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| Subject: More fun! | |
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Author: Susan |
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Date Posted: 18:09:49 06/17/02 Mon THIS IS CONTINUED FROM HELEN’S MESSAGE, FUN! FUN! FUN! Alan slowed to a walk and said, “Girls, what do you say to riding up to the waterfall and swimming. You have your bathing suits on underneath your riding clothes, so we could ride up there and swim.” Alli and Jess looked at each other. “Awesome!” they chorused together. “It’s about 15 minutes from here at a walk. So let’s get going. Once we get there I have a surprise for you!” Alan said. They all walked easily down the trail, except for Honey. The palomino mare danced about and playfully tried to jerk the reins through Alli’s fingers. Alli held firm and contained the pain-in-the-butt mare to walk. After about 15 minutes, a huge waterfall came into their view. Okay, so it wasn’t Niagra Falls, but it was pretty big. “Cool!” Jess exclaimed, looking at the large ‘fall. Alan grinned at the girls. “Guess what the best part is? The rock the water runs over is smooth. So you can slide down it like a giant water slide. Do you want to?” He said, knowing that they would want to. “Absolutely!” they responded happily. They all dismounted their horses and took off their saddles. After tying the horses to trees, Alan showed the girls the easiest way up to the top of the waterfall. He stood at the top, smiled, and slid down, whooping cheerfully. He landed with a splash! Jess followed after him, cheering happily. “WOW!” She called as she hit the water. Alli sat tenatively on the edge, trying to decide whether to slide. “Are ya chicken?” Alan called jokingly. Alli looked at him determinedly and pushed off, flying down and hitting the water. They did this a few more times, before Alan said, “Let’s head back. I still have to feed and bring in the horses. I gave the grooms the evening off, so we have to do these chores ourselves.” He gave a teasing sigh. They all tacked up their horses and Alan gave both girls a leg up onto their mounts. Lady snorted impatiently but stood perfectly still, waiting for Jess’ signal to wallk on. Honey snorted impatiently as well but took off at a fast canter. Alli slowed her down and procalaimed, “I’m not riding this horse tomorrow.” They walked along at an easy pace until they reached the barn. Then Thunder and Lady immediately cantered, at Alan and Jess’ signals. Honey kept walking stubbornly, despite Alli’s perfect cues. They reached the barn and untacked. They put the horses in their stalls and gave them each a treat. Alan showed them the feeding chart and they filled the buckets of food, while Alan filled the horse’s water buckets. Then they grabbed lead ropes. They walked out to the paddocks and Jess confidentally went to the geldings paddock and clipped the lead shank to a chestnut saddlebred. All the horses came in successfully, with no big disasters or problems. They hung out for the rest of the evening and then ate pizza for dinner. They went to bed earlier than usual, because of their long day. THE NEXT MORNING AT 5:00 a.m. … Alli walked into the barn and slid open one stall door. A friendly 2 year old chestnut, named Storm’s Wish, snorted at her, but nuzzled her lovingly. Alli hugged his neck and tears sprang to her eyes. Storm had been the only foal of Alli’s first horse, a mare named Make A Wish. Alli’s memories of Wish’s last days filled her head. The mare racing across the paddock to meet her. The groundhog hole. Wish had broken her leg racing into the hole. Alli remembered running out to her, hoping she was okay. She remembered calling Alan, who she had been spending the summer with that year. Storm had been barely a month old when his mother had been put down. Alli let the tears fall and just kept hugging Storm’s neck. The sound of clicking boots came down the aisle. It was Jess. Alli dried her eyes and gave herelf a minute to compose before walking out to greet Jess. “Good morning. Alan said that you could ride any horse in this barn, but I have to ride Honey. ” Jess said, making a face. “Maybe you can straighten her out.” Alli said, half heartedly. She walked over and led Storm out of his stall, there was no question in her mind who she was going to ride. The two girls tacked up quickly and headed out to the ring. Honey jerked on the reins and gave a few bucks before deciding to walk. Alli felt Storm’s supple fluid movement beneath her and smiled. Storm was a great horse. Alan walked out of the house, grinning. “So Alli what do you think of Storm?” He asked. “He certainly has improved and he is almost as good as his mother.” Alli replied, swallowing down her tears at the thought of Wish’s smooth gaits. “She was quite a mare, Alli.” Alan said before heading to the barn. After he came out of the barn, with a prancy TW stallion named Black Rogue. Alan mounted and led them all expertly down the trails. After a few minutes of riding, Alli stopped thinking about Wish and started having fun. HELEN CONTINUE! [ Next Thread | Previous Thread | Next Message | Previous Message ] |