New Beginnings at Century Farms 2: The Rescue Horse Camp

Chapter 9

Mel's POV

That night we had pizza for dinner, and everybody was excited about their horses. Well, everybody except Cadee. She was quiet and didn't talk about Knight. I don't get how she couldn't be thrilled that she got assigned one of the most handsome horses at the barn! Maybe she was scared of him. She didn't have much experience with horses, so I could see how she could be nervous. But if she didn't like horses, then she wouldn't have signed up.

Anna was so excited to be with Fairy. Apparently, she was the anonymous reporter who reported Fairy. She said she would always bring salad down for her, but it wasn't enough to keep her healthy. One day when Fairy was too weak to get up, she called us. She was sad that she couldn't see her anymore, but she's happy that she gets to spend the whole summer with her again.

"Okay girls, it's time to get showered and ready for bed," Mom said. "But it's only 6:45," Cadee said. "I know, and when you're all ready for bed, meet me back here for a game," Mom finished. "Yes!"everybody said. We all laughed and Mom smiled. I'm glad she was smiling, cause she's been stressed for so long about the camp, and it's turning out good so far. But then again, it's only the first day...

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*next day* Mel's POV

I woke up to the sound of the alarm on my phone. All of us woke up in the bunkhouse and started to get ready to work with horses.

By 6:30 all of the campers (and me!) were out learning how to care for our horses. I already knew, so I started on my morning chores. Feed Cowboy, clean his stall, wash buckets, and feed other horses. At least it won't be as many horses now with the campers.

"Hey sleepy head," I said to Cowboy. He was dozing in the back of his stall. "Ready for breakfast?" When I said that, his ears pricked forward and he walked to the front of his stall. I laughed and put his breakfast in his stall. He dug in and I started to feed some of the minis. Once all of the horses were fed, I put all of the ones I'm responsible for out in their fields, and I started on stalls. After about 3 stalls, I took a tiny break. I giggled to myself when I watched the other campers doing chores. They were having a bit of a tough time. I'll probably have to help out a bit for the first few days.

I finished up the other stalls that I had to do, and then I helped the other campers with their chores. At 9:00, we finally finished the chores. We headed inside for breakfast. I put some cereal in a bowl, and put a few pieces of bacon on a small plate. We all ate at our dining room table, and Mom started to go over the rules again as a reminder.

"Remember barn rules before we start working with the horses:
1. No running in the barn
2. No yelling or screaming in the barn
3. No going in the stalls unless it's your horse or you have permission
4. Be safe
5. Have fun!
Please follow these rules and we will have a nice, fun, and safe horsey summer!" Mom said. We all nodded and we headed out to the barn for our first lesson.

"For your first lesson, we are going to split up into groups. Since there is only one of me, and 7 of you, half of you will work with your horses, and the other half will learn about horse care with my daughter, Julie. After a while, we will swords and the other group will work with their horses and the other group will learn about horse care. Later today, we will split up into other groups, and we'll work with horses again and do arts and crafts. Is that good?" Mom said. We all nodded and I knew I was going to help Julie.

"Here are your groups. Group 1: Holly, Cadee, Riley, and Madison. Group 2: Olivia, Anna, and Beth. We will have different groups later today. Group 1 will be working with their horses first, and group 2 will be learning about proper care of their horse. Well, let's get started!" Mom said. I headed off to the pair of cross ties that Julie had Stardust in. "Today, we are working on the basics, grooming and leading. I know most of you know how to groom and lead a horse, but some don't and we are going to learn and review that today," Julie said. While Julie explained how to groom a horse, I demonstrated on Stardust. After the demonstration, we got Zeke out (who was semi-dirty) and the campers groomed him. After grooming, we taught them how to lead a horse. "You never want to wrap the lead rope around your hand because if the horse lunged forward or bolted it could drag you and you could break your hand. It's better to make figure eights with the rope and hold onto the lead rope like that," Julie explained. The campers nodded, and they took turns leading Zeke and Stardust around. It was a perfect first lesson.

••meanwhile••

Cadee's POV

Ugh. This is SO boring! I'll I'm supposed to do is stand outside of Knight's stall and pay attention to his body language. While everybody else got to work on showmanship and learning about their horses, I was here just watching mine. Sigh. I watched Knight, and all he was doing was standing in the back of his stall with his ears laid back. Not exactly interested in me. But every so often, he would turn his head towards me and prick his ears at me, but then he would go back to his pouty self. I guess it might be some kind of progress, but how could I tell?

10 minutes later Mrs. Jones rang a bell which I assumed marked the end of this lesson. Yay. Now I get to learn about grooming and leading a horse even though I can't do any of that with the horse I have. "Well, bye Knight," I said to the horse, and he pricked his ears at me as I walked away.

•••

Anna's POV

Time to work with Fairy!! Yay!! Mrs. Jones said to lead our horses out to the outdoor arena, so I haltered Fairy with her purple halter and lead rope and led her outside. Of course, she was perfect to lead. I appreciated that.

When we got to the arena, I looked at the other girl, Beth, and her horse, Smarty. Right now, Olivia is working with Tye in the round pen. I'm not sure what she's doing, but I know it's for the best. "Okay girls, it's a small group because Olivia is working with Tye. Anyway, we are working on showmanship today and learning about how your horse handles. If you will, you could start leading your horses around the arena at a walk, and every so often make them halt. To halt, gently pull on the lead rope and stop. Fairy and Smarty should stop, and if they don't, keep working on it. You may start," Mrs. Jones instructed. Beth and I nodded and started leading our horses. After a couple of minutes I halted her, and she immediately responded. "Good girl," I said, and rubbed her neck. For another 45 minutes, I worked with Fairy on being led, turns, backing up, and walking between and over poles and cones. "Okay girls, go put your horses in some cross ties and groom them. Then you can put them in the closest field from here," Mrs. Jones said. "Okay," I said, and Beth nodded.

I hooked Fairy to some cross ties and then grabbed a brush box that said Fairy on it, and began to clean Fairy up. When I finished, I gave her a treat from the treat bag in her box, and then put her out in the closest field with Smarty.

•••

Liv's POV

Today, I worked with Tye on being used to people. I stood outside of his pen for the whole morning lesson. Maybe I'll be able to go in soon.

Just by observing Tye I could tell a lot about him. He was scared of people, but he seemed to like other horses. I don't mean to sound mean or snobby, but I think he likes me too. Like, really trusts me. He would sometimes walk towards me, but then shake his head and canter to the other end of the pen. It was like he was debating wether or not I was trustworthy or not. It made me chuckle a little. "I'm okay boy," I said to him, then I walked away. When I heard hoof steps, I looked back and saw that Tye was sticking his nose over the fence railing, staring back at me. I smiled, and walked away, silently cheering on the inside.

A/N: hi guys okay so I'm so sorry that it took me forever to put this chapter up it was kinda hard for me to write. I was having a writing block but I think I broke through so hopefully more chapters will be up soon! Please tell me if you like the different perspectives and if you want it to stay on just Mel's, I will change the rest of the book. Thanks bye!!