As a foal, young Toumas never seemed to have a chance for a normal life, because his mother was certainly not of stable mind. The young mare had been brutally molested by a lead stallion in the herd she'd grown up in. A stallion she'd known all her life, and had thought she could trust. Which is probably what made the offense all the more heartbreaking, leading to her inevitable insanity. She swore off all stallions. She was bitter and violent towards any that would come near her let alone show any interest in her, and it all grew worse when she learned she carried that stallions seed within her. The others merely avoided the mare, finding it easier just to ignore her, and pretend she wasn't there, so of course, it was just as easy a thing to do with her soon to be born son. Yes, of all the cruel jokes, she had given birth to a young foal. His markings were a painful mix of her own coloring, and his fathers, which did nothing to aid her feelings towards him. Naturally the mare hated her son, but, as he was her own flesh and blood, she'd come up with a twisted plan to make him more..accommodating. She began to raise the young one as a filly. She demanded complete rule over all he did, and utter obedience...anything otherwise was severely punished. He was told to walk with ease and grace, to keep himself tidy and well kept. Speak softly and sweetly, and only when spoken too first. At the beginning it worked well enough, for a child can only know what they are taught, so he thought nothing wrong with his actions, but, it was soon seen, by the way the other foals treated him, that something was..odd. The colts would mock him for his girlishness, but when he would seek the comfort of the filly's, they two would tease. It seemed to him he had NO place. When his mother would tie ribbons in his ebony and ivory mane to make him look more ladylike, the stallions would tug them out with playful cruelty. But the worst was yet to come. One night, when he was found with mud all over his pale coat *Due not to his own neglect, but the torment of the colts* His mothers sanity seemed at it's end. In a fit of rage she flipped the young foal over and tried to viciously tear away his "manhood". In sheer horror and agony he broke free of her before she could complete her ghastly deed and he ran into the herd. He found himself in a puddle of his own blood before the herds healer. She alone had seen the torture the poor boy had been suffering, but as the others, had done nothing to stop it till this night. He swore to her that he'd only been running in the woods and caught himself on an unnoticed branch from a fallen tree, but she knew too well the truth of his injury. That night she took custody of the foal, and through a forceful and passionate plee to the herd elders, had finally voted, the boys mother be bannished. She became his soul provider now, and it would seem all would be as it should, but with her duties, she was rarely around to be there for the colt, and he grew distant and fearful of others.