There was a palatable air of excitement in the barn.  The horses were pacing with excitement, and a few of them nickered when we stepped into the barn.  They stuck their heads out as I followed Tessa to the feed room.  

Her mother and father were already there, dishing up grain in feed buckets.  Her father spotted me and said, "Hello Vanessa, good to see you're here."  

"Thank you, Mr. Wellen."  

Tessa pointed to where we'd put Medallion's feed for the few days we were staying.  "I'm assuming you want to feed Medallion yourself."  

I nodded, even though I felt surprise at her statement.  Why would she think that I would want to feed Medallion myself?  Then I realized she viewed that as a personal thing.

I'd never fed Medallion anything.  

Medallion's grain portions were the same for morning and evening, dividing up into little bags with the supplements mixed in.  All I had to do was dump one of the bags into her feed bowl. 

I pried open a bag and dumped it in.  I put the bag away, then reached down and started spreading the grain around.  The texture was sticky to my fingers, a feeling that I surprisingly liked.   

After playing with it a bit more, I grabbed the bowl and left for Medallion's stall.  

Medallion didn't know what was going on, but she knew something was going down.  She was watching everything with alertness, her ears pointed forward at all times.  It was thirty minutes later than her usual feed time, but it would be okay. 

I opened the stall door, with her entire attention focused on me.  She had bedding in her mane, showing that she had rolled.  That was good sign.  

I set the bucket on the floor and stepped back.  She dove for it like a snake striking.  Amused, I smiled.  

When I came back to the feed room, Tessa had already finished mixing up grain into five buckets.  "Want to help me hand these out?"  She asked as she stacked up three of the buckets.  

"Sure."  I grabbed the last two buckets.  I had more questions to ask her, and I figured now was the perfect time to do it.  

"So, why do you like feeding time so much?" 

Her smile grew a bit wider.  "Watch."  She led me towards a stall, where a paint gelding was watching us.  He stuck his head out, never taking his eyes off of the buckets in Tessa's arm.  The nameplate on his stall read 'Lesson horse Colorful'. 

"See how eager he is?  Like a child excited for candy," she said as she unlatched his stall door.  She clucked her tongue at him.  "Back."  She dragged the word out.  

Colorful obediently backed up several steps, giving Tessa room to put his food bowl down.  As soon as she stepped back, the paint claimed the bowl as his and attacked it with ferocity.  

"And I gave him something he wanted, something he needs.  That, to me, is one of the best and easiest ways to show love to a horse."  

I'd never thought of it that way.  

Tessa nodded to the next stall. "That's Coco, you have his blue bowl."

I unstuck the blue bucket and unlatched the stall. The brown grulla backed up before I even stepped in the stall and stood fairly shaking with excitement as I set his bowl down.

As soon as I let it go and stepped back, he was on it, grabbing a huge mouthful of food. I found myself smiling as he raised his head and grain dangled from his lips.

"This is Moonbeam," Tessa said as she walked by me to the next stall. "Her owner is, unfortunately, going to have to sell her soon."

Moonbeam stepped back at Tessa's command. She wasn't as excited as the other horses, but she was still very eager. After Tessa had given her the grain, she untied the empty hay net from the wall and put it over her shoulder.

Next up was a beautiful shiny bay. His name was Sugary Delight, or Sugar for short, and he was a very sweet gelding. As Tessa grabbed his hay net, she said he was a new boarder's horse, and she didn't know much about him, other than his very puppy-dog like temperament.

And next up was a little pony. Unlike his bay neighbor, this bay pony pinned her ears at us. Tessa sighed. "Not again."

She set hay nets on her shoulder down and the last green bowl as well. "Little Junny here needs to learn some manners. For the hundredth time."

She grabbed a lead rope and unlatched the stall door. As soon as it swung open, Junny tried to step out. But Tessa clicked her tongue and swung the rope at her. "Back off!" She warned.

Junny spun to the side and looked very offended. But despite that she stayed back as Tessa set her bowl down.

As soon as Tessa was out of the stall, however, she was gulping down the feed. Pinned ears made it clear she would not tolerate anyone taking it from her.

Tessa shook her head as she picked up the hay nets again. "She's a rescue. She came from a bad place. I think she learned she always had to fight for her food if she was to get any."

I bit my lip as I looked at the mare, frantically chewing away her grain. Indeed, she did look like she'd have to fight at any minute to keep it.

"So you take in rescues?"

She shrugged. "Kinda. We take in one or two from the local rescues, and give them more training, so they stand a better chance at adoption. We just started doing it a couple years ago, after I got Challenger."

"Oh."

I had the last bucket, and Tessa pointed to the last stall. "That is Snowy." The gray mare was watching us intently.

I unlatched the stall door, and stepped in. Snowy stepped back politely. I set her bowl down, and Tessa reminded me to grab her hay net while I was in there.

"You have a lot of grays in this barn," I commented as I stepped out.

Tessa looked surprised, then smiled. "I guess you're right. I'd never noticed it before."

AN: Hello everyone, here's your chapter! But guess what?

Some new horses were introduced in this chapter, and while they may or may not play an important role in A Medallion, they still get their own pictures. So take a look ⬇  

First off, Coco!  Picture submitted by spirithorse123

Link to photo -->  

And here's Moonbeam.  She has been mentioned in A Challenge.  Photo submitted by Katniss_Rue_Mellark

Unfortunately, the link to this photo will not work.  The link was to pinterest.  At Katniss_Rue_Mellark if you can give me another link to it, I'd appreciate as I like to give credit, however, I understand if that's not possible.  

And here is Sugary Delight, aka Sugar!  I might have to do more with this guy later on.  Photo submitted by 

Katniss_Rue_Mellark

Link to photo --->

Little Junny is here also!  Photo submitted by Katniss_Rue_Mellark

Link to photo --->  

And finally, Snowy.  Like Vanessa said, there are a lot of grays at Star Run Stables ;)   Photos submitted by 

spirithorse123

Link to photos --->  

I hope these photos make up a bit for the half chapter of last week.  Thank you for reading!