Disclaimer: I do not own The Phantom Stallion or any of its characters. Those all belong to the lovely Terri Farley.
PROSPER
When the little chestnut filly is brought in, she's a mess. Sam knows it, Wyatt knows it, Jake knows it. Hell, Linc Slocum knows it and he doesn't even lay eyes on the poor thing until weeks after she's been brought to River Bend Ranch. Even then, he can't help but comment on what a sorry sight the creature was, and he hardly knows anything about horses at all.
She's an older yearling, nearly two by the looks of her, but still gangly enough that it's obvious she was a baby not long ago. Her hooves, dainty little things that they are, are so overgrown that she limps with each step she takes. The flaxen mane and tail are long and matted, thick with burrs and other debris, and her coat is so choked with dirt, dust, and sweat that it's gone a dark, muddy brown. It doesn't fully hide her true coloring, though, and whenever she trots into direct sunlight, tiny patches of her gleaming chestnut coat peek out from the caked-on mud, hinting at the phenomenal beauty she would be once she was cleaned up. That doesn't even touch on her attitude; she's a nervous, terrified mess and nothing sets her off quicker than men, though her bias seems to rely heavily on facial hair. Already, Sam notices that when she's scared, it isn't uncommon for the filly to rear, kick, bite, and attempt to run away even though she's been confined to a round pen for the time being.
"She's a neglect case," Brynna explained to Sam later, after the filly had finally settled herself. "The owners adopted her a little less than a year ago and had never had a horse before. She wasn't gentled, well, gently at all. We know for sure that the husband would coax her over to force a halter on her, but if she didn't respond the way he wanted, he would get… violent. And, even if she did try to do as he asked, he would use something, a whip we think, to 'move her along.' You can see, in some places, where she was obviously beaten. BLM was notified by a concerned neighbor and she was seized a few days ago. When they got there she was outside in the heat with no shelter, food, or accessible water."
"That's terrible." Sam's voice was thick, and she only just managed to force away the burn of tears from the backs of her eyes. "She's gonna prosper here, I know it."