August Story Contest

The Wild Horses of Texas
By: Alyssa
Age: 10

Down in Texas, a herd of ponies roamed free in the wild. The lead stallion was called Bluegrass Bandit, but the rest of the herd called him Bluegrass. Bluegrass was a beautiful horse, 15.6 hands high with a shiny silver grey coat. The lead mare was Cocoa. The other mares were: Stardust Peppercorn, Milkshake, Spirit, and Dixie. Some mares had foals. For example: Stardust had a foal named Angel, Cocoa had a foal named Chloe, and Dixie had a foal named Diamond. Now here’s the story.

One hot summer day Bluegrass and his herd were having a pretty much normal day. Peppercorn, Milkshake, and Spirit were napping under the shade of a maple tree and Stardust, Cocoa, and Dixie were lazily watching their foals chase butterflies. Suddenly a loud cracking noise came from a grove trees. All the sleeping mares woke up and the foals stopped chasing butterflies. They all watched as Bluegrass walked towards where the noise had come from. When Bluegrass was in front of the grove of trees, a hand grabbed his nose. Bluegrass snorted and got his face free. Suddenly a girl came out of the woods. “Oh my!” she gasped.
“Look at all these horses!”
“Abby!” a man’s voice called. Abby didn’t listen. Instead, she started running right at Spirit.
“Run!” yelled Bluegrass. “Run for your lives!”
All the mares dashed out of the clearing. Diamond couldn’t keep up with the others so Bluegrass nudged her on.
“Come on, you can do it!” he encouraged the little foal. With Bluegrass’s help, Diamond got to where the herd had run to.
“We’d better keep an eye out for that Abby girl,” Bluegrass told the herd. Then he gasped. Where the herd had stopped was a very beautiful place! It was a big field in the middle of the forest. The field had super green grass with flowers in it. There was a stream flowing through the field.
“Who found this place?” he asked.
“Cocoa did,” answered Dixie. Bluegrass looked right at Cocoa and said, “Cocoa, since you found this place you can be my lead mare.”
“Really?” asked Cocoa.
“Really,” said Bluegrass. All the other mares bowed at Cocoa. Chloe bounced up and down saying,
“I’m a little princess! I’m a little princess!” Milkshake laughed.
“Of course you are,” she said to Chloe. From then on things went well for Bluegrass’s herd until one day.

One morning Bluegrass woke up to Stardust shrieking. “My precious Angel! Oh, my precious Angel! She’s gone!” “Don’t worry, Stardust,” said Bluegrass. “I’ll find her. Cocoa, you’re in charge of the herd while I’m gone,” he called as he galloped off. Cocoa thought fast. “I think Angel might have gone back to our old home,” she said. “Let’s go!” said Peppercorn.

Meanwhile, Bluegrass had come upon some hoof prints in the mud. He galloped after the tracks for he could not let Stardust down. Wolves came out in this season and Angel could be eaten.

Finally the tracks ended at the herd’s earlier home. Bluegrass saw Angel eating some apples off an apple tree. “Stay here,” he told her. Then he lay down in the grass. All that galloping had been too much for him to handle.

A few minuets later Cocoa and the herd came into the clearing. They saw Angel and she ran to Stardust’s side. They also saw Bluegrass lying in the grass. Suddenly the familiar noise of twigs snapping came again. The mares froze and Diamond hid behind Dixie. Then Abby appeared carrying a halter and lead rope. She saw Bluegrass lying in the grass and went over to his side. Abby gently stroked his side while she clipped on the halter and lead rope. Bluegrass opened his eyes and closed them again.
“Come on,” Abby said to Bluegrass. “You need to be taken to my father, the vet.” Bluegrass had no choice but to get up and follow Abby. All the mares and their foals: Stardust and Angel, Cocoa and Chloe, Dixie and Diamond, Peppercorn, Milkshake, and Spirit all stared at Bluegrass who was slowly walking away with Abby.
“We can’t survive in the wild without Bluegrass,” said Cocoa. “The only thing we can do is follow him.”
“No way!” Spirit shuddered.
“Come on, Spirit!” said Milkshake. “If we stay, we’ll probably be fought over by the other stallions.”
“Okay,” sighed Spirit. “But if she treats me badly, it will be all your fault, Milkshake.”

Cocoa led the herd as they followed Abby and Bluegrass. Abby hardly noticed them at all following her. She finally stopped at a dirt rode that led to a house and vet clinic. The vet clinic was on top of a small hill and there was a big red barn next to the house. Abby opened the gate and led Bluegrass towards the vet clinic. A tall man with a beard greeted her.
“Abby what have you got here?”
“I’ve got one horse that’s hurt, Dad,” she explained. “More like seven ponies and three foals,” her dad corrected her. Abby turned around in surprise and saw that her dad was right. “I think the horse that I rescued, is a stallion and this is his herd,” she said. Then Bluegrass whinnied in pain.
“Okay boy. We’ll see what’s wrong,” said her dad. With that her dad took the lead rope from her and walked Bluegrass around the side of the vet clinic.
“Here,” said Abby. “Let me put you guys in a field while you wait for your stallion.”

She opened the gate to a great big field. Cocoa and all the rest of the herd except Spirit trotted into the big field. “Come on, girl,” Abby said softly. “I won’t hurt you.” Then she pulled out a big juicy apple and took one step towards Spirit. Spirit took one look at Abby and then the apple. Finally she trotted right up to Abby. Spirit walked right beside her until she was in the field. There was no doubt about it, Spirit and Abby had formed a special bond.

The next morning Abby came to the field with a big bucket of oats. Spirit stuck her head right in the bucket. “You silly!” laughed Abby as she pushed Spirit’s head away. “You can't hog all the food!” She dumped the rest of the oats into a big feeding trough and went back towards the barn. “I’ll be right back!” she called. “I’m just getting some brushes.”
“Oh boy! Oh boy!” said Spirit. “Is that girl ever nice!”
“Told you so,” said Milkshake.

A minuet later Abby returned with a bucket full of grooming supplies. “Who wants to go first?” she asked. Spirit whinnied loudly. “Okay,” said Abby. “Now stand still.” As she worked on Spirit’s coat, she talked to her. “You know,” she said. “I think I’ve found names for your stallion, you and the rest of the herd. Your stallion I named Bluegrass Bandit, you I named Spirit, the cream colored pony and her foal I named Stardust and Angel, the bay one and her foal I named Cocoa and Chloe, the chestnut one and her foal I named Dixie and Diamond, the Appaloosa I named Peppercorn, and the paint one I named Milkshake.” Spirit couldn’t believe her ears! Abby had chosen the same names as what they already had!

The next morning Abby came out of the barn leading Bluegrass. Cocoa saw him first. “Bluegrass, you’re alright!” she called. “Come on everybody! Bluegrass is back!” Abby opened the gate and called, “Alright you guys. Since Bluegrass is better, you all can go free.” Cocoa, Chloe, Stardust, Angel, Dixie, Diamond, Milkshake, and Peppercorn all cantered towards the forest. But then Cocoa stopped and realized that Spirit and Bluegrass were not with them. “Stop!” Cocoa told the herd. They all turned around and saw Bluegrass standing on one side of Abby and Spirit on the other side. “Why aren’t you coming with us?” asked Dixie.
“You must understand, Dixie,” said Bluegrass. “Spirit and I have made friends with Abby and we can’t bear to leave her. If you want to come you can, but otherwise you’re all on your own.”

Cocoa thought it over a minute and finally she whispered, “We should go with them.” All the herd nodded in agreement and then they trotted up to Abby. “Go on, you guys,” said Abby. “You’re free now. Why won’t you go back home?” “I think they are much happier to be with you than in the wild, Abby,” said a voice. Abby turned around to see her father standing behind her. “I know you’ll let me keep them, Dad,” she said. “But I won’t have time to ride all of them.”

Then Abby suddenly had an idea. “We could start a riding school! Since you said we need a bit more money we could start a riding school to help you earn more!” “You know, that’s not a bad idea,” her dad said slowly. “Yes! Yes! Yes!” shouted Abby as she jumped up and down. “I get to keep all of you!” Spirit nuzzled Abby’s shoulder. “I know just what I’m going to call it,” Abby went on. “The Horseshoe Bandit Riding School!” And so it was.