A thing of dreams.
"Stand up!" a voice yelled but the young stallion had had enough. He leapt up into the air into a furious rear, his legs thrashing wildly. He looked about 15'2 so could have done some damage to his handler. The colt pulled his head up violently and yanked the lead rein out of the terrified mans hand and galloped around the ring looking for an exit but finding none. His nostrils were flaring, his eyes wide with fear. He neighed loudly, calling for any type of reassurance from any of the other horses. Amy stood up out of her seat, handed her hard hat and crop to Lou and swiftly walked towards the gate of the ring. Quite an audience had appeared when they heard of what was going on in the practice ring, but Amy pushed on through the crowd until she reached the gate. "Excuse me, sir" Amy said to the man at the gate, "I'm Amy Fleming. I was wandering if, maybe, I could try and help?" There were a few quite strong looking men in the ring trying to catch the wild coloured colt.
"Hah," The man laughed "Going in there is a death wish for you."
"But those men are in there" Amy retaliated, trying to keep calm.
"I said for you," He put emphasis on the last word. "Those men are strong and able".
"Please let me try, if it gets too dangerous I will come out and let your men carry on."
The man hesitated. "On your head be it." And he opened the gate for Amy. "Come out guys, she thinks she can do a better job than you." Amy could feel the anger welling up inside her but she knew she would get no where with that attitude.
She grabbed a lunge rein from the side of the ring and slowly began her join-up methods. After four rounds of the ring on the left rein, Amy slowed the horse and made him change direction. He set off at a fast canter once again. Eventually, after another four laps on the right rein, his inside ear flicked towards the centre of the ring where Amy stood, he dropped his head to the floor and began to chew the air. The circle, the colt made, slowly decreased in size. Amy recognized the signs at once and dropped her eye contact and slowly turned on an angle away from the horse. The crowd was silent, Amy almost forgot they were there until she saw Ty grinning at her. Amy heard soft foot falls coming from behind her then, she felt the young horses muzzle softly sniffing at her shoulder. She slowly turned to face the horse and clipped the lunge line to his head collar. She stroked the horses neck and scratched his withers. She then led the horse out of the ring and handed him to his owner.
"He's yours," The man said abruptly
"Sorry?" Amy asked
"You're the only one, clearly, capable of handling, it." He gave his horse a disgusted look
"I'm sorry I can't, but I can teach you my methods…"
"Either you have him" He interrupted "Or they do" He pointed his head towards a group of people, who were clearly only here for one purpose, meat. Amy gasped. By that point Lou and Ty had walked over to Amy to congratulate her. They heard the part about the dealers.
"Amy can we talk to you for a sec," Lou asked, Amy followed them away from the man who had now taken the horse to his stable. "You can have him, under one condition,"
"Yes?" Amy inquired
"He's yours, not Heartlands. You can have him as long as you break him, bring him on and ride him. He is not for Ty or anyone, he is yours." Amy nodded, all three of them walked over to the owner who was now threatening the horse with a riding crop.
"Ahem," Lou coughed purposely, to get the mans attention. "Amy will consider buying your horse, depending on the price."
"You get him on a lorry, and you can have him for free." Lou didn't look convinced.
"What breed?"
"Irish sport horse" The man replied with, Amy noticed, a hint of pride in his voice.
"How old?"
"Rising four years, ready to be broken I'd say"
"Why is he at this show?" Lou asked
"We entered him in the colt showing section, I was planning on taking him to the sales next week but my daughter insisted on trying one more show, cost me ten quid did this" He muttered under his breath.
"Are his vaccinations and worming up to date?"
"Yes" The man replied angrily "What, do you think I wouldn't look after my own horse properly, who do you think I am?!"
"I never meant any offence" Lou replied, shocked at the mans outburst "What has he done, does he lorry, shoe etcetera?"
"Well, umm… He doesn't really do anything, he's been living in a field most his life, farrier, umm not really no."
"Perfect," Amy interrupted "We'll take him" Lou looked at Amy with a worried look in her eye but didn't disagree with Amy. The man began to leave to find the passport, but turned around "Oh, by the way. His name is Knight, White Knight." With that he turned on his heel and went looking for the passport, Knight's passport. Amy spun around and pulled her sister into a tight hug and thanked her, then she turned to Ty and kissed him, she used to be embarrassed to do so in public but she got over her fear almost as quickly as it came on. "He's mine!" She whispered in her boyfriends ear "He's mine, no one else's mine." Suddenly Amy felt incredibly childish and blushed, Ty laughed.
"You deserve him" He exclaimed happily. They strode back over to their lorry, where Elle, Heartlands new stable hand, had already put Amy's mount for the show, Indigo Sunset (Indie). With whom she had a clear round and a second in the three foot two show jumping.
"Where have you been?" Elle asked, then she saw Amy leading her new horse, Elle just stared in shock, her mouth wide open. Amy laughed and said to Elle "We'll explain everything on the way home." She giggle at Elle's still open mouth
Luckily the lorry was able to load three horses, Indie in the end partition, a space in the middle and then Amy's new skewbald sport horse, Knight, in the first partition. Getting Knight on the lorry was easier than the owner had made it out to be. Amy walked onto the lorry as if leading any horse, Knight lifted his right fore leg slowly onto the ramp and slowly walked upwards looking hesitant but trusting Amy. A greeting whinny came from Indie which encouraged Knight to walk up the ramp into what, for Knight, could have been a lion's opened jaws yet he kept walking. When he got to the top of the ramp, Amy tied him up and gratefully took the spare hay net off Elle and tied it up so Knight could eat on the way home. Amy jumped into one of the two seater passenger seats next to Ty, who was driving, and Elle jumped into the passenger seat next to Amy. They began the half an hour drive back to heartland, all exhausted from the day but Amy was satisfied by the result. She smiled to herself.