Confetti 5

Azalea let her forehead thud against the fence of the paddock, letting out a heavy sigh. She was on her fifth day of trying to catch this horse. Confetti -what one of the farmhands had named her- was more than a little stubborn. She was a beautiful mare, and she had already started growing her woolies even though it was still Autumn. A friend of Azalea's had given her the heads-up about the short teddy cob; they knew that Azalea had been looking for a more advanced lesson horse that could help students get started on learning how to jump. And Confetti had seemed like a great prospect. And she was. Azalea already had plans in mind to get the mare ready to be a lesson horse. But, well, it all depended on whether or not she could keep her bell in place for 24 hours.

Confetti was smart. And not quite ready to go to a new home, apparently. She had managed to lose the little bell Azalea tied in place with a pink ribbon every day for the last four days. Azalea had come to check in with the barn owner whenever she had the time to get out, but she always made time to come out when the farmhands brought all the cobs in to check for bells. She was eager to get Confetti back home and introduce her to the herd that Azalea thought she'd fit in with well. It was almost time for them to be rounded up, so Azalea was happy to wait until she could see what the outcome was.

She was fairly sure that Confetti was the last from the small band that had been brought in from the fields, and she seemed quite content with roaming around the large paddock she had been put in. Azalea had seen her galloping by a few times that day, always moving far too fast to see if her bell was still tied to her mane. She almost seemed to make a circuit of the paddock every hour or so, making her way over to a section of trees that they were still clearing out. It always looked like Confetti took great joy in easily clearing over the fallen logs scattered about in that area, prancing her way around afterwards, head held high. She would show off- for the other horses, for the farmhands, for Azalea. It was adorable. She was quickly worming her way into Azalea's heart, and she never minded that. There was always room for more horses at her barn, cycling through client horses, lesson horses that turned out to be someone's heart horse, things like that. She still had plenty of fields that were completely empty; she had a large piece of land to call her own, thanks to the generosity of her and her husband's family.

And Azalea desperately wanted to give Confetti a new home there, too; she knew that the mare would be welcomed into the little herd she had of mares already. They were fiercely protective of one another, and she knew that after a few days of introducing Confetti to them, she'd fit right in. If she could just get this silly mare to keep her bell in for a whole day. Azalea rubbed a hand over her face as she watched two farmhands starting to call for the small group of teddy cobs, beginning to herd them into the smaller paddock to be checked for bells.