Survivors POV

I am awake at the very first crack of dawn. A man walked towards my pen and slipped a rope around my neck. He tried to led me out of the pen but I stood my ground. He sighed and encouraged me. I wanted to trust him, his soothing voice, but I couldn't, no matter how much I tried. He wasn't Elisabeth or anyone else I knew. He shrugged his shoulders and instead, lead away another horse.

Elisabeth's POV

Rebecca ran ahead of me as I cautiously enter the Slaughter House. Although it looked more like a barn than a place of death. I held my hand over my nose as we entered, expecting to be blown away by a horrible stench of blood. I dared a sniff, wait, was that hay? Chaff? This didn't smell bad at all!

"Through there!" I pointed towards an open door leading to the pens. "No Elisabeth get back!" Rebecca pulled me into the toilets and locked the door, just before a man walked by, dragging a horse behind him. "Stay here!" Rebecca demanded. Before I could reply, she had disappeared out of the toilets.

Rebecca's POV

"Excuse me mister," I asked in a desperate tone. The man halted the horse and turned towards me.
"What could I do for you?" He nodded politely.
"Yesterday me and my fiancée had this argument and in all the confusion a very special horse was left behind at the auction..." I paused for a breath,
"Some one said they saw him being led into one of your trucks? Would it be possible to get him back?" I said, carefully adding a pleading, desperate tone. And biting my lip for extra effect. The man hesitated. "I'll see what I could do, if you go through those doors you'll find the yards, try find your horse while I talk to the manager." He pointed towards some large, open doors. "Great thanks, oh and I have a friend with me! She's just going to the loo!" I added as he walked off.

Elisabeth's POV

We bolted through the open door, our eyes straining from the sudden light. We frantically searched the holding pens for Survivor. They were surprisingly neat and tidy with fresh water in every pen. However they were very over-crowded. "Where is he! They can't have killed him already!" I exclaimed, just before a familiar whinny radiated through the air. Sure enough, it belonged to Survivor.

We sped around a holding pen, Survivor was in the pen behind it. I hurriedly unlocked the gate, slipped on Survivors black rope halter and led him out the gate.
The man returned with the manager. Wait hold on a sec, I stared at the logo on the mans shirt. *Slaughter-Horse Rescue, giving horses a second chance* What the?
"Hi, I'm Greg and this is Dan." The manager, Greg, introduced himself and the worker beside him.

"Excuse me sir, but what is this place exactly?" I questioned.
Greg answered. "Slaughter-Horse Rescue, we rescue horses from slaughter or slaughter auctions, didn't you see the sign when you came in?"
"Oh my glob!" I breathed with relief. "I thought this was a horse slaughter place!" Both men laughed. Rebecca looked just as relieved as me. "Looks like you're having trouble rehoming, how about we take some back to the spca?" I asked, desperate to give these horses more space.
The men looked confused.
"We work there." Rebecca explained.
"Oh sure that'd be great! I'll get in touch with them. Take your horse, we don't charge anything for lost horses." He smiled and they left with a few horses to have their hooves trimmed.
Tying the lead rope onto each side of his halter to form a temporary bridle. I completely forgot that Survivor was still unbroken, and swung myself atop his tall frame. He attempted a bolt but I instantly brought him to a halt and bent down so he could see my legs. He immediately calmed down, knowing that it was just me.

"I'll round some horses up and herd them back to the SPCA!" Rebecca stared at me, awe-struck. "Well if you're doing that then I can fit one more in the horse float." She dashed around the corner and came back with Sprinkles halter. She entered the holding pen and clipped the halter onto a 16hh black Friesian mare.

"How many horses can the SPCA stable fit in?" I asked, determined to take as many horses as possible. "There are thirty seven stalls, and right now the SPCA has seven horses." I ordered Rebecca to release a pen-full of horses, every pen holds about fifteen horses. As Rebecca had ten lead ropes and five lunge lines in her float, who knows what she uses or even needs them for!

"How are you going to control fifteen horses?! Especially with a horse that's never been ridden before!"

"Hmm, well in your horse float you had heaps of lung-lines- I could neck-rein as many horses as possible!"

She cocked her head at me, obviously doubting that I could lead fifteen horses without tying the ropes to a saddle.

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Rebecca's car had already disappeared down the road, she is going to drop of the two horses at the SPCA and then return on Cattalak ( her buckskin gelding ) to help me lead the rest of the horses. She was going to keep coming back and forth with her horse float to pick up two horses at a time but it would've scared the rest of the horses.

"Whoa boy!" I cooed. I can't believe that Survivor would have accepted me on his back so soon, although he was hard to ride and constantly bounced from side to side with the thrill of being away from his crowded pen. "Nnnih hih hay!" Survivor whinnied, throwing his head up and down.

Sear joy swelled in me as Rebecca suddenly came around the corner, wait, who's beside her? I squinted my eyes to make out Lucy on FlameHeart. They trotted towards us and eagerly took a had full of led ropes and lunge lines each.

Surprisingly, the sound of the horses hooves on the pavement walkway out weighed the hum of the occasional car.

Back at the SPCA Rebecca and Lucy dismounted and quickly sorted out each horse into its own stall. But I didn't want to lose this amazing opportunity to get Survivor accustomed to me sitting in each and every way on his back, so I casually trotted him into the herd corral. I know the herd corral is meant for training groups of horses together but I want to be able to train him in a wider space than usual.

Suddenly all the horse trainers and assistants trudged through the stable doors, happily munching on the remains of their lunch. They stood frozen still, just staring at us and the new horses.

Lisa strolled into the front, then she looked up and her face copied the same as everyone else's.

Oh crap, how am I to explain this!!?!!