New Beginnings at Century Farms 2: The Rescue Horse Camp

Chapter 8

Mel's POV

"Let me announce what horse you will be working with. You do not have to stay with this horse if it's not a good match, we will work it out," Mom said. I already know I'm working with Cowboy and other horses, but I want to see what everybody else gets.

"Holly, you will be with Sadie.

Anna, you will be with Fairy.

Cadee, you will be with Knight." Everybody looked shocked, especially Cadee.

"Olivia, you will be with Tye.

Riley, you will be with Jack.

Madison, you will be with Toby.

And Beth, you will be with Smarty. You can all go visit your horses, but don't go in the stalls. Thank you!" Mom said. Wow. Tye and Knight are getting used. This is gonna be interesting.

While everybody else was visiting their horses, I went to go see Cowboy. "Hey boy," I said. When he heard my voice, he poked his head over the door and sniffed my hands for treats. When he realized I didn't have any, he huffed and pinned his ears back. "Sorry guy, maybe after our ride." When he heard me say ride, he bobbed his head up and down. I giggled, Cowboy loves the word ride!

I groomed and tacked him up quickly. He looked great! His now dark bay coat with a few dapples here and there was super shiny, and his tack was nice and clean! I led him to the indoor arena, where Julie was working Zeke, a bay gelding that we were given by our friends in the mountains. Julie trains and works Zeke, and she's allowed to show him. She gets paid to work him, and the owners board him here, so that's a nice monthly income.

I mounted Cowboy and began to warm him up. I decided that we would work on dressage today. When he was all warmed up, I asked him for a collected trot, and it took a few strides to get him collected. After a while of working on getting Cowboy collected, we worked on sitting trot. It was pretty easy since Cowboy's gait is really smooth. After a few laps of sitting trot, I let him have a walk break and then we did some cantering. He was really good at getting collected in his canter, which I so very appreciated. After cantering, I cooled him out by working on free walks. Oh boy, we need to work on that a lot more. After a decent free walk, I dismounted and led Cowboy back to the same pair of cross ties. I untacked and groomed him, then put him back in his stall and gave him a berry flavored treat. He graciously accepted and crunched on it while I refilled his hay net for the afternoon. Since it was REALLY hot today, I was going to put Cowboy out tonight. He deserved a relaxing night in the field, because tomorrow was the first day of work.

***

Olivia's POV

Wow. I can't believe after just unloading Tye I was assigned him for the rest of the summer. Wow. I was so lucky, this was definitely not a camp where you only get to do a few things with the horses. I was glad. Now I have a goal and a real project to work on. During free time, I had called Mom and told her about everything. She was happy and relieved that I was enjoying camp. It was easier for her to get our house all ready and set up without me, my dad, and my brothers there. My brothers are at basketball camps, and my dad is on a business trip. I'm going to call Mom again and tell her all about Tye. He was definitely my horse. He trusted me, I could tell. By taking one sniff and glance at me, he had enough trust in me to lead him out of the scary trailer and into a new place. That made me proud. That gave me the satisfaction of working with a rescue horse, and I truly understood why people rescued and helped animals, for the feeling of helping an animal and having them trust you.

I walked to the round pen where Tye was in. He was so beautiful. He was an American Saddlebred with a black coat and white socks and a white star. I was 100% sure I could help Tye. I wasn't about to let him down.

***

Anna's POV

When I heard that I was assigned Fairy, I felt like I was on Cloud 9. I was going to learn all about horses with my best horsey friend. I might even learn how to ride! Mrs. Jones said she's a wonderful horse to ride, and I believe her. I hope this summer never ends!

I walked to her stall and when she saw me, she nickered and stuck her head over the stall door. I stroked her face and she closed her eyes, relaxing. "I missed you girl," I whispered to her, and she rubbed her face on my shoulder as if to say, "I missed you too."

***

Cadee's POV

Ugh, I got assigned the freaked out black horse named Knight. I was NOT happy. Everybody else was envious of me, I could tell, but I was scared. This horse kicked his stall door and was mean! I didn't want to work with him! But I was NOT about to back down from this. I couldn't let anybody think I was scared of a dumb horse. ARGHH! Why did I even have to come here?! I don't like horses, I've only ridden one once, and I don't even know how to lead a horse. How am I going to work with a crazy horse if I know nothing about horses?

Oh boy, this was going to be a long summer.