Underneath the harsh sun, Wavu and I rode alongside a few other horse riders and walkers even on the cramped gritty roads. All the other horses seemed to be lugging some kind of cart. Which, when compared to the small bags of food and collectibles tied to Wavu's saddle, seemed completely outrageous.
However, I caught sight of a damsel atop a gray percheron refreshingly free of any over-sized loads. The maiden had night black hair tied up on top of her head and smooth sun kissed skin to go with it. Wavu pushed past a few other horses until I was right at her side. Her brown eyes staggered to me and looked at me questioningly.
I smiled, "That's a strong percheron you're riding." Her face brightened and she looked down at her horse.
"Yep," she agreed proudly. "Rue here has been competing and helping out in our farm nonstop for the past week. I felt it was only fair I took him to the stables for a day off." Pursing her lips, she looked around at the traffic in the streets and the horses barely being able to move. "Too bad for accident last night, Rue and I have been stuck on this agonizing road all morning."
"An accident?" I asked as I recalled the overfilled streets Wavu and I had been met with all day.
She nodded, "Mhm. And apparently, Sir Gyran's been preoccupied with something else so until he gives the all clear, the roads are jammed." I groaned, not my idea of a fun Wednesday morning. Abruptly, the lady beside me held out her hand, "Uh, I'm Carmen, by the way. Carmen Harris."
I took her hand and smiled wide, hoping I could charm her a little bit, "North Bu, my pleasure."
"Same here," she let out a small laugh, the kind that made me think that I was possibly going somewhere with her. Wandering was a pretty lonesome task, and a partner would be a pretty nice addition. "Are you new in town?" I nodded, best to be honest upfront. And when I did, Carmen went wide-eyed and almost halted Rue. In one thin breath she blurted, "You have to meet the Small Hooves."
"The Small Hooves?" As I asked, a small glimmer caught my eye's attention. I followed the shine downward to her finger.
"Yep, in the stables there's a inner area sectioned off for mini horses," she explained. While she did, she moved her hand around and the shine formed into a full sized band on her middle finger. I gave it the benefit of the doubt and hoped she, like many high-class District women, wore it just for fashion. "However, show miniatures are kept with the other show horses in the back near the fields. My fiance works there and he primarily takes care of a mini falabella, an american paint, and a full-sized apaloosa and a lipizzan such as your own." Carmen pointed to Wavu as my hopes sunk through the ground. She saw my shoulders fall and raised an eyebrow. But I just shook my head and gestured for her to continue. "Anyhow, the Small Hooves are the non-show minis. They're either too young or just couldn't seem to keep up with the competition so we let them go and they roam free in the stables or become service animals." Once I started to pay attention, something in the way this town treated their horses just felt wrong. But when I opened my mouth to speak, the other horses on the road started to pick up speed. "Finally. North, follow me."
Eventually, after a couple good minutes of riding, I was faced with a decent sized gritty hill that fell down into a valley sort of thing that was mostly fenced off with the back half of the hill. Carmen let me have a nice scan of it, then brought me to the top, where the stables were.
Hopping off of Rue, she pointed to the back of the hill, "All that and the little valley is the field area while the top of this is the stables." While I was preoccupied being amazed, two men came in for our horses. "See you in a minute, Rue," Carmen smiled and handed hers off to one of the men. Meanwhile, when the other came to get Wavu, I just swatted him away and held on tight to her reigns.
Looking around, all I saw were big, strong and impressive horses. "Carmen, these horses are amazing. They're all workers?" The answer felt obvious, yes, but I've seen some snobbish people take such a gifted horse and waste its life and talent on beauty pageants and whatnot.
"All the ones up front, yeah," she answered. "They're up here because of tight schedules that really only give them barely a day every week or two to relax." As she turned a right corridor, Carmen caught sight of Wavu and said, "You can leave your horse in a free stall, we'll be right back."
Nervously, I looked at Wavu, then back at Carmen and shook my head, "Wavu can follow us." Almost immediately, she gave up that battle and shrugged, leading me to the center of the stables.
When we reached, I found myself in a huge spacious room filled with children and workers and lined with stalls--some occupied, some not. With great pride, Carmen made a huge gesture with her arms and announced, "Here are the Small Hooves!"
Laughing, I looked around at horses smaller than what I could've even dreamed up in my head. "Whoa."
Slightly, she pushed me inside, "They're all either being prepped to serve the disabled, compete in Two's various shows, or they just chill and train small children." On cue, a small brown haired girl ran right in front of us and up to a miniature holsteiner, carrot in hand. Heartwarmed, Carmen continued, "Small Hooves are a fan favorite for obvious reason and youngsters easily cling to them and learn the basis of horse care with them. The downfall only occurs occasionally when the child has to adopt a horse to work with and the one they've attached themselves to is either a service mini or not fit for the competitive life."
Watching the little girl happily feed the horse, I thought of her now being forcefully dragged away from it. "That must be hard," I sympathized. "To have to part with your horse like that."
Her head turned and faced me. "I was one of those kids," she started. "I fell in love with a mini in service training. I'd named her Snow and when I was five, my father decided it was time that I finally ride a horse." Pausing, Carmen took a deep sigh. "I was lucky though, even if I didn't see it at the time. My younger sister was born blind so Snow went to her."
"That's not too bad," I mumbled, trying to lighten up the conversation.
Nodding, Carmen sighed, "Yeah. I mean, I still visit Snow and Anais every now and then, and I soon met Rue, so it really isn't the end of the world." She nudged me with her elbow and winked, "No matter how much your toddler screams that it is."
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