I live on a farm, and I have been to 10 plus rodeos, so this should be EASY. P.s. the only language they use is 'damn', and it's not in a bad way…

"Okay, Lloyd, now be VERY careful." Kai handed the lead-rope to Lloyd, who had been bouncing up and down, asking to lead his pony, Luigi, into the stall.

Luigi was short, fat, and super lazy and slow. But to 7 year old Lloyd, he was perfect.

Kai smiled and hooked the lead rope around his own 16 hand quarter horse, Jackie, a tall chestnut with a funny goose-shaped marking on her face. Goose was her affectionate nickname.

"c'mon, girl," kai crooned and led her into the stall next to luigi's, in which Lloyd was furiously brushing at a dirt spot on his flank. Nya laughed as she walked past with her fiery horse, ballerina, whose name was in complete contrast to the horse's fiery spirit. However, the speed, grace and agility were in well pair.

"Lloyd, not so hard! You'll give Luigi a sore!" nya chuckled. Lloyd grinned and started to brush the blonde pony more softly. A whoosh of air sped past the stall as a short horse blasted down the alleyway of the stable. Jay was hanging on to the lead rope for dear life.

"Aaaaahhh!" jay screamed. "SLOW DOWN, YOU DAMN-"his horse came to an immediate stop, hurling jay through the air and headfirst into the manure pile. Jay sat up and growled.

"Damn horse…" he muttered. The horse nickered and threw her head. Her registered name was silver bullet, but she was known as slinky, and was the craziest, dumbest, clumsiest horse to ever walk the earth.

Lloyd glanced over at jay from Luigi's stall. "Ya know jay, if you want, you can ride Luigi!" jay brushed all the poop off of him.

"Is that a short joke?" he asked. Cole walked up and led slinky into her stall. He was the best horseman of all of them, and was no nonsense. He owned a tall blue roan, named blue streakin illusion, but was called blue. Cole rubbed the big stripe across blue's head and fed him a carrot.

Lloyd ran to the ladder that led up to the hayloft. "I'll get the hay!" he called.

"No!" cole yelled, and pulled Lloyd back. "You're too small; you can do it when you are older."

Lloyd stuck out a pouty lip as cole dropped the hay from the loft. He then skipped over to a stall where their yearling, Poco Right Twist, was munching on some hay. She was super fat and orange, but Lloyd loved her all the same.

Lloyd stroked her soft, velvety nose. "One day, we'll be the best calf ropers ever, and we'll leave everyone else in the dust!"

Kai looked over at him. "Lloyd, she is fat and slow. She'll probably just be a broodmare."

Lloyd stuck his tongue out at kai and leaned into Poco's ear. "I don't care what they say. We'll be NFR champions." He whispered. Poco nickered and nuzzled him, looking for food. Lloyd laughed and kissed her lightly on the nose.

Practical Zane led his practical horse, Titanium, (yes, he is a dapple gray) into the stall and closed it. He went over to the square bale that cole had just dropped from the loft and grabbed a few flakes from it. He tossed them into the stall and petted Titanium.

"Oh my-" Zane ran across the barn to where Luigi had somehow figured out how to open the stall door. Once Luigi was back in his stall, Zane turned to Lloyd.

"Now what did I tell you about clipping a lead rope onto the hinge? Horses are smart, and they can figure out how to open them." Zane said sternly. Lloyd looked down at the floor.

"Oops?" he said and turned to pet Poco again.

"Hey cole?" he called from across the barn. "Can Poco be mine?"

Cole smiled. "When you're older."

Lloyd groaned. "You always say that. EVERYONE always says that."

"Well, it's true!" nya ruffled Lloyd's hair and leaned down so that they were eye to eye. "You're just not big enough yet! That's why you have Luigi. He's small enough for you, and safer!"

Lloyd cocked his head. "Well, jay told me that ponies are mean as snakes when Luigi bit him that one time."

Nya turned and glared at jay, who smiled cheekily in response.

"Well I for one, can't wait until the next high school rodeo!" cole said, trying to change the subject.

Nya, jay, Cole, and kai were all part of the national high school rodeo association. They traveled all over to different states to compete in rodeo events.

"I'm doing barrel racing, pole-bending, and goat tying." Nya said.

"Bull riding and bronc busting." Cole smiled. "And calf wrestling."

"Calf roping!" jay cheered. "If only my dumb horse can figure out that we are running at the calf, not away from it."

"Calf wrestling." Kai said. "And maybe roping."

"I'm not a part of the association, but I will be doing dressage and jumping." Zane added.

Lloyd plopped himself down on a bag of feed. "And I will be doing nothing but watching dumb old jess, because I am too dang little."

All the others exchanged a glance. Jess was their blue-heeler, but she was super old. No one had the heart to tell the kid that she would be leaving soon.

Lloyd sighed and plugged in the radio. He tuned the station to a bunch of oldies, and a song by some deep-voiced guy came on. It was a song about how the singer's life sucked. Lloyd mouthed the words, with a despairing look on his face.

Jay laughed and put his hand on Lloyd's shoulder.

"At least you are good at lip-syncing!" he grinned.

Lloyd looked up at him, his expression unchanging.

"This damn life is too hard for my soul." He mouthed. Cole turned away to hide a smile and nya rolled her eyes.

"How do you even know the words to that song?" she asked. Lloyd made no response, but turned the volume up even louder and pretended to yell the final chorus.

"whatevs." Jay said. "Let's go back to the house. I am sick and tired of smelling like manure."

Chapter one, done! I hope you like it. And keep reading, the story will get a lot better.