The Dressage Dream

Chapter 2

Well it turns out I broke my left arm. The doctor says I can go home, but I can't ride for a couple months. When we pull up to the house I see the horses out in their pastures. After I grab a bite to eat, I head out to see the horses. When I get into the barn I see Checkers empty  stall and I begin to cry. "Will he survive?!" I cry.

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1 week later, "Hey, honey! How's your arm feeling?" My mom says. "Ok" I say back. "Do you think you want to go see Checkers at the Vet's?" My mom asks. "Well I guess" I say. When we get to the vets, we go the the barn. There I see Checkers. He stands with his head down and his front left leg raised off the ground. His leg was rapped with a white standing wrap, he looked miserable. "Hello, I'm Dr. Shawn" Said a man that walked in. "Can we talk?" Mom said. They went into another room. Hey I coo to Checkers, he doesn't even pick up his head. "Honey do you have any questions for the vet?" Mom asked. "Yes" I said. "Okay ask away" Dr. Shawn said. " Will he survive?" I asked. "He still has a chance."he responded. " He hasn't eaten anything since the show." He said. " That was almost TWO weeks ago!" I yelled. I was so mad! Why couldn't they tell us that sooner?! "Mom I'm going out to the car." I said. "I'm coming too." She responded. Once we were in the car she asked if I wanted to put him down. "I don't know" I cried. "What would you do?" I asked her. "Well how about we wait a week?" She asked me. "Yeah sure" I said back. When we got home I asked if I could ride. "No the doctor said no" Mom said. "But mom I'll only walk and I'll ride Missy, She won't do anything." Missy was my pony that I learned how to ride and she was now used for lessons. " I guess but ONLY walk!" Mom said. "Thanks mom" I gave her a hug and walked how to the barn. "Hey missy" I cooed to her. Once I tacked her up I got on and started on the trails. We were only maybe a 1/2 mile from home and I was about to turn around before this big hill that was super fun to gallop up but Missy really wanted to canter up it. She doesn't gallop. I decided to canter up it without anyone knowing. She picked up the left lead and we cantered up it all my thoughts vanished. I felt so free once we were to the top we walked back down and headed home. Once I untacked and put Missy back in her stall I headed to the house. "Mom I'm going to bed" I said. It was 10 pm and I was super tired from riding. "Hey mom!" I said. It was 7:30 am and I wanted to ride again but we had to go to the doctors. I can get my cast off my arm. Its been a couple of weeks and my arm has healed earlier than expected. Once we got back from the doctors, my mom told me if I have decided about Checkers. "Yes I have" I said. "I want to have him come home." I added. "Okay his leg is fine but he is really scared of people." She said. "He started to eat but not a lot" she added. "Okay! Mom, can we get him right now?!" I asked. "How about you ride Chester for me and I will go get Checkers?" Mom asked. "Yes!" I responded. Here comes the trailer I told myself. I was super neverous and excited. I had Checkers stall ready to go. I already rode Chester for my mom. And he was a dream. Hopefully Checkers will be that way again. I thought to myself. The horse my mom unloaded was not Checkers. He was skinny and his coat didn't shine like it did for the show. "I'll take him to his stall" I squeaked. Once he was in his stall I asked mom if he was scared of people because she said that he was scared of people. "Well he is but they had to give him a shot so they could load him and we could unload him" She said. "Oh" I managed to say. "It's that bad?" I asked. "Yes it is" she said back to me. "Look honey I have to do evening chores, just let him settled in and tomorrow you can slowly start working with him." She told me. "Okay I can help you if you want." I said to mom. "Yes!" She responded. "I think that's it!" I said. We brought in all the horses and fed them. "What's for dinner?" I asked. "Chicken soup!" She said excitedly. She LOVED to cooked! "Mom this is great!" I said to mom. "Thanks honey" she said, "I'll clean up tonight" she added. "Thanks mom, I'm heading up to bed I'm super tired!" I said. "I love you honey" mom said to me. "Me too mom." I said while I hugged her. It's was 6:30 am and i was headed into the barn I had dressed in a black tank top and blue + black breaches. "Thanks for doing chores for me!" I said to mom. "Yeah sure honey!" She said to me. "Your horses that you are going to ride today are up on the board in the tack room." She told me. "Okay thanks mom!" I said. I had to ride Missy, Devil and Chester and I wanted to work with Checkers a little bit today! "Good girl, Missy!" I said. We just went through an awesome dressage test! I untacked Missy and started for Devil's stall. He name was the complete opposite than of what his attitude was. He was an Angel. My mom just wanted me to do some leg yields with him. I warmed him up and we started working on leg yields. By the end of our ride he was a pro at them! Once I cooled him out I untacked him and put him out in his pasture. Next was Chester. We worked on flying lead changes and he was awesome at them! He was my mom's horse but she was really busy with other horses today so I got to ride him! His canter was like a cloud, it was so smooth! We did one more change and got it easily, so I brought him down to a walk and cooled him out. "Good boy today!" I said to him. I untacked him and put him out to his pasture. I looked at my phone and it was 12:30 time for lunch but I wasn't hungry so I decided to go see Checkers. He was in the back of his stall with his ears pinned. I walked into his stall slowly I was ready for him to try and bite him or something but instead he walked up to me. "Good boy!" I said and gave him a treat. "I'll be right back boy." I said to him. When I returned I had a grooming box so i could brush him to make him look better. I started brushing him and he loved it! "Wow he remembers you!" Someone said behind. "Mom?" I asked. "Yeah." She answered. "I didn't know you were there!" I said. "Can I come in?" She asked. "Yeah sure but slowly, you don't want to scare him." I said to her. "Wow he totally if fine with you brushing and touching him!" I said excitedly! "Yeah he is! Mom said back to me. "Good boy Checkers!" I said. It has been 2 1/2 weeks of everyone touching him and lunging him so now anybody could lunge him! Today was my first time riding him since our accident. He was super good we even cantered!