The Homecoming
I woke up and yawned, I thought it was just another day, looking after the horses until I realised. I'm collecting my mustang today! I looked at the clock on my ipod. ''Oh my god its 10 AM I have to be there for 11! I'm gonna' be late!'' I said loudly jumping up out of my bed. I ran to my bathroom and had a shower, I brushed my teeth and dried my hair then I got dressed. I put on my jodhpurs, my riding boots and a grey hoodie. I tied my hair up in a high pony and got ready to go. I greeted my mother in the kitchen, I grabbed an apple and ate it as I walked towards my jeep, I attached a horse trailer to my jeep. I drove the jeep and traier to the stables where the wild mustangs were being kept. I parked, got out and proceeded towards the stables. I looked over and saw a woman holding a saddle pad, she saw me and smiled. ''Hello! You must be here to pick up your mustang? What is his ID?'' She asked smiling. I smiled back and said ''Hi! I'm Karen, I've come to collect mustang number #2141?'' The woman nodded ''Okay let me just check my book to see where your mustang is, but first I have to put this saddle pad away!'' She said giggling. I smiled and nodded ''Where did you get the saddlepad? It's lovely!'' The saddle pad was multicoloured with an Aztec design. ''I got it in the shop down the road, hun. Its for western riding, what type of riding are you doing?'' She asked. ''English, I've ridden English since I was 5'' I said. ''Wow, impressive! Most people around here ride western, it's good to be different'' She said in a soft tone. I nodded and waited for her while she put the saddle pad away.
She came back 2 minutes later ''Okay so your mustang is in paddock C, come with me and I'll show you' she said. I walked with her through a huge stable, it was full of mustangs, they looked pretty docile. ''Wow, have you tamed these mustangs?'' I asked the lady. She snorted ''sure did'' I gasped in amazement ''wow! You must have a gift'' the lady laughed ''anybody can do it, you just need to have trust in the horse and the horse will trust in you, show it that you'll care and protect it and it will do the same for you, if you do this. Nothing can stop you and the horse, you're the dream team'' she said proudly. I took in what she said, it was really deep and it encouraged me to work with my mustang even more. We reached the end of the stable, it was like reaching the light at the end of a tunnel, I got really excited. We walked out into the open, there was paddocks everywhere full of wild, rambunctious mustangs. The lady pointed over to a medium sized paddock with about six mustangs in it. We walked over to it, the mustangs freaked out because of our presence. ''That's your gelding there'' she said pointing over to a nice looking blue roan. I gasped ''he's a beauty'' the lady nodded in agreement ''sure is, many roan mustangs come and go here but he's far by one of the nicest, his ice blue eyes and his white markings make him unique'' I smiled and asked ''So how do I get him out of the paddock seeing as theirs other mustangs in there too?'' the lady smiled ''leave that to us'' I looked at her, I got very confused. ''Us?'' I said. She shouted ''Aaron, James come help get this mustang outta' here!'' I jumped slightly in fright. Two men came out, one with a rope and the other with massive gloves on. ''Get the blue roan and bring him around to the front'' she said to the two men. ''Now Karen come with me and we'll sort out paperwork'' I nodded.
We walked to the lady's office and she told me to sit down, she then sat down behind her table and she opened up a drawer full of files. She flicked through them looking for a certain one ''number 1117, number 1108, number 2141, AH I GOT IT!'' She said in delight. Now she said flicking through the file. ''So, this mustang, as you are aware is blue roan, he has 2 socks, a stripe and blue eyes. He is a gelding so he cannot reproduce, this makes it easier for him to handle. This horse has had run-ins with predators before, and is particularly fearful with dogs/cats/etc. He poses a greater threat around children until this issue is resolved, do you understand? He is a danger to children and other animals so be very careful.'' She said in a serious tone. I gulped, and took a deep breath ''I understand and I will keep him well away from other animals except horses and I will most definitely keep him away from children'' The woman nodded and smiled ''good, well were all done, oh wait actually, do you have a name for him?'' I thought for a second ''Moonbeam, I'll name him Moonbeam'' the woman wrote his name down on the file ''Moo-n...b-eam'' she pronounced as she wrote on the page.''What are you going to be training him in?'' She asked. ''Jumping'' I replied. ''Ooh interesting'' she said. ''Please write your full name and your address right here'' she said handing me the paperwork and a pen showing me where to right. I wrote them down and handed back the papers. ''Okay now that I have your address, I'm going to check up on you in two days and I'm going to need to get a photo of you and Moonbeam when I see you next, honey'' I nodded. ''I don't mean to sound rude but why do you need a photo of us?'' I asked politely. ''I need it to put it on Moonbeam's file, then near the end of the event I'll take another photo so I can see the progress.'' She said smiling. ''Okay! I'm ready!'' I said a little too excited. ''Great! Lets go out the front and see do the boys have your mustang ready to go!'' She said.
We walked out to the front stable yard, the two men had my mustang in a halter that looked two sizes too small. He didn't move, it looked like he was too scared to move. God, I hope they didn't hurt Moonbeam. One of the men handed me the rope attached to the halter. I moved slowly and grabbed the rope trying not to scare Moonbeam. ''Open up her trailer boys'' the lady said. The two boys opened up my trailer door and walked away. I thanked them and thanked the lady ''by the way I never got your name'' I said to the lady. The lady smiled ''my names Maddie'' I nodded ''it was lovely to meet you Maddie'' Maddie smiled ''I'll leave you to it, goodluck'' she smiled walking away. I thought my heart was about to jump out of my chest. I made sure not to make exact contact with Moonbeam because that would mean I'm a threat. I held my hand out and let him sniff it. ''It's okay, I'm no threat, I'm your new owner. I'll take care of you. I heard you were scared of other animals, don't worry I won't let any animals hurt you'' I said softly and calmly. I stood up straight to let him know I was confident because if I was scared, he'd freak out too. He sniffed my hand and licked it. I smiled and then gently rub his ears. His head moved back a small bit but I reassured him. He lowered his head again. He seemed to like it. I patted his neck and walked with him towards the trailer. He reared a small bit. ''Sssh, its okay'' I stood outside the trailer with him, I held the rope loosely and let him sniff the box for a few minutes. He raised his head and whinnied. ''Okay you ready to try this again?'' I asked him. He stood quietly. I walked him into the box. I circled him around the box and made him get used to it. He seemed calm so I tied to rope loosely to a hook in the box. I ruffled the hay container and made sure the water trough was clean so if he got hungry or thirsty he could eat or drink. I patted him and smiled. ''You're not so bad after all are you? You seem very calm, probably for now'' I said giggling. I walked out of the trailer and closed the door, I made sure to close it slowly and quietly in case he spooked. Moonbeam then bucked and whinnied, he was scared. ''Sssh, Moonbeam, I'm here, it's okay, relax relax'' I said softly. He calmed down. ''Good boy'' I said. I then got into my jeep and started the engine, I had my window open to see if I could hear him if he spooked. He didn't, I sighed in relief and drove away.
After 25 minutes we arrived back home. My mother waited for me at the gate. ''Make sure the dogs are kept in the house for the next couple of days, my new mustang is terrified of other animals'' my mother nodded. ''Okie dokie but you'll have to take them on a long walk to make up for it!'' she said giggling. I smiled and nodded. I went around to the trailer and opened it slowly. I greeted Moonbeam and patted him. I grabbed his lead rope and led him slowly out of the trailer. ''Oh what a beauty!'' my mother said smiling. ''You're home Moonbeam, you're home'' I said rubbing his cheek.
