Welcome to Gaia! ::

His Life:

Gaius grew up in Arizona, raised by a single father. His mother died of cancer when he was around six. It was his father who pounded Gaius's morals into his head, and has fond memories of their camping trips together. He lived with his father in Arizona all the way through high school until he left to attend college in Pennsylvania, wanting a change of scenery. Both did their best to keep in contact, but as is normal over long distances, contact waned. During his college years, Gaius's father married again and moved to California, and contact diminished further. Gaius was busy with his classes and his father with his new family. However, Gaius always made a point to visit for Christmas, he never missed it. He was friendly with the new family, and loved the younger step-sister he gained, and there was no ill-will among them.

Gaius graduated college with a major in architecture. His good friend Tim started him working in a construction group under a contractor, but Gaius's dream was to be an architect and design the buildings he constructed. He worked faithfully with the contractors, quickly being promoted to a manager of his work team. He had a reputation for getting any job done, no matter the task. Things are going well for him; He's a bright young man with his whole future ahead of him.

To The Island:

Feral Labs found Gaius's resume online and contacts him with offer of a job for an undetermined length of time. They have this island resort just off the coast of Florida in development that's a theme park of sorts and are in need of housing for the guests, and so they are looking for experienced workers to handle construction for an undetermined length of time. Figuring that 'undetermined' means 'until it's done,' Gaius jumps eagerly at the chance. For a single guy who's been supporting himself, the promise of free food and no rent is a siren call too irresistable to ignore. Besides that, he's thrilled at the prospect of working on a park for families (and especially kids) to visit, imagining the magical experience he'll have a hand in crafting, and perhaps someday sharing with children of his own.

So, saying farewell to his family and co-workers who wish him well in his over-seas exploit, Gaius packs his bags and boards a small private airplane that will take him to his fate.

Flying is always a dangerous undertaking. Gaius's airplane never reached its destination. Word was that it went down somewhere over the Gulf after an engine failure, and there were no survivors. Gaius's family was quickly informed of the tragic news and mourned the loss of their son who'd had such a promising life ahead of him.

Of course, just as all of those 'prize island vacations' and 'medical treatments' before, it's all a lie. Gaius was actually transfered to the helicopter that would take him the rest of the way, perfectly oblivious to his fabricated death. However, the cruelest lie yet is that there is no dream job waiting for him on the island, only a syringe and a world of pain.

Fell Pony:

The Fell Pony is a versatile, working breed of mountain and moorland pony which originates from the North of England.

These ponies has a free and easy stride. As a hack and general riding pony, the Fell's fast walk and easy paces make it a pleasant and comfortable ride, and its sure footedness ensures a safe passage over the roughest country. It is possible to ride a Fell pony through places where other lighter bred ponies would come to grief. Fells seem to have a sixth sense which alerts them to possible danger; they also seem to know which is the soundest track through soft marshy ground, or the safest descent of a rocky hillside.

The Fell Pony should be constitutionally as hard as iron and show good pony characteristics with the unmistakable appearance of hardiness peculiar to mountain ponies, and at the same time, have a lively and alert appearance and great bone. All these attributes make the Fell pony an all round versatile family pony.



Ponies versus Horses:

Ponies are smaller than horses and stay that way through their lives. In general, to be a pony the equine in question must stand 14.2hh or lower at the withers. Many breeds do not grow bigger than this measurement of size, and part of the breed characteristics is pony. Therefore, any equine in that breed must be pony sized to be registered. Ponies also tend to have certain conformational characteristics: they tend to be stockier than horses, have shorter legs, wide barrels, and thick necks and heads.

The difference between a horse and pony is not just a height difference. They have different temperaments, different conformation, and ponies often exhibit thicker manes, tails and overall hair coat.



Horse Behavior:

Horse behavior is best understood from the perspective that horses are prey animals with a well-developed fight-or-flight instinct. Their first response to a threat is to flee, although they are known to stand their ground and defend themselves or their offspring in cases where flight is not possible, such as when a foal would be threatened.

Herds are usually made up of small bands containing mares, their foals, and immature horses of both sexes. There is usually one herd stallion, though occasionally the stallion may allow a few less-dominant males to remain with the group.

In spite of human mythology that portrays the dominant stallion as the ruler of his "harem" of females, the actual leader of the herd is the alpha or dominant mare, popularly known as the "boss mare" or "lead mare." This mare is usually one of the more mature animals in the herd. She takes the lead when the herd travels, dictates when the herd moves from one place to another, what route they take, and has the right to drink first from watering holes and claim the best grazing.

Survival dictates that the herd members ultimately cooperate and stick together. As with many animals that live in large groups, establishment of a stable hierarchy or "pecking order" is important to smooth group functioning. Contention for dominance can be risky since one well-placed kick to a leg could cripple another horse to such an extent that it would be defenseless, exposed, and possibly unable to get to food or water. Therefore, another job of the dominant mare and other higher-ranked animals is to exercise control and moderate aggressive behavior in the herd.

In times of stress, whether from predators or extreme weather, the center of the herd is the safest because it offers the most protection from the elements and is further away from predators than any other part. Because of this, "punishment" of misbehaving members is sometimes delivered in the form of expulsion from the herd--temporarily or sometimes permanently.

As a rule, the edge of the herd is where the lowest animals in the herd's social order are found, but also is the domain of the herd stallion, who must fight off both predators and other males who attempt to establish dominance over the stallion. When the herd travels, the stallion brings up the rear, watching for predators and driving straggling herd members on, keeping the group together. This means the herd stallion endures a somewhat quixotic and vulnerable existence. He lives on the periphery of the herd, exposed to predators and bachelor stallions who will fight him. His value to the herd exists only as long as he can retain his dominance. Because there are always many young, unattached stallions about, he can be easily replaced by a strong and healthy successor at any time.



On Black Coats:

Black is relatively uncommon, though not "rare." There are two types of black, fading black and non-fading black. Most black horses will fade to a brownish color if the horse is exposed to sunlight on a regular basis. Non-fading black is a blue-black shade that does not fade in the sun. Genetically, the two cannot yet be differentiated, and some claim the difference occurs due to management rather than genetics, though this claim is hotly disputed. Most black foals are usually born a mousy grey or dun color. As their foal coat begins to shed out, their black color will show through, though in some breeds black foals are born jet black. For a horse to be considered black, it must be completely black except for white markings. A sun-bleached black horse is still black, even though it may appear to be a dark bay or brown. A visible difference between a true black and a dark chestnut or bay is seen in the fine hairs around the eyes and muzzle; on a true black these hairs are black, even if the horse is sun-bleached, on other colors, they will be lighter.