The Fight

This post is based on a true story.  Part of have been embellished and parts of just been created.  Since I wasn't there when it happened, I had to take some liberties.

The world is so big when you are young, especially if your entire world can be contained in a single fenced enclosure in a small town.  The world certainly felt big for three young horses named As Fast As You ("Fast"), Prince A Insta ("Prince"), Going For Broke ("Broke").  They ran in a pack with some others, but they mostly kept to their small group.

Interestingly enough, all three of the colts were brothers. Half brothers to be exact, but they all had the same father.  He wasn't a father that looked after them, but he was a father that looked out over them.  They called him the Stallion.  He loomed large both in stature and by the fact the field that he ran in was up a gently sloping hill from where the youngsters spent their days.  From their perspective, the Stallion seemed like a giant.

The Stallion's home was just on the other side of a simple fence.  He was unlike many other stallions of his breed.  He was highly intelligent and generally very kind.  The farmers had let him live next to the yearlings for months and have never had any issues.  They would occasionally holler back and forth, but it was clear who was boss.  He was supremely confident in his new role just as he was on the racetrack.  He didn't feel there was any reason to physically exert his dominance over the young horses.

The three horses had very different personalities.  Broke was the loudest and and fancied himself as the leader of the pack.  Fast was the quiet confident type.  He didn't often lead the pack and many times just went with the flow.  When he did speak, however, his friends would listen and even the boisterous leader would back down and go along with him.  Prince was the jokester of the group.  He was usually found in the back and the others enjoyed having him around.

The young horses and the Stallion lived their separate lives, right next to each other for months.  The three brothers would often talk about what they would do if the Stallion broke through the fence and came after them.

"I'd stand right up to him," said Broke.  "He isn't all that tough.  I bet I could stare him down and he'd just walk away."

Prince just laughed, "Sure you would tough guy.  You're all talk...you'd turn tail and run if the Stallion even came close to the fence!  At least I'll admit what I'd do.  I'd be up over the hill and screaming for my life trying to hide behind anything I could find!"

Fast stood there silent.  "What would you do Fast?" Broke finally asked.

"I guess I don't know for sure.  I'd like to think there is a chance he'd want to talk to me, but if he broke through the fence he probably wouldn't be in the mood to talk.  To be honest, if he went through the trouble of busting through the fence to come after us, I'd be pretty ticked off.  We're just a couple of yearlings.  We don't pose him any threat.  Maybe I'd tell him to leave us alone."

"Make sure you say it loud so I can hear you from over the hill," said Prince and the group all had a good laugh.

Days went by and very little changed.  The colts got a little bit bigger and they continued to live their lives with the Stallion watching over them.

It all changed one very hot and humid summer day.  No breeze.  The air literally felt heavy.  With the summer sun beating down on the dark coated colts, their moods were sour.  They were uncomfortable and unhappy.  The same attitude was also afflicting the Stallion. The normally calm horse was clearly on edge.  Running the fence line and staring at the young colts.  He'd then go back to his barn, but not long after, he'd be back.  Fast, Prince and Broke were on edge.

"What's wrong with him today?" Broke asked.  "He's really starting to freak me out.  He's ran that fence and look at us before, but not like this.  I think we need to just back off."

"Wait a second...I thought you were getting ready to stand up to him?  Next time he comes down you should run the fence with him and see who's faster," taunted Prince.

In the time that it took for the three horses to look at each other and share a laugh, the Stallion was back at the fence, but this time he wasn't running the fence line.  He ran right through it.  For the first time in there lives, there was nothing between them and the Stallion. 

The muscular Stallion towered over the young horses and his presence triggered the most natural reaction a horse has for both Broke and Prince.  They turned and ran as fast as they could.  They assumed the Fast was right behind them, but when they got clear and looked back, their hearts sank.   
What they saw appeared to be the biggest mismatch since David took on Goliath.  Fast was standing face to face with the Stallion.  The move surprised the Stallion and he didn't make a move right away.  Then, sensing that the young horse was actually contemplating a challenge and pounded his front hooves on the ground.

"Get out of there Fast!" his brothers yelled, but Fast didn't move.  He stood there, half in awe and half in defiance of the Stallion.

It was then that the Stallion let out one final warning blast and stood on his hind legs.

Fast whinnied back.  His voice sounding pathetically weak compared to that of the Stallion.  For some reason, he couldn't bring himself to back down.  He was mad.  The Stallion had no business bothering them.  He was just in a bad mood, but so was Fast.

A feeling of panic began washing over his brothers bothers as stood as statues just 50 feet away.

"The Stallion's going to kill him," Broke softly muttered.

Fast's could hear the farmers yelling and could see them running out of the corner of his eye toward the site of the standoff, but he knew there were too far away to stop this.  He would never strike first and it was going to be up to the Stallion to decide if this was going to go from a standoff to a live battle.  As the Stallion reared up again, Fast knew that he was past the point of rescue.

He felt the first blow his his side, but everything after that was a blur.  He knew there was more blows and bites but it wasn't until a front hoof came crashing down on his stifle that the real pain set in.  He tried to fight back, but to an outside observer it may have appeared that he wasn't trying at all.  It was all happening so quickly and he was woefully in over his head.

At last, the farmers arrived and grabbed the Stallion before he could do any further damage to his young offspring.  As he stood there trying to asses how bad he was beaten up, he caught the Stallion's eye.  He gingerly turned to face him, nursing his injured back leg.

"You would have done the same thing when you were a kid, Stallion.  You would have stood your ground."

The anger in the Stallion's face faded and a was replaced by a wry smile.  His eyes narrowed as he looked at his offspring with a tinge of respect.  "That's exactly what I would have done."

Let's hope that our little Fast carries the same level of toughness that his father had.  If he does, we may be in for a fun ride.