The Colt Challenge (A Horse Story)

Chapter One

Excited chatter and squeals could be heard all around the yard, today was the day The Colt Challenge began. I stood outside the pretty palomino filly's stall, watching her fondly as she calmly ate her hay. Crossing my fingers I wished silently that Venus and I would be paired, it would make life much easier to be given the laid back filly as my foal. At first I was cautious about even participating, most of the girls were over fifteen, in fact me, Cassidy French and this new girl called Lacey were the only ones younger than them. A loud bang rang through the stables, an eerie silence fell over the formerly talkative girls. Emily, a sixteen year old rider, walked forward slowly to investigate, we saw her sigh with annoyance when she passed Arrow's stall. That colt was always making a fuss, and everyone fell for it every time.

"It's alright," Emily told us, inhaling deeply "It's just Arrow." She finished with a dramatic roll of her eyes. Soon after the girls went back to normal and the barn was once again filled with happy giggles and hopes. I felt bad for the girl who would be given Arrow, he was definitely a handful. My riding instructor Mr. Ross had told us that Arrow had Olympic bloodlines, I don't think very many people believed him though, it seemed almost impossible that a crazy, skinny and spindly little colt like him could have a heritage as grand as Olympic horses. I admit, he had pretty good conformation, and most likely possessed potential for eventing, that was if anyone could get near him.

Letting the 'Arrow Incident' slip away from my mind, I turned my attention back to Venus who was standing dozily in the back of her stall. She was surprisingly calm for a youngster, very sweet and affectionate too. Venus was the opposite of Arrow in every way. Tension grew inside of me, I couldn't wait any longer! There was another half an hour left before they announced the pairs and I simply couldn't stand it. Just then Lacey Johnson poked her head out from behind the tack room door, I stumbled back in surprise and almost knocked into Emily who was walking past with Cody's tack.  

"Watch it Ally!" She said, her tone angry. But Emily wasn't one to stay mad.  

"Sorry Em!" I replied quickly. Emily nodded before briskly walking off.  

Lacey gave me a sympathetic glance "Sorry about that!" She apologized sincerely, I smiled half-heartedly.  

"That's okay, Em usually forgives pretty quickly." I told her calmly. She looked relieved, the sorry look on her face faded away and her hazel eyes were radiant again. "I'm new here." Lacey informed me, a grin spreading across her face. "Hey are you in The Colt Challenge?" She asked me, I nodded happily in reply. "Cool!" She exclaimed, she came out from behind the tack rom door and we soon started to chat idly. Like all the other girls, the topics were focused on which foal we liked best and how we wanted to train it.

We talked contently for awhile, Lacey had trained her first horse Callie from foalhood, and said she wanted to have that kind of partnership with a horse again. My reason was hardly as 'special' as hers, I simply wanted to try it out. Ever since I started riding on the little Shetland pony down the road I had dreams of becoming an Olympic rider and then one day breeding and training my own horses. To be completely honest I was a little jealous of Lacey, she was pretty, a talented rider, and an all-round really nice person. If I said I was better than her, I would be lying and being overly arrogant. Her long mousey brown hair fell in long waves across her back, and her hazel eyes were fun and glow-ish. She looked like the type of person who could hang out with Cassidy French, but I'm sure nobody as nice as her would even want to be Cassidy's friend. We hung out in the roomy barn leaning against Venus's nice wood stall.

Without really thinking about it I checked the purple watch on my wrist. "2:30!" I read with glee, a wide grin spread across both of our faces. It was time! We swiftly walked down the narrow aisle of the large red barn, if we were allowed we would have sprinted outside as fast as our legs could carry us. Sadly barn rules had to be obeyed, so we speed walked out into the large stable yard where a crowd of blissful girls and the odd boy had gathered. Mr. Ross stood in front of them. The yard was perfectly cleaned today, not a speck of dirt or a loose bit of hay were to be seen on the unusually spotless concrete floors. The wash area had been tidied up too, there were no stray grooming tools or sweat scrapers and the hose had been reeled in neatly. I was guessing the girls wanted to impress Mr. Ross, maybe they had a favorite foal they wanted dearly.