Horse Meadow Book One

One

One

     Stella struggled to gain conciousness as she pulled herself upright. What a mess, she thought as she looked at her mud encrusted flank. She ignored it as she realized her accomplishment. I just jumped the river, she thought. She had done the one thing that no other horse had done before! Ever since she had heard that no one had ever accomplished it, she had been determined to do it. Now she just needed to get back. She decided to swim back over the raging river, ignoring the fact that it's currents tugged at her legs tauntingly.

     Stella looked for the weakest point in the river, where the water flowed slowly, or at least slower than the rest. There was a small, grassy section of land in the middle of the angry stretch of water. She would swim to that first. She gathered up all of her strength, and braced herself against the strong current as she slid in. The water pulled at her legs as if trying to say, I will pull you in for my next snack, darling Stella. When she reached the small island, she gasped, hooking her legs around a huge, fallen tree limb that had washed up onto the area of the eroded land. She layed there for a minute, then continued to cross, fighting against the urge to let the river take her, and give up.

     Stella spooked as something curled around her leg. She could not see through the water very well, but what she saw scared her. A snake was writhing in the river next to her. Stella screamed, and jerked her leg back. She had one of the most common fears in horses - snakes. She closed her eyes, and concentrated. Come on Stella, just a little bit further, she thought, shivering. Ignoring her fear, she swam on, into the current.

     When she finally reached the other side, Dillo, her best friend, was waiting for her he pulled and pushed her the rest of the way out of the river, and started to help her rub her coat as dry as they could get it for then. That didn't keep him from chattering like a meerkat.

     "I can't believe you did it! We have to tell this to the old mares. They think that they were better than everybody when they were young, but we just proved them wrong!" He stopped to gasp in a breath of air, his eyes sparkling in excitement.

     Stella nickered with excitement. "I know!" As they ran back to the herd, Stella's coat dried from the strong wind. When they reached the others, Stella ran over to her mother, very excited to tell her what she had just done. "I jumped the river!"

       Stella did not expect her mother's response at all.

     "What!? Stella, I don't know what to think. I have been searching forever for you. How could you try to do something so dangerous?", her mother said in a disbelieving voice.

     Stella sighed inwardly. She had thought that her mother would be proud of her for doing something so amazing, but Sky was anything but proud right about now. Sky had always been a bit over- protective, even now that Stella was a yearling. And she probably won't stop until the day she dies, Stella thought.

     "But I"-

     Sky interrupted her.

     "I don't care. You put yourself in danger, and I did not even know about it!", her mother said brutally and angrily. I will not tolerate disrespect. Tossing her mane back, Sky walked away.

          Ok, so I hope that you guys all liked the first chapter. I will be doing a lot of editing, so if you spot any mistakes, feel free to let me know. I will also except advice in the comments below.

           Thanks for reading! I hope that you guys enjoyed this chapter. Please vote to your right => if you liked it :D