New Beginnings at Century Farms 2: The Rescue Horse Camp

Chapter 7

This is it. Today's the day! The first day of Rescue Horse Camp!

Me, Julie, and Mom were up at 5:00 this morning doing last minute things. Mom's stressed cause a horse is coming today. He's a black saddlebred gelding named Tye. He was a really fancy Saddlebred that did lots of shows and won, but when he got sold his new owners abused him. Bad. He was getting beat by his owners and was being ridden recklessly. He was afraid of all people and objects now, which is bad cause he's not eating and only drinks a little bit of water out of puddles. Poor guy! That's why it's going to be tough.

Hour later, at 10:00, the first camper arrived. We walked over to the car and a girl with pretty tan skin and dark brown hair got out a large duffel bag and said,"Hi, I'm Olivia." "Hi, I'm Melody. Welcome to Century Farms! We can put your bag in the bunkhouse. Follow me," I said. "Thanks."

We walked into the bunkhouse and she set her bag on top of one of the beds. "So, do you live here?" Olivia asked. "Yeah, I do. Do you want to see the barn?" I asked. "Of course!"she said. I think I'm going to like this girl.

We walked outside and I gave her a tour. "This is my pony, Cowboy," I said proudly. Her eyes flickered over every inch of his body. "Wow, he has great conformation,"she said appreciatively. "Thanks, he works hard."

I led her towards the rescues, and showed her all of them. She was so interested in all of their stories, I liked that. She really likes Knight. "I like him too, but he's really spooky," I said. "Aww, that's too bad. He's beautiful!" Olivia said. "Melody!" Mom called. I just realized that the other campers are probably here. "Coming!" I called back. "Oops, we need to go out there," I said. "Let's go!" Olivia said.

When we got out there, there were a total of 7 girls, counting Olivia. Heather is coming later, but she's not bringing Cloud. "So girls, how about we go over to the yard and we'll do a little ice breaker type of thing. We all nodded and walked to the yard. We sat down in a circle and my mom started talking. "So, to get to know each other, we are going to take turns saying our name, age, any horse experience you've had, your favorite movie or tv show, and anything else you want to add. Mel, you start." Mom said. "Okay, hi guys I'm Melody! But you can call me Mel. I've been riding horses all my life, and I've only done a few shows. My fave movie is Jurassic Park, and I have a crazy addiction to anything chocolate," I said. They all laughed. Olivia was next to me, so she started. "Hi, I'm Olivia. You can call me Liv though. I'm a saddle seat rider and I qualified for the Georgia state junior championships, but I had to move here before it. My favorite tv show is Top Gear, the UK version, and I am obsessed with platypuses,"she said. We laughed again and the rest of the girls went, until we got to the last girl.

"Um, hi, my name's Anna. I don't have that much experience with horses. I just know how to lead them and brush them. I like the movie Flicka, and that's it,"she said shyly. "Nice to meet you Anna. Now that all of the introductions are done, how about a tour and then we'll eat lunch and get to horse assignments," Mom said. "Right this way."

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Anna's POV

When Mrs. Jones said it was time for a tour, I was ready to see Fairy. I've been waiting for this moment forever!!

We walked inside, and we got introduced to a pony named Cowboy and a horse named Geronimo. I tried to look down the isle, but only a few curious horses poked their heads over the stall doors. I sighed quietly and felt a bit disappointed. What if she got adopted yesterday? Or they forgot to put it on their website? Panic made my stomach hurt, but I tried not to get too down. She could still be here.

We walked through the rest of this barn's isle, and we walked into the next barn. At the first stall was a beautiful dappled gray neck and I just knew it was a fairytale come true.

"This here is-" Mrs. Jones started but I finished the job. "Fairy!" I exclaimed. I walked up to the stall door and threw my arms around her neck. I could tell she knew it was me, cause she leaned into me like she used too. "Oh Fairy," I whispered. "I can tell you like Fairy,"Mrs. Jones said. Oops, I forgot there was other people around. "I'm sorry," I whispered, my face red. When I looked at Mrs. Jones though, she didn't look mad. She actually looked touched. "Can I talk to you in my office after the tour?" Mrs. Jones asked. "Yes ma'am," I murmured. This was it. I was going to get kicked out of the camp for yelling in the barn and interacting with a horse without permission. I sighed and after the tour I walked to Mrs. Jones office.

I knocked and she said,"Come in." I walked in the smallish office and sat down in a folding chair. "Mrs. Jones, I'm so sorry! I don't know what I was thinking about yelling Fairy's name and hugging her without your permission! I was just so excited to see her because-" I stopped short. "Because you were the anonymous reporter?" Mrs. Jones asked softly. "Yeah," I whispered. "Anna, I'm not mad at you. What you did was so sweet! Just please don't do that again with any other horse that you don't know,"she said. "Okay, I promise I won't. It wasn't like me to do that I just got so excited to see Fairy!" I squealed. Mrs. Jones smiled at me and said, "Go to your bunk for free time. It's time for me to assign horses!" I smiled and went back to the bunkhouse, immediately feeling better than I had in weeks. My Fairy is okay, and I'll get to spend the rest of the summer with her, if o get assigned her.

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Olivia's POV

After free time we were supposed to meet outside the barn for our assigned horses. I really hope I get Knight, but I don't think anyone will cause he's so spooky.

As we all walked outside, a trailer pulled up and Mrs. Jones looked stressed. She was trying to unload a horse I think. Wow, so this is what it's like to get a totally afraid animal. We watched her struggle for about ten more minutes before Mel went to try to help her.

I wish I could try to help the horse. From what I could see, it was an angry black horse. He or she was magnificent! I couldn't stand it any longer, I had to try. "Could I try?" I asked Mrs. Jones. "I'm not allowed to let you, sorry,"she said distractedly. "Please? I've helped train horses at my old barn before, I might be able to help?" I asked again. "Well, against all my judgment you can try. But be careful!"she said. "I will. Promise."

I walked to the trailer, and when the horse saw me, he froze. "It's okay boy, I got you. It's gonna be alright." After about 10 more minutes of sweet talking, I was able to clip a lead rope onto his halter, and he scrambled out of the trailer, and into a round pen. My eyes got wide, immediately I could tell he was a saddlebred. By his confirmation and the way he moves gives it away. "Wow," I silently breathed. I quickly unclipped the lead rope and he trotted to the far side of the pen.

Everybody started clapping. I could feel my face go red and I looked down at my feet. "Way to go!" Mel said and high fives me. "That was great," Mrs. Jones said. She was impressed, I could tell. I watched her jot something down in her notebook, and then turned to us. "Time to announce assignments."

A/N: hi guys I really hope you like this chapter I sure did! Please vote and comment and keep reading! Thanks!