The Silver Horse

I mounted

Thowra was wearing his black bridle, black saddle, sky blue saddlecloth and 4 sky blue jumping leg boots to match.

I was wearing electric blue and navy blue JellyBean jodhpurs, blue polo shirt, pink and blue half chaps, white 'Aussie Rider' helmet and was carrying my rainbow crop.

We set off for the arena and we began some light work.

"Trot Thowra" I said softly, clucking my tongue. We began a nice paced trot. We trotted a few circles & then cantered around the arena.

We were warmed up and ready to jump.

I rode to the indoor jumping arena and noticed a lot of dark, almost black, clouds coming over and it was then when it started to sprinkle.

It didn't bother me, and it didn't bother Thowra either.

We began jumping small and before we knew it we were jumping 85cm.

I decided to tie Thowra up whilst I made a course of 5 jumps in a row, all within 3 strides of each other, standing at 1m high.

I untied him then hopped back on. It was pouring now, but we ignored it.

We cleared the first 3 and as we were mid jump on the 4th, there was a very loud roar of thunder and Thowra bolted, flying over the last jump and galloping towards the white wooden gate to enter and exit the arena. He soared over the huge fence and I face planted into the muddy ground. His rein got caught in my leg and I saw flashes of lightning as I was dragged across half of the outdoor paddock. Thowra broke free then kept on until he reached the stables.

Immediately, seeing Thowra without a rider everyone wondered where I was.

"Is that Thowra?" Asks one of the little riders.

"I think so! But where's Alycia?!" Exclaimed an older girl.

Someone caught Thowra and put a halter on him and tied him up while 2 others grabbed 3 raincoats and went running out of the stables, heading down to the arena.

I saw Holly and Tegan at the top of the hill, then they came racing towards me.

They handed me a raincoat and helped me up. I was a total mess. My beautiful blue shirt, was now brown. My new jodhpurs? Brown. Chaps? Brown. Everything was brown and muddy.

"Thanks guys" I said.

"It's ok" spoke Tegan.

"Are you alright?" Holly asked.

"I'm fine, is Thowra ok? Did someone catch him?"

"Yes, I think Ellen did but he's fine" Holly informed.

They took me up to the stables and I went to my bag in the lounge room and got my spare clothes. Fortunately, I always bring spare clothes. I went to the bathrooms and cleaned up and changed clothes into a white T-shirt with pink lace for sleeves, and my spare navy blue jodhpurs, my black half chaps and I just gave my helmet a wipe down. Lucky for me I lost my crop somewhere in the indoor arena, so it didn't get muddy! I must've dropped it, but I went down later to get that. When I was cleaned up I went to check on Thowra.

"Hey boy, silly thunder, spooking my pony. Sorry that happened Thowra" I silently spoke to my horse.

Thowra looked into my eyes. I saw a friendly soul. And definitely a beautiful horse that would never purposefully hurt me.

I untacked him and grabbed my grooming bucket, brushing out the mud, dirt and giving his silver mane and tail a comb.

"I have to go Thowra, I'm sorry, mums here" I said.

"Actually, I'm sure she'd want to see you! I'll be right back"

I soon returned with mum and while she brushed and groomed Thowra I told her what happened.

"Wow, are you ok?" Mum asked.

"I'm good mum" I replied.

"You'll be sore tomorrow!" She said.

I laughed. "Definitely"