The Life Of Sparta - Year Four Through Six
By Thestral
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29th Jan 2011 •
2,789 views
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4 comments
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Sparta shuddered. She had escaped from a man, who's face she could not remember. The man with no face. Now, she was afraid of all males, because she wouldn't be able to tell the difference between him and the others. Now she was living happily with an old lady. Though she was very happy, she could not forget what had happened to her. Sparta heard footsteps, and turned her dark chestnut head towards the door as it opened. In came the little old lady, with another person, a girl. She looked familiar. Auburn hair, green eyes...About seventeen. Was it her? Sparta wondered, thinking about the nice girl at her old stable, Seth. But as the girl turned to her, the filly saw that her eyes were not kind. This was not Seth. Sparta's head fell slightly.
"I guess they'll both be perfect." The girl said dully. She strode out of the barn, and the old lady looked sadly at Sparta and the paint mare.
Then, she turned away, and left. Three days later, Sparta and the paint mare, Rhoda, were in a trailer, driving off to the prairie. Hours later, they were unloaded, and placed in roomy stalls with plenty of soft bedding and crisp, clear water. They were given warm food, and left to rest for the night. There were others in the barn too. They were happy, so Sparta decided that this wasn't a place to fear. Rhoda was intent on chewing her food thoroughly, so Sparta dozed off for a short while.
She woke at the sound of footsteps walking up the isle, and two of the horses, a gray and a bay, were gently lead and walked outside by a women in her forties. Sparta wondered where she was taking them, but she didn't need to puzzle over the thought for long, because the girl who had brought her and Rhoda her came into her stall and slipped a green halter over her nose and buckled it snug, but loose enough so that Sparta's sensitive face was comfortable. She was lead on a slack line towards a grassy meadow surrounded by kentucky-style white fences. Young horses played in the meadow that she was headed for. The gate was swung open, and the horses inside stopped and watched her enter. They didn't try to run out, and that reassured Sparta. She was released without a halter, and she was immediately accepted into the group. She soon became good friends with a young palomino filly, named Goldie Locks. Goldie was a morab, and had four socks and a blaze. She played with Sparta until neither could gallop, and then they rolled and grazed and groomed each other.
Three weeks after Sparta had been taken to her new home, she was lead by the girl, whose named happened to be Amanda, and was tied to the fence on the inside of a round pen. Amanda left for about a minute, and came back with two buckets, and a saddle. Sparta began to get nervous. But the April air was fresh, and smelled like new grass, calming her. She relaxed as Amanda placed the saddle on the fence rail and slipped through the fence coming towards her. In one bucket was a grooming kit. The other had something that Sparta couldn't see because it was left by the gate. But Amanda brushed Sparta gently with the curry brush, in smooth circular patterns. The dirt was loosened from her coat, and her skin got a massage. Then, Amanda picked up a hard dandy with blue bristles and flicked the dirt off her coat with small, flicking strokes. A smaller, green dandy brush with soft bristles was taken and slid down her coat in long strokes to make her coat look shiny. Then, her mane and tail were freed of knots, and her hooves were picked of mud and manure.
Amanda then took the english saddle pad, and walked towards the little quarter horse. Sparta shied away from it, but panicked when she found she was restricted by the rope. Amanda quickly threw the saddle pad onto the fence and smoothly moved to Sparta's side, where she soothed the three year old and untied her. She lead her toward the gate, where the second bucket sat. Sparta looked inside. 'Food!' she thought excitedly as she saw the oats inside. She shoved her head into the bucket and ate noisily. Amanda took the lead line and put it over Sparta's back so that she wouldn't trip over it if she ran. She took the saddle pad again to the horse and just stood there beside her, holding it. Sparta did nothing, so she rubbed it against Sparta's flank. She glanced upward at the sheepskin pad, then continued to eat. Amanda slowly put it into position, then left it. The liver chestnut filly did nothing at all. The girl picked up the black english saddle from the fence rail and stood beside Sparta with it. Her head shot up and she looked alarmed at the sight of the saddle, but she didn't run. She didn't recognize the shape of the saddle, since the only one she'd encountered was a western styled one. But this one smelled kind of the same, of leather, but this one smelled different too. Like saddle soap, not dust. Sparta decided that she liked the smell, and dropped her head and kept eating. Amanda put the saddle over her back, but did not let it touch her. Sparta raised her head again and watched her as she gradually lowered it until all of its very small weight was on the filly. She watched Sparta's dark chestnut head as it calmly dropped back to the grain, then she took the saddle and pad from her back and put them back on the fence. She did the same thing every day that week, until she could throw the saddle onto her back gently without using grain as a distraction, and the filly no longer was scared of the saddle.
The next week was dedicated to doing up the girth. It was done loosely at first, then gradually got tighter. When Sparta got uncomfortable, she was distracted with food. Eventually, the filly could be saddled up as if she were to be ridden without needing the grain. But the next part would be hard. Bridling wasn't something that Sparta would put up with, and Amanda didn't know what she'd been thorough. When she brought the bridle to Sparta, she ran around the round pen as fast as she could, looking for a way out. She wouldn't calm down until after the bridle was out of sight. Amanda brought out a leather halter, and that also sent Sparta around the pen. Amanda let Sparta relax for the rest of the day, but the next morning, she tried again. But, since it was the shape of the bridle and the material she was afraid of, she used a small, wide strip of saddle leather. She rubbed it on Sparta's neck, and moved slowly to her face.
Sparta didn't look scared, she just had a 'Is there a reason for this silliness?' look in her eyes.
The next day, a strip of leather was added to either side of a nylon halter. It was first shown to Sparta, and when she gave Amanda a questioning look, she slipped it on over Sparta's nose. Each day another strip of leather was added to the halter, until it came to the point where Sparta didn't know the difference between the leather halter, and the what-was-originally-a-nylon halter. The leather halter was soon slipped over Sparta's nose as if it were a regular halter. But bitting was next. Amanda consulted Mr. Fram to help her choose a bit for her horse-in-training.
"Sure." he told her. "I just need to look at her mouth first." So Amanda lead Mr. Fram to Sparta's stall.
The second she saw him, the filly began to freak out. When she discovered she could not run from this man, she attacked him. Rearing inside the stall, se pawed the air, warning the man to back off. But he didn't. Sparta hit the ground and lunged at him, lashing out with her teeth. Amanda and Mr.Fram backed off. Sparta snorted, reared, whinnied, and kicked out at the walls of her stall, scaring the other horses, until Mr.Fram left. But Amanda came back with a variety of bits to try. All were one-piece snaffles. But Sparta wouldn't accept the bit in the bridle. So Amanda used a little trick that she'd picked up. Covering the bit in molasses. Sparta grabbed the bit and licked it happily while Amanda did up the bridle to a snug, but comfortable size. Eventually, Sparta would accept the bit without bribery. Sparta loved her new owner so much, that she didn't fret when She was mounted for the first time. In fact, thanks to Seth's round pen training, they were trotting before the next week. They were schooling over small obstacles by the end of the month. As for Rhoda, she was used as a lesson horse, and was very happy.
As Sparta sailed over a small hurdle, Amanda laughed as she rubbed the filly's neck. Laughter from the girl who had never laughed before in Sparta's time at the stable. Sparta was happy that she made her rider happy. She wanted to please. Sparta had perfectly normal horse life for the next two years. When she was five, Amanda had entered her into a jumping competition. It would be her very first show, and she was looking forward to it. The highest they would jump would be a meter. They should start lower, but they had schooled at home for two years, and Amanda felt they were ready for it. And Sparta was ready. The day of the show came fast.
"Go." Amanda murmured, and Sparta popped easily into a smooth canter. They made their way to the first jump. They hurdled it as if they were jumping a pole on the ground. The next came up and they jumped it like it was nothing, although Sparta stumbled a little on the landing. The third jump was placed near the edge of the arena, and they were loping quicker than they had at the begining of their run. They wanted to beat the highest time. They would have too, had not Sparta been distracted by a man directly by the jump. She did not see him until right before take off. The man with no face. She was sure of it. She jumped to the side, smashing into the wing of the jump. She fell hard into a jump place directly next to it. She was on her side in seconds, a splintered wooden obstacle under her, scraping her skin. She struggled up, and galloped to the far end of the ring. She looked back. The man was gone. Amanda was down. She wasn't moving. Sparta screamed. She continued to do so as she galloped around the arena. Soon, her scream was joined by that of an ambulance. They took Amanda away, and Sparta was packed into a trailer. But she never went home. She went to a place she had been before. With small pens and lots of scared horses, and an anouncer who spoke so fast you couldn't understand him.
The auction. |
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Jan 29, 2011
• 1,930 views
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Always
cool story!
cool story!
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Jan 30, 2011
• 1,981 views
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PonyBox
MOD
Keep it up, very well written.
Keep it up, very well written.
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59 days ago
• 2,021 views
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No Walkin Farms9
I can't wait to find out what happens!
I can't wait to find out what happens!
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41 days ago
• 1,937 views
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