July Story Contest

Adventures at the Black Paddock
By: Animeshowjumper
Age: 13

Chapter 1

"Don't worry! I've already bought the riding horses, so there's no need to worry, Saffron" said Camille Shadow, owner of The Black Paddock and national level show jumper.
"Whatever! I'm going outside!" said her 12 year old daughter, Saffron.
She stormed out the door and raced into the stable. Her mom's show jumping mare, Modena, looked up from her grain to check out the source of the noise. Saffron went into the box of her Andalusian gelding, Hawk. He twitched, sending a mouthful of grain at Saffron.
"Ew! Let's go on one last ride before the first campers come" Her mom had decided to start a summer horse riding camp, which Saffron protested aginst quite loudly. Her feathers had only been slightly not-ruffled when her mom told her Hawk wouldn't be used as a lesson horse. Ricci the stable dog raced into Hawk's stall, drooling, toungue hung out. Hawk eyed Ricci suspiciously.

"Ricci, please. Hawk will step on you." Saffron said, grabbing Ricci's black leather collar and dragging the stout German Shepard out of the stable and into the yard.
"Stay away!" she shouted at the dog, who was now gnawing on a long stalk of grass. Saffron walked back into the stable and grabbed a downright tired looking old bridle and put it over Hawk's head.
"Well, we got rid of that crazy dog!" she said, just as her friend Jenna came into the stable.
"Hi! I'm going for a ride! Do you want come with Bjorn?" Bjorn was Jenna's Fjord pony, quiet, calm, and good at trot racing.
"Sure!" Jenna replied as she began brushing down Bjorn while Saffron and Hawk practiced dressage in the outdoor ring.
"Let's go!" Jenna said, slithering up on Bjorn's bare back.
"Okay!" Saffron said and urged Hawk to canter.

Jenna tried to keep up with Hawk at a canter, but Bjorn wanted to trot, so she let him. He would be faster that way, anyways. Hawk stopped at an old, ramshackle manor, which the girls called their hideout. Saffron dismounted Hawk and turned him out in the equally ramshackle paddock- Jenna did the same with Bjorn. As the horses galloped ang kicked in joyful abandon, the girls went into the mansion. They trekked up to the attic, where the roof was torn off by a twister long ago.

"So." Jenna said, spreading out some blankets. "What do you think about your mom starting a horse camp?"
"It's okay, I guess." Saffron replied.
"Well, let's hope that the hippie lady, Bea, can cook! If she can't, I'm afraid the guests will be throwing up all week!"
"I have to agree with you on that one. Bea will cook and teach natural horsemanship, that's what we hired her for. Or rather, she volounteered, cause we'll only be paying her the minimum wage" Saffron replied, gazing up at the clouds. All of a sudden, there was a low neigh.
"Oh, friendly, friendly Gerard!" Jenna said, referring to the mustang stallion that occasionally paid the girls a visit.
"Cool! Let's go see him!" Saffron said, leaping up and bolting out to the yard. The wild horse cocked his head at her, then galloped full speed towards her. Most people would be terrified that a muscley Mustang stallion was galloping full speed towards them, but Saffron and Jenna were not. It was all part of Gerard's welcoming sequence. He skidded to a halt, showering the girls in dirt.

Chapter 2

Gerard was a Mustang, born on the Nevada plains. When he got  older, the M?ustang catchers caught him and took him to England, where he was supposed to be killed and  then used for horse meat. But the truck and trailer got into an accident on the way to the slaughter house, so he and the 19 other horses were free at last. That was how he met the girls and Saffron's mom. He had sniffed out the smell of other horses, so he followed his nose and came into The Black Paddock. Saffron was 11 at that time, and didn't give a rat's butt about hurt or abused horses, but her mom had seen Gerard sulking around the edge of the woods nearby, and decided that he was so pitiful looking that she had to take him under her wing. He got his teeth and hooves filed down, got brushed and bathed a lot, and got his scrapes and cuts healed with some expensive salve. All the while Saffrom was doing mandatory chores to help this pitiful horse, she felt herself growing on him. That was how he went from nameless to having a (none the less weird) name. Saffron's mom trained him to accept the saddle, bridle, and having a rider on his back. He was so placid with a rider on his back that his ears flopped out to the sides and people ofter mistook him for a 30 year old gelding, when in reality he was  4 year old stallion Even if worst came to worst, there would always be a horse for the campers, and that was Gerard.

Chapter 3

By now, the girls had just about had enough of the manor, and Gerard had galloped off, and the horses had broken off a piece of the paddock fence and it just had an overall misrebel atmosphere.
"Let's go back. I'm bored." Jenna said and headed for the paddock. Saffron was about to agree when she noticed that the branches of a big oak that hung over the manor were swaying unnaturally.
"I don't know" she said as she looked up at the overcast sky."It looks like a storm's coming. Maybe we should hide in the storm cellar" using her rarely used sensible brain.
"Fine. Let's go back to the farm. Saffron shimmied up on Hawk's back and kicked him into a gallop in the direction of the farm. Bjorn used his stubby but quick legs to keep up. Back at the farm, Camille was unloading the newest horse. Or rather, horses. She had rescued 5 Halflingers, all of various sizes, off the meat truck and into the farm. They were supposed to be used as lesson horses, but she was starting to worry about the camper's safety on these horses. The largest one reared up on his back legs and whinnied. The 2 mares looked up from the oat bucket in the trailer, but didn't do anything. They hadn't eaten in a while, of course, so it was understandable.

Look for the end of Chapter 3 and the next 2 chapters in the next writing contest!