An afternoon of pure calmness passed into night as a comfortable new stallion awaits any order. As with the downing of a red Sun the night's cool air refreshes the barn and it too lulls your senses.
The pondering thought of how to lay down comes as an abrupt flop of this large body. One snort from those great nostrils again suggests one to calm and with head to the straw a horse drifts off into dreamland.
Clangs and banging of the owner brings one to awake, stand, and greet the first full day as a horse.
"Good Morning!" he greets you with warm friendship.
A long time honored response is a quick reminder that what one was is not what one is now. The brute forced whinny of a strong young stallion rattles the rafters as you respond.
"Laughing, the man pats your smooth and strong neck saying, "easy big boy, easy, your voice is loud enough to wake the dead!"
The way he talks to you seemed for a moment to be degrading but with his pat and touch the sensual feeling removes the human experiances leaving a calm equine feeling.
"Had a good nights rest I bet, a quarter bale of Hay, a ration of grain, and soon you shall meet a friend of mine!" announced my Owner.
Somewhere in the middle of my morning meal a small wondering comes to the forefront. "Owner, is this a word which might suggest I had agreed to be a slave? Oh but a slave is a man in bondage, but I'm not a man anymore! I agreed to be a horse, can a horse be a slave, he is held in bondage by leather straps and this horid steel bit!" The questions fade with a reach of lips to gather a mouthful of Hay.
Odd it was but as time went along the mind became channeled into one thought, one movement at a time.
Again with chewing the mind was not needed for any major directing so the questions came once more. "Bondage, can a horse be a slave? No a horse is an animal and it's movement governed by bit and bridle, just as the Bible says! Yet I'm kept in leather bindings, bondage to work my life without pay and do as told by a master and Owner? Oh no, silly no, a horse is an animal and has no will of it's own, therefore it can't be a slave or in bondage! I'm free of human problems, a horse I be and everything is calm and filled with joy!" so I thought at that moment.
It was as I drank the water swallowing what dry grain my huge teeth did mash into a slurry. In came a man large and muscled as if he's spent his younger years as the horse I am now.
He came near and the scent coming from him made me feel very uneasy.
"Easy there boy!" came soft words of comfort but from deep inside me came the feeling he was not a friend.
A large warm hand runs along my withers, down my back, and swirled around the base of my tail.
"Arthur, he's a fine specimen!" called this big man to my Owner.
"Yup, got him yesterday, can you shoe him today?" asked the Owner as the thought of wearing shoes seemed odd. I thought a long time as the man lifted this foot and that as to what kind of shoes he'd make for this new me? Yet too, I wondered then in looking down how would I tie the strings with no hands and just these fine hoofs?" all these thoughts raced about in my big head.
The answer was swift and terrible as the man lifted one hoof and holding it between his knees did hammer home my iron shoes.
The Owner smiled as I looked his way feeling what then was such a horrible feeling as with each pound I realized my form and life as a horse.
Foot after foot was then a hoof and shod in heavy iron forged shoes.
As I stood there, the Owner paid a price for my shoes. I felt them against the brick floor of this my home and his stable. Hoofs felt better but the added shoes brought me back to feeling trapped into life and humanity.
My Owner seeing the pain I felt took the reins and led me to a small paddock of green grass and white four rail fence. A click and the rein was off, then a slap to my round rear made me run ahead and turn to see.
"Take your time to get used to being shod. Try to master the ability to graze and learn to frolic as the horse you are and will remain!" said my Owner in a less comforting way and with the force he had over my life.