Oak Valley Stables

Chapter four

After Maths, English, Science and French, the students got to work with their horses. The first four lessons of everyday were the always same. The last lessons on Mondays and Wednesday were horse related. On Tuesdays, it was replaced with History; On Thursdays, it was replaced with Geography and, on Fridays, it was Religious studies. The students were responsible for caring for their own horses after school and doing any extra training over the weekends, as well as taking care of them.
Gale and Victoria walked down to the yard together. Jake and Jackson walked with them. So far, Gale had managed to avoid Amber pretty well.
"Hi, class!" Carol appeared, seemingly out of nowhere. "Today we'll be getting ourselves ready. We're going to move our horses into their new stables and set up our new tack and equipment," She smiled. "Any already owned horses will be in a stable already. Everyone else gets to chose where their horse goes. That'll be their stall for your stay here at Oak Valley,"
Carol let all of the student who didn't already own a horse collect their new one. The horses were tied up outside of the paddock, waiting for them.
"Hi, boy," Gale smiled at the black Anglo-Arab. He looked up and nickered, softly. Gale untied him and took him into the stable block to find a free stall. Straight away, she's spotted a stall with an American flag hanging over of the door. She smiled; It must be Jackson's stall. She led her new horse over to the stall beside Jackson's. Victoria followed her and took Shadow into the stall on the other side of Gale's.
"Wow, look, Toria!" Gale pointed at Jackson's horse, Goldrush. "Isn't he handsome?"
"Sure is," Jackson came to join them with a laugh.
"She's thinks your pretty handsome, too," Victoria whispered to Gale. Gale gave her a gentle shove. She took the black gelding's head collar off and shut his stall behind her. Victoria finished up too and Jake appeared from the stall on her other side. Gale guessed that he'd taken that one for his horse.
"Hey, Jake, have you come up with a name for you horse, yet?" Victoria asked.
"Yeah! I've called him Apollo's Chariot or Apollo for short," He replied. "What about you?"
"Dark Night Shadows! Or just, Shadow," Victoria smiled.
"You thought of any names, yet?" Jackson turned to Gale.
"No, not really..." She sighed, leaning against the stall. "I want it to be Slovakian, like the horse I used to ride, Dmitry," She told Jackson. He nodded. "You'll come up with something," he smiled.
"Hey, kids, do you wanna sort your tack out in the tack room?" Carol asked.
"Sure," Gale replied.
Carol gave Gale, Victoria and Jake their new tack and Jackson went to collect his own. He put his saddle on one of the wall racks and hooked his bridle up under it. He went to go and get Goldrush's rug, head collar and lead rope. While he did this, Gale put her new saddle and bridle on the rack next to Jackson's. She placed her helmet and body protected under the rack. She had to admit, Jackson's tack looked amazing. It was made of a polished black leather and was covered in flat silver studs. It was all western and looked very 'cowboy'. It reminded Gale of Roy Rogers' tack.
"Anyone without a rug can collect one here!" Carol yelled. Gale went to go and see what rugs they had. She picked out a Union Jack rug, which she thought would go nicely with Jackson's American flag one. She was about to go back over to Jackson when Amber walked past.
"Nice second-hand tack!" She snickered.
"At least her tack isn't bright pink," Jackson stepped in. Amber's face grow hot with rage.
"My tack is designer!" She wailed, angrily.
"Designer or not, it looks ridiculous," Jackson told her. Amber snarled and spun on her heels, before speeding off.
"Do you know her?" Jackson asked.
"Unfortunately," Gale signed. "How about we rug up those horses?" She tried to smile.
"Sure-" Jackson walked out of the tack room and to his stall, followed by Gale.
After putting their rugs on, they left their stalls. Jackson wrote Goldrush on the chalkboard outside of his stall. They went to meet Victoria and Jake, in the tack room.
"Have you written on your tack whiteboard, yet?" Jake passed Jackson the pen.
"No. Thanks," He took the pen and wrote 'Golden Zephyr' on the small board under his tack. Gale could see that 'Dark Night Shadows' and 'Apollo's Chariot' had already been filled in. Her's was the only on left. They had written 'Shadow' and 'Apollo' on their stall chalkboards too.
"Okay, class, it's time to head back for dinner. We'll be riding on Wednesday so be ready!" Carol told the class.
"See you then, boy," Gale said her farewell and left with Victoria.