same way, then I nickered.

"Eh, I don't know! He does have quite a spirit and when he grows up he will be black as ebony. We'll call him...Black Spirit." So that was my name. Black Spirit. Wow. I had a name. I nickered in agreement and pranced around the stall. I knew I had spirit! I loved the name!

"We should start training them Jeff. You know, to get them used to people."

Jeff nodded. "We'll take them out now. Grab Inferno's halter. We'll lead her out first. The foal will follow."

Rob went to get my mother's halter, whatever that was. Now, Rob was a pretty nice guy, so far. He looked about the age of twenty and had black hair with blue eyes. He was kind of tall, but kind of short. I could tell that he loved horses but I don't know why he would want to work with Jeff, catching wild ones. Jeff was a little different.

Jeff looked a little older than Rob. He had brown hair and brown eyes. He looked like he was in his thirties. He was tall. Probably that's why Rob worked with him. He was probably training to become a horse trainer or something similar. After four minutes has passed, Rob finally came with my mother's halter.

Her halter was just a brown leathery one. Rob tried to put it on her, but she didn't like this part. A snort came from her nostrils. She backed up and pawed at the ground with her hoof. "Easy girl, easy Inferno," said Rob, but my mother wouldn't listen. She nickered warningly and half reared in the stall. After awhile though, my mother finally let Rob put on the halter.

He led her out of the stables and sure enough, I followed. We were led into some type of pen. It was round with those metal bars. They looked a little similar to the ones that held us when we were captured, except that it was red. I wondered why we were here. Then, I knew why. Jeff told something to Rob, but I didn't capture the words.

Rob just gave the rope to Jeff and looked at me. He started to walk toward me. My mother wondered what was going on. She neighed to me and tried to get away from Jeff. She was trying to protect me. I snorted and looked at Rob. I nickered to him, then when he was near to me, I loped to the other side of the pen.

I nickered again and shook my head. Rob rolled his eyes and tried to come after me again. I loped again to the other side and pranced around, nickering happily. I thought this was some kind of game. It was fun, trying to make the man chase you around the pen! Rob got the idea and laughed. "Alright Black Spirit, stop playin' little one!"

He came after me again and I loped again, then did a half rear. This was so much fun! I got tired of the game pretty soon, though. I did trust him a little bit but still not that much. I whinnied to him, daring him to come near me. When he did, I reared and snorted. My nostrils flared.

My ears were pinned slightly back to my head. Rob looked at Jeff and shrugged but Jeff ignored him. Rob sighed and tried again to go near me. I jogged to my mother and stayed near her. I knew I would be safe around her. Jeff shook his head. "Rob, come here. I know what will work."

Rob wondered what Jeff was talking about. He went toward Jeff. "Hold out your hands." He sprinkled some stuff into Rob's hands. "Go near Black Spirit and hold your hands flat. He'll sniff it, and probably eat it. Go on!" I listened and shook my head. I loped to the other side of the pen. I watched him wearily.

"Come here boy, I won't hurt you. Come on, come on!" He held his hands flat. I looked at the golden stuff in his hands. It looked like my mother's feed. I never tasted it before, but my mother said it was tasty. I went towards him and sniffed the feed. I ate some from his hands.

My mother was right! This stuff was good! I continued to eat the feed from his hands. It tasted like...apples. I wondered what this feed was called. I remember hearing the name of it before, but what kind was it?

I watched Rob as he lifted his hand. His hand started to come towards my little soft mane. I was scared now and didn't know what he would do, so I quickly loped to the other side of the round pen. A snort came from my nostrils. Rob scratched his neck and looked at Jeff. Jeff signaled him towards the feed bag, but stopped.

He thought for a moment. When he was done thinking, he called, "Rob, come here."

"What is it, Jeff?" He walked over to Jeff, wondering what he was going to say. My ears pricked forward. I wanted to listen to the conversation.

"Look. Let's try a different approach with the colt. Get that rope over there, then get the feed. Hold it flat, just like you did earlier and let him eat it. While he is eating the feed, put the rope around his neck. Got it?"

"Yeah, yeah. I got it!" I guess that Rob was a little annoyed by Jeff. He looked at me, then at the rope and feed. He scooped some feed into his hand first, then grabbed the rope. He started to walk over to me. I snorted, neighed, pawed at the ground, then loped to one side. I didn't like ropes.

I wanted to be back in my stall. I missed my warm and cozy stall. But right now, it was not time to go in the stall. We were training, and I hated it. My mother hated it too, but not as much as me. My mother started to like it, but I didn't. This was too new to me and too early.

Rob shook his head and looked at Jeff. "I think we should call it a day. The colt looks tired."

"Right. Well then, we'll keep working tomorrow. Let's get these mustangs in their stall." When I heard that, my heart leaped for joy! Finally, we were going back in the stall! Jeff opened the gate and grabbed the rope that was tied to my mother's halter. I followed close behind. We were at the stables and in my mother's stall.

I went toward my mother to suckle some of that warm milk. It rushed down my throat as I drank. I was so thirsty. I heard Jeff speak while I was drinking. "We forgot to train Inferno! We need to get her back...ah she could wait. The mare had a long day too. We'll train both the mare and foal tomorrow." At least they were training me and my mother tomorrow. I wondered what tomorrow's training would be like.

It was around eight o' clock and I felt sleepy already. That first day of training sure tired me out. I laid down on the soft yellow colored hay and slowly fell asleep. My mother stayed awake though. She would watch over me.

The next day, I was awakened again by the sound of footsteps. I got up and took a quick suckle from my mother.

It was Rob who was walking around. He stopped by the stall that my mother and I were held in. He looked at me, and said, "Mornin' Black Spirit. Better eat up because today is going to be a long day. I'm workin' with you, while Jeff works with your mother." He had a soft smile on his face.

Rob continued to walk on. I guess he was going to feed us and the other horses, before we started to train again. I was right. He got out the bag of feed and went into each stall. He poured each horse a bucket of feed. When he was done with filling all of the horses' buckets, he put the feed away. Next, was filling all of the water buckets.

He went into each stall and took the empty water bucket out. Then, about three minutes later, he would come back in with the water bucket filled. Soon, all of the horses had water, and Rob was done with the chores. He went back to the stall that I was kept in and just looked at me. "I think you would be a great horse when you grow up." I shook my head and wondered what he meant.

Did he mean I would be a great horse to ride? Will I actually be carrying people on my back? I looked at my back and snorted, then looked back at Rob. No way am I going to have a human on my back! I heard more footsteps, then saw Jeff with a halter over his shoulder. "Rob, here. Take the mother out." Rob nodded and entered the stall.

My mother snorted and flicked her tail. She didn't like the halter. She backed up and pawed at the ground. "Easy girl, easy. It'll be okay now. Come on!" It was quite a struggle to get the halter over my mom once again. After twenty minutes, passed, he finally got the halter on her.

"There you go, girl." He smiled and led her out of the stall. I followed her. Again, we were led to the round pen but this time they did something different. They left me in the one I was in before all by myself. Then, they led my mother into a different one. It was a struggle for them, that was for sure.

I whinnied for my mother and she looked at me. She whinnied back and tried to go after me, but Rob and Jeff put a piece of cloth over her eyes. She had to follow them. I watched as they led her in a different pen. When they were done with her, Jeff commanded Rob to go into the pen I was in. Rob listened and went in the pen I was in..

Rob shook his head and said, "Come on, Black Spirit. Someday you'll have to trust me." He sighed and just sat on the dirt ground, watching me. I watched him. We just both watched each other. My ears swivelled forward and back.

"What is it, boy?," he replied softly to me. Of course, nothing was wrong with me. After about seven minutes passed, I started to walk over to Rob, but cautiously. Rob just looked at me. I continued walking. When I was near, I stopped. I nickered softly and lowered my head to his hand. I sniffed it, looking for that feed that he fed me yesterday.

There was none. I lifted my head and looked straight into his eyes. He slowly lifted his hand toward my soft dark brown fur. I allowed him to pet me. His hands were gentle against my fur. It felt good to be petted. After Rob was done petting me, I slowly moved away to the other side of the pen.

I looked at him again and nickered. I started to prance in place. Now I trusted Rob. He was nice.

I wanted to play a game, a fun game, the game that we played yesterday. Rob knew what I was getting at. He smiled and got up.

He started to walk toward me. I loped to the other side of the pen and nickered happily. This happened for about two hours, maybe even longer. It didn't matter. I was having fun. I saw Jeff with my mother. "Come on Rob. Training's over," he called.

"Ok, ok." Rob stopped playing with me. "Come on, Black Spirit. You need to go with your mother, Inferno." I jogged, following Rob out of the round pen. I was reunited with my mother again.

"Hey Rob. How about you lead them into the pasture," suggested Jeff. Rob nodded and took me and my mother to the pasture. Finally, we get to go in the pasture with other horses! I looked around the pasture with excitement. Then, suddenly, my chocolate eyes saw three foals. A chestnut filly with a star, a buckskin filly, and a black paint colt. My ears pricked forward in curiosity.

I debated in my mind if I should go or not. Finally, I decided to go over to the three foals. I went toward them at a nice jog. The fillies just turned away, while the colt looked at me in curiosity. I stopped in front of the black pinto colt. "Hello," I replied to him.

"Hey. I'm Oreo. What's your name," he replied to me in a proud voice.

A smile appeared on my face. "Black Spirit. It's nice to meet ya!" I bucked playfully.

"Yeah, you too!" He laughed, but then looked at the two fillies who turned away. "You see those fillies over there? Well, the chestnut one is Moonshine, and the buckskin one is Spirited Away."

I nodded and looked at the two fillies for a minute. "Moonshine and Spirited Away...got it. Why did they turn away though?" I wanted to know why.

"Eh...who cares? I mean, they're fillies!" He snorted in disgust.

"Yeah, you're right. Who cares! Hey, want to play a game?"

"Like what?"

"Like...TAG! You're it!" I nipped him playfully, then loped away from him. I was having so much fun with my new friend, though I did wonder what the two fillies were talking about. Oh well, who cares? They're just fillies!

"Hey!" He laughed and started to chase after me. I whinnied happily as I was running away from him. The fillies looked at us.

"Look at those jerks," complimented Spirited Away as she watched. Moonshine nodded in agreement and snorted.

"I know! I think that black colt is mighty cute though." She let out a giggle. Serenity just looked at her and laughed.

"I think he's stuck up. Look how he came over here! Plus, he's talking to Oreo. I say that he is a jerk just like Oreo." She shook her head.

"Well, you are right. I mean, he IS after all, hanging out with Oreo. Basicly, all colts are jerks."

"Right, Moonshine. You know, I don't know what happens to yearlings. I've heard some of the yearling fillies talking about love." Spirited Away laughed. "No way am I going to fall in love with...with Oreo!"

"I know what you mean. Falling in love...that's never going to happen to me!"

"Me neither." The fillies stopped looking at us and just continued with their conversation. Oreo halted and looked at them.

"Hey Black! I need to tell you something!"

"What?" I jogged over to my friend, wondering what he was going to tell me.

"You know what? I hear some yearling colts talking about love. You know, falling in love with a filly?" He laughed. "Like that's going to happen! Love's a load of horse manure!" He stamped his hoof on the ground and just laughed so hard.

"Yeah, just a bunch of horse manure." I laughed along with Oreo. I don't know what happens to yearling colts, but I know it's definitely not going to happen to me!

Oreo and I continued to play our game. I suddenly stopped when I heard my mother called. I looked back at her. Was it time to go already?

I looked at Oreo with a look of question. "My mother's calling, hold on."

"Ok. I'll be waiting."

I galloped toward my mother, wondering why she called me. Was something wrong or was it time to go? When I arrived, I looked at my mother with a puzzled look on my face. "What is it?"

"Rob is coming. Time to go. You better go tell your friend." She gave me a gentle nudge and I whinnied to her, then trotted toward my friend.

"Hey Oreo. Just need to tell you that Rob's coming to pick me and my mother up. So...I guess I'll see you later. Bye!" I half reared, turned, and galloped back toward mother.

"Bye," he called. "See you again soon!"

Rob came and tied the lead rope to my mom's halter. I followed her. We went into the stable and to our stall.

It was now about eight thirty. Mother was eating some oats. I was drinking her milk. When she was done, she looked at me with those chocolate brown eye of hers. I was already done with my meal by then. A smile warmly and gave her a kiss. "Goodnight, mother."

"Goodnight my son!" She nuzzled me and then we both fell into a deep slumber.

Weeks turned into months and months turned into a full year. My training was getting better and better. It was the same with my mother. Soon, she was carrying people on her back. Jeff and Rob were riding her now!

I knew what it was to be a weanling. It means when I stop drinking my mother's milk. That it when the separation began. I was moved into a different stall, one that was next to mother though (thank goodness). I started to drink water and eat oats. Man those oats were good!

My relationship with Oreo was still the same. We played out in the pasture and sometimes we made fun of the fillies. Yes, those were the days.

Now I was a yearling. It was time for me to start training with the saddle and bridle. I had to start to learn to carry people on my back like my mother and let me tell you, that was not a really pleasant experience!

When they first tried to put all my tack on, I was scared and I started to buck and half rear. Rob was getting frustrated, but Jeff told him that you needed to be patient with horses, especially young ones. Rob soon calmed down and they continued to work with me. My training sessions were usually from thirty minutes to an hour long.

As the spring time came along, something changed with Oreo and I. We started to view the fillies in a different light. Moonshine is the most beautiful filly ever, let me tell you that! Her nice smooth chestnut coat, her silky mane and tail, her flowing gait: everything about her was perfect. I looked at Oreo and whispered in his ear. "Hey Oreo...doesn't Moonshine look a little...you know beautiful?"

"Forget about Moonshine! Look at Spirited! She is more beautiful than the sea!" We both sighed. Oreo looked at me and started to smirk. "Hey...you know what? You should go over and talk to Moonshine!"

"What! Er...me? Talk to Moonshine? NO WAY! I mean, I will look like a fool!" I stamped my hoof on the ground. Oreo just laughed.

"Oh no you won't. Besides, don't you want to talk to her?" He gave my a push. "Go on!"

I gulped and thought to myself. "I can't do it! I can't do it! Oh no...she's looking at me. Quick umm...say something, anything!" I stopped and looked at the beautiful filly that stood before me. "Erm...hello beaut...I mean Moonshine." Oh no, that was stupid. Nice going.

She smiled warmly. "Hello. So...what's your name? We never really did talk."

"Spirit Black...I mean Black Spirit. Yes...Black Spirit, Miss. Moonshine." I bowed to the chestnut beauty.

"Black Spirit. That is a beautiful name. And my! What manners you have!" She giggled and nipped me lightly on the neck when I stood.

"Hey..." I swished my tail and smiled. I nipped her back. "You want to...you know, go to the river with me? Now?" I waited for an answer. I hoped she said yes.

"Why sure, Black Spirit. I would love to. Let's go." She broke into a nice graceful trot. I followed her.

When we were at the river, we both stopped. The river was a really beautiful place. The water was almost a crystal blue. There were birds singing. I dipped my muzzle into the cool water and took a nice drink from it. Moonshine did the same. I finished first and stared at her beautiful coat and her beautiful form. Yes...perfect.

She lifted her head and looked at me in question. "What are you staring at?"

I quickly looked away and blushed a rosy pink. "Nothing Moonshine...nothing. It's just..." I looked into her beautiful eyes. "You have the most beautiful eyes and you are perfect in every way." I smiled at her and nickered softly, showing her my honesty.

She blushed deeply and turned away. "Why...that's the most sweetest thing anyone has ever said to me. Thank you. And you have the most handsome smile."

"Thank you...Moonshine." It was that moment I knew I had to tell her. "Moonshine...look at me. I need to tell you something."

She looked at me again. "What?"

"I-I...I love you!" There. I said it. "I love you very much, Moonshine."

She wrapped her neck around mine and close her eyes hardly. "I love you too."

We stood in that position for what seemed like hours, but it was only a couple of minutes. We broke away from each other slowly and looked into each others eyes lovingly.

Suddenly, I heard a whistle. It was a familiar whistle. My ears pricked up. It was Rob calling me. I spoke to the love of my life. "I am afraid that I will have to go," I replied to her. She nodded. I knew she understood.

"Can I walk with you?"

I nodded. We started walking together toward the gate. Rob looked at me with a warm look.

"Looks like you found yourself a girlfriend there." He patted me, then laughed a jolly laugh. "Looks like I'm going to have to put you two next together. Come on." He tied the lead rope to my halter and he tied another to her halter. "Let's go you two." He clicked his tongue and we followed him into the stable. Rob did just as he said he would do. He put us next to each other. I nickered to Moonshine happily.

"I'm so happy that we are together," I replied.

"Me too. Now we could talk for hours and stuff."

We started talking for what seemed like hours and hours. It was soon nine o' clock. Time to sleep. .