The New Horse
by Kelsey, 5th grade
Chapter 1
Gloom
A cold November wind swept across the beach tossing Caren Moral's light brown hair in all directions. Her bare feet were making soft thuds every time she stepped closer to the sea. The waves were turning over becoming white water. She took a deep breath and sat down. She sat there looking at her hands while thinking about her horse. She had had a bay quarter horse mare called Daybreak, who had always been there for her. In the past week Daybreak had passed on, unable to control her life any longer. Caren had always ridden Daybreak, bareback, along the shore. Now she comes to the beach alone remembering the good times she had with the mare.
"Caren?" Caren spun around to see only her mother trudging to where she was sitting, a sad look on her face. Caren's eyes filled with tears. She didnt want to bring back any sad memories.
"It's time to come in now."
"Okay," Caren muttered. She slowly got up and headed back to the house. When she got inside she fled straight up to her room and collapsed onto her bed, her mind blank. She didn't want to think about anything. She looked out her bedroom window, to see a completely empty barn. She remembered the times when she had looked down at the barn to see Daybreak looking right back up at her, waiting to be fed.
Chapter 2
The Accident
That weekend, Caren's parents took her to a barn with horses for sale. She (Caren) picked out a horse and rode her for a while to see how she reacted. Her name was Dawn. Caren loved the feeling of Dawn's stride so she decided to buy her. When Caren took Dawn home she was very uneasy. Caren stayed with her for a while grooming and stroking her.
That night Caren heard pounding coming from what seemed to be the barn. She fled to the window to see Dawn thrashing around in her stall. Caren blasted down the stairs and out the front door. When she realized that the pounding had stopped, she glanced up to see the barn door wide open. She looked up just in time to see Dawn fly over the pasture fence. When she landed she stumbled to the ground. Caren took off as fast as lightning towards Dawn. When she reached her, she kneeled down and rested Dawn's head in her lap. Dawn's terrified eyes gleamed up on her, showing uneasy trust towards Caren. She was trembling with fear. Caren checked her over to make sure she was not wounded. Luckily she wasn't.
Chapter 3
First Time
Early the next morning Caren tacked up Dawn and rode her around the pasture. When Dawn caught sight of the pasture fence she spooked and jumped back. Caren dismounted and slowly worked her way toward the fence. Dawn's ears where pricked and her muscles were tense. Caren circled her a few times and finally reached the fence. Then Caren mounted. Dawn stood calmly as Caren gathered the reins. Caren waited to see Dawn's reaction. Slowly Dawn calmed and turned away. Caren continued to canter Dawn around the pasture, along the fence. Dawn's nervousness faded, so Caren decided to go to the arena and put up a course of jumps.
When Caren was done with setting up the course of six, three foot verticals, oxers, and cross poles, she got back on Dawn. She first cantered Dawn down the diagonal line back and forth doing flying le-changes. Then she turned Dawn towards her first jump. Dawn pricked up her ears and rolled into a jump up canter. She came in on the correct stride and cleared the jump with no hesitation. Caren decided to continue jumping for at least another 20 minutes.
That night she didn't hear a sound coming from the barn. In the morning she dashed down to the barn to see how Dawn was doing. When she came within about 10 feet of the barn she heard shavings rustle and then 2 ears and 2 eyes and then a head popped out of the barn door in excitement. She rushed up to Dawn and slipped on her halter to take her on a morning walk. Dawn pranced along happily, making soft thuds on the ground. Caren did the same course she did the day before. Later that day Caren half-tacked Dawn and rode her bareback, along the shore at the beach, in the same place where she had first ridden Daybreak.
