Part 14

We spent many hours in that circular pen together. Mary would approach my right shoulder and after backing away a bit I would eventually stand and she would rest her hand on my side. She even reached under my neck and rubbed my left side a bit. It felt a little odd for her hand to be over there, but I didn't mind. As long as I didn't have to look at her with my left eye. She was much less attractive over there to me, down right ugly in fact. No, I did not like how she looked at all over there. It was amazing the transformation she made when she was in my right vision though. She was much more appealing, she appeared soft and kind over there. I much preferred that to the scary unsightly two legged I saw on my left!


She would step away from me a lot too, encouraging me to step towards her to fill the space and maintain the same distance between us. I would step towards her when she stepped away, but I went no further than that. She seemed to want me to continue approaching her. She bowed her head low and submissive, but I would not budge. I understood the need to fill the space between us when she stepped away. It felt natural to move towards her when her energy moved away from me. My energy just followed hers. But to continue to move in closer, once she had stopped, no that did not seem necessary. So I just stood and watched.


She did all sorts of things to try and interest me. I thought to myself how in my younger years as a foal, how curious I would have been. My child-like curiosity would have overtaken my common sense for sure. I would have explored her. I would have not been able to help myself from approaching her. But I am every bit of 6 years old and in each and every one of those years I have grown wiser. I outgrew that childish ignorance and constant desire to explore.


I was young, only an adolescent myself when I became pregnant. That happened often in the wild. As soon as a filly reached puberty the herd stallion would breed her. It did not matter to him that she was still growing, still a baby herself. So even though I was young and still very much a child I was driven by my maternal instincts to care for my own daughter and I grew up quickly. Having a child, a foal of my own, it changed me. I had to put her best interest and safety above all else. I had to set an example for her, to protect her, to care for her. She may very well be grown up and living a life of her own now, but that changes nothing about the individual that I have become, because of her presence in my life. Had I remained the curious youngster I once was, what good would I have been as a protector of my foal? No, I had to grow up fast and I had forgotten none of that. Mustangs never forget.


Mary continued to seem to try and spark some curiosity in me. She hung things on the rail for me to explore, but I never explored them. I looked, but did not touch. Once she even laid down, sprawled out on her back in the center of my pen. She lay there, motion-less as I watched her. I was confused, honestly I was a bit concerned. I had begun to like her, in my right eye that is. Her laying motionless on the ground like that seemed wrong. I did not want to, but I mustered up the courage to approach her. I walked ever so slowly towards her, stopping a good three feet away. I stretched my neck out as far as it would go. I just barely could reach. Stretching my neck out long and low I felt my muzzle make contact with her skin. I blew hard through my nostrils taking in her smell. Within seconds I snatched my head back and shot away. She was breathing, I could tell. She was ok. She was just going to have to get up on her own accord. It sure didn't seem natural for her to lay like that, but there was nothing I could do so I just watched her lay there from the outer edge of the pen. She laid for a while longer then slowly crawled back up to her feet. I'm not sure what her point was in all of that. Whatever it was it made little sense to me. If she thought I was going to go investigate her on my own accord, she had another thing coming. I had learned much to much in the wild to fall for a trick like that.