'Heather Farms'

Chapter 1 - Late Change

     Amanda Parker stood up from her chair in front of the television.  She

yawned slightly as she made her way to the large, net curtain covered

windows.  She pushed the netting back and looked out onto the farmland.  The

dew was just sinking in to the ground.  Every blade of grass and leaf had a

small twinkle as the sun started to brighten.  A smile came on her face as

she thought of the riding she could do on the sunny day.  She turned away

allowing the net curtains to hide the light from outside.  She climbed the

stairs to her room and got dressed.  She jumped down the stairs and ran to

the welcome mat near the door where she kept her riding boots.  She picked

them up and carried them into the kitchen where she sat down and pulled the

long, black leather boots on over the lower part of her stone grey jodhpurs.

She got up and grabbed her riding hat and gloves from the table.  She wrote

a note for her father:

Dear Dad,

I'm down the stables.  I'm going for a ride and I'll see you when I get

back.  I'll feed the cows, sheep and pigs for you.  Oh yeah, we need some

more bran mash for Captain.

Mandy

     She posted it on the fridge door then headed down to the livestock area

of her father's farm.  She went into the pig house first, deciding it would

be better if she got that out of the way.  She held her nose as she walked

through.  She put the pig mix into a bucket and shared it between them all.

She topped up the water in the water trough then got out of there quickly.

She opened up the pig exercise pen so they could go out and run around or

whatever pigs did.  Mandy walked briskly to the cow and sheep feed shed.

She picked up a bale of hay and broke off a few books of hay.  She spread

them out evenly.  Well as evenly as she could with the sheep running from

her.  She put the sheep and cow food in separate troughs then part ran out

of the field gate.  Finally she could go to the horses.  Mandy loved horses

and had been training her horse, Captain, for an eventing show.  Sadly,

Captain had got colic and would be out of action for a while.  Mandy was

panicking over which horse she would ride in his place.  She went into the

horse feed room and made some bran mash for Captain.  While waiting for it

to cool she went round feeding the others.  They all had water so she didn't

have to carry the heavy water buckets.  She opened Grace's stable door and

walked in.  She put a small amount of feed in her food bucket.  She did the

same for Prince, Sea Biscuit, Faithful Soldier and Dance Of The Sultan.  She

came to the final stable.  It was Tan's stable.  Tan was a very talented

stallion.  He had an eye catching chestnut coat and bright eyes.  His ears

were always forward, a sign of a very alert horse.  He was 15hh and even

though he was a little smaller than Captain he was just as skilled.  Mandy

thought Tan might not be as comfortable in the show situation as Captain

might or the others might be.

     "Well I won't know if I don't train you, will I?" Mandy asked the

stallion.

     She walked to the tack room and got Tan's saddle and bridle.  She

saddled him up then put her hat and gloves on.  She led him outside and got

on him.  Tan had been on the bottom of Mandy's riding list lately.  He

skittered to the side a little and pulled on the reins but Mandy kept a

tight hold of him and stopped him from messing around.  He tossed his head

up in the air but calmed down.  Mandy nudged him forward to the dressage

arena.  She walked him round once so he knew the surrounding things then she

pushed him into a trot.  Tan picked up his hooves and trotted around the

arena.  He held his tail up high and kicked his front legs out.  On Mandy's

next command he picked up a canter.  He stretched his legs out and tucked

his head in.  He obeyed Mandy as she signalled for a circle.  She pulled him

back down to a walk and did a few more advanced movements.

     "Good boy Tan!" Mandy praised him as she stopped and patted his neck.

     Tan neighed loudly at her words, understanding her totally.  Unlike

some horses, Tan loved to be ridden.  He liked all the attention he got.

His bright eyes twinkled healthily as Mandy dismounted and took the reins

over his head to lead him back.  He jogged along beside her, jerking his

head up at sounds around him.  She led him back into his stable and

unsaddled him.  She groomed him a little then gave him his feed.  After

watching him from over the stable door a little Mandy walked back to her

house to see if her father was home.

     "Hey Mandy!" a familiar voice shouted.

     "Rachel!  You brought Ginger?  Good.  You can come for a ride with me

and my dad!" Mandy yelled back.

     "Cool.  I'll tie Ginger up outside and I'll be in soon." Rachel told

her.

Written by Caitlyn Downs [caitlyn@downsfamily.freeserve.co.uk]

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