Phase 2 Bonus - First Interaction

The sudden change had been startling, the open hills she’d grown on disappearing in favor of this strange place and its stranger inhabitants.

Humans, her mother had called them when the herd spotted them at a distance. Two legged things with an odd interest in them.

The dark mare had never thought much of them, even when she’d seen some riding other Loshenka and other types of horses.

She had grown from filly to mare within her herd, rushing across the hills they owned.

And then she had suddenly been brought here by the humans in their metal contraptions. For days, they left her to the open field they released her in, doing little more than dropping yellow-brown, crispy grass over the fence and ensuring the trough was full of water. Though she’d found a pond too that was just as good for drinking, and the grazing wasn’t bad either.

She spent most of her time by the far fence that was keeping her here, not daring to try and jump it but calling for her herd, for all that she’d known, all the same.

A part of her knew they weren’t coming, that she was far from all she’d known, but what was she to do? There were no other horses here, and the rest of her herd had escaped as far as she knew. Even the humans left her mostly to her own devices, though admittedly she darted from them whenever they dared try to approach.

And then a new one arrived, a female. Woman, the mare thought humans would’ve called her.

The strange creature simply walked to the middle of the field and sat down, watching the horse and their surroundings in equal, quiet measure.

It was odd, and for a while the Loshenka ignored her.

But the human remained, only moving enough to set something down beside her. And then the mare was left to her pacing, and the human sat quietly.

Eventually, she couldn’t deny her curiosity. The humans she’d seen before always seemed so busy, so why was this one sitting around for so long?

She paused her pacing, ears twitching as blue eyes focused on the human, watching, considering.

The human offered a smile and soft clicking noise.

Her ears laid back and the noise stopped, the human looking away again.

The human was weird…

She approached anyway, slow and measured, ready to dart away to the other side of her containment at a moment’s notice.

The human glanced at her but didn’t react much until the Loshenka was nearly right in front of her.

“Hey, sweet thing, I was wondering if you’d come over here. What would you think of a nice carrot, hm?” The human reached into a small package sitting on her lap and pulled out part of a carrot, holding it out to the mare.

The horse’s ear flicked, hesitant despite the tasty looking bite. But… This human seemed nice… Maybe it wouldn’t hurt…

She eased forward enough to carefully take the offered snack, watching the human smile as her hand slowly moved to just barely brush over the mare’s neck. “Good girl. I knew you were actually pretty gentle, just scared here all alone, huh?” She smiled again, and the mare tilted her head. “Don’t worry, you won’t be alone for long.”

They stayed there another long while, treats and slow touches building the beginning of a relationship.