high school adventures of an "edgelord"

Panic At The Trail Ride

I greeted Cheerio and the mare and went up to the hay loft and start my advertising. I made my signature "recliner" out of hay. I finally sat down after about 15 minutes getting pictures, a glass of water, and perfecting my hay chair. I was finally done after 30 minutes, so I counted down to the posting of the ad, "3, 2, 1, POST!". It was posted, no going back now. I grabbed my phone and texted my mom that I'm taking them on a trail ride through the wood trails. I climbed down the ladder and left my stuff up there. I walked into the tack room to find that my lucky horseshoe had disappeared. I freaked out for a second, but I pushed the thought away. I grabbed the trail gear and brought it to her stall and tacked her up, put the halter on the mare and loosely tied the rope around the saddle horn. That way in an event of an emergency, I can untie it quickly.

I mounted Cheerio and grabbed the mare's lead and we headed towards the beginning of the trail. We were well down the trail when the mare started picking up the pace and started looking around frantically. I asked Cheerio to halt and I turned around and calmed the mare before things got out of hand. When I was about to fully turn around a bird flew from the tree and startled the mare, she broke free from the halter. I scolded myself for putting a breakaway halter on the horse I haven't had for 5 years. The mare galloped down the trail, I finished turning around in the saddle and asked Cheerio to gallop after the mare. I hope we catch her before she gets hurt. "GO! GO! CHEERIO GO! YA!" I yelled. About a minute later I see the mare slowing down, she must not have very good stamina. I asked Cheerio to give it one more push to catch the mare. Cheerio caught up to the mare and I halted her and dismounted. I undid the latch to the saddle bags, luckily I had an extra halter and lead rope. Like with the rope, I always have it handy in case of emergencies like these. Slowly, I approached the mare and slipped the halter over her ears and onto her head. She was breathing heavily and I ran my hands down her legs, feeling for any swelling or heat. I was running my hand down her left-back leg and felt something warm. I prayed that it wasn't anything too terrible. I also hoped that the injury didn't get infected. I looked closer and saw that she had in fact cut herself on a tree limb or something. I reached and tore the sleeve off my old western competition shirt and tightly wrapped it around her wound, it's the best thing to do until I get back. It should suppress the bleeding and stop it.

About 15 minutes later we approached the barn and I see that it's almost pitch black out. While the mare is hooked up in the cross-ties, I walk to the tack room and grab my medical supplies and fix her up. While closing the doors, I mutter to myself, "I hope it's not infected,". I ran to my house as fast as I could, hoping my parents wouldn't mind me being up this late. After I explained to them why I was out so late, I realized I had left my laptop and my camera in the hayloft. As quick as I could, I ran to the barn, unlocked the padlock on the doors and grabbed my things. Before I left, I checked on the horses and I glanced at the mare and saw her pacing the stall. She didn't seem fine to me, so I walked over to her stall and ran my eyes over her and she seemed nervous or like anxious about something. Confused, I opened the stall door and walked inside. I petted her and talked soothingly to her, nothing was working. All these things was so familiar, nervousness, pacing, I just couldn't put my finger on it. Oh well, maybe I'll remember in the morning. Swiftly, I grab my things and lock the door and headed inside my cozy little house. I said good night to my parents and headed upstairs to my room, I changed into my pj's and climbed into my bed and fell asleep immediately.