"Thank you for an awesome weekend," I hugged my great grandma at the gate of the airport.
"Visit soon, I don't get to see enough of you," she replied.
"I'll try," I whispered. I let her go and she went on to Hannah. After they good-byes, Hannah and I boarded our plane and began our journey home.
-
"Got your bag?" Hannah asked at the bag return.
"Here it comes," I said, watching as my grey suitcase slowly advanced towards me. I grabbed it as it went by and put it on the floor, dragging it behind me. We travelled out to long-term parking and found our truck. After piling all our bags in the bed, we took off towards home.
As we pulled into the driveway, something caught my eye.
"Wait, really?" I asked, looking at the 'For Sale' sign next to the driveway. "Shut up! Are we moving to Kentucky?"
Hannah smiled. "I think we can make it work."
-
"What about the horses?" I asked, throwing my bags onto the counter. "School? The farm?"
"Slow down there, Em, you're starting to sound like you don't want to move," Hannah laughed.
"Are you kidding?" I exclaimed. "This is the best thing that's happened to me! I already have friends a-and... Oh, Hannah, thank you!"
I tackled her in a hug and laughed. "So, where do we start?"
Hours later, we finally had all the horse's sales ads up. We had two sales set up for tonight, and requests for a bunch of other horses flooded the inbox.
"When are we moving in?" I asked as we ate chinese takeout on the couch.
"Hopefully you'll be moved in by the end of the month, if everything goes smoothly. I made arrangements with a trailering company in Kentucky, who will come down and get the horses we don't sell," we explained. "I won't be able to leave until all the horses are taken care of. And, don't worry about school, you'll finish your courses online. If you work hard I think you'll be done at the end of May."
"I'll go do that," I jumped up. "Might as well start working now."
I hurried off to my room and pulled out my laptop, trying to get some work done. But my excitement won over and I ended up blasting music while starting to pack my things. Riding clothes in this suitcase, pants and shorts in this one, shirts in this one, so on.
I ended up keeping some of my clothes in some laundry baskets, but the stuff I knew I wasn't going to wear in the next two weeks was packed up. I didn't have any boxes, so I couldn't pack up my sheets or anything, but I think I did plenty of work for tonight.
"Good news," Hannah shouted as she poked her head into my room. I turned my music down. "Both Chance and Winston's sales went through. Then Winston's new owner saw Dainty and couldn't leave without her."
"That's awesome!" I exclaimed. Three down, twenty-six to go!"
"Go make sure our ponies are all set before you go to sleep," she said. "I'm going out to town in the morning to pick up some moving supplies, but I expect you to do at least three or four hours of school, okay?"
"Fine," I agreed. "I'll head out now."
I walked out to the back door and pulled my Dublin boots on, making quite the fashion statement with my running shorts and tank top. I hurried out to our personal barn and turned the light on. dublin, zee, kc, hera
Dublin nickered when he saw me, and I went over to his stall. His big brown head greeted me in the aisle, and I gave him a pat.
"Hey, boy," I cooed as I stroked his face. "You're in for quite the adventure."
I went over to Zee, who in his grumpy older age, didn't seem to happy. "Hey old man," I smiled. "Do you want to go to Kentucky with us?"
He just looked at me before pinning his ears and going back to his hay. I frowned. After making sure KC and Hera were good, I fed them all and headed back to the house.
"Hannah," I called when I got back to the house. "We need to talk."
"What's wrong?" she asked from the living room. "Is everything okay?"
"Yeah, the horses are good," I said. "But, um, I'm not sure if we should bring Zee with us."
"I was going to ask you about that," she frowned. "Look, I know he's been your horse since you were ten, but we have to be realistic. He's almost twenty-six, a trip like that isn't going to be easy on him."
"Yeah," I agreed. "Besides, I haven't really done any pleasure work in ages. I think we should retire him, sell him as a companion horse or something."
"I think that's a great idea," Hannah nodded. "But I want you to make this sale, okay? He's your horse, I want you to do this."
"Okay," I said. "I'll post an ad."
Twenty heartbreaking minutes later, I had posted an ad for Zee on Hannah's website. As I shut my laptop, I could only hope someone good could take him from me.
-
I woke up bright and early so that after I took care of my horses, I could just start on my schoolwork and get it out of the way. By eleven, I had completed my mandatory four hours of work, and was free to do whatever. I opened my email before I shut my computer, and was surprised to see Zee's ad already had a response.
"Hi Emily,
My name is Cheryl Jones, and I run King Creek Stables, the lesson barn down the road. We just opened last year, but I'm still struggling to find good lesson horses. I saw Zee's ad, and I think he'll be perfect for us. Are you available any time today to meet me? I'm free from noon to two. Here's my number, please reach out as soon as you get this.
Thanks so much!"
Zee would make a great lesson horse. He's old, but he loves kids and would be an excellent teacher.
I dialed the number on my phone and waited as it rang.
"Hello?"
"Hi, is this Cheryl?"
"Speaking!"
"Hi Cheryl, it's Emily Martin. I just got your email regarding my horse Zee?"
"Oh, Emily, thanks for getting back to me so quickly!" she exclaimed.
"No problem! So what do you say you stop by around noon? I'll be out by the smaller barn," I explained. "Does that work?"
"Sounds perfect," she replied. "Um, I know I'm coming to see Zee, but is there any chance you have some more suitable lesson horses available? My main ride just came up lame this morning."
"Of course," I said. "Let me go through our horses and I'll have some out when you arrive."
"Thanks so much, Emily, you're a lifesaver," Cheryl let out a sigh of relief. "I'll see you at noon."
"See you then, bye," I said, ending the call. I shut my laptop and slid off my bed, changing into jeans and a t-shirt and putting my boots on. I went out to the main barn and found Hannah.
"Hannah, hey," I called. "I need your help."
Twenty minutes later, Hannah and I were leading three horses over to our barn. I stuck them in Dublin, KC, and Hera's stalls, as they were turned out right now. Hannah helped me brush them so they looked nicer, and before long, Cheryl walked in.
"Hey Cheryl, it's nice to meet you," I smiled shaking her hand. "This is my aunt, Hannah."
I introduced them, and I dove right into selling Zee.
"I started on him when I was ten, and he's the best teacher out there," I explained. "He's on the older side, but he has plenty of youth left. I'm selling him because I don't want to stress him out, shipping him up to Kentucky where we're moving."
"He sounds perfect," she smiled. "He'd be a great addition to our family. So, tell me about these guys."
Hannah went along, describing the three horses we brought over, Rocky, Copper, and Thor.
In the end, she ended up buying Zee, Rocky, and Copper.
"Thor seems like a really nice horse," she smiled, "but seventeen hands is big for a lesson horse. Thank you guys so much for your help, I really appreciate it."
Hannah and I helped her load her new horses onto her trailer, with Zee going on last.
"Hey, buddy," I said, holding his head close. "You behave yourself, okay? No Mr. Grumpy Pants, be nice to the kids."
Now I had tears streaming down my face.
"Don't forget me, bud. You were always my favorite horse, but it's time for you to start your new job. You'll love it, trust me."
Sniffling, I finally loaded him up onto the trailer and hooked him up. I gave him one final pat before hopping off and shutting the trailer door.
"Aww, Emily," Hannah said, pulling me into a hug. "This is the right thing for him, I promise. He'll be so much happier there than in Kentucky."
"I know," I whispered, wiping some tears away. "I'll just miss him."
"It's okay," she rubbed my arm, and we watched as the trailer pulled away.
-
I decided to lunge Dublin, as he's had almost a week off. He was always usually a little crazy on the lunge line, but today he was bucking like nobody's business. I let him run around until he stopped, then I pushed him some more to really get him tired. I then let him have a nice long cool out, and I turned him back outside.
When I returned to the house, I took a quick shower before heading to my room, where I used some of the boxes Hannah got to continue packing. I stuffed my extra sheets and pillows into one box, and used another to hold all the pictures from my wall and shelves. I used sharpies to label the boxes, one read sheets, another pictures, and one ribbons. I filled a box full of books and magazines, and had a few boxes of donations I would bring into town later. But all in all, my room was packed. I just had some clothes, and the sheets and pillows on my bed.
"You make quick work," Hannah laughed as she walked into my room. "C'mon, I need your help packing."
Ahh guys i'm so sorry the first couple chapters aren't going to be the most exciting. i have to get the base down, then we can get into the juicy drama. i swear i have exciting plans for this book, just keep reading!!