Hi guys, Collin here bringing you a new story on my channel! This isn't a story filled with butterflies and flowers, this story as a dark start that (hopefully) gets better throughout the upcoming parts.
DISCLAIMER: I do not own any recognisable characters/places mentioned throughout the story, but I will own any OC's mentioned.
Will rode Jimber towards the jump, confident in himself and his closest friend. They left the ground and jumped over the 6ft wide oxer with ease, Will leaning forward when Jimber landed and galloped to the connecting jumps that marked the end of the course. The pair matched their breathing and Will kept relaxed as he moved in time with Jimber as he jumped. Jimber cleared the final jump, the crowd around them roaring when they rode around the arena once.
"Good job boy." Will whispered as he patted Jimber's neck, riding him out of the arena and towards the stable before climbing off him and leading him into his stall. "Now we just need to do that with Bailey and Aztec." Will spoke as he loosened the saddle a notch before leaving the stall to watch the other riders. "I'll see you soon boy." He called before disappearing into the crowd to watch the others.
Shep walked into the stable and towards Jimber's stall, Teeny close behind him. "Excellent job Jimber!" he praised and Jimber lowered his head with embarrassment.
"It was nothing." He dismissed, his southern accent strong. "If I didn't have Will I would have hit a rail, he's so calm." Jimber praised his human.
"You were flying out there! It was so good!" Teeny squealed with excitement.
After 30 minutes Will walked into the stable and tightened Jimber's saddle. "We have the pairs now boy, we have to match Aztec." Will spoke as he led his horse out of the stable before getting onto him and stopping by Bailey. "You nervous?" He asked his cousin.
"Me? No way." Bailey answered with a nervous laugh.
"Don't worry, you two have this!" Sarah encouraged from her place on Scarlet having just finished her run of the course.
"Si amego, you work well together!" Alma added, Molly nodding behind her.
"You won't beat me and Chloe, we're the best there is." Zoe spoke arrogantly with crossed arms.
"You both knocked rails down in your individuals, Will didn't." Sarah pointed out and Will blushed at the compliment.
"Our next pair are Bailey Handler and Will Taggart of Horseland riding their horses Aztec and Jimber." The announcement sounded through the speakers surrounding the arena.
Will walked Jimber forwards with Bailey to his right and slightly behind him, they had arranged that Will would lead as he had more experience with jumping and he'd had Jimber longer than Bailey had Aztec. Will pushed Jimber along and soon both riders were flying around the course, Bailey following Will's lead with practiced ease and they were soon on the last two jumps before things went wrong.
"You with me young 'un?" Jimber called behind him and Aztec snorted as his answer. Jimber flew over the jump in front of him and heard a clattering behind him, Aztec had hit a jump. Jimber kept his eyes forward and on the final jump, calmed by Will on his back as he left the ground before there was a loud cracking from the speakers which startled both Will and Jimber, making the stallion misplace a hoof and fall forward with a leg outstretched. "Will!" He panicked as he saw his human roll on the floor next to him, moving to his knees with terror on his face as Aztec's hooves flew towards is face. Will closed his eyes and he lowered himself to the floor but it didn't stop Aztec hitting his riding hat, making him roll onto his back where Aztecs back hoof crushed his forearm beneath his weight as he landed on it.
Bailey stopped Aztec and jumped off him, running to his barely conscious cousin. "Will!" He cried as he knelt by Will. "Don't worry, someone's coming." He blabbered as his cousin closed his eyes, keeping them closed although Bailey was calling his name. "Will, Will please get up." He forced through his sobs and struggled against the paramedic pulling him out of the way. He stopped struggling when he felt strong, familiar arms around him. "Dad, dad I-" He started but his dad stopped him.
"It's not your fault." He whispered as he watched the scene in front of him, his mind reversing to the same thing on this date eight years ago. He held his breath as paramedics lifted Will onto a stretcher but Mr. Handler didn't see Will, he saw his sister on the stretcher with blood pouring from her mouth and coughing violently. His mind was haunted with memories of his sister, the last competition she competed in before she died in her month long coma. His sister left behind a six year old Will, her husband dying two years prior to her own through a shooting he faced as a police officer.
Will was loaded into an ambulance before it sped towards the hospital with a blaring alarm and flashing lights.
Shep ran into the arena. "Jimber!" He called to the stallion who hadn't moved.
"M-My leg, I can't move my leg Shep." The usually calm stallion panicked and Shep looked at him, seeing that his shoulder bone was sticking out of the skin with blood flowing out of the wound. "How bad is it?" Jimber asked as he moved his hind legs.
"It's not bad Jimber, a little medicine and you'll be jumping again with Will in no time." Shep comforted the distressed stallion but he knew that medicine wasn't going to help his oldest friend.
Dr Martin ran to Jimber with his emergency bag and smoothed the stallion's neck while he scanned him for any injuries, his eyes instantly seeing the broken skin and blood and his heart sank. He turned to his bag and Jimber neighed at him as he prepared a needle of pain relief and inserted it into the vein on the stallion's leg. "Easy boy, easy." He soothed when Jimber picked his head up. He watched as Mrs Handler walked towards him slowly with tears in her eyes for her nephew and the horse laying in front of the jump. A quick breath left her when she saw Jimber, her hands covering her mouth. Dr Martin shook his head no, telling the horse's owner that there was nothing he could do to save him.
She walked forward and fell to her knees by Jimber's head, rubbing circles on his ears and bringing his head onto her knees. She looked at Dr Martin and nodded, the veterinarian soon turned and measured the lethal anaesthetic into a syringe before attaching a needle to the end. "We love you boy, all of us." She whispered and held back tears and the needle broke the skin before emptying its contents into the blood flow and made its way towards Jimber's heart.
Jimber closed his eyes and opened them again. "I'm tired Shep." He whispered to the collie and Shep nuzzled him.
"Go to sleep, we'll be here when you wake up." He encouraged with a smile and watery eyes. Jimber closed his eyes and drifted into dreamland, images of him running through the meadow with Will dancing before his closed eyes. As Jimber took his last breath the Horseland students and workers let tears flow freely down their faces, Jimber had a special place in everyone's heart and he was gone in a matter of minutes.
Shep looked at his friend and knew that he was gone. His heart ached and his looked to the sky before howling raggedly long and loud before looking at Jimber. "Goodbye my friend."
Already a sad start, I cried writing this – Jimber is my favourite horse in Horseland and I feel terrible killing him but I had to ;-; Please don't hate me