Post by symphony on Nov 28, 2012 2:20:11 GMT -5
Selena Hassen and Hellion Heiress, Shining High, Ash and Fire
Little Zona practically skipped along down to the pasture beside Selena, trying to rush ahead and join the others before dropping back to sniff at the girl's pockets, which were stuffed full of carrots and an apple for herself. The filly was bursting with energy and ready to play, anxious to join in the games the other yearlings had already begun. There were four of them already down in the front pasture, along with docile old Smoke, who stood dozing in a corner. Ollie stood along the rail of the opposite pasture, ears pricked as he watched Selena lead Zorya's filly down to the pasture. The gelding was awaiting the arrival of a pasture mate or two, as another stable had requested use of a yard for the afternoon.
Zona refused to stand still once they reached the gate, tugging on the rope that Selena held tightly in one hand as she unlocked the gate with the other and led the filly through. Smoke awoke long enough to turn and look at her when the gate clattered shut and she pushed the bolt back into place, ambling over to see what treats she had as Zona snorted and zoomed away once her headcollar had been removed. Grinning, Selena hung the halter and lead over the fence and pulled half a carrot from her pocket, offering it to the docile bay stallion. Smoke snatched the carrot right from her finger hurridly, crunching happily on his treat before sniffing her fingers for more.
"No more, big guy," Selena told the big bay, giving him a pat and laughing as the bay snorted his disappointment. She turned to the yearlings, who had paused in their playing to watch her expectantly; most likely, they had smelt the carrots and were wondering where theirs were. As she moved towards them, she pulled more pieces of carrot from her pockets, one for each of them, and five small noses were immediately thrust towards her. The only two yearlings apparently not interested, she noticed as Banna and Smash fought over who should get the carrot she was holding out in their general direction, were Spots and Badger, her two favourites. Spots, she knew, was a little shy and would let Selena come to her, but Badger would usually be right up in the crowd.
Once all five had had a treat each, Selena held the last two carrots above her head and threaded her way between Blue and Teddy to the other two. Spots accepted her carrot gratefully, chewing on it in her dainty little fashion while Selena offered Banna hers. The filly's ears pricked up at the sight of the long, orange treat on Selena's palm and she lowered her head to sniff at it suspiciously, snorting loudly as if it was going to eat her instead of her eating it. After a long moment, Badger decided the carrot was not going to harm her and lipped it up, crunching noisily. Grinning, Selena gave the silvery dunskin a pat, scratching behind her ears where she always seemed to be itchy.
A loud whinny sounded from the other side of the property, making her turn away from Badger to see what was going on. The sound had come from the dark bay colt that Tally had in the round pen; Eastern Expression, or Chief. The colt had just turned two, and would be stepping out onto the track soon, God help them. Tally was attempting to lunge him at the moment, though from the look of it, the colt was having none of it, peering out through the gaps in the fence at anything that could be a distraction and ignoring her completely. Right now, he was staring at Ollie, who had not responded to the bay's loud greeting, while Tally urged him on and said something to Darren, who was at the gate. Selena had to smile; she just knew there had to be something going on there.
"What d'ya think girl?" she said to Badger, sliding an arm around the filly's neck. "Darren and Tally?" She glanced down as if expecting a response from the filly, but Badger didn't seem to be listening, her little head curved around Selena's body to sniff at her other pocket in hopes of getting at the extra carrot that was stashed there.
"No, that's mine," Selena told her, batting away the filly's nose gently and pulling out the carrot. The nose returned almost immediately, stretched out towards the carrot as Selena bit off a good half of it. "You want some?" she asked the filly, who nickered in response. Selena finished her mouthful slowly, holding Badger in suspense, before offering the other to her. "Here you go then."
As the filly crunched on her snack, Selena walked towards the tree that grew near the far fence, it's branches hanging out over the sidewalk, Badger's nose bumping along next to her elbow. She settled down under the tree trunk in a patch of grass that was long and soft, and pulled an apple out of her jumper pocket, taking a bite. Close by, Badger grazed quietly, and for a long time they stayed like that, Badger grazing and then socializing with Spots - who had apparently grown bored of playing - and watching cars and people pass by the stables. Several of the people passing were leading horses, two of which came from the barns on the racetrack to spend some time with Ollie in his yard, and most of these people stopped to say hello and eye off the two yearling fillies grazing next to her. Selena understood why; Spots was a very loudly colour leopard appaloosa, and Badger was no colour in particular, with a weird badger face marking. Both fillies were eyecatching enough to make anyone stop, and indeed they did; several people who were quite obviously not very horsey at all stopped to say hello and marvel at the seven yearlings and one gigantic bay stallion, who had made it a habit to stand by the fence and say hello to people. Several times, people with children stopped to let their children admire the horses and pat Smoke and Teddy, when Selena called him over.
Eventually, it being the time of day when most horses fell asleep, Badger grew tired of grazing and sat down quite close to Selena to have a nap. Slowly and quietly, the girl moved to sit beside the little dunskin, and when Badger let her, coaxed the filly into lying down fully, her head resting in Selena's lap, in a position where Selena could still lean against the tree. The girl couldn't help but smile; she doubted Badger would trust anyone else enough to fall asleep in their lap like a little kitten.