The morning of Maddie's birthday threw Amy into stressed out mode. She made it clear that she and Ty were doing this party themselves at their house. They had set up the dining room table with all of the food and decorated the whole house with pink and white streamers and balloons. They had a pink "Happy Birthday Maddie" banner hanging above the fireplace and a white cake with a silver tiara and "Happy Birthday Madelyn Grace" in pink icing. Amy loved it. At 3:00 Amy went into the nursery to wake Maddie up from her nap. She still had an hour before the party started. She walked in and flipped the light on. Maddie squinted against the light and started sitting up.

"Good morning Birthday Girl!"

Maddie smiled and stood up in her crib. "Momma."

Amy picked her up and started getting her dress. She put her in a pink long sleeve tee that said "Maddie's 1st Birthday in black writting, black leggings, her pink cowboy boots, and put a pink and black bow in her soft blonde hair.

Amy kissed her cheek. "aww Maddie you look so cute. Are you ready to party?"

Maddie smiled and nodded. Amy let her walk out by herself. Ty looked up from setting the cups out. He smiled and picked Maddie up.

"When did my baby get so big?"

Maddie kissed his cheek then held her arms out wide. "I dis big Dada!"

Both Ty and Amy laughed. She came up behind Maddie and rubbed her back. "It feels like yesterday we were bringing her home from the hospital."

Ty smiled. "Do you want to start trying for another?"

Amy laughed. "Hmm, I think we should wait a while. I want to enjoy Maddie while she's little and have memories with just her."

Ty nodded. "How about we start trying next year?"

Amy just thought of something. "You graduate next year. What if we start trying a month before you graduate. That way i'm not pregnant while you are trying to finish up school."

Ty kissed her. "Sounds like a plan Mrs. Borden." He held Maddie up in the air then brought her back to face level. "What do you think Maddie? Do you want a little brother or sister?"

Maddie looked at her mommy then back to her daddy. "Sissy!"

Ty groaned. "No way we need another boy around here."

Maddie shook her little head. "No sissy!"

Amy laughed, "The boss has spoken."

Maddie grinned at her. Ty was about to argue his point further until they heard a knock on the door and Lisa and Lou walked in. Soon the whole house was filled with family and friends. Everyone ate and chatted. When it came time for the cake Amy tracked down Maddie and picked her up.

"Are you ready for cake?"

Maddie clapped her hands. "Cake!"

Amy laughed and carried her over to the table. Ty lit the candles for her then called everyone to gather around. Everyone sang Happy Birthday then Ty and Amy helped Maddie blow out her candles. Then Ty sat her in her highchair and put a slice of cake in front of her. She just looked at it then looked at her dad. Georgie picked up a fork and started feeding Maddie her cake. After the first bite Georgie couldn't get it into her mouth quick enough. They all laughed at her for not getting dirty. When it was just family left at the party Ty went to grab Buster from the barn and Amy led Maddie outside.

"Are you ready for your surprise?"

Maddie jumped up and down. "Ya! Ya!"

Amy laughed. When Ty brought Buster around Amy saw Maddie get even more excited. She looked up to her mommy.

"Addie get to ride?"

Amy squatted down next to her daughter. "No Buster is now your horsie. You get to ride him whenever you want."

Maddie's eyes widened. "He mine?"

"Yes he's all yours."

Maddie started squealing with delight. Amy picked her up and carried her down to where Ty was standing. Amy held Maddie so that she could pet Buster and she kissed him on his nose. Maddie looked at her daddy.

"I ride him now?"

Ty laughed and passed Amy the reins. He took Maddie and put her in the saddle. Amy let her daughter hold the reins and instead of holding Maddie in the saddle Amy showed her how to ride.

"Maddie put your feet in these." Ty helped her slide her little feet into the stirups. "Ok keep them there. Now you need to sit up and hold onto the reins." She pointed to the reins so Maddie knew what they were. "Ok so to get him to go tap your legs on the his sides gently." Maddie did and Buster slowly started walking forward. Amy stayed beside Buster so that he knew where to go. Maddie smiled the whole time. Amy knew that she and Ty had chosen the perfect gift.

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Amy was working in the barn a few weeks after Maddie's birthday when the phone rang. She yelled for someone else to answer but no one did so she answered.

"Hello Heartlnad Ranch this is Amy speaking."

"Hello Amy this is Sean Wheaten. I was wondering if you had time to look at Olivia and her new horse. I feel like the horse just isn't performing. I paid $120,000.00 for this horse and I need it to win."

"I have some time tomorrow if you would like to bring it by."

"I would prefer today if possible. We have a pretty strict training schedule that I would like to interupt as little as possible."

"Umm sure. You can bring him now."

"Thank you Mrs. Borden."

Amy groaned. She really didn't have the time to deal with this. She walked out of the barn and found Scott, Ty, Caleb, Jack, and Tim standing around Pal. He had been coughing and they just wanted him checked. Amy marched out and picked up Maddie since she had run over to her. Amy walked over to where the boys were.

"How's he looking?"

Scott stood up with a vial of blood. "Looks like an upper respitory infection but we are gonna rush the test results to make sure that it's not something more serious."

Amy nodded then turned to Caleb. "Would you mind running in and getting a stall ready right now?"

Caleb looked confused. I thought that Duke horsewasn't coming till tommorow?"

"He is but I have one coming right now. The owner doesn't want to interupt his training schedule too much."

Caleb nodded and walked into the barn while Georgie came up to her. "Who has a horse so important that they can't wait until tomorrow?"

Amy hesitated and Jack gave her a look before she answered. "Olivia Wheaten has a new jumper and he and Olivia haven't bonded yet so they need some help."

Georgie looked upset. "Why are you helping my competition?"

Jack looked at Georgie. "Hey now. Amy is here to help any horse that needs her. Even if that horse belongs to Olivia."

Amy looked at her. "Trust me i'm not to thrilled about this either but I don't want what happened to Buster to happen to this new horse."

Georgie sighed. "Alright but I don't have to like it."

She walked back into the house. Scott turned to her.

"The Wheaten's have a new horse?"

"Yup apparently an expensive one."

Ty looked upset. "As long as they don't pump drugs into this one like they did Buster."

Maddie grinned and looked at Amy. "Buster mine Momma!"

Everyone laughed and Amy kissed her daughter's head. "Yes Mad Buster is yours."

Then Amy saw a truck with a state of the art trailer behind it. Mr. Wheaten pulled up behind the truck in his Mercedes. Olivia hopped out of the passenger seat and followed her father. A stable hand opened the trailer and a beautiful brown Dutch Warmblood stallion. Amy saw Ty and Tim's jaws drop. Olivia walked up to Amy.

"Beautiful isn't he? After what happened with Buster I needed a major upgrade. I mean I would have won the Fall Finale if Buster was as advanced as I am."

Amy had to bite her tounge. "Well this horse is certainly beautiful. What's his name?"

Mr. Wheaten patted the horse's neck. "This here is Winning Glory."

Olivia walked over to her father. "I call him Winnie for short."

Mr. Wheaten looked to Scott. "We bought him from Lisa Stillmen. He comes from a beautiful pedigree of champion show jumpers."

Scott nodded and walked around the horse. "He has nice stong legs. Just keep him at a decent weight."

Olivia nodded. "So Amy where will he be staying?"

Caleb came over to Scott's side. "Here i'll take him in the barn and get him settled in."

Amy set Maddie on the ground and the baby leaned back onto her mommy's legs. "So what kind of issues are you having?"

Mr. Wheaten looked at her. "Not major ones. He just seems a little jumpy and he and Olivia just aren't in sync with eachother."

Amy looked at Olivia. "How about you come to the ranch after school everyday and I can help you two connect."

Olivia thought for a moment. "Ok, i'll have my nanny bring me. How long will he have to stay here? I want to train with him as much as possible."

"Well it will depend on how fast it takes you two to bond."

Olivia nodded. Amy was so glad when they all left. Maddie looked up at her.

"Wat a bwat."

Amy burst out laughing. So did everyone else. Maddie followed Amy into the barn when she went to check on Winnie later. When she went to the stall Winnie was nice and calm.

"Hello Winnie." She let him smell her hand before she petted him. He whinnied and bowed his head. Amy looked down and noticed Maddie watching her every move. It reminded Amy of when she was little and she use to watch her mom work with horses. She smiled at her.

"Maddie can you go grab an apple for Winnie?"

Maddie nodded and returned with an apple. She handed it to Amy who fed it to Winnie.

"Momma is Winnie our horsie?"

Amy kissed her forehead. "No baby Winnie is Olivia's horsie."

"Then why he in our barn?"

"Because Mommy is helping Winnie and then he will go home."

Maddie thought for a second. "Ok."

Amy laughed and led her out of the barn. Everyone was still outside. Maddie ran to Ty and hugged his leg. He smiled at her.

"Did you miss me?"

Maddie looked up at him and reached up. He picked her up and kissed her cheek. Maddie smiled at him.

"I help Momma with Winnie."

"You helped Momma with Winnie? That's sweet of you."

Maddie reached down and tapped Georgie's shoulder.

"Yes Maddie?"

Maddie kissed her cheek which made Georgie giggle.

"Aww thanks Maddie."

Maddie rested her head on Ty's shoulder. They all stood around talking but Amy's mind kept wandering to how Georgie and Olivia would get along tomorrow.

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When Olivia showed up to the barn the next afternoon Amy had to take a deep breath before going out to meet her.

"Hi Olivia."

Olivia walked over to her. "Hello Amy. So where is Winnie?"

"He's in here." Amy led her to Winnie's stall. Olivia held her hand out and petted his head. Amy saw that Winnie didn't fully trust Olivia but he didn't hate her. "Why don't we get him out and I can see you try to jump him."

Olivia nodded and let Amy get him out of the stall. As they were walking out Amy noticed Olivia glance at Buster and stop.

"How's he doing?"

"He's perfect. My daughter loves him and Georgie is teaching her to ride him."

Olivia just nodded and then glanced at Phoenix and the drape that was on his stall door from the Fall Finale. "I heard Georgie won."

"Yes she wants to enter again next year and compete at the Grand Prix level. She's also invited to do the Alberta Classic."

Olivia nodded and walked out of the barn. When they walked out Georgie was walking towards them. She stopped in front of them and plastered a fake smile on her face.

"Hello Amy, Olivia. I was going to take Phoenix out to the other jumping course for some extra practice."

Amy had to stifle a laugh. "Of course."

Georgie walked into the barn and Amy led Olivia into the jumping ring. Olivia looked at the jumps and turned to Amy stunned. "These are nice jumps."

Amy tried not to seem offended. "Thank you. So show me what you got."

Amy set the jumps at a high junior level and watched her go over the jumps on Winnie. She was a little uneasy but it was a clean run. Amy saw that Winnie was calm and so was Olivia. Amy just couldn't pinpoint the problem. When Mr. Wheaten came to pick Olivia up Amy made arrangments to come out to their ranch and see them in their normal enviorment. That night at dinner Amy was trying to keep up with the conversation but everyone could tell that her mind was somewhere else. Jack seemed to notice the most.

"Amy are you ok?"

Amy looked up. "Yes. I'm just thinking about tommorow. I arranged to go to Diall Stables tommorow to see how Olivia works with Winnie at home. Something just feels off to me."

Ty swallowed then turned to her. "Diall Stables? Well aren't they rich."

Amy looked at him. "The man just dropped $120,000.00 on a horse. It's sick."

Everyone agreed with her after what happened to Buster. Jack looked at her. "Amy trust your gut."

They all went to bed but Amy had trouble falling asleep. She couldn't get this bad feeling out of the pit of her stomach.

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When Amy arrived at Diall Stables she had to admit that it was nice. She knew that Nick Harwell co-owned it so she went straight to the office to see if he was in. The reseptionist at the front desk looked up as Amy approached.

"Can I help you?"

"Yes. I was wondering if Nick was here."

"Is Mr. Harwell expecting you?"

"No I was just stopping by to say hi."

"Well Mr. Harwell doesn't except walk.."

"Margret it's fine."

Amy saw Nick emerge from the back door. He grinned at her.

"Well well well if it isn't the miracle girl."

Amy smiled. "Well if it isn't the famous Nick Harwell."

He hugged her then motioned for her to follow him outside. "So what brings you here?"

"I am working with one of your borders and something seems off to me."

"Which borders?"

"The Wheatens. I recently bought their old horse Budget Buster and now i'm working with their new one Winning Glory."

Nick nodded. "I've met Sean once he seems very intense. Is he the rider?"

"No his 12 year old daughter Olivia is. I saw her accident at the Fall Finale. The horse was too advanced for her but instead her father blamed the horse. he bought her a new more advanced jumper and if she's not careful she's going to be hurt again."

Nick followed her to her truck. "Mind if I look at him?"

Amy nodded and opened the trailer and walked Winnie out. Nick smiled and petted him.

"He's beautiful. Where did they get him?"

"Lisa Stillmen."

Nick nodded and continued examining the horse. "This horse is way to advanced for a 12 year old girl. He needs a more experienced rider. Truth be told I would consider buying him myself."

Amy smiled. "He is beautiful. You should see Budget buster."

Nick looked at her. "So what happened to him. I thought my stable manager mentioned that he had the surgery."

Amy sighed. "He did but instead of letting him recover they started jumping him again immediatly and giving him steroids to blck the nerves to the entire leg. He can never jump again. The fastest we can get him to go is a slow canter without him having pain. They easily knocked 10 years onto his age."

Nick nodded. "I would bet anything they are already pumping this one full of them too to make him jump higher."

A light bulb went off in Amy's head. "He is really neck shy. And they mentioned that he was usually pretty jumpy."

Nick sighed. "A lot of owners think they have to and don't just rely on the horses talent."

Just then Mr. Wheaten, Olivia, and their trainer walked over to them. Olivia squealed and extended her hand to Nick.

"Hello Mr. Harwell. I'm a huge fan."

Nick smiled and shook her hand. "Thank you." He turned back to Amy. "Amy if you need anything feel free to let me know and if you wouldn't mind I would love to come out to Heartland tommorow and say hi to Spartan."

Amy smiled. "Of course Nick."

He waved goodbye and walked back towards the office and Mr. Wheaten looked at her.

"You know Nick Harwell?"

"Yes. I've worked with Star several times. Nick is a good family friend."

Mr. Wheaten looked impressed. Amy watched Olivia and her trainor take Winnie into the stable to get tacked up. When they came out Amy wanted to know what they did to Winnie but he was very jumpy when he came out. He was spooking at everything and when Olivia climbed onto him he almost took off. He wasn't going over the jumps well either. Amy turned to Mr. Wheaten.

"Ok I see what he needs. A calming agent will help. It should only take a few more days."

He nodded. The second that Winnie was loaded into her trailer Amy went straight to Scott's. She pulled the trailer around back and led Winnie into the stable area. She tied him to the grooming hook then walked into the main exam room. Scott and Ty were both on their computers. They looked up when the heard Winnie go nuts. Scott stood and looked at Amy.

"What's wrong Amy?"

"I don't know what they did to this horse but he is going nuts. I can't get him to calm down."

Scott and Ty followed her to Winnie and thye examined him. He tried to kick Scott at least 3 times. When Scott tried to touch his neck he went off. Scott sighed and turned away.

"My best guess is a steriod to make him more hyper. Try some chamomile leaves or lavender."

Amy nodded and petted his head. Ty helped her load him back up. Amy decided to get her mind off of Winnie.

"I saw Nick Harwell today."

Ty looked at her. "Really?"

"Yeah. He is coming out to the ranch tommorow to see everyone."

"That's cool."

"I was thinking of asking him to look at Georgie. See if he can give her any more help."

Ty smiled. "georgie is going to freak out."

Amy kissed his cheek. "I know."

Ty watched her drive away. Amy was thinking about how she could help Winnie.

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