Shadow the Dream Horse

Chapter Two

Mollie

As Evie brought Bailey out of the stable in order to groom her, she saw Mollie – the other helper down the stable leading the 2 small ponies Nutmeg and Cinnamon into the yard. Both 12.2hh welsh section A ponies – the only difference between them was that Nutmeg was Chestnut, whereas Cinnamon was a gorgeous bay. Bailey whinnied to Cinnamon, who was her special friend, as Evie brushed her down and quickly tacked her up, before heading to the sand school at the back of the yard.

At the moment there were only 5 ponies, Nutmeg, Cinnamon, Bailey, Noodles and Cognac. Evie loved helping Mollie look after them all, and she knew once Mollie had settled the two ponies in for the night – she would come and ride Noodles.

Sure enough 15 minutes later Bailey whinnied again, and Evie saw Mollie trotting up the hill on Noodles – he was a 14.3hh skewbald gelding, with a white star and brown face.

As Evie walked Bailey round the school Mollie entered on Noodles, encouraging the 5 year old gelding to pick up his walk – as he could be a bit sluggish when he first entered the ring, he was not used for any of the riders who came for lessons on a Saturday and Sunday, only Mollie rode him, because she had a natural flair for horses and riding, and could make it look effortless.

Evie signalled Bailey to trot, and was pleased to see that Noodles didn’t try to follow her, he had a habit of trotting when other horses did, and Mollie was keeping him calm – circling him at a slow walk, until Bailey was up the other end of the ring, then she gave him a pat, and the signal to trot on, in which he responded with a lovely forward going trot.

“Good boy Noodles, whoa there, slow it down” Mollie brought Noodles to a balanced walk after half halting him, which he responded to straight away. Mollie had grown up around horses – her mother and father had both ridden, her father on the racetrack, her mother on the show jump circuit – until 16 years after they met, Mollie arrived.

From the moment she was born, her mother would sit her on the back of her 16.3hh black Friesian Gunner – despite his size he was as gentle as a lamb, and would allow Mollie to be a passenger, albeit a tiny one.

Gunner, Missy, Rosa, Lucas, Benjie and Brandie Snap. Mollie could remember her mother’s horses, and her beloved welsh pony Rosa that she had learned to ride on. She wondered where they all were now. Her father had insisted they all were sold, when her mother was riding the new horse Gulliver's Travels – a 17.0hh Thoroughbred x Andalusian stallion out on the cross country course, for a friend when they had come to grief at a water jump, and her mother had died.

Mollie had been 10 years old, and was outgrowing Rosa, but her father sold all the horses. Mollie had been bereft, she wanted desperately to ride again, but her father had banned her from going near to a horse again. That was until she found the stables, and rescue Noodles 3 years ago, when he was a 2 year old, from a cruel unforgiving owner, who didn’t know what to do with a youngster.

Slowly Mollie had built up Noodles trust – offering the nervous youngster carrots and apples and building a bond – before she offered his owner all her savings - £1500 – which he accepted, as he wanted rid of the pesky horse that had caused his beloved daughter to have a broken arm the one time she had tried to ride him.

So for the past 3 years, Mollie had worked at the stables, to 1. Earn enough money to keep Noodles there, and 2. To pay money back into her savings account. Her father didn’t know she was riding again, or that she had a pony of her own. But at the stables, with Evie for company – and being surrounded by her beloved ponies, Mollie finally felt happy for the first time since her mother’s death.

Mollie rode Noodles back down the hill to the yard, with her best friend on Bailey, the two girls chatting companiably. As they arrived at the yard, they dismounted and tied their horses up to outside the stables, before untacking them, and collecting their grooming boxes.

The two girls spent an hour grooming their horses, before rugging them up and preparing their food for later. They chatted easily in the tack room before they went to skip the ponies out and feed them.

Suddenly a car pulled up and Evie's mum got out, walking over to the two girls, who were in adjoining stables.