Taytim

Young, and in some ways dumb in the world, Taytim had felt the need to be away. More than her endless craving to explore the world she had been driven by instinct to leave the safety and companionship of the friends she had made in the peak. It was the strangest thought for the young mare, to want to be away from them when everything else about her loved nothing more than their company. Even as her instinct to hide herself pulled her away, her guilt and fear turned in her stomach and tightened her chest.

The confusion and emotional strain was nothing compared to the pain that was beginning to spasm through her body. Scared, the little mare picked up her pace, determined to find a place, all she wanted to do was lay down. Taytim stumbled across an outcropping of rock, a cliff, and slope that the warming air had graced with enough warmth to begin the growth of moss and grass. Before she even truly aware of what she was doing she moved to the softest part of the mossy cropping, got to her knees, and rolled to her side, feeling relief for the first time.

Pain gripped her body until she was numb to it, her body instinctively taking over and shielding her from the worst of it. For a first time mother the birth was challenging in its newness and the unknown that came with the experience. Even as the foal breathed its first breath of life in the cold air and Taytim instinctively began to nuzzle and lick it clean, the ache of the process still lingered in the young mother’s body. She rose to her feet, and nudged her filly tenderly, encouraging her to also step up into the world that would one day welcome her voice and her spirit.

The night air was still cold, winter having just starting to release its grip on the land. Shivering, the filly squeaked softly. She shivered, opened her eyes, and looked up at her tired mother. Taytim smiled down at her child and once again nudged her gently, encouraging her with nuzzles. Making a sound that was more of a sigh than a snort worked to get her hooves under her. Every attempt and every move was supported by her attentive mother. Finally she stood, body trembling from cold and wobbling from the newness of standing. She breathed a breath of satisfaction in herself. Pressed together for warmth and comfort, mother and daughter regained their strength with the soft grass and mosses of the cliff.

Over two days Taytim kept her daughter on the cliff, watching her closely as the foal learned her feet. The entire time the mare was restless, eager to return to the presence of the others she had gotten to know. Once she was confident the filly could make it over the terrain, she gently nudged the tiny lass into motion. The dark shapes of the two moved slowly over the Peak until they started to approach common areas for the rest of the horses of the peak. Taytim was just as eager to share her daughter with the world as she was for the world to share its stories with her.

Lifting her face into the air, she whinnied into the wind. Innocently, the foal beside her added her child’s voice to her mother’s call, pleased that she could make the sound, too.

~:Mare

~:Morgan Mutt

~:14.2hh

~:Black Chestnut

~:3 Years