Winter FillybySilverwolf ©![]() Winter’s sharp wind burned through my frozen skin as I trudged across the slush covered ground toward the barn. The nylon lead hanging limp from my cramped cold hand suddenly grew taut, yanking me from my stride and forcing me to turn stiff necked to encourage the chestnut mare standing stiff jointed behind me. “Come on girl. It’s too cold to stand out here.” Ears flat to her head, her dark brown eyes followed the drifting snow that scurried across her path. Pulling the hard leather glove from my free hand with chattering teeth, I reassured her with a couple pats along her soft, trembling neck. She nickered nervously and stepped ahead, though fear still showed the whites around her dark irises. She trembled along a few more steps, then halted again. I’d lost count of the number of times we had stopped in the distance from the back field where her terror-filled flight had taken her the previous night. The weirdness of a winter thunderstorm and the coincidence of a cheap stall latch combined to drive a high strung filly out into the freezing night. Hours searching turned night to day and morning to mid-afternoon before I finally snapped the chain of the lead to the ring suspended under her whiskered chin. Now night drew on as we still moved toward the shelter she abandoned. More coaxing, a halting few steps. On it went. Just lifting my legs became excruciating and the last steps were made dragging my ice bound boots till they crossed the sill of the barn. Her front hooves hadn’t cleared that sill when last nights terror replayed in her mind and she froze stiff-legged and pulling against the lead. I slackened the lead; she pulled back a step. Holding the lead tight but not pulling forward, I again stroked her neck, my frost-covered lips mumbling incoherent consolation. Finally she relented and passed through. I cross tied her in the alley and quickly slid shut the heavy door. I hit a switch beside the near stall, flooding the barn with light. Under the yellow glare the mare appeared horrible, her coat matted with mud and melting snow. Her muscles beat rapid waves through her skin as her body fought to warm itself. Surprised, I realized my body was doing the same. In the corner was a salamander covered with tarps and I placed it near the door, firing it up. I then stripped my soaked coat and grabbed the grooming tray from my tack box. Slowly, I slid snow from the filly’s trembling back as the salamander filled the stalls with fumy warmth. The filly stretched her fine neck as far as the ties allowed to watch me brushing mud from her flanks and nickered again. “You scared me little girl” I whispered as the brush slid under her belly. Her body steamed still as it dried, helping my decision not to blanket her. She had stopped shivering at least, as had I, and I led her to her stall. The latch still broken, I twisted wire from a straw bale through the rings that remained. Shutting down the heater in the now stifling barn, I bedded her heavily with the oat stems from the bale. I hesitated about feeding yet, and instead checked that she had adequate water. My filly was dry and warmer, and thankfully bump and bruise free, but I noted that my clothes now clung clammy to my chilly skin. I sloshed along in wet boots and gave her a few flakes of hay. A ways home I did not look forward to, nor did I want to leave her alone yet, and I started up another heater that would maintain but not overdo the temperature before stripping my wet cloths and hanging them from the door of an empty stall. She draped her neck over her stall door, snorting at my nakedness, and I laughed. “Don’t look so good in my skin as you do, do I kid?” She snorted again. After an hour I grained her, light. Another hour found her circling her stall and laying down. Worrying about colic, I entered the stall stethoscope in hand. She lay on her side; hooves tucked beneath her barrel, and lifted her head as I entered. I found noise in her guts, putting me at ease, and found tingling warmth as her body touched my naked flesh. I lay my head softly on her chest, listening to her lungs as my head filled with her equine scent. I felt her breath puff gently along my bare back, the heat of her body spreading to my own. My arm draped over her back, I snuggled in against her smooth stomach without realizing it. I shifted; bringing my head near her shoulder as my knees curled in front of her hips and closed my eyes. Her steady pulse lulled me and her warm breath dulled my senses. She nickered softly in my ear, her hot breath steaming my hair. I opened my eyes to find the sun streaming through the window above us. Her velvet chin touched my shoulder and I stretched, pushing my body closer to hers, my hardness pressing her abdomen, and shut my eyes to the glare. end "Site content and stories Copyright secured 1998-2003 Silverwolf & Silverwolf Industries" "E-mail the Author at silverw122@netscape.net" |