Purchase of Merlot

Will was a young and aspiring equestrian, like so many others he knew, and today was going to be a huge step for him. He was going to visit a stable with many horses for sale, and while he was not sure what to expect or even what he was looking for, he was sure he would know which horse would be the one the second he saw it. This would be his first, very own horse, as he had previously only loaned horses or ridden at a riding school.

The young, platinum blonde man arrived at the stable in his tall riding boots, he wanted to look a bit more proper for once to make a good first impression, so he even wore a more riding appropriate shirt rather than his usual knitted turtleneck. He was nervous, but he knew it was time. He could feel it in his whole body. And it wasn’t necessarily a bad nervous feeling, it was similar to meeting an online friend in real life for the first time, excitement more than anything else.

Not many people seemed to be around, but the few people he saw gave him friendly waves while tending to their horses, so he assumed they were not the owner of the stable. It was his first time visiting this place in particular, but he knew beforehand that many people rented stable spots here, so he was not very surprised. He scanned the first stable corridor as he walked through it, both analysing the state of the stable itself, cleanliness etcetera, as well as looking at the horses. There were many gorgeous ones, but not many had a sale sign on them, so he did not bother looking too carefully at the ones without, as he did not want to risk falling in love with a horse he would not be able to get.
As he neared the end of the corridor, he froze in place for a moment. In a stall to his right was a gorgeous, dark almost chocolate coloured mare. If not for the mane colour he could have almost mistaken her for a seal bay rather than a liver chestnut. Her warm, brown eyes looked kinder than any Will had ever seen before, and his heart almost skipped a beat as he saw the bold ‘FOR SALE’ sign on her stall door. He slowly approached the door as the chestnut mare was chewing on some hay, occasionally letting out some soft snorts or gently swatting her shorter tail from side to side.

“Hi there buddy.” Will gently said as he carefully offered her his hand.
At first, the mare showed little interest in him, so without getting discouraged he let his hand rest on the stall door as he kept talking to her with a gentle voice.

“I would really love to get to know you, uh-” Will paused and glanced down at her name plate “Merlot.. If you don’t mind, of course.” he continued with a smile on his face. He could tell she was listening to him, but at this point she was surely playing hard to get, he thought to himself.

“Ahh, welcome!” a raspy voice said behind Will, so he turned around to see who it was. “You must be Maxwell.” the tall woman continued.
“Yes, that would be me. I do prefer to go by Will though.” he responded. He had gotten used to everyone calling him by his nickname so hearing his actual name felt a bit odd.

“Of course, my apologies. I am Ava, I see you have taken a liking to our dear Merlot?”

“She is absolutely gorgeous.” Will almost gasped as he turned to look at her once more, and this time she seemed more intrigued with the young man than before, as she had moved away from her hay net to the door, poking her head out to see better.

“She has been with me for a couple of years at this point.” Ava sighed, with a somber smile on her lips. “I do wish I could keep her, but it is time to let go of the past..”

Will was of course curious what had happened, but he sensed that asking was not appropriate, so he opted not to dig any further out of respect.

“I am definitely interested in buying her, she caught my attention right away.” Will said, his voice filled with excitement. “What is her temperament like?”
“She is very calm and has gotten along with all the horses she has met before.” Ava replied, love and pride could be heard in her raspy voice. “She has never caused any issues for vets or farriers before either, though she does not always love getting hosed off.” she chuckled.

“That doesn’t sound too bad, I don’t hose off unless I have to. I don’t intend to compete so there is no one she needs to look shiny for.” Will snickered as he reached out towards the mare, who now happily sniffed his hand and proceeded to flehmen and nodding in excitement. Will couldn’t help but laugh at her little performance.

“She likes you.” Ava smiled. “That’s good. Would you like to test her out in the arena?”

“I would love to, but if it’s okay I would prefer to spend some time grooming her just to bond.” Will responded, smiling from ear to ear.

“Absolutely, take as long as you need. I will be around. She absolutely loves getting her mane done, by the way.” Ava said and winked as she walked off to converse with some other people in the stable.

Will turned towards Merlot and scratched her forehead as he gave her a little kiss on her dark muzzle. The chestnut mare closed her eyes and sighed heavily as she relaxed, happily leaning her head into Will’s loving arms. He almost teared up from joy, this was the one, this was his horse.

“I am sure you and I will get along just fine..” he whispered to her, as he kissed her forehead before entering her stall to groom her beautiful, dark coat.