His Second Chance

Chapter Six

I woke up abruptly to the sound of a shrieking horse. I groaned and covered my head with my pillow. This was the third morning in a row that I had been woken up by the screaming and shrieking of the stallion. I had been sleeping in my room in the farmhouse since he'd arrived, but even the house wasn't far away enough, even though it was on the other side of the farmyard.

I heard Chloe creep past my room, and set the squeaky stairs off. I looked over at my alarm clock with blurred, early morning vision to peer at the time. 5.14am. I rubbed by eyes and waited until I could no longer hear the sounds of the stallion. I always knew when Chloe had reached him because the shrieking stopped and the yard was silent again. I yawned and fell back asleep as quickly as I'd woken up.

I awoke properly about an hour later. This time, I had to get up, as I had my own horses to do. I dragged myself from my comfortable, warm bed and towards my wash basket. It was the middle of the summer holidays, so although I had the freedom to get up at any time I want and do what I wanted, I preferred to get up at normal time, otherwise I would never get up. I also had the freedom to go where I liked, but I was also very limited in my decisions. We were three and a half weeks into the summer holidays, and I literally hadn't been out, unless it was with Chloe or the horses. I looked in the mirror and considered how seriously tragic that was, that I hadn't been out with any of my friends since I'd finished all of my A levels, but then I looked over all of the photos and cards I had of Buck, Ava and the rest of the family and the thought quickly descended from my mind.

I pulled an old shirt out of my dirty clothes basket, along with my jodhpurs for the week. I pulled some new socks out of my dresser, ones that came up to my knees, before I pulled my door open, yawning, and stomped noisily down the stairs. I probably woke everyone up, but I always did, and no one in the house ever stayed in bed for long. I pulled my old boots on and left through the back door. The sun was already up, so I didn't have to take a torch out like I had to in the winter. I had to run back to get the keys to open the barn doors, as Chloe hadn't finished with the stallion, and so hadn't been able to get into the barn yet.

I dragged the door open to be welcomed by the friendly faces of the horses. Not many of the stables were full, as it was warmer at night now so the horses mainly stayed out. Of course, the stallion was inside, in isolation in the old barn that was mainly used for storage, and would be for the next four weeks until the vet could come out and check him again. Buck had been in for the night, as I was planning on taking him out for an early morning ride, along with Firefly and another mare that might be being sold today. I was sad to see her go, as she was a sweet little pony, and any little girl would be lucky to have her, but this was Chloe's business, and there was nothing I could do to stop her from going.

I walked over to the tack room, unlocking it to make up their feeds. I was still tired, so I was a little slow, and Buck reminded me of that by kicking at his door.

"Stop it!" I snapped. I had been trying to teach him some manners.

I gave him his food first, just to shut him up, before giving the two mares theirs. I went about my usual morning routine, cleaning the stables, sweeping the yard and preparing the hay. Once all that had finally been done, I hung Buck's hay outside his stable, before grabbing his headcollar and bringing him out. Of course, he dug straight into his hay while I got all of his brushes. He had already been brushed last night, so there wasn't much to do with him, and I started tacking him up pretty quickly. As I was strapping his boots on, Chloe walked past with several towels and an empty bucket. I watched from the corner of my eye as she walked into the tack room.

"How is he this morning?" I asked.

"A little calmer, but still crazy," she replied, before coming out of the tack room," I tried washing him this morning. He did not like that!"