January Story Contest

The Saddle Pals: The Beginning
By: Foalgirl8021
Age: 10

CHAPTER 1

It was August 19, 2012 when we decided to move to Texas.  My brother had just turned 9 on the 16th and I couldn’t wait for my 12th birthday to get here. We used to live in Oklahoma but dad decided it was time we moved.  We used to live in a one-story house with real small rooms. We now lived in a two-story house with a big pasture and barn. My room was on the second floor.  It had a big closet, two huge windows, and it’s own bathroom!! My room was painted like a ranch.  It had horses, cows, chickens, fences, a barn, a ranch house, and a beautiful sunrise. On the outside of my door was a sign that I drew that said, “Angel Ranch” and a few pictures of me riding my horse, Dominator. The bathroom was all brown and had pictures of broncos everywhere. 
I went downstairs and greeted Mom and Dad,
“Morning, Mom. Morning, Dad.” Dad was drinking coffee and reading the paper. Mom was fixing her some oatmeal.
“Hey, Baby.” said Dad.
“Good Morning.” Mom smiled.
“Is Bud up yet?” I questioned.
“Not yet.” answered Mom.
“Lazy Head.” Dad mumbled. 
I got a bowl of Apple Jacks and poured the milk.  Then I got a spoon and sat down beside Mom. Dad went up stairs to wake up Jess, my brother.  Jess came downstairs yawning before Dad got to the middle of the stairs.  When we were all eating I asked Mom, “Mom, can I have riding lessons?” 
Mom looked at Dad.  Dad was the one that made decisions like that.  He simply nodded in agreement.  Mom turned back to me.
“Sure.  But where?”  I thought for a moment.  I had been looking at stables last night and had found several that I liked. I told Mom,
“I want to go to Clear Creek Stables. It looks nice and doesn’t cost much to go there.”  I commented. 
“Sure.  You can tack up Dominator and go there today.” 
We finished breakfast and I went outside to see Dominator.  As usual, Dominator greeted me with a whinny.  I gave him his breakfast then fed the cows and chickens. After Dominator was done I groomed him and tacked up.  I lead him outside the barn and mounted.  We trotted down the driveway and galloped to Clear Creek Stables.  Then I called Mom and she came and signed a few papers and then Dominator was boarded.

                                                                                                                  
A few months later I finished breakfast and groomed Dominator.  I tacked up and then we galloped to Greer’s house. Greer was my new friend. We sat beside each other all the time in school.  I trotted up their driveway and dismounted.  I knocked on the door and Greer’s mom answered. 
“Hi, Mrs.Koonce.  Is Greer able to go out for a ride?” I smiled. 
“Hey, Vada.  Greer’s upstairs. I’ll go get her.” Mrs.Koonce said.  Then she went upstairs and got Greer. Then they came down and Greer smiled.
“Hey, V.” she greeted me. 
“Hey, G.” I greeted back. “Ready for a ride?” I asked. 
“I sure am,” She answered. “I just have to tack up Legend. You can go ahead and go get Kami.  I called her and told her you’d be there in a few.” Greer told me. 
“Okay.  We’ll be back later then.”
I said as I put my foot in Dominator’s stirrup.  I swung my foot over Dominator’s rump and cantered to Kami’s house.  Kami was in her barn tacking up her horse, Island.  She finished and mounted.  They trotted over and said,
“Hey, V.  Ready?” 
“Yup.  Greer’s tacking up Legend.  Let’s go.” I said. 
Me and Kami cantered to Greer’s house.  Greer met us at her mailbox then we all galloped to Clear Creek.  “Hello, Girls.” said Mrs. Clark.  Mrs. Clark’s son was the owner of Clear Creek and she helped him keep the stables together when he was gone. 
“Hello, Mrs. Clark.” we all said together. 
“Oh look.  The Saddle Pals are here,” mumbled Scarlet. “Great.” Scarlet sighed.
Scarlet’s father was the founder of Clear Creek so she boarded her horse, Golden Girl, here. 
“Let’s put up our horses.” I said.  We dismounted and untacked our horses.  Then we groomed and put our horses in their stalls. Ethan walked up.
“Hey, Vada.” Ethan blushed. “I… um… I have to go… um… drink some water. See ya.”
Ethan walked away. Me, Kami, and Greer giggled.  Ethan had a crush on me and I knew it.  He didn’t want to say it. He’s just shy. I thought.
“Let’s go get a snack from the lounge.” I told the girls. 
“Sure, V” answered Kami.  We all walked to the lounge and got one brownie each.  I took a bite.
“Mrs. Clark makes the best brownies ever!” I commented.
“Thanks, Vada.” said Mrs. Clark. She had just come into the lounge. I turned around and smiled. 
“Can I have the recipe?” I asked politely.
“Of course. Kami, Greer, do y’all want it too?” Mrs. Clark started writing down the recipe on a piece of paper. “Sure, Mrs. Clark.” said Kami.
“I’d love to have the recipe.” commented Greer. Mrs. Clark wrote the recipe down on three sheets on notebook paper and handed one to each of us. “Vada, these will be great for the bible-study you have at your house.” Mrs. Clark smiled.

After we finished our brownies we groomed and tacked up our horses for the lesson. We lead our horses to the ring and mounted.  “Listen up. There’s going to be a contest next week and all of you are going to be in it. I expect you to do your best.  All the practices before the show I expect you to try more than you’ve ever tried.  And when the day of the show comes try as hard as you can, do the best you can, and most of all, just do good.” the riding instructor told everybody. 
“Now let’s practice.  We are going to do pair riding.  When I call out your name I want you to get with your partner. Kami and Zack.” Kami trotted over to Zack.
“Greer and Greg.” Greer trotted over to Greg. “Scarlet and Cliff.” Scarlet trotted over to Cliff. “Vada and Ethan.” I trotted over to Ethan.
“Now we are going to do jumps.  Kami, Zack.  you two go first.” There were two lines of jumps so pairs could go at the same time. Kami and Zack started jumping and got to the end in a flash.  Greer and Greg did the same.  Scarlet and Cliff didn’t go through as fast as Kami, Zack, Greer and Greg did but they still went fast.  Next was mine and Ethan’s turn.  We streaked through the jumps.  Dominator was really into it by the third jump.  We ended and the did a few more things and then the riding instructor said, “Lessons are over for today.  You are free to do whatever you want now.  You can practice more if you want or go on a trail ride or anything else.  Good luck training.”
Then she walked into the lounge.

 

                                                                   CHAPTER 2

Me, Kami, and Greer all went out on a ride. We rode on Silver Trail.  Story goes that it has silver in the trail so they named it, Silver Trail.  After we got back we untacked and groomed the horses.  Then we gave them some oats and then walked into the lounge and plopped down on the couch.
“We should be getting home.” I told Kami and Greer.
“Yeah.  But we just rode our horses. Let’s let them rest.” said Greer.
“Oh, yeah.  I forgot about that.” I commented. “Let’s stay here for another hour or two then.” 
“Fine with me.” said Kami. 
                                                                 

After I got home I greeted Mom and Dad with hugs.  Then I walked up stairs and opened up my laptop.  I searched Google.com for horse websites and found one that sounded perfect, Club Pony Pals.  I clicked on the link and sighed up.  I made my user Foalgirl8021.  I had a pony named after my real pony, Dominator.  And my girl looked just like me with a ponytail.  I went to sleep and dreamed about me and Dominator in the World Wide Jumping Competition. And we won first place!  It was the best dream ever, until my little brother ruined it by yelling in my face,
“Get up!” I immediately jumped out of bed. I rubbed my eyes and glared at Jess.
“Grrr.” I growled. 
Daisy, my dog, came into my room and jumped up on my bed. Then she started barking at my brother. Jess backed out of my room and then ran into his room. Daisy stopped barking and I scratched behind her ear. I got dressed in a light blue t-shirt, dark blue boot-cut jeans, and my brown cowboy boots. Then I logged onto Club Pony Pals and checked my account to make sure everything was right.  Then I did my school and went out to see Dominator. He greeted my as usual and sniffed my pockets for carrots. “You’re magic because I do have a few carrots in my pocket.  I love you, Dominator.” I told Dominator. Then I pulled out a few baby carrots and fed them to Dominator.  I gave Dominator his breakfast and fed the cows and chickens.  I groomed and tacked up. 

Then I rode over to Greer’s house. Kami was already there with her horse, Island.  Greer was tacking up Legend and Kami was keeping him calm. Legend doesn’t really like being tacked up much so most the time someone has to hold his head and calm him down.  After Greer tacked Legend they mounted and we went on a ride down to the creek and back.  It was half a mile down and a mile back.  It was a great exercise for the horses. We cantered the first half of the mile down to the creek and galloped the rest of the way. We slowed down when we turned around but gallop the rest of the way to my house.  We stopped there and got some lemonade and cookies.  They were delicious.  The cookies were.  And the lemonade was delicious too.