An excited, happy gasp escaped him as his father flipped him over and onto the ground. “Okey dokey! I’ll be right by ya,” he imitated the man’s wink back at him before turning around to look down the field. His grandmother called out for them to check on River’s healing sore. The boy nodded back to her before she made her way from the barn and into the other side of the field, where Puddles scratched his usual patch of favourite land. Thomas smiled, thinking about grandma’s new nickname for him. She had a way with making people feel confident about their insecurities that only a wise owl like herself could. At first, wearing glasses had been much of a chore, and he was told that it really changed the way his face looked, or that it could lead to problems with sight reading… But just like every other member of his precious family, grand-owl was always there to remind him that glasses were just as cool of an accessory. Because a Rose such as herself knew just how to give a seedling like Thomas the encouragement to bloom.<br/><br/>Man, was his whole family made up of brilliant farmers.<br/><br/>Horses, admittedly, still sort of freaked Thomas out. Farmer stories of people getting their fingers cut off because a horse would step on their hand whilst hoof-cleaning led him to wonder what else they could do if they simply leapt up and jumped on his head or something. He felt much more at ease being on the back of a horse rather than his small frame standing next to one, so stuck to Conor’s side like glue as they fastened the halters and leads around their farm’s precious animals. Their farm resided many happy, calm and loveable horses, much thanks for that especially going to Rose - Thomas was sure that their good natures would eventually rub off on River, too. As they approached the somewhat anxious creature, Thomas noted that her skittish movements had definitely become much more controlled these days. He looked over to the back of her leg for the girth sore, but the mark could barely be noticed as much of it had faded and returned to its normal skin. “Aw, good girl; with this much improvement from your once tense state, you’ll probably open up so much we’d have to rename you ‘Ocean’, huh?” He smiled smugly at his rhetoric, briefly patting the horse’s belly whilst watching his father prepare her.<br/><br/>By the time they had taken care of most the horses, the last one left to collect was dear Perry. He was a bit of a mischief maker, but that’s what Thomas liked about him. Perry was the first horse he interacted with as soon as he had learned to sit still on the back of one; the two were sharing the beginnings of what seemed like a very long and precious bond as Thomas felt a<span style="font-style: italic">little</span>bit safer around this particular creature. “Dad, do you think one day I could be as tall as you? I wish I could saddle my horse…” He said, outstretching his arms towards the animal. It seemed as though Perry felt sorry for the boy, as it lowered its head for Thomas to scratch. The farmer boy narrowed his eyes with a meek chuckle. “Thanks, buddy.”