Dealing with the Pain (Cassa & Lyss)

[Lyss Leviera]

I shook my head as I looked at Cassa again. For the last two hours I had been trying to get into his stall. He needed to be groomed and checked over; I was just looking out for his well being. But every time I tried opening the door, his head would come over it and either push me away, or he’d try to bite me. I didn’t care; I would do this for days straight if I had to. I didn’t care if the teachers would be angry with me, they probably wouldn’t like me in the first place. I huffed out a breath and stared at Cassa, his head high, his eyes smug, he was just daring me to try it again. So I did.

I stared right at him as I calmly walked over to the door, reached for the latch, and before he could stop me, slide it open and step inside the stall. He snorted at me and moved to the back of the stall. The look in his eyes was priceless.

You’ve got some nerve just waltzing in here, kid.

You’ve got some nerve to dare me to come into your stall, horse.

We glared at each other for a minute, until Cassa snorted and pinned his ears back in an angry expression. I raised my eyebrows at him, giving him a look that clearly said, well, what are you going to do? Huh? He threw his head up at that, almost too high. He nearly whacked his head off the ceiling; I wouldn’t want to see him try to rear in here. I just chuckled at him and waited for him to try something, anything. He watched me warily from the back of the stall, still angry with me.

You can be angry with me all you want, but you, mister, are getting clean. Whether you like it or not, I don’t care.

That sent him over the edge apparently. He lunged at me; I just stood there, staring him down. I didn’t say anything or let the pain show as he practically threw me into the door of the stall. I swallowed the cry as he tried to throw me over the door, and I slipped away from him, moving to his neck, where he couldn’t reach his head around and bite me. He tried, many times, before giving up. Then he pinned me to the wall using his body; I clenched my jaw tightly. I won’t give him what he wants, I won’t give him what he wants, I won’t give him what he wants, I chanted in my head, bringing up my last reserves of strength. He let off of me after a minute; I didn’t let myself fall, I didn’t let myself look hurt. I stood tall, my back straight, my head up, looking into his eyes as he watched me.

You, little miss, are very surprising.

I didn’t respond, just walked over to the stall door, opened it, grabbed the grooming kit I brought with me, and took it into the stall, out of the way so Cassa couldn’t reach it. I swallowed a cry of pain as I set it down. Walking over to Cassa’s neck and shoulder, I started to massage him with a technique I learned at the first stable I was at. It was called T-Touch, and as soon as I could get him into a round pen, I was going to try to join up with Cassa. I didn’t know why he hated people, but I did know that to get him over it, he needed to trust me. And I didn’t back off when Cassa tried to get me out of his stall because he wasn’t scared, just angry that I was in here. If he had been scared, I would have left him alone and started with something smaller, like I had for the first few days. Like trying to stroke his neck and face while I was standing outside his stall.

After Cassa had relaxed considerably, most likely against his will, I grabbed a curry comb and started to work at all the mud and dirty that clung to his too-long coat. I rubbed and scraped the dirt away with the curry comb in one hand and continued to use T-Touch on him with the other. It took a while; after an hour, only half the dirt was out of his coat. And it was starting to get dark out. I kept working until all the dirt was out of his coat, making sure to use all the right brushes at the right time, and then I started on his mane. It was very long, very tangled and had a lot of dirt in it. And the cold was starting to seep through the warm jacket I had on. After I finished his mane I moved onto his tail, still keeping him calm and dealing with everything he threw at me. Then came his hooves, and I was exhausted from all the work cleaning him took. He objected a few times, but then Cassa just stood there as I picked out his hooves and checked them over. His hooves were fine. As I finished, I heard someone come into the barn, probably to check on the horses and kick anyone who was still in here out. Cassa tensed considerably as the person came closer. I went over to his head and started doing T-Touch on his neck, whispering calmly to him to relax. After the person left, Cassa relaxed into my touch, actually leaning into my fingers.

Thanks, kid. You’re really not that bad, when you get past the annoying stubbornness.

I was just thinking the same thing.

I said as I got the grooming kit and walked out of the stall, checking to make sure he had enough food and water. I turned around and was surprised when his head was right behind me. I smiled at him and reached out to touch his head; he didn’t pull away, just stood there.

‘Night, Cassa.

I whispered, softly blowing on his nose and turning away toward the tack room. I didn’t notice it was nearly midnight, I didn’t notice how dark it was; I just knew that what happened with Cassa tonight had been a step in the right direction.