February Story Contest

Britnie, Shadow, Angel, and Artemis's Adventures #5 
(Editors note click on these links to read Part One, Part Two, Part Three and Part Four here)
by Britnie & Shadow

Age 11
   

 

Introduction to the characters:

Britnie: A brave and adventurous girl
Shadow: A bay welsh x pony
Angel: A light brown with white colored Chihuahua
Artemis: A dark brown(blue)colored Chihuahua/rat terrier mix

         Britnie sat in the Hayloft of the Crandal's barn, in her little "hay room". She had built it after asking Mrs.Crandal if she could. She was looking at the newspaper for once, but just because she was bored, and had already rode Shadow.
    She had come across her brother, who was going to their home. Shadow was eating a tub of hay right now, for he was hungry when they got back from their ride. Of course, Angel and Art(Artemis)had gone with them, and were now curled up by Britnie.       "Hey! This looks interesting!" Britnie saw something in the article, that said something like "Chihuahua Race in Wiggins". Britnie read the article, and the farther she read into it, the more her face brightened. It read:
                                                                   
               "CHIHUAHUA RACE IN WIGGINS, CONNECTICUT"
      As the title reads, there is a Chihuahua race going on in Wiggins, and all Chihuahua's are invited to it! With an entry fee of ten dollars, this event will be quite interesting, considering Chihuahua's are one of the smallest breeds. So start practicing racing your Chihuahua and the best of luck to you! This event will happen on August 28th, so hurry up! You only got about a month away! The winner will win a large container of Chihuahua size dog treats and half of the money for the entry fees! one half of the other half will go to charity for pets in need, which is the main reason for this event.

     Britnie looked up from the article, and almost shouted for joy! "Angel! Get ready to race!" She said, over excitedly. Angel just looked up at her, and the other, mixed breed, Chihuahua, stared at her, cocking her head side to side.
   "Come on! LET'S GO!! I have A LOT of work to do!" Britnie jumped up, and ran to the latter, she watched as Art came running after her and Angel sitting in the hay. "Come on Angel!" Britnie watched the little dog moseying on slowly to her.
   "Lot's of work..." She mumbled to herself. She put the two Chihuahua's on the barn floor and ran to Shadow, who was now done with his hay. She tacked the pony up and led him outside. She was leading him by his halter and lead rope, an holding on to his bridle.
    Shadow ALWAYS put his head WAY UP high, so Britnie had to use the mounting block to put it on.
  "Er.........eh......ah......FINALLY!!!!" Britnie slid the bit between Shadow's teeth, buckling the throat strap and checking to make sure everything was in place.
  "Now, We have to find someplace nearby where we can practice with Angel." Britnie said while mounting Shadow. She then turned him onto Pony Pal Trail, and let him walk as he pleased. They were soon in a clearing, when Britnie realized the perfect place to set up a course.....

 "Wow Shadow! We sure did leave a good trail around them barrels last month!" Britnie said to her pony. She was looking at the trail around the barrels she had set up for the competition. They had won 1st place in barrrel, and 1st in Cross Country too. The two blue ribbons were hanging on each a side of Shadow's stall door.
   Britnie looked up from the trail full of hoofprints. "Well, better start setting up this Chihuahua course!" She said. "Let's see, now that I found the place to make the course, I need to make a plan and also some materials......we'll ride back and I'll draw what it should look like and the things I'll need to build it." Britnie said and remounted Shadow.
   They trotted back to the barn, and Angel and Art ran after them, although Angel got a little far away. Eventually she made it though. When the were at the barn, Britnie took Shadow's bridle off and tied him up by the mounting block, loose enough so he could eat some grass. She set the bridle down on the tying bar part of the block and then ran into the barn; looking for a pencil and some paper.
   She couldn't find the paper and pencil, and then knew EXACTLY where she COULD find some......in Dr.Crandal's office. She ran over, and like she thought, she found a notepad and a pencil. She ran to where Shadow was tied at, and began to think and draw. Her results were GREAT!!!!

  "Ok, now where will I get picket fences at?" Britnie thought aloud, as she reined Shadow down the path to her private clearing, holding a shovel. "This is probably dangerous to do on a pony. ESPECIALLY, a pony like you...." She continued thinking aloud. Angel and Art were running up ahead, when all of a sudden, Art squatted close to the ground and put on some speed. Britnie looked farther down the trail, and found the solution to Art; there was a rabbit.
  "Oh great, now she's liable to go in the bushes and take FOREVER to come out." Britnie complained. Art LOVED to track down rabbits, even though she wasn't the greatest at THAT particular doggie sport. Britnie and her brother had originally wanted to train her to hunt squirrels, but that dream was gone.............for Art HATED guns, and you need a gun to get the squirrels.
  "oh, we're here." Britnie said as she came into the first clearing. "well, not exactly here." She explained, even though she was alone with Shadow, Angel, and Art. "Come on, let's go bush whacking......" She sighed, while dismounting Shadow, then leading him threw the thick bush. "I REALLY need to clear a trail right here..........you'd have thought last month we would've made a good little trail.............even though we didn't." She kept talking, and Shadow kept listening. Angel was sniffing something, and Art was nowhere in sight. "Art! Come HERE!" Britnie yelled out, making Shadow jerk is head a little. "Sorry boy." She patted him. She listened closely, hearing the breathing of Shadow, the chirps of happy, free birds, and of little creatures rustling the bushes. Then, she heard Art.
  "ART! COME HERE!!!!" Britnie roared. The little dog basically ignored her. "Grrr....." Britnie grumbled angrily. She continued her way to the place where she'd do the course. "Ok, I'll just put the shovel down here." She said when they got to their destination.    She remounted Shadow after she set the shovel down, and trotted him to the other clearing. Art apparently heard them leaving, and shot out of the bushes. Britnie smiled.

 "Okay, we got everything we need; well, ALMOST." Britnie said, holding Shadow's reins and looking at the pile of materials she gathered. There was a shovel, a hammer, and a box of nails. "okay...........now we need to get the picket fences.........I think we should build the course with what we have right now, and get what we need later." Britnie suggested to herself.
   She walked Shadow to a tree with lots of tall grass near it for him to eat. She tied him there, walked back, grabbed the shovel, and began to dig a foot deep, foot wide, ditch. She did that because she knew, Angel would probably jump right over the picket fence when practicing racing, so, here she was, digging a deep ditch, hoping it would be deep enough to where Angel couldn't jump out. It took her hours and hours it seemed, when finally, she looked up, and saw it was long enough.
   "Yay! FINALLY! I'm DONE with the ditch!" Britnie threw the shovel to the side and jumped up; that was how bad the "digging a foot deep, foot wide, ditch" job was. "ok, now for the picket fences....." Britnie said. She thought about how many she would need. "Hmm........let's hope they don't cost much." She mumbled. She walked to Shadow and mounted him, then let him walk down the trail to Wiggins Town.

   "Okay, so they're 50 cents each, and I did the math and so I need 46 of them." Britnie said to Shadow as they walk down the trail back to the barn. They had done went to the town, got the prices of the picket fences at Kline's Hardware and Tack Shop. Britnie multiplied 46 x 50, and got $23.00.
   "Well, that isn't so bad!" She said. She kicked Shadow to a trot and was soon at the door of the barn. She tied Shadow up and ran to her house to get the money. The picket fences weren't too big, so she thought she might be able to carry them back; might. She untied Shadow and walked him back to the shop. She sure was going to have some trouble with all them picket fences.

    "OH NO!" Britnie cried in dispair. "How the heck am I supposed to lug all these things ALL THE WAY BACK to my clearing!?!?!" She was frustrated. She bought the fences, but she could barely carry them out to where Shadow was tied up behind the Harley's paddock. Britnie sat down and thought. She stared at Shadow. Then at the pile of fences. Then at the vines hanging on the trees.    "AH HA!" Britnie jumped up and ran to a long vine. She took her pocket knife out and cut the vine; which was as tough to cut as wood. Maybe because it was. When Britnie was done cutting two vines, she tied one(sloppily since it was hard to tie)to one stirrup and the other to the other stirrup.
    Then she stacked the picket fences on top of each other neatly. Then she tied the ends of the two vines to the picket Fences. "good thing they're very small." Britnie murmured while tying the last knot. She then mounted up and rode down the trail; only for disaster to almost strike.

    "Whoa Shadow, it's okay, whoa boy." Shadow was frightened out of his wits about the things dragging behind him. Britnie had decided to dismount and had jumped off without using a stirrup. She was untying the knots now, and while she did that, came up with another idea.
     She would pull the fences herself, no matter how heavy they were. She began to pull, and luckily, it wasn't too hard to pull them. Shadow began to fidget again of fright. Britnie stopped and thought again. She then mounted and rode Shadow back to the barn; She would have to walk all the way back and pull the fences all the way to the clearing.
    "Okay, now I guess I'll get to walking." Britnie said after putting Shadow in his stall, and began to "canter". Angel and Art were tagging along at her side. It was getting late; she'd have to hurry. She ran and ran and ran.
    When she was out of breath and was about to fall over, she was where she left the picket fences. "I'll..............just....." Britnie fell over on the fences and caught her breath, then began to pull. Then she thought about something. She looked at Angel and Art, then began tying the vine around them.
    When she was done, she backed up and called them. No matter how hard they tried, they couldn't pull the picket fences. Britnie had another idea. She pushed at the back of the fences and said "GO ANGEL!!! GO ART!!!!". The two little dogs started pulling, and soon, were headed to the barn!

    So, Britnie worked hard on the "dog racing track" and after lots of time, finally got it up and right. She told Angel to "GO!" and the small, lazy Chihuahua would lope around slowly on it.
   "Well, we're not going to get far Angel....."  Weeks passed, but Angel never did get faster. Finally, the day arrived. Britnie brought Angel to the place in Wiggins. She brought Angel's cookies with her to reward her after the run. After paying the entry fee, She waited.
     After quite a while, the speaker finally spoke up, explaining what to do. All the participants would have to call their dogs, and the first dog to cross the finish line won. Everyone got ready. There was more Chihuahuas then Britnie expected; a total of 20!
    All the dogs sat or were held on one end of the "track" and the owners calling their dogs on other side of the line. Silence.
"GO!!" The speaker blew!
"Come on Angel! COOKIE!!!" Britnie shouted. At the word of cookie, Angel shot off, trying to beat the other dogs to her most wanted thing. The other Chihuahuas were fast though, and Angel came fourth.
"Ah well, you tried Lucy Lu." Britnie comforted her dog, who's nickname was "Luce" and other things, as she gobbled down the treat. The winner was congratulated, and Britnie went home.
"What an adventure that was!" She thought.

Coming soon........
  
Britnie, Shadow, Angel, and Artemis's Adventures #6
The House Training Adventure
Britnie's worried. Artemis isn't house training, and her mom is saying  that Art may never house train. What will happen?