To get Back Into the Saddle Again {COMPLETED}

Chapter 1: Happy Birthday

One late February morning Madelyn, a dark brown-haired woman, 25 years old, woke up one morning to two barking dogs who were playing tug-of-war. She got out of bed, got dressed in her orange long-sleeved blouse, jeans, and went downstairs. Rocky, the German Shepherd who heard Madelyn come downstairs, dropped the toy he was pulling. Lacie, the Chocolate Lab wagged her tail in delight seeing Rocky give up. The two dogs surrounded Madelyn and barked gladly.

"Hey, let's go out to the barn and see if Justin is there. Shall we?" Madelyn said as she quickly grabbed a couple of baby carrots to feed the horses. She walked out of the cabin-like house and onto the front porch and looked out. She could see the two huge barns, opposite of each other, the big arena, pastures with white fences, an indoor arena, a beautiful sunrise, and miles of woods surrounding. She walked off the porch, followed by Rocky and Lacie. 

She walked into the barn on the left, the one with all the boys in it, and greeted them. Not seeing Justin, she walked into the one on the right, the mare barn, and greeted them. Still not seeing Justin, she walked into one of the turnout pens that had a mini barn with the feed room, and hay storage she decided to start feeding the horses. Having a little more than 10 horses required starting chores extra early, sometimes before the sun came up. 

While she was getting hay and grain ready, she heard her horses neighing as they knew they were getting their breakfast. One horse, in particular, Musta, a quarter horse who loved getting grain kept neighing several times. "You silly! You're not gonna get your grain until noon. You know that" Madelyn said as she heard walking come near.

"And how is my wonderful wife this morning?" She heard Justin say as he walked up behind her and kissed her on the forehead. "I'll help you get ready,"

"Okay, while you are feeding the horses, I will go get breakfast ready," She replied, "I think that I will do pancakes with sausage."

"Yummm sounds very yummy as always." He replied and smiled. By now the two dogs had wandered off, in search of something to go play and pester the barn cats most likely. 

Later that morning, Justin came into the house to eat breakfast. They sat down together and dug in. "So did you feed the horses?" Madelyn asked as she grabbed some pancakes and poured syrup on them.

"Yep," Justin said, "And yes I gave them fresh water and then opened up the back of their stalls so they could go out and in as they please,"

"You know me too well," Justin smiled back at her in reply. "But why were you up early? You almost never are up before me,"

"Haha, come on let me show you. We are done eating by now anyway," Justin said as he held her hand and led her outside. "I know your birthday is not until another two days, but I could not hide him any longer,"

"Him?? What do you mean him? Don't you need to go to work?" She said puzzledly.

"Well yes but..." He stopped short as he reached a stall near the end of the barn with the stallions. There was one stall with the top closed as well as the bottom. He opened up the top to hear Madelyn gasp.

"Oh!! He is so gorgeous!! Hey buddy!!" She cooed as she touched the big red bay."Oh, I love him!!" There, standing in the stall was a big red bay munching on hay.

"He's just bearly three years old and is a Hanoverian cross. You were saying how you wanted to get a new horse to train for the cross country show this year,"

Madelyn threw her arms around Justin and kissed him. "Now you, sir, have to get to work!"

As the car drove away, she went into the horse's stall and did a physical exam. Being an equine vet and farrier, she knew how important it was to have a sound horse. "We need to find a name for you, mister!" she said and thought a bit. As she was examining the horse, she found that on his back leg, there was a pastern. Not just any pastern, for it, was shaped like a miniature world. "I now have the perfect name for you! Atlas! That is your name!" Atlas looked back at her and pricked his ears up.