On Our Own

Chapter 4

"Ezhno, you looks so handsome," I coo.

His hide is free of dirt, and his mane and tail are tangle free. This is the best he's looked in- well, ever. I've never seen him so clean.

I take an alfalfa cube from the tack room, and hand it to Ezhno, who graciously scarfs it down.

"That's it boy."

I put Ezhno up in his stall and go to find Serenity. She's tacking up a Palomino mare when I find her.

"Serenity, is there anything you need me to do?"

"No, everything's done for today, aside from feeding the horses. But they don't need to eat until 6ish. But, my trail ride is in 45 minutes if you want to go," she suggests.

"Sure, sounds fun. Are they boarders or do we need to tack up some horses for them," I ask.

"Well, a girl who boards here is coming with a few of her friends who don't have horses. Not counting the boarder, there will be two others. So could you go to the non-boarders side of the barn and bring out Cooper and Fauna? We don't need to tack them, but we should give them a quick grooming," she tells me.

"Okay. By the way, is this your horse?" I ask.

"Oh, I wish. No, this is just the horse who I ride. Her name is Pumpkin, and she's the sweetest horse I've ever known. I'd give anything to have her, but I could never afford a horse."

"Well, she'e beautiful," I say, before heading over to get the horses.

First I go to the tack room and fetch their halters and lead ropes. Fauna's are both emerald green, and Cooper's are blue.

Then I head over the the non-boarder side of the barn. I walk down the aisle, scanning the nameplates for their names. I come to Fauna's first. I look up and see a beautiful dapple gray Arabian mare.

I open the stall door and slip the halter over her head, before clipping the lead rope on. I take her out to where Serenity is, and ask, "Where do you want her?"

"Tie her to one of the hooks. There should be several of them," she says, glancing up from grooming Pumpkin.

I look over to the wall and notice about five of them. I loosely tie Fauna up, before I go to get Cooper.

Cooper is at one of the back stalls. He's a large, bay Andalusian gelding, with a long black mane and tail.

I pull his halter over his massive head, and clip on the lead. Within a few minutes, he's tied up beside Fauna.

"Hey Serenity, didn't you say there would be two girls not including the boarder? Shouldn't we get out her horse?"

"NO! Chloe does not want anyone touching her horse. She's one of the snobs I was telling you about," Serenity says, whispering the last part.

"Oh."

"Well, we should groom these two now. Who do you want, Fauna or Cooper?"