Fighting Dirty [Piringa]

[Tiggs]

Picking his way through the uneven ground, Omeo forged knee-deep puddles and jumped through bushes of reeds and stringy grass. The grazing was not so good in this part of the Boggy, but that was not why he was here. The churned mud showed a distinct path through it, and the scent accompanying it was that of fillies. Omeo could only assume they travelled together after leaving their herd in preparation for spring, and the colt was eager to catch up with them

He was nearing the edge of the Boggy now, and the oncoming winter had not yet firmed up the ground. The tawny colt was slipping and sliding through the mud, his dark legs caked in the soggy soil. He still carried himself with pride, though, and his spirits were not dampened by the unflattering terrain. At almost two, chasing fillies was what he was made for!

[Ehetere]

Piringa snorted excitedly, scenting the air again and then set off again at a brisk trot. The Boggy was hardly the place to be this early in winter, but he had smelt a small mob of fillies and no stallion and he had every mind to go and investigate.

They were quite a ways in front of him, and he had not yet picked up their tracks, only their scent. Aha! There they were, he’d spotted their distinct track through the muddy bog at last. But… he stiffened when he reached the tracks, for there was now the scent of a young stallion too, and the mud was freshly churned. A stallion or colt had passed this way but a short while ago.

He set off at a canter then, only to almost have his front feet slide out from underneath him. The mud was very slippery indeed, and the other horses who had gone through previously only served to make the problem worse. He was forced to slow to a brisk trot, keeping out of the mud as much as possible. He spared a thought for what all of this traipsing around in these filthy conditions was going to do to his poor coat before charging off with new vigor He wanted to reach the fillies first.

He saw movement up ahead, and to his dismay a roan colt not unlike Kiata in colouring was already almost upon the little bunch of fillies. He gave a shrill whinny to announce his presence, arching his neck and posturing in the way he had seen his father often do. He was unsure whether the fillies belonged to the colt, or whether he even wanted to keep them. That was no longer the point in his mind. He wanted to be the stronger of the two colts, and prove his worth. This had now just turned into a competition as far as he was concerned.

[Tiggs]

Omeo could see the fillies up ahead, and he had to be careful as he picked up his pace not to flounder and fall. He whinnied to them, a friendly greeting, and flicked his tail behind him (though it only served to slap mud from the trailing ends onto his flank). Omeo was in too good a mood to let the mud bother him though.

The whinny of another stallion caught his attention, and more than one leg slipped as he wheeled to face the caller. It was another colt, perhaps his age, with a steel grey coat fleabitten with black. Omeo huffed. He’d been here first! He arched his neck, and posed along with the other colt. He had not seen much of other stallions fighting, so it was only from his sparring with the other colts back in the King’s herd that he had any experience.

It seemed the grey colt wanted to fight for the fillies, and Omeo was briefly nervous. Would he be hurt if he lost? Would he be able to make it back to Nepelle’s herd to check on Alinta as he did every few days? The colt steeled himself, and squared up. Well he was not going to become a strong stallion by avoiding fights. If this grey wanted one, he was going to get one!

Omeo taunted the grey with a whinny, and stood fast. The mud was treacherous, and the grey was going to have to make the first move. Omeo readied himself to kick when the grey approached. He would have to move slowly and keep his balance if he was going to win. The first one to go down would be the loser.

[Ehetere]

Piringa snorted disgustedly when the roan colt tried to taunt him into battle, and as yet he had not learnt the lesson about keeping a cool head when fighting. After all, he’d only really squared off his father, who while ancient had all those years to hone his technique.

He whinnied back angrily, having been brought up to respect others, despite his mother’s occasional behavior. She had told him about some brumbies who thought they should be more respected than they should. Perhaps this was one of those cases. Still Piringa, also liked to think he should be respected, but he also thought he might have to earn that respect first.

The colt looked nervous, despite his confident façade, and Piringa snorted. He thought this fight might be easy. The colt was more heavily built than he, and if he played his cards right this would be an enormous advantage. He could dodge and balance without sinking into the mud and losing momentum. The problem with this was the sheer slipperiness of it all, so he’d need to be careful.

The grey was shorter too, which made Piringa feel better about himself. He was extremely lightly built, and really there was very little chance of him having been solid with two parents such as his, but all the same.

He came then, having psyched himself up, prancing and rearing a little. Later he would realize that expending energy needlessly like this was a fool’s behavior, but for now he was very inexperienced. He was also about to get a rude wakeup call.

Once he was within striking distance, he dove at the other’s withers with sudden ferociousness and speed, intending to take the roan by surprise.

[Tiggs]

Omeo eyed the grey as he pranced and danced. It was a wonder he didn’t sink on those dainty hooves! On closer inspection, the grey as a might taller, but Omeo hoped this would work to his advantage, as those ungainly legs might be more impossible in the mud than they would be on firm ground. Omeo shifted his weight, making sure his hooves wouldn’t be stuck in the vacuum of mud when the grey came charging.

The sudden lunge provoked a flight response, and Omeo squealed and turned on his haunches, pivoting his front half out of the way. A back hoof slipped, but he caught himself. Hopefully now he was not in the other colt’s path, the speed of the grey would hinder him being able to change direction in the mud.

[Ehetere]

Piringa’s teeth snapped painfully on thin air, with the roan having spun around to avoid him rather rapidly. Except he’d been counting on running into something solid to stop himself.

Squealing with fright and surprise, he dug his heels in a valliant attempt to stop himself. He was not heavy and did not have the added weight a larger horse might have to contend with, but his hooves were not really made for wading through mud. He also was built for speed and swiftness, and his small hooves helped him with this… while he was on dry land at least.

Shame the fillies couldn’t have picked a better place to be tempting. Piringa could have practiced running circled around the heaver colt. As he went sliding past the roan, he felt sharp teeth clamp onto his rump. Ow! It didn’t draw blood, but the roan had just bitten him! And it had pinched!

Further angered, Piringa managed to finally stop himself and pivot around to face the colt in the same motion. How could the heavier horse keep his balance and grip here without being stuck in one place? Deciding that attacking wasn’t going to work here, until he worked out how the colt was doing it anyway, he needed to watch, and attack if he came close enough.

[Tiggs]

Omeo whinnied, laughing as the grey slid to a halt. He could feel his legs sinking though, and so he had to pull them out with a loud squelch. Huffing and tossing his head, he eyed the colt. He seemed to have learnt his lesson about rushing and attack in the mud, and Omeo looked smug. He hadn’t moved much at all, and he was winning!

It seemed the colt had given up on moving, so rather than running over, Omeo picked up every leg carefully with each step, and advanced on the colt slowly. Within range, he squealed and nipped at the grey’s cheek, resisting the urge to kick. He needed all four legs to stay upright!

[Ehetere]

Piringa watched with a glare as the heavier colt made his way slowly over – it was infuriating. Still, it was probably more intelligent than getting any momentum going – Piringa now knew that would result in sliding out of control.

His determination to not move suddenly earned him a stinging nip on the cheek and he really did squeal angrily now. This was no longer just a test of strength – Piringa felt for the first time in his life the animalistic urge to hurt something.

He lashed out with his teeth, no control in his retaliation at all. If anything it was more designed to give him more time and force the other back a little. Ok: so moving too much too quickly was out, and that was the only way he’d ever learnt to fight. The situation seemed more and more difficult.

He balanced himself and kicked out at the roan, sliding when he landed on his front feet again and almost losing the ground beneath him but barely managing to hold on.

[Tiggs]

Omeo squealed as the grey’s teeth caught him on the nose. He was going to have to be faster to dodge the bite of the lither colt. He nipped again, but the grey had reared up to kick out. Hooves battered his chest, and in his attempt to dodge, his feet were sliding out from under him.

Scrabbling for purchase, he managed it but barely, like his opponent. This was getting silly. Wading forward, Omeo decided on the brute force approach. Hoping the grey hadn’t quite gathered all his legs, he leaned his chest into the grey’s flank. It was a cautious push, without much power behind it, but he hoped it would unbalance him enough to get an advantage – though what he was going to do with one he wasn’t sure.

[Ehetere]

Piringa squealed triumphantly when he saw the roan reel back when his teeth had hit their mark. About time! Except then the other colt shoved his rump and he had to stick out a back leg desperately to prevent himself from toppling over. The mud was like a giant suction cup for his hooves, and he was lucky he got his leg out in time.

He was off balance, since the other colt’s heavier body could push his own lithe build around quite easily. He went to shove back at the colt, except he stepped in a particularly deep bit of mud and sunk to his knees. Panicking, he desperately tried to free his front legs, glancing with wild eyes at the roan.