[Phase 3] Sweet Victory

Hard work, a bit of elbow grease, and a whole lot of patience is what it seemed to take. With a lot of emphasis on the patience part, because recovery wasn’t a straight or fast road. It had ups and downs and twists and turns and plenty of points where it would have been easier to just give up. To put down the halter and move on to something else that wouldn’t be so difficult. Buch such is life, right? Which is discouraging for many, sure, but if you can push through it makes victory taste even sweeter.

Sunny plodded quietly in a circle, head down and anchored by a lead rope in the center of the ring. A line of kids, some ecstatic while others nervous, waited in relative patience by the fence for their turn to ride the ‘big pony’ as they had taken to calling him. Not that he minded, he was rather fond of kids anyways. Though it had taken him a while to be able to be trusted around them. It had taken him a while to even be trusted around Valerie, his now owner. Because even though no one could blame him for being distrustful and even a bit skittish when he first arrived, that didn’t mean they were going to neglect everyone’s safety with a quick ‘ah, he’s just anxious and let anyone and everyone near him.

“Whoa, big guy. Let’s let somebody else have a turn, okay?” Valerie slowed him to a stop before taking hold of his halter and leading him back over to waiting line, the kids at the fence practically clambering over each other to try and get a closer look before their turn was up. Children’s birthday parties were always some of Sunny’s favorite events. Maybe because Meadow Creek only hosted families that they knew personally or could vet to make sure that the guests would be polite, but also because there were always molasses treats afterwards. And with how long the line of excited kids was, he’d be getting a *lot* of treats for this one.

And treats he got. Because after going through a line nearly a mile long – an exaggeration, sure, but it felt like that to both the easily excitable children and Valerie, who was in charge of wrangling all of those kids – Sunny was tied in a wash stall so he could get a nice hose-down. Summer was some of the busiest Meadow Creek was for events, especially children’s birthday parties, which meant the stallion was working a lot of the time. But that was fine, the kids he got saddled with tended to be on the smaller end of things, so they didn’t aggravate his back as much as a full-grown rider would. And the constant exercise was good for building up his muscles and keeping them strong. Also molasses treats. The horse would never get tired of them, it seemed to be his favorite part of the day.

Snorting, he nuzzled at Valerie’s pockets as she crossed next to him to turn on the hose, causing her to shake her head in return and give him a scratch behind the ear.

“Looking for your treats, huh, big guy? Well, I hate to inform you that you’re going to have to wait. Wouldn’t want them getting soggy, right?” She gave him a pat on the forehead before squeezing the spray nozzle, a steady stream of water rinsing off all the dust, sweat, and dirt from that days work. Warm water at first, so that he didn’t get a shock from it, but she soon turned it down to cool, earning a noise of appreciation from Sunny. A cold bath wasn’t nearly as good as a treat, but it would suffice for now.

“You had a lot of fun today, huh? Liked taking all those kids around for a pony ride?” Valerie cooed as she continued rinsing him off, occasionally running her free hand over his neck and back to check for any potential issues that were either reoccurring or just developing. It hadn’t been easy to get his back strong and head un-tucked, requiring multiple specialists and a lot of work, but it had been pretty successful. They just needed to keep monitoring it to make sure nothing reverted and they didn’t need to change his exercise plan. But she found no such issues; his muscles were strong, his coat was glossy, his head was held where it was supposed to be, and he had filled out quite nicely now that he could comfortably eat again. Maybe a little too comfortably, he seemed to be a bit of a treat-fiend sometimes.

“You’ve got another one next weekend, you know what that means.” Finishing the rinse, Valerie turned off the hose and made her way to the table across from the wash stalls. Sunny’s ears perked up at this, watching her as she reached her hand into the little treat bucket. Of course he knew what that meant, it was his favorite part. Extra treats! He snorted, stamping one of his feet like he was telling her to hurry up. This gave Valerie another chuckle, rolling her eyes as she picked two treats out of the box and trotted back over to him. Sunny could be quite the impatient toddler now that he wasn’t scared of people. Which she supposed was a good thing – a fun little character trait that distinguished him from other horses – but it meant that he got a little bit overeager when it came to things he liked. Ah well, it all balanced out in the end.

“Here you go, buddy. Keep up the good work.” She held the molasses muffins out to him in one hand, reaching her free hand up to scratch his forehead again. Sunny graciously ate the treats, finishing them quickly before nuzzling her hand for more. And when there were none there he moved to trying to rifle through her pockets again. And he came up unsuccessful (like he always did) but it was worth a shot.

“I think two’s enough for right now. Can’t let you get *too* greedy, right?” Valerie patted him on the neck, snorting a bit at his insistence that there should be more as he tried to look in her pockets again. Still nothing, but worth another shot. And he didn’t protest as she clipped his lead rope on, disconnecting him from the cross ties.

“Alright, back outside with you to get dirty again.” It was a light jab, not holding much weight. Sunny was always rather clean, he didn’t like rolling in the dirt like some of the other horses seemed to, always coming back caked in mud and what have you. She led him out of the barn and back down to the pasture, one hand on the lead rope and the other affectionately patting his neck.

They’d come a long way from when she first picked him up at the rescue. He was happy, healthy, and seemed to be enjoying life now more than ever. And maybe he wasn’t a champion eventer. Maybe he didn’t get ridden very often by anyone over the age of 10. But this was so much better than how his life had been before. And to Sunny, it was a relief to be able to live well cared for and in peace. And to Valerie, his rehabilitation was like sweet victory.