* Huyana

I"m kinda doing this backwards, the ref is going to come before the horse is actually at the stable due to the activity check ^^. Definitely don't want to lose this girl. So just imagine that she is currently still in New Zealand. The information in this reference will be continually updated as her story progresses.

Also, for the record, painting a dead tree was a lot harder for me than painting a normal one >.>. And since it's summer in New Zealand I decided this tree died a year or two ago, maybe some sort of beetle problem got to it and it just never grew back in the spring.

---

<sub>Basic Info:
Name: Huyana (Meaning: falling rain)
Gender: Mare
Age: 4 years
Height: 15.2 hh
Colour: Flaxen Chestnut Pangare Blanket Appaloosa
Genotype: ee / aa / ff / LpLp 
Eyes: Brown
One Trait or Quirk: This mare is absolutely terrified of thunder and lightning. The sound or sight of it makes her rear and buck, and the smell of an oncoming storm makes her nervous and anxious.


Challenge Images:
Reference - You are here
Introductory Image
Mishap</sub>

---

The staff wasn't sure what to make of this mare. She came in during one of the early roundups and hadn't seemed remarkable, other than her lovely pattern, at the time. It wasn't until the first rain storm that the staff realized the potential hazard they had on their hands.

At the first rumble of snorting the mare began frantically pacing the edges of the pen she was in. The staff came outside when they noticed the sudden movement of the herd, her nervous energy was contagious spreading from horse to horse. One of the volunteers was able to pinpoint that she was the source of the panic as the herd seemed to grow worse whenever she passed through them.
The sky darkened as the storm rolled closer to the rescue, the wind picked up and whipped through the valley. What had been a warm summer day started to take on a slight chill.

Lighting flashed, illuminating the sky, the flaxen mare let out a scream and threw out her back hooves, breaking into a run in the already small pen. For a moment the group of onlookers feared she would attempt to jump the fence. To their relief she slid to a stop only inches away from it, tossing her head and snorting wildly.
Their relief was short lived.
The next crack of lighting and the rumbling thunder that followed broke the last piece of the mare's sanity that remained. Overwhelmed by her phobia the mare reared up and plunged back through the herd of horses. Reaching the other end of the paddock she attempted to stop short and missed her footing on the loose gravel. She fell hard, her hooves getting tangled up in the fence. The staff ran towards the pen to do what they could to help but they were too far away. With another frightened neigh the mare increased her struggles to get free and with a frantic kick knocked down the bottom post of the fence. Scrambling to her feet, cuts covering the bottom part of her legs, she stood shaking, eyes rolling with trepidation.

---

Volunteer Staff comments:
"It will take a special rider to help this mare overcome her fear of storms."
"I'm a little concerned about this mare going home with someone. We'll definitely have to make sure to pair her with an experienced rider and trainer."

Placement Decision:
After much deliberation it has been decided that this particular mare will be assigned to a young lady from Texas, USA. Her history with horses contains many highly respectable stables she has trained with as well as glowing recommendations from previous horse owners she has worked with. It is our hope that matching this horse and rider will result in a long term relationship and that the rider will wish to keep the mare after our challenge has ended. Our only concern was that this would be the person's only personal horse

---

First Impressions:
"I wasn't sure what to make of her after seeing the first video of her. I knew at once though that I was in love with the spirit of this mare. I also knew I would do my best to make sure during her training that she never lost that. Our initial in person meeting wasn't quite as picturesque as I had hoped. She didn't make eye contact with me, and we didn't share some kind of special connecting moment, in fact she did her best to avoid me and acted as if I simply wasn't there. I suppose it could have been worse as she didn't appear to be aggressive towards me. Given how much I'd paid to come out to pick her up I had arranged to stay a few days at the rescue and help out as I could. During the days of feeding and watering horses, as well as monitoring them for signs of any physical injuries or illnesses, I'd stop in now and then by the pen she was kept in to say hello. The first two days were uneventful she demonstrated the same behavior she had in our first encounter. On the third day though she actually looked at me before throwing up her head and quickly trotting away from me, joining back up with the rest of the herd. The staff warned me about her incident and her apparent fears of thunderstorms. There were still some visible scratches on her legs which concerned me, but none of them appeared infected or to be bothering her. I was relieved though that it was still winter back home and that I wasn't trying to bring her home during the rainy season, just in case."

---

_{Reference: link}


Art © ShadowRaven1