Annie's Adventures

Chapter 27

1 woke up the next morning stretching my body, rolling over to my side moaning as I stretch.
"Oh you're awake now Annie? Good morning! How did you sleep?" Mum said as she walked over to my crib and rubbed my back and then picked me up out of the crib and put me on her bed, she took off my onesie and changed my nappy, after she cleaned my bottom, she put me in some clean fresh clothes and then carried me downstairs to the kitchen and sat me on my high chair, she gave me something to explore while she made our breakfast, after they were made, we ate our breakfast together and then Mum put me in my play pen while she went to sort the animals out, about fifteen minutes later she came back and got ready, putting her shoes and coat on, she put my coat on too and put me in the car seat in her car, put Lisa and Rex in the boot of the car, locked up the house then lastly got in the car herself and started to drive the car out of the drive way and we set off on our way.
We arrived at doggy day care first as usual, Mum left me in the car as she quickly took the dogs inside, then came back to the car and we drove to baby day care, once arrived, Mum parked the car and noticed that the centre was shut.
"What!? It's shut!? Howcome?" She asked herself then she checked her phone, "it's definitely Monday." There was a pause then "ohhhh it's bank Monday!" She said as she looked up and leaned her head against the head rest, gave a big sigh then started driving again, once we pulled onto the main road, she made a call on her phone.
Ring ring, ring ring, ring ring
"Hello?" Said a gentle voice,
"Hi there! It's Cathy Darlington"
"Hi Cathy, how can I help?"
"Is my shift on today?"
"Y-yes... why?"
"Good that's what I thought, I've just been to take my daughter Annie, to Baby Day Care and realised that it's Bank Monday! So she was not able to go so unfortunately I have to bring Annie to work with me today"
"Yes it is Bank Monday today, everything is closed but the horses still need looking after and exercised so the workers still have to come in. Yes you can bring Annie, we will give you jobs or work something out so that Annie is safe all day."
"Thank you, We're almost there now."
"Okay see you when you get here"
"See you soon, bye!"
"Bye"
Mum hang up the phone then concentrated on her driving.
"Annie you're coming to work with me today, we're gonna have so much fun! You'll meet my favourite work horses!" She said happily as we drove along the country lanes. After a while, we arrived Mum parked her car in the car park then got out and changed her boots in the boot, she got my pram out and moved me from my car seat to my pram, bucked me in, got everything she needed then locked up the car and we walked over to the office, she walked in and went to the locker room, she put her handbag in her locker, took out her helmet and got ready, and then pushed me out and headed over to a gentleman.
"Hey there" Mum said smiling "this is my daughter Annie" she says as she looks down at me smiling.
"She is beautiful, I'm glad I got to finally meet her" the man said as he bent down to tickle my tummy, I started to giggle "she's such a happy baby!" He said as he stood up again and looked at Mum,
"So today you'll be doing easy jobs and safe things because you have Annie with you okay?" He asked
"Yeah that's fine boss, thank you, so what's on the list today?"
"For you, Mucking out stables, grooming horses, feeding and there's one more thing in the afternoon, we have a small problem but we've come up with a solution."
"Oh okay what's that?"
"We're all going on a big hack ride, we've got some experienced and inexperienced clients coming and we need all staff to go on this ride, including you & I." He says
"Oh okay" Mum replies carrying out the y in the okay
"Usually you'd ride Max or Fudge but today I'm going to put you on Ashottolea because she's very calm and safe to carry you with Annie, I've got a baby carrier thing specially for riding. Would you be okay with that?" He asked
Mum nodded smiling
"Yeah that's fine! Thanks! Annie has ridden already, she's got her own little Shetland called Thomas and has ridden in her baby basket behind me on my horse Fred. Fred looks a bit like Fudge! Not twins but kinda a little alike."
"Okay good, you can get started." He says as he sits back down in his big black leather office chair, Mum turns my pram around and steers me out of the office and down to the barn, once we enter, two or three horses neigh to Mum, I hear Mum taking a big deep breath as she breaths in the heavenly smell of horses and the hay.
"She pushes me to the back of the barn and parks my pram next to one of the stables, Mum then heads off and comes back with a wheel barrow, in it she has a broom, a fork, a spade and a rake, she gets to work mucking out the stables, I sit in my pram and watch her. She does all stables, just as she's finishing the last stable, another lady comes by leading a beautiful dapple grey horse and puts her in the stable Mum just finished mucking out. Mum puts the mucking stuff away in the tool shed then comes and pushes my pram to one of the horses,
"This is Max" she says as she walks up to a big bay horse and smiles up at him, she leans on his stable door and pats his neck then slides her hand under his head and pulls his head closer to her, he wraps his head round her body and Mum rests her head on his head.
"Aw that's so sweet!" I hear someone say from behind me a few seconds later I hear a shutter meaning a photo was taken, Mum raised her head and I hear another shutter meaning another photo was taken.
"Thanks, I just love him so much." She says
"I can see that! No wonder he's your favourite!" The voice says.
"Come and meet my daughter Annie, I brought her to work with me today."
I see a black haired woman walk round my pram and bends down to see me, she has her long hair tied up in a pony tail.
"Aw she's so beautiful!"
"Thanks" She turns to me, "this is my friend Katie"
"I better get back to work, see you at lunch!" Katie says
"Okay, me too! I kinda have a relaxed day today because I've got Annie with me today" Mum replies
"Lucky you!" Katie says as she walks off
"Right next is grooming." Mum says as she pushes me to the break room and checks the list, "wait what!? All of them!?" She says to herself as someone comes in, "usually it's only a few of them.... oh well" she says as she turns round and grabs the handles of my pram, about to push me out of the break room "Cathy!" The lady says as Mum is about to walk out
"Yes?" Mum replies as she looks at the lady
"I just wanted to let you know why you have all the horses to groom as that is unusual, it's because you have your daughter with you, so you can't do the harder jobs or jobs that are of more risk, grooming horses is easier for you and your daughter plus it's safer too, the rest of us have the rest of the jobs." She says as she breaths heavily after her long speech.
"Ah, yeah that makes sense." She smiles at her then heads out and walks up and down the stables, looking into each stable at each horse, when she checks the last horse, she pushes me to the groom room.
"Smokey is first, he's awfully filthy!" Mum says to me as she heads in the grooming room and looks for Smokey's grooming box, finally she finds it she puts it under my pram then looks for his halter which she hangs over the handle, she then pushes me to the wash bay and goes away, later I hear Mum walking down the aisle and I also hear Smokey's hoofsteps ringing on the ground, they soon appear, Mum ties him up as I look at his body, wow he is dirty! Mum turns the tap on and gives him a hose down, after that she goes and fetches the sweat scraper and scrapes his grey coat, after that Smokey gives himself a big shake, Mum giggles as she pats his neck and leads him to his stable, she ties him up outside and comes back for me, pushes me to Smokey, I watch her as she puts a cool rug on him, once that's done, Smokey is put into his stable, and Mum moves onto the next dirtiest horse, she repeats until she gets to a cleaner horse, she picks up the halter and enters the stable, putting the halter on then leading her out to tie her up outside her stable.
"Hey there Moonlight, you are clean! Just need a brush hey girl?" Mum says softly to the mare, as she pats her neck and goes to fetch Moonlight's grooming box, she comes back and starts grooming, making Moonlight all nice and white again. Once finished she put Moonlight back in the stable and brings out the next horse, again this repeats until she gets to the second last horse.
"Annie, I've left my two favourite horses until last" Mum says as she fetched another halter and brings out a big chestnut horse out of his stable tying him up outside of his stable.
"This is Fudge, he's just like our Fred but darker, I'm going to groom him like I did with the other horses but slower as in taking my time which is called quality time." She explained as she fetched his grooming box and starts grooming, I watch as she grooms him and talks softy to him petting him at the same time, stopping every now and then to snap a picture. After a while she finally finishes grooming Fudge, she puts his grooming kit away and cuddles him, giving him kisses, taking a few selfies.
"Aww not again! Too much sweetness!" I hear Katie's voice again as she walks over to us and takes photos of Mum with Fudge.
"Thanks Katie" Mum giggles "I should take pictures of you and your favourite horses later in return!" She says
"Yes please!" Katie says excitedly
Mum smiles before leading Fudge back into his stable, she takes off his halter and gives him a pat before leaving his stable and locking it, she puts away his halter and takes down Max's halter.
"Hey boy!" Mum says to Max as she walks towards his stable "how are you doing?" She asks as she unlocks his stable door and lets herself in, she slips his halter on and leads him out of his stable, tying him up outside and giving him a big hug, she then starts grooming him, she does the same exact thing as Fudge, after grooming and spending quality time with Max, Katie comes over again to take pictures of the two, this time though after their photoshoot, Mum picks me up out of my pram and poses with me and Max, after our photo Mum puts me back in my pram and leads Max into his stable, taking his halter off before giving him a pat on the neck, she gives him a kiss on his cheek then leaves his stable and locks it behind her.
"Lunch break now" Katie says as she and Mum walk to the break room, Mum pushing my pram. Once in, Mum parks it at the end of the coffee table and heads off to get something with Katie, I watch everyone chatting away, not long after, Mum and Katie come back, I see they have a cup of tea each and a plate of something, they sit and join in the conversation, after a while I start to fall asleep.
When I woke up again I was still in the pram at the end of the barn and I could see many many many horses tied up outside their stables, all of them were tacked up, some people were still tacking up, I could see Mum tacking up a small grey pony, once finished she turned round to look in my direction, saw I was awake so came over to see me.
"Hello there! Had a nice nap? You slept through the whole break, the whole chat and the whole time we all tacked up all the horses!" Mum says as she smiles and unbuckles me from my pram, lifting me up and giving me a hug, she walks over to another room, pushing the empty pram, she puts the pram in the corner and picked up a baby carrier thing, she puts it on after laying me down on a shelf, once on, she picks me up again and holds me against her body as she puts me in the other part of the baby carrier so that I am attached to Mum, she checks everything and then walks out and goes to the mounting area, she chats to some of her friends while waiting for customers to arrive, while waiting she asks her friends to check she's done up the baby carrier correctly. They all said she had, just as they finished, six customers came in at once, the boss checks his paper and yells out the names of the horses the customers will be riding, Mum and her friends go to fetch the horses, Mum leads out a small  jet black pony, and takes him to the mounting block, a young boy is standing on the mounting block and Mum helps him on the pony.
"What's his name?" He asks
"Oscar" Mum replies
"Ah nice name" he answers
"Thank you, do you know how to ride?" Mum asks
"Not really" he answers "I've just come for a family ride with my mum, Dad and sister."
"Oh okay, would you like someone to lead you then?"
"Yes please" he nods
"Okay that's fine" Mum says as she asks Oscar to walk on as she leads him to a open space, she checks his stirrups and girth, then waves for someone to fetch her a leadrobe, she clicks that on and puts it over Oscar's neck.
"When we are ready to set off, someone who will lead you will come and you can give them the leadrobe so they can lead you. Okay" Mum says
"Okay, thank you" he replies.
Mum then heads over to find out who is the next horse,
"Smokey" the boss tells her
Mum nods and heads to fetch Smokey, when she gets back to the mounting block with Smokey, she sees a teenager girl waiting.
"Aww he's so cute! What's his name?" The girl asks
"Smokey" Mum replies as she lines him up and the girl gets on him, Mum asks Smokey to walk on to a open space lined him up next to the other horses.
"Can you ride?" Mum asks
"Yes, I go riding every week at a different yard" the girl replies
"Okay good so I assume you don't need anyone to lead you?" Mum asks
"That's right, I don't. Thank you though" she replies smiling. Mum smiles back as she pats Smokey's neck before walking to the boss
"Now can you bring Max for this woman?" The boss asks
"Yeah sure!" Mum replies as she walks over to Max
"Hey there boy! Ready for your ride?" She says smiling at him as she gives him a pat then unbuckles his halter and brings his reins over his head before starting to lead him out of the barn.
"Walk on Max" she said as she clicks her tongue, he walks at her side as they walk together to the mounting block, a woman is standing waiting, Mum turns Max around and lines him up.
"Wows he's gorgeous! What's his name?" The lady asks as she strokes his black mane,
"Max" Mum answers as she helps the woman on.
"Thank you" the woman says and Mum leads Max to line up with the others.
"I assume you don't need to be led?"
"No I'm very experienced, 30 years in the equestrian world now." The woman replies with a smile.
Mum nods then all the staff including Mum go back in the barn to fetch the horses they will be riding, Mum walks up to Ashottolea.
"Annie, this is Ashottolea, she's very good and will look after us." She says to me as she walks up to Ashottolea's head.
"Hey girl, how you doing?" Mum asks as she unbuckles Ashottolea's halter and leads her to the mounting block, Ashottolea stands nicely, lining herself up as Mum climbs onto the mounting block, she then picks up the reins and holds the saddle, she puts her left foot in the stirrup, bounces three times then swings her right leg over Ashottolea's back and slides her foot into the stirrup, she asks her to walk forward, she checks the girth.
"Oh great, it's not tight enough." She says out loud.
"Hang on" Katie calls as she rides over, dismounts then fixes Mum's girth, together they check everything to make sure Ashottolea, Mum & myself are ready and secure. Katie then gets back on her horse.
"Listen up everyone" the boss calls. "We are going for a three hour hack" he then calls out which staff will lead which client, finally got to Mum.
"Cathy, can you lead Ben on Snowball?" He asks
"Yeah sure" Mum replies as she squeezes Ashottolea on towards Ben and Snowball. Snowball starts to follow the other horses as they start to walk away, Ben gasps and grabs the saddle.
"Help!" He calls, Snowball lifts his head and halts.
"It's ok Ben, he won't do anything" Mum says as she rides up next to Ben, "can you pass me the leadrobe please?" Ben slowly lifts one of his hands and slowly picks up the robe slowly passing it to Mum.
"Thanks, Ben listen, Snowball is very good he won't hurt a fly, we put lots of first time beginners on him. Plus I will lead you okay?"
Ben nods and they give the horses a squeeze, asking them to follow the rest of the herd.
Mum and Ben chat away while riding. The boss is leading the way, then some experienced riders then one staff and then staff who are leading other clients and finally Mum bringing up the rear. Soon they get ready to trot.
"Ready Ben? We're going to take it nice and easy okay?" Ben nods nervously.
Mum squeezes Ashottolea on, Ashottolea picks up trots smoothly and Snowball follows, Mum rises in her saddle, Ben bounces around in his.
"Ben! Watch me, watch me" Mum says
Ben looks at her then tries to rise in his saddle.
"That's it! Well done, think of it as counting, 1, 2, 1, 2, 1, 2, 1, 2, that's it! Well done Ben."
"Thank you" Ben replies, they trot along for a bit then  slow to a walk and walk along the woods, they all chat for a while and then they come out of the woods, onto the lane, they all pick up trot and trot along the lane, when they reach the other end they all slowed down to a walk and walked onto the road, the road took them to some streets and they walled along through the crowd, I wondered what the reason was for the crowd but I just looked around and finally we walked into a big large field which seemed to stretch for miles, we picked up trot and trotted across.
"Cathy, are you okay to canter?" Someone yells to Mum
"yes!" Mum yells back so they all pick up canter and canter speedily along the field, eating up the grass, after a bit some people pick up gallop and the other half stay at canter including Mum & Ben, after a while they finally slowed down and those cantering caught up to them, everyone was together again, we all walked our horses onto a lane and walked them loose, letting the horses hung their heads, after about ten minutes they arrived back at the yard. Everyone halted the horses, and dismounted, and the staff leading a beginner helped them down. So after Mum dismounted from Ashottolea, she walked round and helped Ben dismount from Snowball.
"Thank you Cathy, I had a good ride. Snowball is nice." Ben says to Mum,
"You're very welcome. Would you like to give Snowball a treat for being a good boy?" She asked as she got a treat out of her pocket, "hold your hand out like this" Mum said showing Ben what to do, he held his hand out and Mum placed the treat in his hand, but when Snowball reached to get the treat, Ben moved away. "It's okay Ben, he won't bite you, or use his teeth, he'll just use his lips, look watch me give one to Ashottolea" she said as she got another treat out and placed it in the palm of her hand, she offered it to Ashottolea, she took it gently from Mum's hand "see? Doesn't hurt, Snowball will do the same" Ben bravely tried again and managed to feed Snowball the treat, Mum cheered "yay! You did it! Well done! High five!" They shared a high five then Ben walked off to join his family, Mum led both Ashottolea and Snowball to the barn, she let Snowball walk to his own stable while she led Ashottolea to her stable, she quickly walked to the break room and collected my pram, she took off the baby carrier thing and put me in my pram where I stretched good, Mum pushed my pram back to Ashottolea's stable, I watched her as she untracked her, she put her tack away in the tack room and then she gave Ashottolea a good rub down, and put her rug on, once sorted she then pushed me to Snowball's stable and did the same, untacking him and putting his tack away, rubbing him down and putting his rug on. While she was rubbing his back where the saddle was, she heard someone approach her.
"Hi there, I was wondering which pony is Snowball? I'd like to get a picture of my son Ben with Snowball." Asked Ben's mother.
"This one" I heard Mum reply,
"oh okay, Can Ben go in and stand next to the pony?" Mum nodded and let Ben in, Ben went over to stand by Snowball's shoulder, Snowball gave him a wee nuzzle, and his mum took a picture then they left and Mum put Snowball's rug on.
"Next is take the horses to the fields" Mum told me.
"Hi" we heard the boss say as he approaches us "would you like me to take Annie into my office and I can watch her while you help take the horses down to the fields?"
"Yes that's fine thank you" mum replied so the boss pushed my pram to his office and parked my pram opposite his desk, I watched him work away until Mum came to collect me from his office, she thanked him and pushed my pram to the car, she put me in my car seat and folded my pram so she could put it in the boot, after that she got into the car and started the engine, she pulled out of the car park and drove out of the yard, she drove to doggy daycare to pick up Lisa and Rex, then we drove home. She let the dogs out of the car and took me out of my car seat, she then locked the car and walked to the barn, she sorted the horses out for the night and then finally unlocked the front door and the four of us entered the house, she made herself a cup of tea, she took it into the living room and sat on the couch after laying me don on the playmat, I played for a while, while she drank her tea and had a wee rest then she cooked dinner for both of us. After dinner she put me in a pram and we went for a walk round the block with the dogs, when we got back, she took me up to our bedroom and changed me out of my clothes and put my pyjamas on, gave me my bottle and rocked me to sleep, I fell asleep in her arms.