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A short YA fiction piece about a girl and a horse ...

By KJ AartilaPublished 2 years ago Updated 8 months ago 6 min read
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Photo by Magdalena Smolnicka on Unsplash

Darcy brought Jewel home from the auction and turned the frightened little mare loose in the corral where she could safely expend her nervous energy. Darcy sat on the top rail, watching her pace and whinny and explore her surroundings until she finally settled down enough to eat the hay that Darcy placed in the pen. Tomorrow, Darcy and her Dad would go shopping to get a few things to begin working with Jewel.

The next morning, after checking on Jewel and restocking her hay. Darcy and her Dad drove to the tack store to pick out a few items for Darcy’s new horse. She couldn’t wait to get started on Jewel’s transformation! It would take some time, but their partnership would be amazing! Darcy settled on purple colors. Everything for Jewel should be purple! It was Darcy’s favorite color, and would look sharp with the mare’s dark coat. She picked out a purple halter and matching lead rope, a longe line and surcingle, a fuzzy cooler to wear when she got sweaty, some brushes, a feed pan and some purple leg boots to protect Jewel’s delicate legs from harm during their early work. They also chose some special feed and vitamins and some treats.

As soon as they got home, Darcy fitted the halter to Jewel and brushed her with the new grooming tools. When she finished, Darcy mixed Jewel’s grain, topped it with vitamins, and gave it to her in the new feed pan. Tomorrow, they would progress to actual ground work with the surcingle and boots, but for today she just wanted to start making friends with the nervous mare. Darcy wanted to start slow to gain Jewel’s trust. She would visit Jewel again later in the day to spend more time grooming and bonding and giving her some treats.

That evening, she restocked Jewel’s hay and wished her a good-night. The mare took a step toward her and even gave a soft nicker. Darcy grinned as she went to sleep. Thinking about how they would begin working together, and dreaming of future plans with her mysterious horse.

When she woke up the next day, Darcy ran down to the corral to check on Jewel, giving the mare her morning hay, before returning to the house to eat her own quick breakfast. Jewel greeted her at the gate with a welcoming nicker. Darcy smiled, giving the mare’s forehead a rub. She was excited to get to work with Jewel today!

She rushed back to Jewel’s pen to halter up and groom the black mare. Darcy released the horse to finish her breakfast hay and feed her the daily grain and vitamins to help her coat shine like it should on a strong, healthy horse. With the girls determination, Jewel would be that soon. Darcy would be back later to begin her actual training toward preparation for being ridden.

Darcy fastened the purple halter around Jewel’s head, attached the longeline, and snugged the protective boots appropriately around the mare’s lower legs. She decided to wait on introducing the surcingle, afraid the little horse may be frightened by the feel of it wrapped around her girth area right now. As Darcy led Jewel from the corral, the little horse lifted her legs too high and walked funny, almost like marching in a parade. Darcy giggled at the mare’s silliness. She had never worn anything on her legs before and it felt strange. Darcy walked around the yard with her for a bit until she got used to the feel of the boots on her legs and took normal steps.

She asked the horse to begin circling around her on the longeline. Jewel just looked at her in confusion. She had never done anything like this before, and didn’t know what Darcy was asking. Darcy kept calmly working with the mare until they were able to get a few steps toward what she was asking, and treated Jewel for her willingness. They would continue working tomorrow. For today, this was enough. She led the mare back to the corral, removed the boots and longeline and softly brushed the horse again. When Darcy was finished, Jewel went back to contentedly eating her hay. Darcy just stood by, enjoying the horse’s company and the sound of her munching. A quick and encouraging transformation from the nervous, pacing, frightened mare she brought home from the auction. Darcy smiled to herself before heading back to the house. She wanted to finish reading another book she had started recently about horse training. As she turned to walk through the gate, Jewel stopped eating to quietly follow the girl. Darcy gave her a rub on the forehead, saying “Good night, Girl. You did good today. I’m proud of you! Now finish your hay. I’ll be back tomorrow.” Like she understood, the mare calmly turned around, walked back to her hay and continued munching.

The following morning, Jewel was waiting patiently by the gate for her morning hay. She whinnied as she saw Darcy come out of the house. Just like the day before, Darcy fed Jewel her hay and rubbed her on the forehead before returning to the house for her own breakfast. She looked forward to spending more time with Jewel today. She was eager to reach the goals she had planned for them, but also recognized the patience and consistency required for it to happen.

She knew there would be set-backs in the days to come, but right now she was eager to build on the progress they had made so far! Darcy finished a good meal, then took off back to the corral to give Jewel her morning grooming, grain and plenty of scratches. Now Jewel was again waiting for her by the gate, having figured out the pleasant routine already. She seemed to look forward to the interactions as much as Darcy. This is exactly as Darcy had imagined horse ownership would be like. She smiled, patted the mare, whose coat was already benefiting from the intense grooming sessions, and gave her a treat. “Here ya go, Jewel. Just for being a pretty girl.” Jewel snatched the offered treat from Darcy’s hand, quickly devouring it and sniffing for more. “But you need to learn to not be so pushy!” Darcy giggled, pulling another treat from her pocket. Before handing it over to the greedy mare, Darcy was struck with an idea and started using the treat to ask for simple movements from Jewel. When she took a step back as asked, Darcy rewarded her with a treat. When the horse moved in too close to Darcy’s space, she withheld the treat until Jewel stepped back, then Darcy offered her the treat. This sparked an idea for Darcy and new training possibilities with Jewel. It was a different and new-to-her way of thinking that had not been addressed in the training books she’d read. This was a new concept, and one she was curious to learn more about. She didn’t even know what to call it, She started finding videos and articles about it online as soon as she got in the house. She decided she liked the sound of it.

After hours of researching this interesting training technique, she headed back to work with her dark horse, eager to proceed with this new training concept and see how Jewel took to it.

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Young Adult
5

About the Creator

KJ Aartila

A writer of words in northern WI with a small family and a large menagerie.

My Substack

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  • Randy Wayne Jellison-Knock7 months ago

    Positive reinforcements--always my preference.

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