✦ Phase 1: Stalled in Place

Phase 1: First Impressions

✦ Stalled In Place ✦

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It had been stated that due to how many people and facilities signed up for the makeover, that only those selected would hear back from Sagebrush Sanctuary and to check their emails between the 29th and 31st in case you happened to be one of the selected applicants for the program this year.

So of course, it quickly became a part of Teagan’s routine the next few days, to check his email a handful of times throughout the day to see if anything pertaining to the makeover would appear in his email inbox. It was on the 30th of May, in the morning, when the email he had been hoping for finally appeared in his inbox.

Teagan felt giddily yet a bit nervous as well. What kind of issues would his assigned horse have? Would they be easily solved or extremely difficult? In what shape would this horse be in? Would they not want to do anything or would the change in scenery and new faces make them curious to try something different? It was all unknown. Yet some of his questions would, hopefully, be answered in this email.

This a small shake of the head, as if to actually shake these rampaging thoughts out, he moved the mouse to click open the email.

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To: teagan.gardner@gmail.com

From: loshenka.makeover@sagebrush.sanctuary 

CC: wren.hart.@sagebrush.sanctuary

Subject: Loshenka Makeover 2024: Acceptance

Thursday, May 30th, 07:17 am

Hello Teagan, I’m Wren. I’ll be your Sagebrush Sanctuary contact for the Loshenka Makeover.

Your assigned Loshenka is a Snappish Sea Shrimp, Shrimp for short. His ID is 6407. All of his documentation is attached below, along with some videos of said issues that he has. He’s only been here with us at Sagebrush Sanctuary for a short while.

Here is the access code: Y29HT-28BEF-46VOX.

Use this to get onto his profile on the site at: SagebrushSanctuary.net/loshenkamakeover2024/profile/ID-6407. Once you get into his profile, create a password to continue to access his profile throughout the time of the makeover.

You have the ability to edit the “progress” area under the “makeover” tab. As I’m sure you can put two and two together, you can put in the progress he makes during his time with you there.

You may contact me by my email: wren.hart.@sagebrush.sanctuary

Or via my phone number: xxx-xxx-xxxx

Please feel free to contact me if you have any questions, something changes, or problems arise throughout your time working with your assigned Loshenka.

It’s already been put in that he’ll be sent your way via trailer on the June 2nd. Should arrive sometime between 9 am - 9:30 am, though if anything changes or if there’s some delays. I’ll let you know as soon as possible. But if you’d prefer to come pick him up, let me know right away so I can change his transportation plan and let the transportation manager know there’s been a change in plan.

Otherwise, I wish you the best of luck with him and can’t wait to see the horse that comes out at the end of this. 

4 Attachment Included
Sagebrush Sanctuary - Loshenka Makeover 2024 - Makeover Subject: 6407.pdf

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 Sagebrush Sanctuary - Loshenka Makeover 2024 - Makeover Subject: 6407 - Cribbing .mp4

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Sagebrush Sanctuary - Loshenka Makeover 2024 - Makeover Subject: 6407 - Weaving .mp4

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Sagebrush Sanctuary - Loshenka Makeover 2024 - Makeover Subject: 6407 - Anxiety.mp4

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Teagan clicked on the preview button of Sagebrush Sanctuary - Loshenka Makeover 2024 - Makeover Subject: 6407.pdf to see the contents of the PDF file. It had information about his assigned horse, as promised. All his issues, recent vet appointment, ect. Pretty much everything about him basically. But what made Teagan stop scrolling was the image that was also in the PDF file.

The image was of a mostly white stallion with a splash of color on his rump, a tail of a similar color to the spot on his rump, and pretty hazel green eyes.

During the sign-up period, Sagebrush Sanctuary had a page on their site showing off all the horses that were a part of the makeover. Teagan had, at the time, looked at a few of the horses before stopping himself. He didn’t want to get “attached” to one or end up getting a “favorite” horse before the makeover began and end up being “bummed out” for not being assigned one he “wanted”. It wouldn’t be fair to anyone involved, and the sanctuary couldn’t read his mind. So he had stopped. Besides, who didn’t like a surprise? Well, there were probably some people he could name.

Once sign-ups were closed, the page became inaccessible. It stated it would during the time the sanctuary was assigning horses and once all horses were assigned, the page would open again. It will probably open up in the next few days considering assignments weren’t expected to finish today.

But he recognized this stallion. This particular stallion had been one of the few he had initially looked at before stopping himself. What were the odds of that happening? He rubbed his eyes with the palms of his hands before looking back at the laptop screen. Yep, the mostly white stallion was still there.

Then, a ping on his phone went off. Teagan reached for it, once he had a hold of it, he turned it over. On the screen was a text message from an unknown number. Yet the text message alone let him know who it was that sent the text.

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xxx-xxx-xxxx:

Thursday, May 30th, 07:20 am

Hi Teagan. This is Wren, your Sagebrush Sanctuary contact for the Loshenka Makeover. If you haven’t already, there’s an email waiting for you with your name on it about a special someone 🐴

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With a hum, Teagan quickly saved the number into his contacts, before pressing the “edit” button to add in the email as well. Along with adding a small note in the “notes” section to add “Sagebrush Sanctuary contact for Loshenka Makeover” as well. Along with adding a small unicorn emoji (🦄) too.

Teagan then looked over the videos that had been sent along with the email. He clicked the first one, Sagebrush Sanctuary - Loshenka Makeover 2024 - Makeover Subject: 6407 - Cribbing .mp4, which showed, as the name implies, the horse putting his front teeth on the wood of his stall, neck arched, pulling back, and grunting. In the moments that he would pause, he’d lick the surface before repeating what he just did.

The next video Teagan clicked was  Sagebrush Sanctuary - Loshenka Makeover 2024 - Makeover Subject: 6407 - Weaving .mp4. Once again, as the name suggested, showed the horse standing, shifting his weight from one front hoof to the other. His head and neck followed along with the motion of shifting from one place to another. Back and forth, back and forth, back and forth.

Finally, the last video, Sagebrush Sanctuary - Loshenka Makeover 2024 - Makeover Subject: 6407 - Anxiety.mp4. The horse seemed to never be still, pacing, decreased appetite, pawing, tail swishing. Obviously, cribbing and weaving were included. It was like the horse was never 100% calm or relaxed. When led outside, the horse tried to turn around to head back into the barn. He seemed very jumpy and would freeze, not wanting to move anywhere other than back inside the barn.

The outdoors was probably too much and had too much stimulation for him. Considering he was left in a stall, there probably wasn’t much in there.

Well, time to get to work and prepare while there was still time before Shrimp the Loshenka arrived.

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It wasn’t long before June 2nd rolled around. It truly left like Teagan had blinked and the day went from May 30th to June 2nd in an instant. It probably just had to do with everything they had been doing to get prepared for the new arrival. Lyra had been kind enough to help him out and also prepare the other stall where the makeover Loshenka would live after being quarantined. 

A quarantine stall had been set up for the makeover Loshenka, as an extra precaution just to make sure, in case he did have something contagious, it wouldn’t spread to the other horses. One could never be too careful. Teagan would much rather be safe than sorry. It also didn’t hurt to have a second opinion and double check everything. 

He’d be there for a short while though, as the vet would be coming out the next day to check him out and make sure he was as healthy as he could be at his current state. Once he’d, hopefully, get the all clear, he’d be moved to the stall prepared for him to call home and hopefully find comfort in…

Teagan and Lyra were currently outside the barn, the time was 8:57 am, so they'd be arriving any minute now if they got here right at 9 am. It wasn’t long before a long trailer came into view, making its way up the driveway to them. Eventually, the truck and trailer came to a stop. The trailer was white with “Sagebrush Sanctuary” written on the sides in a green color that was reminiscent of sage.

A man and a woman got out of the truck, the lady making her way over to the pair as the guy went to unload the stallion from the trailer. “Hi, I’m guessing one of you is Teagan?” She asked, papers in hand.

“Yep, that’s me.” Teagan took a few steps forward towards her, Lyra trailing not far behind. Though her eyes were glued to the trailer.

“There’s just a little bit of final paperwork before he’s “officially yours” for the duration of the makeover.” The lady explained, making air quotation marks when saying the words “officially yours”, before handing over the paper to Teagan.

As Teagan focused on filling out the paperwork. The man had gotten ahold of the subject of the matter. The stallion slowly and hesitantly walked off the large trailer, halting every few steps and looking around in an almost frantic way. Even glancing back at the trailer as if that was better than being in this “space” that was around.

“Oh, he’s gorgeous.” Lyra murmured softly, watching as the man and stallion made their way over to the small group. Hearing Lyra’s words caused Teagan to glance up from the paperwork. He hummed and nodded in agreement. The pictures and videos definitely didn’t do this guy justice in showcasing just how pretty he was, even if he wasn’t in the best of shape.

Lyra slowly moved her hand outwards once the stallion was close enough, allowing him to sniff her hand. The Loshenka seemed a little interested, yet still quite anxious. Lyra was then handed over the stallion’s lead rope. “He’s pretty well behaved for the most part. Just be aware he spooks a lot. Especially outside.” Was the bit of advance the man gave.

“I’m just gonna bring him inside.” She mentioned to Teagan, figuring that getting inside the barn might minimize his anxiety a little. She was going to be Teagan’s “partner in crime” after all during the makeover, so she had been informed about all of Shrimp’s issues.

Finally, with signing his name at the bottom, Teagan handed the paperwork back to the woman. “Thank you and the best of luck.” She said, turning to head back to the truck. The man had already gotten to work at closing up the trailer. “Oh! You can keep the halter and lead rope. They’re Shrimp’s!” She added on.

“Thanks, and safe travels!” He softly called out, waiting a few extra moments to see the two get in the truck once the trailer was all set and drove down the driveway, eventually disappearing from sight.

Teagan then turned, basically speed walking into the barn. He didn’t want to go too fast, as he didn’t want to spook Shrimp. Yet he was excited too. He noticed the two hadn’t gone far into the barn,  staying in the large hallway. The stallion looked over his shoulder, watching Teagan approach.

He seemed a little calmer than he was outside, yet still anxious. This was a new place after all and there were stalls most of the way down the hall. So it was understandable. Hopefully with time, that would change, and for the better.

Teagan slowly got near the stallion, unintentionally mimicking what Lyra had done prior outside. Allowing the stallion to sniff him out, before carefully running a hand over his forehead. The stallion seemed to lean into the touch slightly. “Welcome to your new home, Shrimp.”