Fallow Inspection

Fallow Inspection

Zhou Lingxue stood in front of the grullo mare’s stable, her pretty silver nameplate sparkling around the engraving with her information. The plate itself was wooden, but where it read ‘Fallow’ on the top had a silver lining nailed onto the top to make it noticeable.

F A L L O W

Beifang de Bing Yue

12.2hh / 126cm

Grullo Pangare

It was finally time - time to show off all of the hard work this lovely lady had been having put into her, all the blood, sweat and tears (mostly all figurative) that’s gone into making her a beautifully tame young pony. The time for her inspection.

All Teddy Cobs eventually go through this phase, specifically if they’re a mare or stallion wanting to be bred - which, with Lingxue’s future in horse training, his family thought that having some projects from a safe pony he knows personally would be a very welcome starting point. It would broaden his training aspects from competitive horses to child-friendly ponies, whether it’s a first-time-owner’s dream or a lesson pony for a young child to start to learn on. A couple of foals that Fallow herself had wouldn’t go anywhere but Lingxue’s own ownership, mostly because Roan and Dakari had got it in his head that he could have a herd of three little deer-named ponies. Fallow is the name that the mare came with, from back when she was with the Adoption Centre.

Since then, she had been shown in-hand, lightly backed, and mostly taught liberty work for a possible movie career. The Teddy Cobs’ natural calm disposition makes them easy to train and Fallow in particular is exceptionally clever, so she picked up a lot of tricks quite easily. The only wonder would be if they could find many roles for her little-legged self, but she’s so pretty that there’s no doubt in mind that Lingxue couldn’t find her something to do for fun.

The big day had finally come, and Fallow had spent the whole morning lounging in the wash-box and enjoying a bubble bath. Her mane was braided and smooth, her tail flowing and silky as she held it neatly behind her. Her delicate white face marking had been scrubbed until it was shining white, her feathers braided after being washed just as much - while she was naturally a very clean and tidy pony, her feathers got the brunt of all of the mud and dirt and puddles that she loved to clamber through. Her black-and-silver leather halter had her name engraved in a tiny silver plate along the cheek piece, an ice-blue leadrope tied to the side of the stable while she stood and let herself dry off before they loaded her into the box.

The horsebox was freshly cleaned and had recently had its check-up, so Lingxue’s mother was all good to go for Fallow’s inspection, and all ready for the little lady to be loaded. They put her travel boots on, a tail bandage, and tied her haynet up ready with a big tub of water in the tack space and then they were off. Fallow was always a tiny bit stressed when she was in the box, as any horse would be being in a moving vehicle when they’re used to their four hooves being safe and planted on the ground, but when they started moving, she seemed to calm down and busy herself in her haynet, which was a lovely sign. Her forelock would be covered in straw once they unloaded her, but it’s all a worthy sacrifice for the final moment.

The drive was fairly uneventful, the horsebox having a steady flow over the quiet, empty roads. They’d expected quite a bit of traffic at this time, but it would seem that the pretty countryside was emptier than even they had thought, even though it seemed like it had the most breathtaking views they could imagine for a long while. Far better than the city they previously resided in, that’s for sure - and Fallow agreed.

When they lead the mare down the ramp of the vehicle, Fallow’s coat was shining and glossy with the sunlight on her freshly-washed fur. She had a clip that went half-way up her body, leaving her legs fluffy and her back well-insulated for the oncoming winter weather, but just enough to make sure that the fluffy cob didn’t get too hot when she was exercised. She was excited at the sight of so many other ponies around her, new friends to show off to, maybe?

They changed her headpiece into her freshly-soaped leather bridle, a fur nose and a jewelled browband to adorn her, and Fallow was all ready for the judge to see her. She walked beautifully, calm, sensible, ears forwards but flicking back to show that she was paying attention to Lingxue the whole time. Her trot was elegant, small but well-paced, in her natural cob-ish manner; excited, but the nerves re-routed to be more into the effort into making her look flashy.

It was all going perfectly, until a small, yappy dog came bounding out in front of her, leaping and diving all around her hooves. She startled, shuffling about with high kneed prancing to avoid the overly friendly dog that was trying to bat at her braided feathers. A judge came jogging over, trying to catch the dog while simultaneously trying to locate the owner, who came dashing closer. Fallow glanced about, panicked, and Lingxue let out a low whistle to steady her, give her something to focus on. She stood still, now steadily sure that the loose dog wouldn’t bite her if her handler was telling her it was okay to be still, and in another five minutes the dog was caught and the owner was given a scolding. It did, however, mean that Fallow’s manageability is beautiful and proven - which surely would go towards her inspections outcome.

Zhou Lingxue trotted her up again, and when it was time for the standing inspection, the judge apologised profusely and complimented the pair of them on how well they handled the situation. Although, in all fairness, they just stood still in hopes it would all dissipate around them - what works works, though!