What's your secret?

Chapter 3: How Time Fly's

      A few months have passed since the first day I came to this farm and met Snow Flake and her mom Rose. It was very kind of her to take me in as her own even though I wasn't a lusitano like them. I considered Rose to be my mother and Snow Flake as my sister. We became very close and we loved to play with each other. Every now and then, the girls would come and slowly put a halter on us. Snow Flakes halter was a sky blue while mine was a Lavender purple. The colors were the same for our lead ropes. They would lead us around for a while to random places and other times they would lead us to a large sandy pasture and they would play with us. We would play chase, tag, and sometimes we would just run around with each other. Me and Snow played almost every day. I never felt alone, not like I did at the stall when I was being sold. I may not have my biological mother and father, but I was with a family who loves me.

      As we grew older and got bigger, The training got a bit more tense. Our girls started putting weird tack on us. Taking it off and putting it back on. At first, they put some old tack on us. Me and Snow hated the tack in the beginning, especially when they tightened the girth. For me, my saddle was heavier because my saddle was a western saddle. Snow's saddle was an English saddle but it's girth looked like it was uncomfortable. I had what's called a chest plate attached to my saddle. This was a strap that went across my chest and was a second security on keeping the saddle on my back. It isn't a necessary piece to have but I guess some humans think it makes the horse look more fashionable or something like that. Me and Snow started to grow to like the tack and we were then introduced to bridles. It's not the most comfortable thing in the world. It took a while for us to get used to the bit that would sometimes push up against our mouths. If you didn't know, inside a horses mouth can be sensitive. When the bit is pushed against the top of our mouths, its very uncomfortable. It took at least two months with constantly putting on a bridle. 

     At about two years old, I had grown to 15.4 hands and Snow Flake grew to 15.3 hands. The girls took us from our pasture and tied us to the trailer. They both brought different, new tack. Gabriela put a sky blue saddle pad on Snow Flake's back and then placed a brand new, polished, English saddle on top of the saddle pad. Gabriela even put a black chest plate on her. The English and western chest plates are similar but they don't look the same.  She then placed a some darker blue leg wrapped on all four of Snow Flake's legs before she put a black bridle on her face. My saddle was a bit different. Bethany placed a Lavender saddle pad on my back before she put a black and dark purple saddle on top of it. She then attached a lavender purple chest plate to the saddle. She then put dark purple leg wraps on both of my front legs. The bridle looked brand new and seemed to have been polished to look a shiny black. Once our girths were tightened and our tack was checked and secured, the girls took us to the sandy pasture they call the riding arena. What they did next was something I didn't expect. They both got on our backs. I freaked out. I bucked a few times and even reared. "Easy girl, its okay" Bethany soothed. I began to calm down after a while. The same thing happened with Snow Flake. She was startled and began to buck and rear. "Calm down Snow! It's okay" Gabriela soothed but she sounded startled as well. She must not of expected Snow to buck as fiercely as she did. Snow calmed down after five minutes of bucking. Bethany nor Gabriela fell off. Once we were calmed down and used to them on our backs, they began to get off, lead us around for a little, then they would get back on us. Snow freaked out two other times that Gabriela got back on but each was less frightening and after the third time, she didn't freak out any more. Me, I freaked out three times Bethany got back on. Each time was the same. I'd buck kind of like my father did when he was roped. Each time I bucked, I thought of my father. His kind smile, how brave he was to go back and try and save mom when he knew he was going to get caught too, also how strong and determined he was to fight for his freedom. I felt like I knew him when ever I was bucking and rearing. I felt like he was right beside me, but it felt like he was encouraging me to keep fighting. But I didn't really want to. I wanted to do what ever it was that Bethany needed me to do. I thought back to that white stallion I knew before we were caught. I remembered how he looked after me like I was his own daughter. I also remembered the last words he said to me. 'Never loose hope'. What did he mean by that? I kept trying to figure out what he meant by that and the more I thought about it, the more I felt him beside me, telling me to calm down and listen to Bethany. I thought about how obediently he followed that elderly women. I know he would of fought if the women would of been cruel. He must of found something that he could trust in that women and I thought that it was the same for me when I saw Bethany. 

     I snapped back to reality when Bethany stroked my neck, praising me for calming down. When I looked towards Snow Flake, Gabriela was having her walk around the arena and soon enough, teaching her to respond to commands. I felt confused on what I should do. Fight Bethany and try to become a wild horse again after all these years, or listen to her like the white stallion did with the elder women who bought him. I was snapped out of my thoughts when Bethany gently kicked my side. I snorted and stopped the ground and refused to move. "Come on girl" Bethany gently urged. She gently kicked me again but I still refused. She kicked me harder this time and I decided to stop my stubbornness. I began to walk. "Good girl" Bethany praised as she patted my neck. After I walked a lap, she had me trot and then she had me lope. I refused to lope once but I quickly changed and loped. Gabriela and Bethany were teaching us the basic commands like turning, going faster, and slowing down. After our training was done, our girls took off our tack and cooled us off by slowly using cold water. It was summer time so we dried off quickly once we were placed in our paddock. It was a relief to have a break from the girls on our back but questions kept ringing in my head. Should I just listen to Bethany? Or should I fight her?

(Hey guys!! Hope you like this new book so far!! Check out my besties book 'What's Your Secret?' with her character Snow Flake's point of view! Thank you so much for reading!!)