If you believe the hype, all little girls are supposed to want a horse for their birthday. Well, Ciara's one little girl who actually got one, though not quite in the way she was expecting. Most little girls don't spend their twelfth birthday on the run with all they own in a pack, while everything they've ever known is destroyed in a siege. Lucky for Ciara, she didn't get just any ordinary horse. Embarr is quite bright, for a stallion, and he was trained to be a king's war horse. Ciara has long suspected he's just as intelligent as she is, and he's certainly smart enough to take his job as her protector very seriously. Nine years later, their friendship is as close as ever and Ciara, now trained as a farrier, does her very best to look after Embarr in return.
Embarr does have a streak of mischief in him, though, and however intelligent he may be, he's still a horse. I commissioned this picture because I wanted to get Embarr drawn, but it's also, partly, in memory of the horse I had when I was growing up. He was a little white gelding, and about as much Embarr's polar opposite as you can get. But I did love him, and I did try to look after him. He was rather spoiled, really, and he had this habit of begging for treats by grabbing your shirt tail and tugging. Or he'd try to stick his nose in your pocket. So that's why Embarr has Ciara's shirt in his teeth.
retrorodent / 
