• WHERE THE HORSES ROAM

    It was midnight, I was only three hours old, my mother was sleeping next to me, breathing deeply. I looked out the stable, the moon shined brightly and the stars twinkled like diamonds above me. I was tired, but I could not sleep. Somehow, I did fall asleep.

    I woke up the next morning, it was 8:00 a.m. A new stallion was just arriving. Mother suckled me. Then I went to play with the other foals in the meadow. There were 6 colts and 8 fillys. They were all older than me, I did not fit in, as I was small. Mother whinnied, calling me to come to her side, our owner put us in the stable and we went to sleep.

    My routine continued like that until I was three, my mother died she was a very old horse. And my owner sold me to a rough old man, who later died of sickness. His daughter took me in. She abused me, I had many cuts and scrapes on my knees. I was whipped when I did not listen. When I was ill, I had to regain my strength myself. The grass in the pasture was unkempt and tasted terrible. The water was scarce. My saddle was torn. My owner did not care about me at all. Good thing she later got married and moved away, putting all of her abused horses in auction. I had it easy though, many horses died before our owner moved away.

    I was sold to a man name Squire Dottie. He was kind to me. I, unlike many of the other horses in the mean lady's stable, got a second chance. By early spring, I was in gestation. But there was a barn fire, all of the horses escaped and roamed free in a herd.

    The herd survived for many months on the plains.

    It was early Spring of the next year. March. The herd was moving west. Only two horses had died in the year that we had been a free roaming herd.

    We stopped to sleep for the night. I was just about to fall asleep when I felt a sharp pain through my body. I was about to have my foal. The other horses lifted their heads and looked at me, some whinnied. I whinnied back, in pain. We would have to keep moving if we were to make it to our destination on time. I could not make it though. I had to stay there. But I had to go. So I got up. And I followed the herd stopping every few seconds. I finally had to stop after 5 miles. I could not go any further. I lay there in pain. Waiting...

    It was the next morning, The herd was no where in sight, the foal was next to me, it could walk already. So I began whinnying frantically searching for the herd, I forced my frustration into speed leaving the foal behind. I fell to the ground and stayed there, knowing that I would not find them.
    Why would the herd leave me there? I fell asleep...

    The next morning, I woke up because my foal nudged me slightly. I got up, and the herd had come back for me. The was already off playing with some other foals. My foal, like me, was the youngest, and did not fit in. I was furious. I charged at the other foals. I did not want my foal to have a life like me. Love, Abuse, Death, Escaping. That is how it went. The other horses knew why I charged at the foals too. I looked at them, breathed deeply, and stared. They began moving again, I followed.

    On our way that night, we passed a ranch, the owner was just closing the stable door when he realized we were there. We did not run. We knew what he was doing.

    The next morning, we were all in a stable again, with blankets on our backs and a nice place to sleep.

    The next morning I fell ill. Our owner did everything he could to bring me back to health. His efforts failed. That night, I died.

    Love, Abuse, Death, Escaping, Love. That is how it went. My Life.

    heart So please help stop Animal Abuse heart