September Story Contest

Sundancer, Mine Forever
By: Alyssa
Age: 10

My eyes skimmed over the pages quickly as I flipped through the local newspaper. I was searching for horses for sale. I loved horses with all my heart, but didn't have one of my very own. My family owned five acres with a stable and a paddock with lush green grass. It was perfect for a horse. Finally, after years of begging, my parents had said I could have a horse. That didn't change much, though. Every time I found a horse I thought that I could have, my parents always came up with an excuse for not buying it. But I never gave up.

Suddenly one particular page with pictures of horses on it caught my eye. I looked and examined it carefully. It said: “Wild Mustang Auction. Come to the Wild Mustang Auction! Bid on the finest mustangs in the country! Great horses for great prices! Saturday, July 21st from  nine o'clock to twelve o'clock.”

“Mom! Dad!” I shouted. I ran over to my parents, who were in the middle of playing the card game 'Hearts'. “Can we go to the Wild Mustang Auction tomorrow?” “Certainly not, Ava!” said my mom. “Why do you think they call it the Wild Mustang Auction?” my dad said, grinning. (He took almost everything as a joke. You hardly ever saw him angry, but when he was, it wasn't a pretty sight.) “Please!” I said desperately. “There could be a horse out there that is perfect for me! I'll ask Sophie if she wants to come along, too.”

Sophie was my best friend. We had been BFFs since kindergarten. Last year she had gotten a beautiful black Arabian gelding named Cobalt. She didn't brag about him, but I was still envious of her.
“Well, okay. You can go. But make a list of everything the horse can't be,” said my mom. I barely heard her because I was dashing up the stairs.

I went into my room and dialed Sophie's telephone number. After the third ring, she answered it. “Hi Ava!” said Sophie. “Hi,” I said. “Listen. I convinced my parents to take me to the Wild Mustang Auction to see if there's a horse for me. Can you come along?”
“Sure!” said Sophie. “I'll be ready and waiting by eight fifteen. Bye!” I hung up the phone and got a piece of paper and a pencil from my desk and began writing the list.

When I was done, I read it out loud. “Can't be white. Can't be skittish. Can't spook. Has to be in between 15 to 16 hands high. Has to be tame and broke. Has to trust humans. Can't be a Thoroughbred.” I sighed when I'd finished. My parents were so picky. I just wanted a horse that I could ride and trust. With my parents it was a whole different story.

The next morning I awoke bright and early to get ready for the auction. I showered and dressed quickly and went downstairs. I sat down at the kitchen table and helped myself to some pancakes with maple syrup. I gobbled the breakfast down in a flash.
“Whoa, speedy girl!” said my dad. “Slow down! We don't have to get there until eight thirty.” I knew that, but that didn't stop me from rushing.

By eight thirty we arrived at the auction grounds. We had picked Sophie up on the way there. People were running around everywhere. I could smell food from the booths nearby. We headed for the stabling area where the horses to be auctioned were kept. We stopped at the pen nearest to us. Inside was a bay gelding.
“This looks like a nice horse,” said Sophie. The gelding pushed his head up to us and snuffled into my hair. I laughed and pushed his head away. “He certainly looks like it,” I said. My dad examined him carefully.
“Looks like a Thoroughbred,” he said. I sighed. It was going to be a long day.

Somehow, my dad always seemed to find something wrong with every horse I liked. By the time the auction was about to start, I had nearly given up hope. Sophie, my dad, and I sat down on the bleachers and waited. We couldn't find a single horse my dad liked. My dad had left for a moment to use the washroom and had left his bid card beside us. I didn't notice, but Sophie did. I watched as the next horse was brought out into the ring.

His coat was matted, and every one of his ribs were showing. The auctioneer started the bidding at one hundred dollars. The person who bought horses to make into dog food raised his bid card.
“You can't let him get made into dog food!” Sophie whispered to me. “Bid on him. Now!” I slowly picked up my dad's bid card and raised it. “Anyone for two hundred dollars?” called the auctioneer. The dog food man raised his card. “Two hundred fifty?” I raised mine. “Going once, going twice, sold!”

I could hardly believe what I had done. I just sat there, frozen. My dad came back just in time to hear the auctioneer say, “Number 37, please come over to the stabling area to get your horse.” “What?” said my dad. “Follow me,” I said numbly.

Sophie and I walked over to the stabling area where my new horse was waiting. He was certainly a bag of bones. I took him from the women holding him and gave her the money. My dad stared.
“What on earth . . .?” he began.
“Dad, I bought this horse with my money. I couldn't just let him get killed by the dog food company,” I said boldly. My dad was furious.
“Ava, you cannot have this horse! Look at him! If you don't get rid of him by tomorrow morning, we'll do it for you! That's final.” There was no point in arguing with him. He wouldn't change his mind.

We ended up taking the horse home to my house for the time being. By evening I had decided to call the horse Sundancer. Sunny, for short. During the night, I slipped out of the house and over to the stable where Sunny was. “Hello, boy,” I said quietly. “We're going for a walk tonight.” Sunny nickered weakly. He was only about ten years old, but he had obviously been mistreated by someone. I slipped a halter on him and led him out of our yard, and into the darkness, the flashlight showing the path ahead of us.

After awhile, the narrow path through the woods ended. I could make out an abandoned shelter and corral. There was no doubt about it, this was the perfect place to hide Sunny. It was far enough away from the house that even if Sunny made noise, no one would hear him, but close enough for me to walk over to see him. The corral was perfect for training him. I put Sunny in the corral and walked back to my house, promising that I would visit him again in the morning.

The next day I walked over to Sophie's house to get feed and tack for Sunny. I met her in the barn. “I found a place to hide Sunny, but I need food and tack for him,” I said. “Sure,” said Sophie. “I'll give you the supplies you need. After all, I did talk you into bidding on him.”

A few minutes later, Sophie and I emerged from the barn pulling an enormous wagon with grain, a lunge line, a grooming kit, and a saddle and bridle. We pulled the wagon together along the trail that led to where I was hiding Sunny. We arrived there and Sophie helped me unload. Then she left.

I put some grain in a blue bucket for Sunny. He nickered a greeting to me before plunging his head into the bucket. After his breakfast, I clipped the lunge line onto Sunny's halter and led him into the corral for his daily training session. I gave him the signal to walk. He began trotting. I made him stop. Then I gave the signal again. He obediently started walking. I gave Sunny the signal to trot. He stopped. I tried it again. This time he cantered. I halted him. I gave Sunny the signal to trot. This time he obeyed it. That day we worked through all of his paces, and I even put together some sticks to make a small X. We had accomplished a lot.

Over the days, Sunny became so good at commands on the lunge line and having a saddle and bridle on him, that one day I decided it was time to have a rider on his back. After all the meals and grooming he was getting, you could hardly notice his ribs, and his chestnut coat shone in the sun. I borrowed a riding helmet from Sophie and went over to the abandoned corral and barn.

I groomed Sunny and put the saddle and bridle on his back. Then I fastened the chinstrap to my helmet and slowly climbed into the saddle. I sat tightly, gripping with my legs for anything that might happen. But strangely, Sunny didn't buck or bolt. He stood very still, his chestnut ears flicking back and forth, waiting for a command.

I tapped Sunny with my heels and we began walking. After two times around the corral, we trotted. He was a good mover. Then I asked for a canter. Sunny's canter was smooth and flowing, and I rocked gently back and forth with his body. I slowed him to a walk and patted his neck. “Good boy, Sunny!” I praised him. He had obviously been schooled before he had been mistreated.

I tied Sunny to the fence and quickly set up a course of low jumps. I climbed back into the saddle and aimed him at the first fence. As soon as Sunny's front feet lifted off the ground into take off, I rose into the two-point position. We soared over the jump with a foot to spare. We finished the course with no jumping faults and in record time. I brought Sunny to a halt and patted him on the neck.
“You were great, boy!” I said. Sunny nickered. “Now we're going to show my parents how good you are. They'll just have to let me keep you.” I turned Sunny around and headed back on the trail to my home.

When we arrived at my house, both my parents were outside doing some gardening. They stopped and stared as I rode up to them.
“Where did that horse come from?” asked my dad.
“His name is Sundancer,” I began. “I bought him at the auction. You said I had to find him another home, but instead, I found a place to hide him and train him. Now he's the best horse around. Can I please keep him? Please?” “Are you sure this is the same horse?” my mom asked. “Absolutely,” I said. My dad inspected Sunny carefully. Then he nodded to my mom.
“You can keep him,” he said.

That turned out to be the happiest day of my life. After getting Sunny settled in his new home, I returned Sophie her things. My mom took me to the tack shop in our town and we bought an English saddle and bridle, plus a halter and lead rope, grain, and a grooming kit. Over the next few weeks, Sophie and I went trail riding together on Sunny and Cobalt. We also entered horse shows and competitions, and found out Sunny was an outstanding jumper, and took the blue ribbon every time we entered a jumping competition. All went well until one certain jumping horse show.

Early the morning of the horse show, Sophie and I bathed and groomed our horses until their coats shone. We put hoof oil on their hooves and braided their manes. Then we loaded them into Sophie's  parents' horse trailer and drove to the show grounds. The competition started five minutes after we arrived, and Sunny and I stood waiting as we watched Sophie and Cobalt complete a course with only one jumping fault.

Then it was my turn. My parents stood in the bleachers cheering.
“And now we have Ava Young on Sundancer,” said the announcer.
“This is it, Sunny,” I whispered to him. We trotted in a warm-up circle before cantering to the first jump. We soared over it. I made sure my back was straight and my heels were down. Suddenly as we were clearing the third jump, Sunny stumbled on a rock and fell down to the ground. I was sent flying. Then everything went black.

I awoke from unconsciousness an hour after my fall and found myself in the hospital. My parents were looking anxiously at me.
“Where's Sunny? What happened to Sunny?” I asked.
“You're awake!” said my mom.
“Sunny stumbled on a rock when he landed,” my dad explained to me.
“Sophie's parents took Sunny home while we took you to the hospital. The vet's examining him right now. We don't know yet, but we think he may have a broken leg.” I bolted up into a sitting position.
“I want to see him now!” I said.
“Let's see what the doctor says,” said my mom.

The doctor quickly examined me saying that I had a large bruise on my shin and that I should ice it every three to four hours. He said it would be fine if I went home right then. My parents drove me home to our house.

As soon as the car stopped, I jumped out and half ran over to the stable where the vet was standing over Sunny, who was lying down. My parents came up behind me.
“It is a broken leg,” said the vet. “I think the best thing to do is put him to sleep.”
My parents agreed. Then they and the vet left me alone to say good-bye to Sunny.

I sat down beside him, stroking his smooth coat. Tears freely spilled out of my eyes. Sunny looked at me with eyes showing pain in them.
“I love you Sunny,” I choked out. “You're the best horse in the world. I'll miss you very much.” Sunny nickered weakly. The vet came up behind me.
“Are you done?” he asked. I nodded.

That day Sunny went to sleep peacefully. We buried him under a leafy oak tree in our yard. I would never forget Sunny, even if I someday got another horse. His spirit would remain with me and be mine forever.

The End

This story is fiction, and it did not happen in real life. I hope you enjoyed it. Please vote for it!