Chapter 1
Amy rode Spartan along the bank of the river at a slow walk. She needed some time to process everything that had happened that week; the open house, 3 new problem horses, and the huge stack of homework she needed to finish. She did her best not to think of Ty's departure, but he was almost constantly at the front of her mind. She'd been so lost in thought she didn't realize she had dropped the reins onto Spartans neck and he was now nibbling at the grasses that grew alongside the river. She pulled his head up and urged him into a canter after going up a trail to a valley. The canter soon sped up into a gallop, but Amy didn't stop Spartan.
They came up to a log on the trail, and Amy got into the jumping position so they could get over the big tree trunk. But just when Amy expected to feel like they were flying, it felt more like they… That she was falling. before she could figure out that Spartan had refused, she landed on her arm on the ground. "Spartan!" She scolded. The black Quarter Horse was standing with his head over the log, and the reins hanging loosely over his neck. Amy's arm hurt a lot, and she wasn't sure if it was broken or not. She stood up, brushed herself off, and got back on Spartan. They slowly made their way back to Heartland.
Amy walked in the door of the house after untacking Spartan really slowly. Lou was sitting at the cluttered kitchen table typing up something on the computer. Amy passed Lou and walked towards her room, holding her arm to her chest. "Are you okay?"" Lou asked. "I'm fine." Amy replied. "Really? I know you fell off of Spartan because you are covered in dirt. Is your arm okay?" Lou said. "I just need to take my jacket off and check it out" Amy replied. "Okay…Whatever you say…" Lou said unsatisfied. She was always used to getting her way. Amy walked into her room and slowly removed her 'Hudson High School Rodeo Club' grey and blue jacket and looked at her arm. No bones were sticking out, and she could move it a little bit, so she assumed it was just badly sprained.
She slowly put her jacket back on and walked out of her room. "I'm fine. It's just sprained" Amy said. "okay, well don't stress it too much." Lou warned. "Okay. I'm going to work with Dixon. His owner is really pushing me to get him ready for show." Amy said. She went to walk out the door, but Lou's voice stopped her. "You are not going out there to work with the horses! You just hurt your arm! What if Dixon barges, you won't be able to get up on the fence! You can't work out there alone, if Ty was here, then I'd let you! But he's gone, so no!" Lou said. Amy wouldn't have minded arguing with her if she'd left Ty out, but Lou'd gone way too far. "Because he'd totally be the one to care enough about me to help me out. Not that you'd know anything about people leaving. Your life's always been rainbows and butterflies." Amy snapped then ran out to the barn. She stood at the door of Spartan's stall and cried into his forehead. "Why'd he go! It's my fault. I made him leave…" Amy said. Spartan rubbed his head on my shoulder, then nickered lowly. Amy walked into Spartan's stall, slid down against the wall and sat on the straw.
Amy fell asleep, but she didn't notice it. She woke up and Spartan wasn't in the stall and she and a horse blanket on top of her. 'Shoot! Spartan got out!' she immediately thought. She stood up quickly, throwing the blanket off of her and onto the floor. She looked down the barn aisle, and saw Spartan, harley, Copper and Legend grazing in the field behind the barn. She let out a deep breath she didn't know she was holding, and then grabbed the horse blanket to put it away. The sun was almost setting, and it was no use going riding or working with any of the horses because it would be dark soon. Amy went into the house and she went straight to sleep again. She didn't feel like eating.