October Story Contest

The Forgotten Racehorse
by MagicBay & Sugar age11

The quiet old gelding stood calmly in his shabby, overgrazed pasture. He was completely chestnut, except for a tiny white star on his face. His left foreleg had a large scar on it, but he looked very slender, like a racehorse. Sometimes the neighborhood children would often come running down the road, and stop. They would gasp and say, “Gosh, that’s old man Cedar’s house! And he has a horse. I’ll bet its as crazy as its owner!” Or sometimes they would say, “Oh, look. There is a horse in that pasture. Look at his ugly scars! I would never, ever go near that deformed creature.” And then they would laugh, then go back to their games. The gelding would slowly watch them running down the road back to town.

When the old man Cedar came outside, he would always carry a bucket of oats and a bit of molasses to pour on it, for the gelding just loved molasses.  The gelding would stick his nose right into the bucket of oats, and sniff around for a minute. Then he would wait for Mr. Cedar to pour the molasses into the bucket.  Once the molasses was in the oats, the horse would devour the hearty meal in a matter of seconds. Then Mr. Cedar would walk slowly in that old-man-ish way to the barn and pull some hay down from the rafters. Then he would toss it into the gelding’s pasture. The gelding would amble over and take a big bite, then stay at Mr. Cedar a moment as if to say “Thank you, sir!”, then he would put his head down again to keep eating.

As the days went on, leaves started falling from the tall maple tree’s in the gelding’s pasture. When Mr. Cedar came outside, the leaves crunched and crackled delightfully. The gelding felt frisky and young in this time of the year. He would whinny loudly when he head his owner coming outside, then gallop wildly around the paddock. Mr. Cedar would laugh heartily and call out to the gelding, “You crazy old horse, you ain’t young anymore!” But the gelding didn’t care one bit. So that same routine continued until it got very cold out, and he had his think, fuzzy winter coat.

One cold day, when the leaves were not on the tree’s yet snow was not on the ground, a little girl with a bright blue bag in her hand came skipping down the dusty old road that led to town. She was on her way out to her Grandfather’s farm, which wasn’t too far away. The little girl suddenly saw the gelding, and stopped. She studied him, and then she walked up to the gelding’s pasture fence. The little girl set her small blue bag on the ground and pulled something up. The gelding watched her carefully as she pulled out a rosy red apple. He nickered softly as if to say, “Is that for me?”. Indeed, it was. The girl held her hand out flat and placed the apple on it. Then she held it up close to the fence. The gelding reached his head over and grabbed the apple with his teeth. The little girl laughed and petted him softly, then she looked around and said, “Goodbye, old horse! I will come visit you again soon!”  And she did. The very next day, the little girl came running down the road with her blue bag. She had been told to take some carrots to her Grandparents on the farm down the road. So the girl gave the gelding some carrots, and he frisked about the pasture all afternoon after that. The girl didn’t return for three days, and when she did, she brought delicious, juicy pears for the gelding. She patted the gelding, and fed him two pears. Suddenly, the gelding turned his ears to face the house. He nuzzled the girl quickly and whinnied loudly, as he took off towards the house.

Old man Cedar opened his door and stepped out of the house. He looked around, and spotted the girl with the blue bag of pears. “Hey, you! What are you doing on my property?!” He yelled furiously and grabbed his cane.

“Oh, sir! I didn’t mean any harm to your lovely horse! Let me explain!” Sputtered the girl.

Mr. Cedar hobbled over to her and frowned. “What is your name, and where are you from?” He demanded angrily.

“I’m Mandy,” She whimpered, “and I come from Shady Glen, the town down this road. Don’t hurt me, please!”

“You silly little girl. I shall not hurt you! I know that many of boys around here try spreading bad rumors about me, just because I live all by myself in this big old farmhouse. What were you doing, though?” Mr. Cedar had calmed down a little bit.

“Well, you have an awfully pretty horse there and he likes treats. So I was givin’ him some treats. Pear actually. He simply loved them! You ought to give him treats more often,” Mandy smiled at Mr. Cedar innocently.

“That’s mighty kind of you to give my horse treats, but next time you feed someone else’s horse, tell whoever owns it. I don’t bite,” He said as the gelding ambled over to the fence. Mr. Cedar gave him a firm pat on the neck. Mandy giggled and watched the gelding.

“How did he get that awful scar on his knee?” She asked suddenly.

Mr. Cedar glanced at the horse. “Well, that’s quite a long story there. It begins like this,” He explained. Mandy listened attentively.    “This here old gelding is twenty-five years old, and that’s pretty old for a horse. He’s had a good, long life, and he used to be quite the horse in his day. I remember every bit of it. He was born in Kentucky on a big racing farm. Course, since many horses were born and raised on that farm each year, nobody thought he was anything but a simply lil’ colt. Sure, he loved to run. One time he got out of the big meadow where he grew up with the other colts, and he ran right to the other farm that was twelve miles away. It took the stable hands all night to find him. When he was just a puny two years old, he was trained to race. I remember when he was first ridden. Crazy little thing just couldn’t stop bucking. Poor old James, he got such a jarring ride that he never rode that colt again. When he was a little older n’ that, he got a real registered name - Indian Summer Glory. Very pretty name, it quite suited him. He was a little bit older when he entered his first race, and did he ever do good! Passed the finish line with flying colours right in the lead. People had high hopes that this young colt might be the next favourite on the track. In the olden days, there was a term for when one horse is so far in the lead, that the others are so far behind. Its “nowhere”. Most of the results in his races were the same - Indie, first, and the rest, nowhere. One day, there was a great surprise - Indie was entered in the Kentucky Derby. All the people associated with Indie were excited - the jockey, the trainer, the grooms, and many others. The jockey was especially excited. This would be his first big race! But to everyone’s disappointment, it was raining on derby day. The jockey, though, had no worries. He was even wearing his white jodhpurs (normally in muddy races a jockey will wear brown jods, so that the white ones don’t get muddy)!” He said.

“Why did the jockey wear white jodhpurs? They would get all gross and muddy!”  Mandy was confused.

“Well, he wore white ones because he decided that Indie would take the lead and stay there - none of the other horses would kick mud on his nice white jodhpurs. And he was white. Indie stayed in the lead and not a splotch of mud was on the white jods at the end of the race, when Indie had won. So Indie went on to win the Belmont Stakes, and there was one race left before Indie would win the Triple Crown. All he needed to do was win the Preakness, and he was an instant champion. Everyone had real faith in Indie. But that race took a turn for the unexpected,” Explained Mr. Cedars. “What happened?” Asked Mandy. “Oh, Indie was in the lead, the jockey was sure that they would win. Suddenly, there was a big jolt to the jockey and they were down. Indie had tripped! The jockey kicked his feet free from the stirrups and pushed himself off Indie as he fell down. The jockey fell to the ground but quickly got up as not to be trampled. He hobbled to the rails of the track and hung on as the rest of the horses thundered past. As soon as he was able, the jockey ran back to Indie. He was lying down. Veterinarians rushed onto the track and quickly examined Indie. I remember their exact words. “We cannot save this horse. He needs to be put down,” they said. The jockey burst into tears and tried to make them stop. After a lot of begging and pleading, they decided to save Indie. The poor horse had a broken leg. It would be hard to fix. Well, I paid the vet bill and then I bought Indie. He still had the scars from that accident so long ago, but at least he’s still alive,” Concluded Mr. Cedars.

“But was the jockey okay?“ Mandy exclaimed.

“Well, the jockey was fine. He took care of Indie every day and retired from the racetracks  to care for the horse better,” He explained.

“That’s good. Who was the jockey, anyway?” Said Mandy.

“The jockey was me,” Mr. Cedars smiled warmly at Mandy.

The young girl glanced at the old gelding, Indie. “Wow. This old horse used to be a racehorse,” She was completely shocked. Indie nickered softly at the girl.  Then he turned and galloped swiftly across the pasture, the sun shining on his glossy coat. The gelding still had his old spirit.

The End.