New Beginnings at Century Farms 2: The Rescue Horse Camp

Chapter 20

Mel's POV

I ran up to Heather and gave her a hug. "I'm so glad you're here!" I said, and let her go. "Me too, I can't wait to finally meet everybody! Oh hey, I'm also really sorry that I couldn't sleepover this weekend! I had to stay cause Mollie collided. She's okay though, we caught it just in time," she said. "Oh, poor Mollie!" I said. I remembered Mollie, she was one of the horses next to Pepper at Hunter Creek. "How's Pepper?" I asked. "He's absolutely wonderful Mel. You would be so proud of him! He had his first lesson with one of our therapeutic riding students a few days ago, and he was perfect. He was so gentle with the boy, and the boy loved Pepper too! He was great Mel," Heather said, and my heart swelled with happiness when I heard that. Pepper, an abused dappled grey thoroughbred, had learned to trust people again, and now he was helping other kids with disabilities ride. I was extremely proud of him. "Here, let's take your stuff to the bunkhouse and then I'll introduce you."

Marie's POV

I am so nervous. My mom is pulling through the gates of Century Farms. This is where I'll be living for about 2 1/2 weeks.

I'm excited but nervous at the same time. I can't wait to work with the horses, but what if I'm bad at it? I've taken riding lessons before when I was younger, but then I kind of got out of it when school started to get a little tougher. Now I'm in seventh grade, well actually a rising eighth grader, and it's been years since I've been on a horse. Everybody is most likely better than me cause they've been here the whole time. That's what I wanted to do originally, but I already had another camp that I was going to. But now I'm here, and I'm ready to work!

After I had put my stuff in the bunkhouse, Mrs. Jones went over all of the rules and the schedule. First we wake up, barn chores, breakfast, get ready, morning lesson, activity, lunch, free time, afternoon lesson, barn chores, activity/games, dinner, hangout, feed horses, bunkhouse time, bed. It sounds like so much, but I'm ready for it.

"The horse that you are assigned to is Angel. She is a very light grey with dapples Arabian mix. I think you will be a great match for each other. She is really sweet and safe," Mrs. Jones said. Wow, I get my own horse for camp! "Okay, thank you!" I chirped, ready to meet Angel.

The three of us walked into the cool barn and I was in complete awe. There were tons of beautiful horses, some small and big, some scruffier than others, but all equally wonderful. We passed a few stalls until we stopped at one stall. There, was a gorgeous white horse with a few grey dapples, poking her elegant head over the stall door. Here was Angel. She even looks like an angel.

Mrs. Jones spent some time showing me where everything was, and how to halter and lead Angel. All of my riding lessons were kicking in! I remembered a ton of stuff, like eyes up, heals down. I'm going to ride later today in the afternoon lesson.

"Along with Angel, you will be assigned to work with a mini. Poor guys, we have so many minis and it seems as if nobody wants a mini," Mrs. Jones said. Wow, 2 horses! "You will be working with Truffles." We walked into another barn that had a lot of miniature horses in it! I've never seen a mini in real life, only in pictures. "Here's Truffles," Mrs. Jones said. I peeked into the stall and I saw a small, dark bay, miniature mare that was laying down in the center of her stall. "Aww, she's adorable!" I whispered. I have no idea why I whispered, probably because Truffles was sleeping.

When she finally realized that there were visitors, the tiny dark bay got up and stuck her delicate head over the shorter door (made specially for the minis). I stroked her face and she blinked her eyes. She had the longest eyelashes! She was so pretty, I was stunned. How could somebody want to hurt her?! Personally, I just don't understand why anybody would hurt an animal, especially ones like Truffles and Angel.

10 minutes after promising my mom to text her everyday, call her, behave, and a hug and a kiss, Mom got in our car and drove through the black iron gates. I took a deep breath, then let it out. It helped me relax. Once I had assured myself that this camp was definitely the right thing to do and would be fun, a bell that sounded quite like the ones that would be on a pirate's ship rang three times, and I knew it was time to introduce myself to the other campers.

A/N: hi guys thanks for reading this chapter! I hope you all liked it and will keep reading it😊 wow I was pretty happy that American Pharoah won the Preakness!!! I hope he goes all the way and wins the triple crown 👑👑👑💁🏼 anyway please keep commenting, reading, and voting thanks bye!!!