Phase 1 - First Impressions

As the sun rose across the Tempest Valley Equestrain Center a thin set of mist had began to settle over the fields. The only equines who were beginning to stur this early in the morning were the ones who were used to the early mornings due to lessons or their owners needing to work early . Most of the equines on the yard had owners who worked at the stable so they were able to see their beloved owners and life long friends while they were working around the barns or in the fields or arenas. No one could have expected what was to happen later that misty and spine shivering cold day. 

At around 6am Morgan had began to start her day, she needed to be up even earlier than normal to begin to prepare for her new arrival. the tanned girl with long straight brown hair that was usually stuffed into a messy bun was now looking at her to do list of preperations for that day. Morgan had prepared the list 3 days prior when she found out that she had won an entry into an exclusive and prestigious extreme makeover where she was going to be given a random horse to train and back within a month and a halfs period. Morgan had started to prepare her list of tasks as soon as she found out what her horses personality was like however on the profile of her new companion there was not much to be said about them. the makeover website hosted small profiles on each of the horses which would hopefully be rehomed to their forever homes with the good people taking part in the makeover challange that she was. 

When Morgan recieved the email to confirm that she had won her place in the Loshenka Makeover she let out a squeal of delight which caused a few of the horses in the smaller back pasture to startle at the noise. as Morgan reread and reread the same email she could not eblieve that she had won herself a slot in the makeover until the day before she was meant to recieve her new companion.

After reading the email one final time the day before, she had realised she missed a link that the hosts of the makeover had sent, when she opened her work laptop and carried it down the stairs to her minimalistic and medium sized lounge area she began to reread the email one final time and then she woudl click the link. 

the email went as such.

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"Dear Sir/Madam

we are pleased to inform you that you have been selected too participate in the 2025 loshenka extreme makover, you will be given a loshenka that you will have to train within a month and a half, we would like to invite you to our yard so that you may have an initial look at your loshenka that will be transported to your yard on the 6th of June, the makeover will run from the 6th of june till the 21st of july. if you wish to have this new companion of yours delivered sight unseen please reply to this email and we will be in contact with you again closer to the 6th of june regarding your loshenkas current wellbeing before they leave our care and are handed off into yours.

We believe that you and your new companion will get along very well, we have provided a link that will bring you to an online forum where all your new companions information will be kept, this is also where you will be able to upload updates regarding the milestones that you and your new equine will accomplish. 

Kind Regards, 

Loshenka Makeover and Rescue Team

Here is your Chosen Loshenkas' information"

--

Morgan had already ticked off 3 of the tasks on her to do list before she heard the trailer pull up at 8am. She had cleaned a spare stall in the far pasture so that she could quarantine her new companion. Morgan had gathered a special tack set, cooling mesh rug as well as ordered some new treats and specialised feed for the new equine that would be joining the yard. 

When Morgan received the message from one of her yard hands that a long black trailer had arrived she began to buzz with excitement. Morgan had not peaked at what her new friends appearance, however she did know that he was an elderly horse and had a few problems with being overweight, hence why she ordered him the new feed and of course she already knew his gender and coat colour from the profile that the makeover team had provided her as well as a little description from how the rescue team had been given the equine which she had proceed to cackle at the first time she read it the description of his condition was originally listed as that he was “Tubby and Old but this Loshenka was a kids' horse and has been spoiled rotten most of its life. He used to be fed as many treats as it would tak to make him do what he was asked to do in the beginnin,  it's somewhat surprising that he has no vices when it comes to how many treats that he can eat in one sitting, but due to this issue he has seemingly become severely overweight and in need of some exercise and a strict diet. This sweet, in-your-pocket horse can be difficult to say no to, though…” As soon as Morgan finished reading that description for the first time she began to reminisce on the good ol’ days when she used to ride a cute little grey and tubby lesson pony named charlie but when he got older the lesson kids started to mock his age as well as some of the staff who took on the trend of calling the poor little gelding Charles because it seemed to “suit his age better” than his actual name, so when she remembered that she needed to write her to do list for her new arrival the first thing she crossed off was the name. However she did need to call in reinforcements for deciding his show name. 

 Morgan crossed the yard within 15 minutes and apologised profusely to the poor trailer driver who looked extremely tired and seemed to have a couple more horses on his trailer to drop off.

Morgan: “Hey there, I'm Morgan, I am so sorry that I kept you waiting. I was doing a couple last minute preparations for my new friend, his ID should be number 11080? The trainer name should be Morgan Charlie Tempest” 

The trailer guy seemed to chuckle but tried to hide the fact with a cough before he started to introduce himself and Morgan's new companion.

Trailer Guy: “Alright, Morgan Charlie Tempest, im Dan, i hear you named your guy ‘Good Old Days’, what made you pick that? By the way i'll start unloading him now, let me tell you he is a really beauty and loads perfectly too, he was the least of my issues once he saw he had a hay net and a few treats waiting for him in the back.i'll get him now for you, mind filling out some paperwork for me while i do that?”

Morgan let out a soft sigh but remembered that was something she would have to work on with the poor equine which was about to be unloaded. 

Morgan: “Of course, i'll do whatever paperwork is needed, i chose the name because when i read his description he reminded me of the good old days when i used to ride this old grey and kinda tubby pony named charlie who was practically renamed charles after he retired from being a lesson horse.” 

The trailer guy handed her a clipboard and a pen and explained a few things she had to read over before disappearing with a light blue halter and leadrope set which seemed to look brand new in Morgan’s eye. When morgan looked up from the clipboard at the sounds of hooves hitting the dirt pathway which led to the main barn where all the other horses would be staying, she saw the companion she had been so amped up to see she dropped the clipboard at her feet and began to hyperventilate with excitement as her mouth hung open at the sight of the most gorgeous cremello roan horse she had ever seen stepped in time with the trailer guy, or dan as he introduced himself as. 

Once Morgan had snapped out of the trance the horse that stood in front of her had put her into, she managed to pick up the paperwork and profusely apologise about dropping the clipboard into the mud and used the excuse she was just a little “clumsy” and to emphasise the point she even stumbled but did not thankfully facepalm herself into the dirt while taking the lead rope from dan who traded the leadrope for the now dirtied paperwork and said a quick farewell before he got into the driver's seat of his trailer and started to backtrack down the dirt road leading to the barn. 

When Morgan turned around she saw that a few of the stablehands had gathered around to watch the encounter between her and Dan, a few of the more discreet staff giggled silently and got back to work while others started to crowd round and bombard morgan with questions about the new horse and all she could say is that he needed to be taken to quarantine and then she was completing the rest of her list before anyone had any ideas about what just happened in the unfortunate encounter between her and dan which left her extremely embarrassed. 

When she finally got the tubby stallion into his stall, she decided to leave him to settle into his stall but she checked on him every hour to make sure that he was still doing okay and settling in well. She had planned to take him into the arena to start working on some ground work to see what ques he knows but she believes that he may not be put into work but kept as a pasture buddy for the other horses who need to be quarantined or maybe have anxieties or could generally do with a friend, but morgan was not going to force this poor horse back into working as a lesson horse. Especially while he was overweight, although she did agree that some small hacks with the smaller staff would probably benefit him very well in the future, once he is back in shape. But Morgan needed to focus on other things at that moment in time so she left her new companion to settle in and take in his surroundings after what was probably a long journey.