Chosen By a Horse

 Welcome to the Roentgen Event!
 Horse: Everdeen
 Handlers: River Summers and Stormy Summers
 Featured Horses: Mix It Up Max, Trojan Whore, and Trade Monopoly


Stormy smiled as she watched Jesse lead Everdeen into their two-horse trailer. He was taking the Roentgen stallion to the Blue Ram Event, and hopefully he was going to bring home a dressage ribbon. The stallion stopped and rubbed his head all up and down Jesse's Windswept polo, which made Stormy laugh. She remembered going with her mother to pick out the stallion and bring him home. They had heard about a breed one of their close affiliates - Double A Estates - was heavily investing in, and decided to go see what they could do about bringing home one of their own.

The breed was certainly a unique one - a horse straight out of Chernobyl, radiation and all. Chernobyl scientists had been studying herds of feral horses since the great nuclear disaster, and eventually came to create a breed out of them once they realized the horses' irradiated bodies were of no harm to themselves or others. The Roentgen home facility had been established just outside of Chernihiv, Ukraine, the closest large city to Chernobyl.

As soon as they arrived in the Ukraine, they rushed off to the facility. The adoptable horses were all in large pastures surrounding the facility's stables and veterinary clinic. The horses didn't seem to mind being watched by humans. Some of them were tall and thin - the Beta build, the guide explained - and some of them were smaller and stockier, the Alpha build. Stormy and River toured them all, admiring the breed's glorious colors and strange mutations, from zebra-like stripes to wildly colored manes and tails. In one smaller pasture there were four horses, all huddled closely together. All of them were smaller, built almost cob-like, with dense manes that looked like they would stick straight up if they were shaved that way. Kinda like Fjords, River thought, thinking fondly of their little Fjord colt back home. Two of the horses, a bright bay with one white sock and a champagne-silver-black chimera, completely ignored them, preferring to show their tails. A champagne snowflake appaloosa mare watched them carefully. As they leaned up on the fence, the last horse, a dark chocolate palomino stallion walked up to them. Stormy was immediately struck by his bright blue eyes and the way he stuck his tongue out at her. River could tell that the stallion was gentle and calm, and certainly friendly - he went right up to her and nickered at her, rubbing his big head up and down her Windswept polo. River smiled and patted him and the stallion nodded, nickering and snorting.

Stormy laughed. "I guess we don't have to choose a horse, Mom. He's chosen us!"

Word Count: 446


References: Herd 1 | 1035 | Leaning 11 and 4 [won't link]