I woke up, to the sight of the bright sun peeking through the small slit open through the white, draping curtains. The sun beams laid across my bed, right over my feet, keeping that one small area on the bed warmer than the rest. It was a Saturday, 9 in the morning, and I had to get ready to go to the barn. As I stepped outside, I felt the brown and yellow leaves crunch under my feet, the wind was blowing, but so lightly that it was only a bit cold. The sun made the day warm, it felt like the perfect fall day. As I walked over to the big blue and white barn in my back yard, I heard horses whinnying, as they did every morning around this time. My mother would go outside and feed them at 7:30, and by 9, I would let them out into their paddocks so they could run freely till they were robbed ridden or put back in their stalls for the cold night. It was the middle of October, the horses were in their sheets to protect them from the cold nights and give some extra warmth for when the wind would kick in. "Hey buddy!" I said cheerfully as I approached my horses stall. He was a 15.2 hand, dappled grey OTTB, he was a gelding and 7 years old. I rode him in the hunters for 3 years, and we were now in training for eventing. He was far to lanky and speedy for hunters, he didn't know how to slow down near the fences and no amount of training could fix it. He shook his head wildly and danced in his stall, showing his excitement to see I was coming. I grabbed the leather halter hanging on the horse show hook next to his stall, with the maroon short cotton lead rope hooked to it. I slid the halter over his head and lead him out of the stall, he looked in every direction, as he nearly pranced to the paddock. I opened the squeaky gate to the paddock and unclipped his halter, watching him canter off into the paddock, heading to his friend, a tall lanky bay warmblood with dark dapples and a black mane and long puffy filled out tail. His name was "Artikus", he lifted his head from eating the green grass, and perked his ears forward, as Alfie started running towards Artikus, he started bucking and running towards his friend. I stood, leaning against the fence, watching as the horses played in the crisp day, with the sun lighting up the field they ran in. The horses raced around the 2 other horses in the paddock, both stopping near the tree to eat the grass and apples that had fallen. I laughed and walked away, heading to clean his stall.
