June 2009 Story Contest

Heather and Sunshine  by Arabiangirl  

INFO:

Heather: A brown haired girl who has no parents
Sunshine: A palomino quarter horse who loves cookies

''Hey Heather!'' some girls called out.

 ''Hey guys! Be careful,I heard it might rain today!'' Heather replied.

Heather sighed..''Well..Back to chores I suppose. Right,Sunshine?'' She stroked her palomino quarter horse gently and Sunshine Nuzzled her gently.

Heather had a hard life. Being an orphan,she ran away from the orphanage to be with horses. But she knew in her heart that no one really cared. Except Ms.Crandal.

Ms.Crandal had let her stay in the loft on 1 condition: She took care of the horses! Ms.Crandal paid Heather for grooming the horses,mucking out their stalls, Picking their hooves, Braiding their manes and tails, and Feeding them. When she did all that she got payed 10 dollars a week, plus food, water, and a ''home in the hay'' as Heather called it.

Heather's home wasn't much,Just a cut off corner of the loft. Heather had stacked hay bales for hours,Making sort of a wall for herself. She had bought a cheap old cabinet for her stuff,and repainted it.She also had a mini refrigerator for her food,witch consisted of things bought from the vending machine. She got to use energy free (as long as she didn't hog it!!) She had an old blanket,Made by her mother,spread on the hay,and 1 soft feather pillow. she had 5 changes of clothes,and 2 pairs of shoes.(She washed the clothes in the cleanest part of the stream daily)
The best part about her ''home'' was that It was right below sunshine,Her horse! It had a small ladder from Sunshine's stall to the loft,so she could see Sunshine any time she went to the loft. She also had a little ''Window'' In the loft,Which was just a door to the ladder. She could pull in the ladder and open the door,watching Sunshine from below.

 Heather went to Splash's stall,Grinning as Splash nuzzled her hair. After mucking out Splash's stall,grooming him,feeding him,And putting him in the pasture,she moved on to the next horse,Daisy.

Daisy looked like Sunshine,but smaller and older. Giving Daisy a carrot,she did the same thing that she did with Splash's stall.

Watching the horses galloping around the pasture,she FINALLY moved on to her horse!! Sunshine whinnied when she saw Heather,as Heather went in to her stall. Putting on her halter,she throughly curry-combed Sunshine,then brushed her again with the dandy brush,Giving her a golden shine. She picked out Sunshine's hooves,checking for any injuries made in the night. Finding nothing but a sofl silky coat,she Haltered Sunshine up.

''Wanna go for a ride,Sunny?''

Sunshine whinied,easy to tell that meant,''YES!'' 

''Ok ok OK!! I'm goin,I'm goin!!'',Heather said as she slipped the bridle on,placed the old,worn out saddle pad on,and gently placed the saddle on Sunny's back,fastening the girth.

She opened the stall,and slipped on Sunny's back.

''Hmmmm..What's this?'' Heather said to herself as she saw a letter pinned to the bulliten board,along with a note addressed to her.

The note read:

  Dear Heather,
Please take this letter up to Wiggins for me,(YES Wiggins is open now!) and if you see a cat in a barrel,that'll be Scout. If you see him,Could you grab him for me?
P.S I'll pay you 20 Dollars for this work,but remember,Scout will run away if you canter,and will mew a LOT if you trot!
            Ms. Crandal.

''Sure! Let's do it Sunny!'' Heather exclamed.

Riding along the trail to wiggins,Heather thought she heard a mew. ''Scout!'' Heather exclamed as peeked in the barrel.

Slipping scout into the saddle bags, Heather grinned.

Later~

After mailing the letter for Ms. C, (She called Ms. Crandal that) she went into the tack shop.

''Oh my GOODNESS!'' Heather said as she saw the tack shop. It had everything she could ever want! She went and bought a bag of oats and horse cookies,and a pink saddle pad and halter.

Later~

She dropped scout off in the barn isle,and was surprised to see a party in the barn! There was a big cake,with the words ''Heather Is Barn Queen! Go Heather!'' on it,Heather gasped in surprise.

''Is this for me?'' Heather asked?

All the girls and Ms. C said ''Yes it is! We wanted to thank you for what you do for all us and our ponies,so here you go!'' they said as they handed her a BIG box!

Heather opened the box exitedly,as some one held Sunny and put her in her stall. In the box,she found, A NEW ENGLISH SADDLE! It was the one she had wanted for years!!!!! She also found 100 dollars,and 2 blue ribbons reading ''Best Horse EVER'' And ''Barn Diva!''

As everyone cheered,Heather walked into Sunny's stall,Pinning the ribbon on to her halter.
Sunny Nickered softly.


                                                        ~~THE END~~