✦ BONUS PROMPT 2: One Step at a Time

Bonus Prompt 2: Milestones

✦ One Step at a Time ✦

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One of the first big milestones when it came to Shrimp's rehabilitation and training had to be getting him to be prepared enough to be turned out. Teagan had decided to take small, little steps in the beginning, as he didnt want to overwhelm Shrimp anymore than he already was. It definitely would not help if he made Shrimp's association with open spaces worse than it already was. The goal was to make it positive and enjoyable.

So he'd only take Shrimp outside on a lead for a few short minutes, along with Bounty Hunter or with one of his friends’ horses, so Shrimp had some kind of companionship through the ordeal. Especially if Shrimp could draw some comfort from the other horse and also learn from them that large open spaces were not so scary after all. 

After doing that a bunch of times, Shrimp seemed to get a little more comfortable with each outing. Though they still had a long way to go. But even the tiny improvements were small victories to Teagan, as that showed that what he was doing for Shrimp was helping him get better.

Teagan finally ended up giving Shrimp access to the personal little turnout area that most stalls had, depending on their location, when it seemed that Shrimp wasn’t super anxious when outside. When he opened it for the first time, Shrimp seemed curious, yet he was nervous about it and wouldn't go out there. Though when Bounty was able to go out in his own little section, Shrimp had more courage to go out there. As the only thing separating the two was a fence. But Shrimp still found comfort in having the other Loshenka close by.

It definitely took a while before Shrimp was comfortable enough to go out there by himself. The little turnout did help give Shrimp some more enrichment and entertainment. He was able to experience the outdoors yet go into his stall if he was overwhelmed.

The biggest one had to be when Shrimp finally went into one of the pastures. It was still smaller than the bigger ones they had, but it was comforting to know that he was getting better. He did look nervous, but had quickly found Bounty, and thus, comfort too. Shrimp was only out there for a short time though, as Teagan didn't want him to get overwhelmed. Some days were worse than others and seemed like no progress was being made, and yet there were also good days as well, where it appeared like they were making good progress.

Sometimes, the really important parts are the littlest steps.