Part 13

I had stood in this pen for a few days now. Mary would come in at least twice a day, sometimes three. I mostly rested eating my hay with my herd-mate Samantha P. She would ask me to face her and follow her as she walked around. She would approach me and I would back away until I reached the paneled fence, then I would hold my ground. I could have shot away, but I didn't. I let her touch me. But only where I was comfortable. I still much preferred her on my right side.

Once she even pulled my mane over my neck and began to play with it. She said it was all tangled up and needed to be brushed. The sensation I felt as she touch my mane felt different than when her hand rested on my skin. I could see that her hands were close to my skin, only inches away as she played with my mane. It bothered me for her hands to be so close, yet not rest on my side. I was unsure of what she might do next when her hands just floated in the air beside my neck. I much preferred to feel them lay on my skin than to see them dance around in the corner of my eye as if the could shot off in any direction without notice. I backed away from her when she first tried this. It pulled at my skin and tickled me. I just could not relax with her hands hovering there beside me. After I had backed away again and again Mary began resting her hand on my neck as she played with my mane. I liked this better. I was still unsure about the sensations I felt as she tugged slightly at my mane hair, but I was much more at ease with her hand resting on my side as she did so.

She played with my hair for the longest time. Said I had wind knots as she would tug gently at each individual strand. I wasn't sure what wind knots were. They didn't bother me. Apparently they did her, another one of those strange two legged things I suppose. As long as her hand rested on my neck I didn't mind her playing with my hair. The longer we stood like that, the more relaxed I became. The soft tugging on my mane actually began to feel good. I was really beginning to feel comfort in her hand, just laying quietly against my skin. I began to close my eyes and rested my leg.

As I was about to drift of to sleep in the warm sun with Mary playing in my hair something terrifying happened. In an instant I saw something beside my face move quickly. It was about 2 feet long and about the circumference of a foals leg. I wasted no time and darted quickly away, fleeing the impeding danger. I left Mary standing still in the dust. She had a few of my mane hairs tangled in her fingers and she chuckled at me. "Really?" she said. "I'm sorry, I was just scratching my ear..." Mary had reached up with her arm to scratch her ear apparently, well to me it was terrifying. I did not waste any time trying to figure out what was happening. All I knew is something moved very quickly in the corner of my eye, close to my body and I knew how to keep myself safe from danger. When danger presents itself, you flee. You do not think, then flee. That takes to long. By the time you do all that thinking you have already become the meal of a mountain lion. No you do Not think. You Flee!

This shook me up quite a bit and honestly, I wasn't so crazy about letting Mary approach me again. I know she said she was only "Scratching her ear" but that meant nothing to me. In my mind she did something scary, something I was not prepared for and it made me second guess my new found trust in her. I watched her nervously to see what would happen next.

She began doing what we had done that first time she entered the pen. She sent me forward around the rail, she stepped in front of my shoulder to change direction, she stepped away and asked me to face her again as she snapped her fingers. I began to relax, I did not forget what had happened, no I still remember. It terrifies me to think of that moment in time. But I took great comfort in this moving around the round pen. This facing one another. I had become quite comfortable with this. Every time I stood and faced Mary good things happened to me. She would hum those rhythmic sounds. We would rest together. I felt safe in this position and I felt myself melting back into that safe place I had come to seek.

Mary did approach me again, I must admit, I was nervous. I just could not let go of how her arm so quickly moved beside my face like that and sent me fleeing into a panic. She remained very quite. She moved calm and slow. Slower even than before. As she reached out to touch me I felt the tension rise inside, but as soon as her hand made contact on my neck I took a sigh of relief. Her hand resting there gave me a similar sensation to what I felt facing her in the middle of the pen. I drew comfort from it. She gently pulled some of my mane over to the right of my neck. She began working her fingers through it again, being careful to keep a steady hand resting on my skin. She did not try to scratch her ear again and I was thankful for that.