Mars

Mars stood at the end of her paddock as the sun sunk behind the horizon, peacefully eating away at the weeds beneath her hooves. The woods surrounding the outside of the wooden picket fence were calm as the creatures who foraged throughout the day began to hunker down for the night. Mars was enjoying the last few moments of grazing before the stable hands would come and retrieve her.

The dark bay mare was approaching her golden years, and she embraced that change. From the time that she was old enough to carry a person upon her back, she worked diligently to be the best she could be for her people. She had been auctioned off, sold to families, and taken to some of the biggest circuits in the country.

She was beautiful, even as she grew older, and that was a quality that her final owners hoped to keep up with as she moved closer to retirement. Mars has always been the most bombproof mare in every barn she resided in, and it was a comforting quality whenever she taught green riders.

With all of this being said, when the smell of a storm hit her nose, it didn't really alarm her. However, a rumble of thunder in the distance and the wind picking up, caused the mare to lift her head and check back over her shoulder towards the herd of mares.

They were all pretty down to earth for the most part, apart from Kal. The hotblooded Warmblood pranced in a circle, neck stretched out and nostrils flared. It was quite the spectacle. Mars began to saunter over and joined the ranks of her fellow herd members.

"Kal, you're being overly dramatic." Ginger's voice drifted into the air. Ginger was a small but sturdy mare, and not much spooked her. "Why haven't they come for us yet? What if they forget about us and leave us out in this storm to fend for ourselves?!" Kal exclaimed, her prances becoming more airy as her anxiety grew.

Mars looked at the rest of the herd, her eyes scanning their faces. Tulip had moved to stand underneath Daisy Mae, as a built in friend-and-shelter. Arete was beginning to get twitchy as Kal continuing to spiral out, and Ginger could not even begin to look the slightest bit concerned.

Mars approached the finicky mare, her calm gaze reaching Kal's wild one. "Kal, look at me." she said, her ears pricked forward as she watched Kal. The warmblood stopped in her tracks and turned to look at Mars, meeting her gaze. Mars swished her tail and approached her, standing beside her. "Y'know, out in the wild, horses don't have a barn to take shelter in whenever there is a storm." she mumbled. "My mother told me about bands of horses that live near the ocean, and they have to stand in the sand and endure hurricanes."

Kal dropped her head slightly, looking down at her hooves. Her heartrate began to slow as Mars spoke more about the wild horses who resided on the beach. At last, she was calm. Mars bumped against her shoulder with a chuckle. "Let's all go wait at the gate, hot stuff." The entire herd let out a giggle as they began to move towards the gate, collectively walking slower for Tulip the Shetland and Mars the wise.