Euphorie

Birth Name:  Euphorie

Meaning:  “Euphoria” (German)

Nicknames: (tell me if you come up with something)

Age:   nearly 9 years old

Breed:   Westphalian Horse x Anglo-Arabian

Exterior:

Pelt:  Bay

Markings:  Irregular Star

Eyes:  Amber

Height: 16 hh

Lineage / Relationsships:

Sire:  unknown Anglo-Arabian Stallion

Dam:  un-named Westphalian mare

Siblings:   likely, but none that she knows of

~*~

Stallion:  Hotspur

Foals: none yet

Herd:  Spring Valley Herd

Friends:  Oriel, Savanna, All that Jazz, Cinnamon, Cottontail, Hotspur

Enemies:  none yet

Interior:

Personality:

Euphorie, despite oftentimes at first giving the appearance that she doesn’t want any other foreign horse to get near her, is actually a kind, gentle, caring mare. She just feels that if she lets anybody get close to her, she makes herself vulnerable. She’s very proud and it’s not easy to gain her trust, given that during her foalhood, she was often the one to be teased or bullied because she’s always been some sort of different.  She is, however, fiercely loyal and willing to do everything needed to make her owner or herd-mates happy. When one gets to know her, she’s easy to get along with, although she can discuss a lot if it’s to get a point across.

She is, however, afraid to get too close to somebody at the risk of losing them again.

Likes:

Her new Herd, Pleasing her owners and herd, freedom, running and racing, new spring grass, spending time with others, foals

Dislikes:

Letting someone down, being locked in, ships, whips, being separated from her owners and old friends, seeing someone hurt

Strengths:

Fast runner, very loyal, very sensitive

Weaknesses:

Mistrusting, finds it difficult to makes friends, not very experienced in the wild

Fears:

Whips, ships and boats, losing her loved ones

History:

Euphorie was bred in Westphalia, a region of western Germany. Around that time, Westphalian horses were mostly bred as carriage horses or horses for work on the fields. However, the owners of the stud she was born on decided to try crossing some of their heavily-build warm-blood mares with an Anglo-Arabian stallion.

Euphorie came out to be lighter-build – much lighter-build than it was good for her. She was much smaller and daintier than the other foals, even than those who were warm-bloods. She had inherited much of her sire indeed.

The owners decided not to use the smaller foals like her for breeding, but instead to sell them to rich families which showed interest in the horses, for they were fine mares and stallions indeed, just not what the breeders needed.

They were bought for the qualities they showed – they were fast, skilled jumpers and showed a great will to work and make their owners proud. They were also mostly very friendly, gentle horses and easy to work with.

But growing up as such a small foal with the other young Westphalians wasn’t easy for young Euphorie – she was made fun of by them for being the smallest, and although she told herself to ignore them, it bothered her. She wanted to be liked by them, not to be the one they picked on. She wished to be like them, but her mother told her that she was special the way she was, something the young filly took to heart.

One of her close friends was Abendstern, another young, small mare and probably her half sister, but the two mares didn’t know about that fact. They were sold to the same family and over the years, they grew to be close friends

When she was six years old, the family which had bought them and used them as riding horses and sports horses until then decided to send her to relatives in the US as a present. And so, it happened – Euphorie and Abendstern were brought to the sea and loaded on a ship to the US.

Being on that ship must’ve been about the most horrible thing the mare had ever experienced. It was a long, long journey under horrible circumstances. Poor Euphorie had to watch her friend die before her eyes because the journey was too much for her.

When she was finally in her new stables and had safe ground below her hooves again, her whole body was shaking and she swore to herself to never set a hoof on a ship again.

She stayed with her new owners for about two years, slowly recovering from the journey she had made. It took her long to make new friends, since she was still dealing with the loss of her friend. She got along with the other horses, but found it difficult to understand what they were saying – she didn’t speak English, after all. But since they were horses, they somehow always managed to communicate, and over time, she learned the language few by few, though her English was still broken.

She was satisfied with her life – around here, she had to work harder than she had to in her old home in Germany, and she didn’t get out on the field as often as she did before, but she just wanted to satisfy her owners.

The situation changed when a new stable help arrived one day. He gave the appearance to be a nice, hardworking, trustworthy guy, but Euphorie could tell he was up to no good. And as it was, she was totally right.

After some time of working for her owners, the young man came to get her out of her box one night. She was confused by this and although she felt something wasn’t right, she didn’t object. It had happened before that they needed her in the night, mostly to get the doctor or some things like that.

But the man wasn’t up to get the doctor. His goal was, as anyone could guess, to steal the valuable mare. When Euphorie realized this, she began to struggle and try to get free, but the man held tightly to her halter and dragged her forward. She started to draw attention to them, but the man had brought another guy which was now starting to beat her with a whip.

Shocked and scared, the mare went with them when they started to flee as fast as they could and dragged her along. They brought her many miles away and eventually, wanted to make sure no one could follow them by crossing the water.

In a boat.

Euphorie completely freaked out when she realized they wanted her to step on that boat. She struggled, she kicked, she reared, and for they first time in her life, she didn’t care if she hurt a human or not. She just wanted to get back home, away from them, away from the whip they were beating her with, just far away.

And eventually, she managed to knock one of the guys out and break free. She spun around and ran without thinking where. She just ran as fast as her legs could carry her before she eventually calmed down.

Only to realize she was completely lost. The mare began wandering around, her body still showing the treatment she’d been giving with the whip. She didn’t want to go back to those humans, she wanted to get back to her old owners.

But without knowing it, she had galloped straight into the wilderness. She was lucky enough to arrive there in late spring, for in winter, she wouldn’t have stood a chance without help. Euphorie wandered around a lot, and actually found enjoyment in being free for the first time in her life. She missed her life as a tame horse, but after meeting the local horses, the mustangs, she found herself interested in finding out more about them.

She also came across the Lakota once and stayed there for a few weeks. They also took her halter away, something she was grateful for. It had started bothering her after a while. Those people were different from her old masters, she could tell, but she liked them.

On her wanderings, she stayed with various herds of mustangs for short times, among them Spirit’s, and, without knowing it, set her mind on wanting to find a herd she belonged if she couldn’t find anyone who could show her the way home.

And eventually, she stumbled across Hotspur’s valley. She stayed there like she did in other herds, but she soon found she liked this place more than the ones before. Hotspur was a really kind stallion, and she felt that since not only she, but also he and Jazzy had been tame horses, she had someone she could relate to.

So when he asked her if she would like to stay, she gladly accepted, feeling she’d found a home. She still misses her owners sometimes, but has accepted the fact that she’s most likely not going to see them again.

RTS:

Stayed in Spirit’s herd and the Lakota tribe for a while

Created for Feathervenoms "The Spring Valley Herd" project. 

The Spring Valley Herd, Hotspur (c) Feathervenom

Cottontail, All That Jazz, Cinnamon (c) Blackhorsebeth

Savanna (c) Khione

Oriel (c) Gums