My earliest memory is of a warm stable, the dawn light breaking in over the door. My mother stood over me protectively and I was always hungry. I can't remember my first steps, but I know that I had consistently high steps in my gait, held up with pride of my good breeding.

My mother and father were well known on ranch where I was born, they were the perfect pair, although I had three or four half siblings. That is the way of man, choosing themselves what they want to be bred. I understood from an early age that one day I was to be a mount for an important human.

My parents gave me the best start in life. My mother was a dark bay, and I was the last of her children. At the grand age of 20, the dark points of her coat were beginning to fade into a dull grey. She was lean and small, the complete opposite of my father, who stood at over 17 hands and was covered in strong muscles, and had a rich chestnut coat, almost red. I inherited my sorrel colour from him, my mane and tail slightly lighter than my body.

I was born in the late spring and a number of foals were already in the paddock when I was let out for the first time. I raced up and down the field with them, always winning despite being smaller and less experienced. Because of my natural born skills and my praised blood, a lot of the mares turned away from me straight away. I may have been son of the two most respected horses on the farm, but I had yet to earn the same respect.

Because of how they felt, the mares discouraged their colts playing with me. I got a whole lot lonlier since the fillies rarely rose to the challenge of a gallop. My mother argued with the other mothers because of it, and she lost a great number of friends through the process, but to her, being a mother meant more. I felt lucky to have her.

On the occassion that a filly would play with me, I did whatever she wanted, anything to have a friend. One young female I met would change my life forever. Her name was Maralyn. Silver Bay and utterly beautiful. I fell for her straight away, of course, and she stuck with me most of my childhood. I gave up on the other foals after a while, it was only her that I wanted to be with.

When my fluffy baby fur started to molt my darker, brown coat shoed through. My mane thickened and became lighter as my hooves became harder and turned light grey. I looked more handsome once I looked less gangly on my legs. At two years old my mother would be taken for training in the arena and I would watch, transfixed, as she leapt the jumps. As we got older, the jumps got smaller for her and she stiffened up. She no longer wanted to be ridden, instead she wanted to stay with me. At the time I was ignorant to what parenthood could be like, and I didn't appriciate what being her last foal meant. It was her last chance to mother something. Looking back on it, I wish I had been less selfish.

My halter training began in the middle of my second year. The humans would come and catch me in the morning, and then I would be taken into the arena for lunging and jumping. There were many humans that lived on the ranch, but the three that I remember most are Speedy, Bear and Boss. Speedy was skinny and could get a horse to run faster than it ever thought possible. Some would mistake his youth for inexperience, but we horses knew better than that.

Bear was heavy and unconfident in the saddle, but he was the best of the three when it came to grooming and feeding. He often slipped me a carrot and added extra grain to my food. He understood how horses fear the unknown, probably because he could find likenesses from himself in our kind. He owned four horses on the ranch, and since one of the mares was Maralyn's mother, he owned my friend too.

Finally there was Boss, my owner. He was the oldest and roughest of the three men. He bred my parents and he also bred me, and for that simple reason he believed he could control me. But my mother was old and weak and I was still small, so he was only interested in my father's strength. So Speedy took care of me and mother.

When I turned three I was fitted with a saddle and bridle and ridden by Speedy. He trained me the gaits, jumping, everything. I enjoyed galloping, it reminded me of racing when I was tiny, but the best thing about my training was that Maralyn was in the arena with me. Bear wouldn't ride her until she was fully gown, but he had a teenage son who trained with her.

Over the years of being around humans I learnt to understand them from both body language and tone. I only began picking up exact words when I was almost finished with gait training. Me and Mary (that was my short name for her) had been let out into the pasture to graze. Bear had rubbed us down with cold water and we had been left to dry in the summer afternoon. The man stayed at the fence with his son and I heard them talking. To put it simply, the man was going to give Mary to his son as a gift. The boy was going to join the army in a few years and his father felt he deserved the best horse he could get.

I stood close to Maralyn from that day. If anyone took her away without me I would tag along and snap if they tried to push me away. Soon it was established that we couldn't be separated. She laughed at my attitude and got me to break into a smile every time. Her charms and joyful spirit made me envy her, she was so perfect. I had the physical standard that the humans wanted, but no doubt that if she was human they would all be attracted to her. Everyone who came near to her were happy.

One evening, when the sun was setting, we were standing alone in the field. I was daydreaming, making up the ideal life for myself. Me and Maralyn would stay on the ranch until we were old grey nags and be together forever. I knew at the age of four that she was the one I wanted to be with. My parents were the perfect match and loved each other. I wanted that to be me and Mary. I even pictured our foals, a bay and a chestnut. Everything would be wonderful. but at that nieve age I could never have anticipated what would unfold.

The humans had a baby on the way.

Speedy and his wife were excited and grinning for weeks, everyone else joining in, even the horses. I said I was looking forward to it, since I had never seen a baby human before. The other horses smirked at this, and I asked what was so funny.

They told me that horses like me and Maralyn were trained at a young age to be sold on. The money the humans would earn from selling we would cover the cost of the newborn's bed and food. My hopes were smashed. I didn't want to leave. I wanted to stay here forever with Mary and live life my parents did. It just wasn't fair.

I walked over to Mary, head low and submissive. She picked up the sound of my hooves and came over to greet me, silver mane bouncing in the sunlight. I told her what I had learned. When I had finshed talking she rubbed my neck to comfort me and told me not to worry about it. If it happened, it happened. I took those words as my motto for the rest of my life.

We made a solemn promise that we would never be separated that afternoon. Wind could blow and the raincould fall, but we would always be together. We stood together until the humans collected us and put us in the farthest stalls in the barn. That building was gigantic, it's roof seemed to stretch up forever. My stall was next to Maralyn's and we leant on the wall that came between us until we fell asleep.

I could smell the smoke first. When my eyes blinked me awake they watered and stung. I could feel the heat on my back and there was a glow around the corner. I realised what it was and began to kick at the walls frantically for attention. I woke some of the other horses up and soon we were all neighing - screaming - to be heard by the humans.

Smoke began to fill our lungs as the doors were flung open and we were led outside. They started with the horses nearest the doors and took them out in twos, By the time they got to me and my mother the flames had advanced almost to our stable doors. I I was dragged blindly out of the burning sturcture, I couldn't see Maralyn anywhere outside.

That was when I realised that there were thirteen horses. I lunged to go back for her, but I stopped dead at the door. Flames were bursting out, trying to grab at me. I forgot her for a moment as I went wild with fear. A man caught me while two others tried to get to her but the flames were already consuming the barn. I faintly heard her neighing from inside, and it grew weaker but all the more desparate, and worse still, more painful. I couldn't bear it, but I was still held fast.

Eventually all that could be heard was the shout of the men and she crackle of the fire, and I knew she was gone. In an instant, the most important being in the entire world had left me and nothing could bring her back.

We were all kept in the paddock while the barn's remains were torn down and a new stables was built. I heard that the new design involved a yard instead of a full building, with arches leading to both the ranch exit and the fields. I payed little attention to this though, and simply mourned over Mary. Her parents were unconsolable, but apart from us, no one seemed to give her a second thought after a day or two and just moved on. I refused to talk to anyone, and was glad to be taken out to train. But I missed her greatly when I worked in the arena alone, and the practise was hard going since we didn't have to wait our turn.

The days were counted down until I was to be sold. I was trained for carrying weight, endurance and having shots fired around me. Eventually, I stood alone in the meadow one night, gazing up at the stars, wondering if Maralyn was watching me, when my father approached me.

He gave me a pep-talk, he told me that he and mother were going to miss me dearly and that Maralyn's parents were sad to see you go too since I was so close to their daughter. He