The Story of a Blind Foal

When I first opened my eyes, everything was so bright. It was kinda weird. I thought it would pass in a few days, but it stayed the same. My mother said it was weird because after a few weeks or so it was still that way. Imagine your whole life just seeing brightness in your eyes, and only being able to rest from the piercing rays of luminosity in your view when it is night-time, or when you close your eyes, but then all is dark, which in my opinion is not much better than seeing just light your whole life. Just a plain screen of suffering that should've been replaced by colors and textures of all kinds. I’m not even really sure what a color is. I've never really seen colors before, so how could I know what they really were? All I know is that it is something you see that it is interesting and amazing, fun. But not for me. I usually see just see… basically nothing. My brothers taunted me a little, chasing me and saying ‘blind’ and ‘sick’ with me helplessly bolting in random directions. They sneaked up behind me without my even noticing they were there. The only good thing was that usually I heard them, or caught a scent of them. Since I am blind, I have better hearing and smelling senses. But senses didn’t help when they said my eyes were ‘glazed’ as they called when your eyes look like they were covered in a layer of river water on it that is clear but has a white tint to it. It was pretty horrible, but that didn’t matter much to me. As long as my mother and father loved me the way I was, I was happy.

My name is Dawn. I love where I live, and I love my family more than myself.

I belong to a herd called the Herd of swaying aspens. We go to the Aspen Meadows when we die. Each herd has a different place they go to in their after-life.

I don't want to get too far into this, but it is important to the story I'm about to tell you. When you die and go to wherever your destination is, over years and years you slowly fade away. This means you are no longer remembered and have no purpose any more. It doesn't mean you don't exist anymore. It just means you aren't seen anymore, and aren't remembered by the living. This is normal. Lonely horses fade quickly. Horses with a great family and a herd who loves them much don't fade for a long time. Some horses did something that no horse would forget in a million years.

How do I know this? Well, it is a belief. Also, there was a horse named Aspen long ago that nearly died ten years before her actual death, and she said that she saw a light, then a beautiful meadow, full of Aspens. But she hadn’t died. She nearly had. We named our herd after her, because of her strong will. Also, I believe the fading thing is true because if you think deeply, nothing lasts forever. I found out later this belief was true. You will see why.

One day my herd went out for a morning walk in the plains by a fresh river to graze, and that’s when we ran into a cougar. My herd leader shouted for us to run, and after that, we all sprinted away, and I didn’t see anything. I ran to a random direction; the one I thought was safest. All I did was hope that some horses were following me, or that I was following some horses.

After a while I stopped running. I walked around, but I didn’t smell or hear any horses. I couldn’t even pick up a trace of a horse. So I ran into another direction in hope to find my herd again.

After hours and hours of running; I felt what I thought was a tree root, and I very big one too. I let myself nuzzle into the big crack between the root and closed my eyes, letting the warmth envelope my body.

I woke up early in the morning, and I felt a strange tingle on my leg. It first just felt like a grain of sand falling onto me, later feeling as cold as a river in the spring-time. It felt as if it was… melting. It was strange, but a good strangeness. I remember my mother telling me about something called snow, it was first normal heat, but the felt cold with the heat of a horse's body. She told me it was white, and soft, and came in every shape and size. No crystal had the exact same pattern. She told me it was basically frozen water.

I let a flake fall on my tongue. The cold water on my dry tongue was soothing and painless, so I let myself gallop into the snow and take out a big bite. I pictured myself biting into an ocean of white fluffiness, galloping and taking bites out of fluffy clouds of snow. There was plenty, and it was just for me!

I heard a neigh that didn’t seem very distant from me. I neighed back. The other horse neighed again, and I picked up a smell. I trotted around neighing and hearing for the other horse until I knew I was close. I galloped happily into the snow until I found where the horse was. She smelt like wet leaves, and was probably about the size of my mother. I could tell this because I felt breathing on my ears and guessed it must be the horse's muzzle.

A few days after we confronted another cougar. We couldn’t run; so we fought it off together. It took time, but we did it, but with a few bad wounds.

My friend and I soon adapted to the cold temperature, as we enjoyed the soothing snow on our wounds. My friend's name was Amber. She described herself as having forest green eyes and a dark sorrel pelt that almost looked red. She told me that I had beautiful hazel eyes. Of course, I didn't know what these colors were, or what they looked like, but I had my imagination. She was the only thing that had warmed my heart since the cougar attack a few months ago. Everything was just as it was in the fall, everyone safe and happy.

The only problem were bugs; they would get on you while you were sleeping and infect your wounds. The next day I woke up with a few bugs on my wounds, but only a few. My friend on the other hand had more than fifty on her dirty pelt. She shook them off, but many still stayed. It was like they had been stuck with tree sap on to her glossy pelt. She said she felt sick and that if she didn't survive, she wanted me to know that I was the greatest friend she had ever had. She told me the story of how she got stranded from her family five years ago. There was a blizzard, and she got lost in the snow as a two year old foal. She wanted to tell me how much she loved living her last weeks with me, and how thankful she ways. Tears slid down my cheeks like rain pouring down in the Spring-time. After a few days, she died of infection.

I was so sad, and lonely yet again. Bugs bit at my wounds; yet I did nothing to get them off. I missed my mother. I missed my family. I missed Amber. I wanted to just curl up in the snow and die. But I had to try to find another horse.

After a few weeks with no one found but me, I too, just as my friend, died of infection. Till this day I still love my family, and would do anything to go back to them, but at least I am safe in the golden meadows with my dead herd-mates and friends, and I am happy.

Since we were both in different herds, I never saw Amber again, but I still remember her words until today. Since we were both in different herds, Now I am different, and more experienced. I am the new Dawn.

Someday I will fade, and not too slowly since I wasn't very well known, or alive amongst my family for very long, but I am not afraid, for I will not be seen to others, as they were not seen to me.

So, be happy that you can see. Observe colors, shapes, sizes, textures, and see the world around you.

Be glad that you are normal if you are. Be grateful for what you have.

And enjoy your life, as I enjoyed mine. Though it was short, I never will forget how great it is to be loved, and to love others as they would love you.

Life is short. Enjoy it while you can.