---

The dog took a long sigh into the wind, allowing his body to relax after his sprint. It was all he could do to get away from her. She thought of him as her foal, long legged and long nosed like a foal might be. Yet the mare was clearly confused for surely a dog he was.

In a way, the hound felt bad to leave her sleeping in the meadow among the tall grass as he fled. Yet, he needed to actually get a lay of the land- something he couldn't do when she lorded over him and kept him penned up close. It had been perhaps a week since he arrived...? He wasn't sure, time felt like it stretched on in some moments yet moved ever faster when he wasn't paying attention. It left him confused and ever complacent to the mare's wants and commands.

He did appreciate her care, though perhaps she must be unhinged in some way. No horse would smell a dog and think of a child, right? Not a normal mare, at the least.
She saw him upon his arrival, rather in disrepair, and thought kindly to adopt him. If he would have actually been a foal, she certainly would have saved his life.

Despite her attempts to get him to eat grass and clovers, the dog needed meat to survive. His nose stayed low to the ground and he tried to sniff out late season hares. Long legs skillfully hopping and skipping between the tall grass and dry brush.