Rusty
Blurb:
This story follows the life of a common pony. There's nothing unique or interesting about him- Just a regular riding school pony. And yet, he still has a great story to tell.
It was early morning, the sun had risen and sun had finally hit the stables. I was playing around in the wood shaving. My mane and tail were covered, and I had made myself exceptionally dirty, as I was covered in manure, but, this is what every horse at the riding school does, and it's a daily routine for the riders to clean us up.
I heard the gate screech open. Every pony and horse instantly shot there heads out the stall doors, with their ears pricked, ready to be taken care of. Riders were coming up to us, with buckets of feed in their hands, each bucket had our names written on, it didn't help when there was more than one with the same name though..
Finally I saw a rider come up to me with my breakfast. She wore a black base-layer, pale breeches, and a silver skull cap.
She patted my neck, 'Hey, Rusty. You hungry?' (Of course I was!) She put the feed down, and slipped my head collar and lead rope on, leading me out the stall and tying me to some wire. As I gobbled down the feed, the rider, Clara, began mucking out.
My feed was made up of chaff, pony nuts, chopped carrots, and had been lightly soaked in water.
'Goodness me, he always rolls! Maybe we should switch to hay for him', a riding instructor had walked up to Clara, and she inspected me in slight disgust.
'I don't really mind. It'd be boring if there wasn't work to do', Clara said.
The riding instructor shook her head. 'It's wasting expensive horse shampoo'.
'I could buy him them. Fly (Clara's dapple grey horse.) has loads spare. I could bring some here'.
'That's a good idea. We'll see how it goes. Also, can you put some trotting poles in the outdoor arena for a lesson?'
'Yeah. I'll do it when I'm done with Rusty'.
After she had finished mucking me out, Clara collected the horse shampoo, sponges, a bucket, and a sweat scraper to start washing me.
She dipped the sponge into the bucket, and began scrubbing my neck, withers, and barrel.
She sighed in a humorous sort of way. 'What're we going to do with you, Rusty?'
I whickered quietly at her. Clara seemed one of the many riders here who liked me. I was always told I was way to fast for beginner riders, I always rushed and wasn't very comfortable to ride. Unfortunately Clara rarely got to ride me. She mainly just did chores at the yard, as she owned her own horse.
After 20 minutes she had finished washing me, and another instructor appeared.
'Clara, I know it's a bit sudden, but can you tack up Rusty and ride with someone in the arena? No one else is ready, and most are still washing the ponies.'
I noticed Clara couldn't help but smile excitedly. 'Sure! I'll be ready in 5 minutes'.
Clara began tacking me up, she put my white saddle pad on, and my tack. She also put some brushing boots on. She mounted me and we quickly walked off to the arena.
When we arrived, I saw a black-haired girl, jumping over some straight up jumps on Cannon, a black pony.
'Hey! Learning to jump?', Clara asked.
The girl had started to cool Cannon off, 'Yeah. I started about two weeks ago but it's still a struggle.'.
'Can I jump and teach you some things?', I could tell Clara wanted to show off a bit but..
'I'd love too!'. The girl, Rachel, trotted the black pony to the edge of the arena, and excitedly watched us get ready to jump. Clara got me into walk, trot, and then a bouncy canter. As we approached the jump, I could feel her legs start to tense as we approached the jump, and the reins beginning to loosen up. Finally, I jumped straight over the jump, and my rider was sitting up in the stirrups to stay balanced. Then, we landed, and slowed down to a trot.
