[REDACTED]

V

chapter name: 3

George and Clay got to the stables a few minutes later, and just like George had said, it was in fact very muddy, and it also smelled like horse. George walked into the barn and looked around, there were ten stables total, five on each side. Six of the stables were empty, when George noticed this he came to a small realization. "Phil's horse is gone, which means that everybody is down by the river. Clay, do you know how to ride a horse?"

Clay nodded his head yes and George smiled, "Good, that makes this easier for the both of us. The rest of the boys took their own horses, which means only mine and two of the fill's are here. You can come pick one out of the two of them." George led Clay over to where the remaining four horses were. One was named 'Scot' the other was named 'Apple', the other two didn't have names. George turned to face Clay, "Ok, the two without names don't have owners yet, so choose out of them two." Clay looked at the two horses, one was a bit taller, but seemed more shy, the slightly shorter one seemed more confident and social. "I'll take the taller one." George nodded and got the saddle and reins. "What are you gonna name him?"

Clay thought about it for a moment before coming up with a name. "Elliot." George quickly wrote the name on the whiteboard by the gate. "Ok, take these and saddle up." Clay took the saddle and reins from George and quickly got into the pen, he approached the horse slowly and tied the gear on. He then got himself up onto the tall horse, and it seemed to lose some of it's nervousness. He slowly urged the horse forward by the gate so he could reach down to the latch with his foot. The gate swung open and he took Elliot into the main area of the barn.

George met Clay on his own horse in the middle of the barn, he smiled when he saw how happy the blonde looked on his companion. "Ok, time for us to go down to the river." George rode Apple ahead of Clay and they started to trot towards the woodline, about three minutes past the woodline George took Apple down into a creek, the water went to her hooves when she stood on the edge. Clay followed closely behind and laughed when him and George started to speed down the creek. It was only about five minutes later when they slowed down and Clay could hear laughter close in front of them.