A Stallion’s Trust

845 words|
|Mud coated the bay's withered coat, highlighting its wild nature compared to a regular pet that would be groomed and cleaned daily. Copper reined in his dull bay gelding, finding himself once more returning to the herd with hopes of convincing that stubborn stallion to leave with him, for it was no choice but the bay stallion's on whom he wanted to leave with. It had become tradition; people came from various states just to try to convince a pony to accept them as a new home. Even though the breed was naturally kind-hearted and accepting of every stranger despite turning feral, some preferred their wild life to the idea of working for the human species. Copper had hope that this stallion wouldn't act like those he had come to before; however, it was unknown to him how this stallion would truly act. "Hey there boy," he called quietly, making his gelding flick an ear back calmly. The gelding stood calmly, as if he had traveled these valleys various times before. "Have you finally decided to come easily, or does the thought of man's treats interest you somehow?" The stallion had trotted across the valley, mud soaking the grass beyond the two as it flung in various directions from the pony's hooves. Nickering loudly, he halted to a stop no more than four yards away from Copper and his tacked gelding. "He's safe, not like you can understand me, but" Copper paused mid-attempt to comfort the slightly worried stallion, for naturally two adult male equines never walked too closely with one another without attempting to steal a mare or take leadership of a herd. "I'll just walk over there," he sighed, dismounting from the gelding and hitching it to a thick branch in a bush a few steps away from his horse's front hock. Gentle steps planted against the soft grassland, careful not to scare the stallion away from him as it had, for the first time, come to him first. He held a bag of Mrs. Pastures Cookies for Horses in his scarred, gloved hands, fumbling with the bag as he pulled off the closed top, opening the bag quickly and pulling out a handful of treats. "C'mere," spoke Copper, his country accent thick with kindness he always showed with animals. The bay blew a warm exhale of air as an acceptance and welcome to be handled, and nibbled his flat palm gently. The stallion's ears turned forward in a means of slight concern and untrusting of the man. Copper breathed a soft chuckle, smiling slightly as he slowly brought his left hand to stroke the horse's face. Despite the bay's muddy coat as a result of last night's rain, its face was almost clean and soft to the touch. "Like these, huh?" asked Copper, noticing how quickly the stallion had eaten the treats out of his palm. The stallion snorted softly. He smiled once more, offering more treats as time went on. Eventually, after an daywith the stallion and his gelding, Copper found a tree a good mile off from the original spot to rest before taking the miles-long trip on horseback back to the hotel where he was staying for the attempts of bringing back home a special pony as a new companion for his slowly growing herd. "There boy," he looped the reins loosely around the ground tie he recently planted deeply into the soil, petting the gelding for a final time before sitting against a dry patch of soil, slumping against the oak tree as if his body had spent the entire day running a marathon. While he had set out to the herd in early morning, he was still slightly surprised by how worn out he had truly gotten. The gelding began grazing the grass calmly, swatting the flies away with his decently long tail.  Wet, sloppy mounds dropped thickly against the top of Copper's hat, then to his palms that had slumped into the muddy sides of the soil during his sleep. He blinked slowly, and a mound fell onto his flannel chest once more, stirring him awake completely. "What--" He looked up to see the feral stallion proudly eating treats above him, then looked over to see that a canine and rodents of some sort got into his half-open bag and tore up a handful of treats, causing a good pile to form in the soil. Copper sighed in pure annoyance, rolling his eyes as he met the stallion's gaze. "Enjoying that, are you?" he asked in defeat, seeing as rodents had chewed through his gelding's reins during their shared moment of sleep, and freed his now roaming gelding. "At least you had the decency to stay," Copper added bitterly, wiping the mounds of chewed-up horse treats off his chest with slight disgust. "You sure are a damn clever stallion, wouldn't doubt you asked those critters for some help after following us here". Copper gently tossed one of the nickel-sized mounds of the sloppy, chewed treats at the stallion's side, getting an oddly mocking-like snort in response. |