Undying Hope

Chapter 7

                I walked up to my room to find Isaac's number and then went the back down to the kitchen to call him on the home phone. His mom answered and I asked her if I could speak to Isaac. She told me to wait a moment and a few seconds later, Isaac was on the phone. I told him that I informed my parents about the situation, and then I asked him to bring my phone to school tomorrow. He then told me that he had found it on the tack trunk but didn't know my number, so he was planning to bring it to school tomorrow anyway. I thanked him and hung up. I then clomped upstairs and got ready for bed. Before I drifting off to sleep, I made a list of the horses that I thought would be good for a theraputic riding program. The list read, "Stephanie, Lila, Bradley, Sage, and Hail." These were all rescue horses that had been with us for awhile and had responded to treatment well. Some of the rescue horses were way too high strung, and our personal horses wouldn't be used because they were trained in specific disciplines and already did their jobs well. Slowly, I drifted off to sleep, dreaming about our new therapeutic riding center. 

"Maddie, Maddie, wake up!" a worried voice yelled. As I opened my eyes, I saw my mom at the doorway. "What is it?" I asked sleepily. "Someone has just been caught trying to slaughter twenty horses," my mom said sadly. "Hurry, Dad is hitching up both of the 10-horse trailers," added Mom. "Okay," I replied. I was already out of bed. I got dressed at lightning speed and was downstairs in five minutes. "Maddie, you're going to ride with Dad, he's leaving right now; I'll be leaving as soon as I gather the first aid kis and some halters," Mom said quickly. "Got it," I replied, running outside and hopping in Dad's truck. It was a navy blue Dodge Ram. He pulled out of our driveway and drove down the country road. In twenty minutes, we reached a little cabin with two horse pastures and a small barn. The truck next to the cabin read "Animal Control." My Dad stopped the truck, and we hopped out. A man wearing an Animal Control jacket walked toward us and introduced himself as Robert. We greeted him and returned the introduction. He then led us toward the pastures and barn. As we were driving down the driveway, I hadn't noticed that the pastures contained horses. Now, I saw five dirty, underweight horses standing in the corral. " These are the five healthiest horses that were rescued," he said sadly. Just then, Mom drove up, grimly surveying the forlorn animals. I ran to her now parked truck and grabbed five halters. Then, after walking back to the pasture, I handed Dad and Robert each a halter, kept one for myself, and laid the other two on the ground. We slipped through the fence and slowly approached the horses, talking to them in soothing voices. I slipped my halter onto an older, gray mare. She looked at me as if hoping I would love her. I gave her neck a pat and walked her toward our trailer. She walked in nicely, after a little coaxing was done, and I tied her halter to the ring in the trailer. Mom was helping catch the other two horses, but I ran back to the pasture anyway. I asked Robert if any of them had names. He shook his head responding, "Not that I know of, although the men trying to take them to slaughter were driven off in a police car awhile ago and we didn't have time to chat," he said wryly. "Oh, I guess we get to name them then," I said a little cheerfully. 

           After those five horses were loaded into the trailer, we moved on and began to survey the depressed animals from the other pasture. I took a halter and moved toward an obviously once beautiful, bay, Dutch Warmblood gelding. I walked up to him and he immediately sidled away, cantering along the fence line, head held high, tail streaming behind. I walked back to the trailer and grabbed some horse cookies and turned back toward the field. I slowly walked back toward him, putting the treats in my outstretched hand and hiding the halters behind my back. Once he smelled the cookies, I encircled his neck in my arms and put the rope over it. After fastening the buckle, I let him eat and then walked him toward the trailer. By then, all of the other horses from his pasture were loaded. So we knew that it was time to retrieve the horses from the barn, and they were the worst off.

        We walked into the little barn and were immediately taken aback by the conditions. The stalls were dirty, the hay was musty, and the horses were not healthy at all. I walked the the nearest stall which confined a little, black, Arabian pony. He seemed to be young, around three, but when I looked down at his legs, I noticed their gashes. I calmly grabbed a halter and moved toward him. He stayed where he was but in a very nervous manner. I gently put on his headcollar and began to lead him out of the barn to the trailer. His legs were bleeding, and before I left the shelter, I realized that he was going to be needing medical attention. I softly called to my mom and she brought me one of the first aid kits. I wrapped each of his legs in gauze and we then began our painstaking walk to the trailer once more. After he was carefully loaded, I ran back to the barn. As I walked in, I saw my dad working with a mare and a newborn foal. I asked him how they were doing and he responded, "They're alright, the best off of the horses in the barn." With that, I nodded and proceeded down the aisle and into another stall. Inside was a tall, strawberry roan mare who put her ears back the minute I came near her. Knowing that she would give me a hard time, I grabbed a few horse treats out of my pocket and held them out to her. She came forward and grabbed them, obviously hungry. I used that moment to slip the halter onto her head and begin to lead her out. As I surveyed her body, I noticed her bloated stomach and after observing her for a few minutes, I realized she had colic. I slowly led her out of the barn and walked her up and down the long driveway. When a horse has colic, you can't let them lie down; it puts them at a very high risk of dieing. When I had walked her for about an hour, I led her toward the trailer. As the ramp was lowered, she balked and almost tore the lead line from my hands. I quickly calmed her and asked Robert to put a flake of hay in the stall of the horse transporter. He did as instructed and I slowly led the mare towards it; in hunger, she walked quickly up the ramp. Sadly, we had to take the hay away before she could eat because she still had colic and we didn't want to upset her stomach anymore. By then, all of the rest of the horses were loaded and my dad was signing the adoption papers. In a few minutes, we were in the trucks and driving out of our horses' former residence.

Hi everyone:) Thanks for reading:) Please vote, comment, fan, and encourage others to read!!!!!!!!!! Also add Undying Hope to your reading list:) It would mean alot:) I am planning to write about 15 chapters, but this is a series, so more books will be coming:) Hope you are enjoying this:)