Chapter 1
Amy Flemming. She lives on a horse ranch in Canada with her grandfather, Jack, and her sister, Lou. They board horses, but Amy's real talent is helping and training horses. She can train and ride a hrse in days. When a horse has a bad behavior she can figure out why he has this behavior and how to manage it. Amy doesn't see these habits as bad though, they're part of a horses character, his personality. They just have to be controlled.
My name is charlotte Hunter, my friends call me Charlie. I'm 16 years old and my family and I are on vacation in Canda. We are staying on a dude ranch called Heartland. I always though people who owned a dude ranch were wannabe cowboys and cowgirls but this place was different. My parents left before I was even out of bed. My two brothers were still asleep when I left the cabin. I started to walk to the barn full of horses. It took a while but I got there. I was just petting the horses when Amy walked in.
"Can I help you?" She asked, curiously. We just got in yesterday and I hadn't met her.
"No, I'm staying in the cabins. It's ok that I'm in her, isn't it?"
"Yeah, no problem. I didn't know who you were, that's all." I wanted to ask if I could ride on of them so bad. I had to talk myself up just to say a single sentence.
"Can I…" I pointed to the saddle. "Ride on of your horses?" She was quiet.
"Have you ridden before?"
"Yeah, I have my own horse at home."
"Ok…so you can tack your own horse. Go ahead." She showed me which horses I could ride and I picked one out. I got the tack on quickly and led the palamino horse out to the arena. I mounted on the left as I was always taught. I don't notice it but as I slowly reach a run inside the arena, Amy is watching me. After a few hors of riding I decide it's enough for the poor pony and take Star inside the barn to cool her off.
"You're a natural," Amy says, surprised. I jump because I thought I was alone and she came up beside me.
"Thanks, I'm in love with riding."
"I can tell, it shows in your riding."
"I started riding when I was 7…I'm trying to get my parents to let me get into the rodeo circuit."
"That would be fun." She's still standing there when I am done.
"Amy?" I ask.
"Yeah?" She almost seems concerned.
"My family is already gone so…could I hang out with you today?" When I say this the look on her face makes me think she's proud.
"Sure. It might not be very fun but…" I cut her off, nicely, if that's even possible.
"Trust me…it's more fun than hanging out with your two older brothers." She thinks about it.
"Yeah I can see that." We laugh together and she tells me about the chores she has to do everyday; clean the stalls, feed and water the horses, etc. Plus she has to do her job with their clients, what teenager has that much responsibility?
I start to muck out the stalls with her and I think about how some kids dread this job but really, it's not that bad.
"It's really not that bad, ya know?" Ah! I sound like a Canadian all ready!
"What?"
"Cleaning stalls."
"Well it's not my dream job but I think people, especially Ty, dramatize it."
"Obviously….Ty's your boyfriend, huh?"
"No…"
"You like him then?"
"Why?"
"The way you say his name. You were trying to sound annoyed but sounded like you were dreaming." She's silent and I wonder if I have gone too far…again."
"We broke up not too long ago." She finally says. I'm hesitant about what to say next, but I go for it.
"Can I ask why?"
"I don't know why really. We just started arguing and it happened."
What were you arguing about?"
"Horses…or something. I can barley remember."
"Oh…" I'm afraid I'm going to say something stupid.
Amy makes the chores fun to do. She sprays me with water and even though I'm freezing it's the most fun I've had in a long time. We change when we're done and make sure all the horses are nice and cozy in their stalls.
I can't hep but be amazed when I watch Amy working with horses. It's like she's the only one who can speak their language. This horse she is working with was in the trailer when the truck was hit by a semi full of cows. He was burned and scarred both physically and mentally. The owners couldn't give up on the rodeo champion. Even if it meant he would only be a pleasure horse, they had to try everything.
"How do you know where to star?"
"You just start at the beginning…the basics. Like you're training him for the first time."
"So you have to start from scratch?"
"Ye." She almost sounds excited at the fact.
"Don't you get overwhelmed?"
"Not when I'm actually working with the horse."
"I hope I'm like you someday." She laughs and I feel a little kid-ish.
"I wouldn't wish that on my own enemy." I'm not sure what she means by this so I'm just quiet.
"So how is lightening doing?" I turn around and there is a young guy coming toward us.
"He's ok." All he is doing is walking around with a saddle on, so I take it, it was pretty bad.
"You're making progress." He looks at me like he just realized I was there.
"I'm Charlie. You must be Ty." I put my hand out and he shakes it and looks at Amy curiously.
"Jack said there was a Ty and I've met everyone else here…so I assumed." I try to make an excuse but I don't think he's buying.
"Nice to meet you Charlie."
"We were going to get some lunch and go on a ride, wanna come?" We all stand there awkwardly.
"Oh, come on! You're still friends!" I push him jokingly and he laughs. I take the horse from Amy's hand and put him away carefully. I see them talking out of the corner of my eye. I finish and we go into Amy's house where Lou is playing with her adorable little baby.
"Hi, Charlie! I see you've met everyone now!"
"Yep." She's too peppy with the guests.
"I made some grilled cheese and tomatoe soup, would you guys like some?"
"Yum!" I say excitedly. It's one of my favorite lunches. We sit down at the little bar style table in the kitchen to eat. Ty and Amy purposely sit on opposite sides of the table.
"Thanks, Lou. It's delicious."
"No problem!" As soon as we're done Lou replaces out plates with cherry pie and vanilla ice cream.
""I'm just staring at it and Ty and Amy try not to laugh. I've nevr eaten this much, ever. I look at Amy and she whispers 'store bought.' I guess it wasn't quiet enough because Lou yells at her. We all laugh except Lou but eventually she gives in and gives a smile. We head outside and get the horses ready for a trail ride. I rode the same horse I rode before. We walked through a gield and it was like all of a sudden we were on a trail in a forest. The wind was blwoing making the trees lean and creek. It was spooky and cool at the same time. I had a baseball cap on and it kept almost blowing off.
"Do you guys go on trail rides very often?"
"No…just when guests want to or, very rarely, when I have nothing else to do.
"That's got to be torture."
"What do you mean?" Ty asked.
"You have all of this…space and amzing territory and horses right at your fingertips and you don't have time to even enjoy it." I noticed that they both looked at each other and quickly turned away.
I wrote this essay for school about spending the day with someone and I chose Amy Flemming. It's going to be short, only a couple chapters, and I wanted to see how it would do on FF. hope you enjoy it!