False Gods: The Show Jumper's Challenge

The mare was taller than most of the others, with a much larger build. She wasn’t especially attractive, since it looked like she had been partially clipped for the winter and her coat was a strange mousy gray. Her tail was completely covered in mud, hanging in stringy clumps, and her mane was matted, uneven, and rubbed out in some sections. She had nicks and cuts on her legs, her hooves were overly long and cracked, and there were two open sores on either side of her withers. Her black eyes, though, watched everything around her. Her head was large but not unattractive, except for her enormous ears, and it was perched on the end of a long, arched neck. The others in the pen kept a watchful eye on this mare. When she turned sideways, Cory noticed the marker on her hip. All the horses wore an oval sticker with a number on their flanks. Cory brushed the mud off the mare’s sticker and felt a little jolt when she read 537. It was the number of the house she grew up in back in Massachusetts.