History

On a rainy day, a mare wanted a safe place to birth her foal, and finding a large weeping willow, she took shelter there and the next morning, as the sun rose, a little foal lay beside her mother. For that full day, neither mother or child left beneath that tree and little Willow did not learn to stand until the sun was setting. She looked weak and frail and half the size she should of been. Her mother never left her side and waited, hoping that Willow would be stronger. The little foal spent most of her time sleeping and that worried the mare since all the foals she would see, and all her previous foals before willow, always seemed joyful and full of life. Willow would have her mother's milk not as often as she sould have but as long as she had something in her stomach, the mother was happy.

On the fifth day, Willow finally stood and stood beside her mother for the full day and had more and more of her mother's milk. Her mother decided that it was time to travel to more grassed area and as she stood there and grazed, Willow would walk around her mother and stood for a moment and after a minute or two, she rested on the ground and slept. 

She wasn't accepted into the heard right away much like her mother when she first joined, since most of the others didn't see them as part of the herd, but if the stallion, Feather, took the mare into his herd while she was pregnant and looked for protection, then no one argued. Most of the foals didn't pay attention to Willow, but there were a few who did want her to join them in their games, but Willow's mother was worried that she was too fragil to play and wanted her to wait longer till she was stronger. The stallion of the herd, Feather, didn't much like having a weak foal in the herd but respected the mare's wishes to keep Willow and give her a chance.

When she turned one, and she grew brave enough to wander from her mother and the others to find her own grazing spot. The other yearlings, the ones who always ignored her and often critisized her, would go up to her, nip her flank, pull her tail hair, and throw insults her way because she was the smallest and weakest mare among the yearlings. One day, one of the young colts took it too far and when she snapped an insult back at him. He bit her shoulder, and shoved her, causing her to fall into the river she was drinking from. All the other's snorted in laughter while her anger grew and grew. Charging out ot the water, she reared and struck his chest and bit his nostril. Her action startled him but he quickly gathered himself and threw out his hind legs, stricking her in the stomach. The air was knocked from her but she stood her ground and when the colt reared, she launched at him. She bit down on his throat and supported his weight with her own body to keep his front legs in the air while she had her hooves tightly hugging his shoulders and her chest supported his. When his struggling seemed to calm, she released her grip on him and allowed him to slide down until he was in the dirt. The colt slowly rose to his front feet, his head drooping, he looked at her and she glared down at him before turning and trotted away, leaving the circle of the yearlings and the colt to join the herd. 

Since then, no other horse bothered her and she was left in peace, but despite Willow being unsocial with the others and violent with the yearlings, she wanted a friend. Just one would do. She may be small, but she is not weak. She stayed away from the heard but wherever they went, she traveled at a distance behind them. Now, she spends most of her time by rivers or lakes, often to lay by the water's edge and rest her head on her knees and look at her reflection and was sometimes distracted by storks or fish passing by or other animals who came to drink, but she would never move from her spot until the sun went down. Only then she would rise and join the saftey of the herd. She would stand beside her mother as they slept and when the sun rises, she would graze either with her mother or alone, close to the herd. Afterwards, when her belly was full, she would go back to the spot along the river or lake to lie there again and stare at her reflection.

Sire: unknown

Dam: Firefly

Siblings: Gunner (half brother)

Mate: (reserved)

Offspring: (none)

Voice: Sarah Vowell (The Incredibles 'Violet Parr')

Name: Willow

Age: 2 years

Breed: Mustang

Eyes: baby blue

Color: seal brown

Socks, Muzzle: white socks, black with a bit of white from the snip and a bit of pink

Mane, Tail: dark brown

Markings: snip, diamond on her forhead, white socks along the top of her socks

Likes: thinking when she's alone, laying beside a pool of water

Dislikes: being critisized, other yearlings in the herd

Relation to Samba/Gunner: older half-sister of Gunner, from an unknown stallion out of Firefly, who once belonged to an Indian tribe.

*character was created on September 10, 2012