Horses are so much to have around, but when you don't take proper care of your facility and don't do the arena to where it gets rock hard, you doing it wrong. The day you get a horse is the best day ever, it's like having your own baby. Horses count on you to take care of them give them proper necessities, so they don't skinny or sick. Some people when they get a horse need to start from the basics. Like learning how to trot and canter learning all the ways and how to ride. Some people think it's all about go-go-go, fast is better. Some people think maybe it's okay to go fast or slow. People need to take care of their facility like tilling the arena or just basic stuff. Here's the story about……. That one summer.

This last summer, it was cool and breezy and a nice sunny day. It was a friday and me and Allison is a great rider. Allison is my trainer and is amazing at what she does. She's kinda tall not really has medium length brown hair and is nice. Allison has a rough exterior and doesn't let emotion show only happy emotion. were working the Horses. Me and Allison was riding Champagne and I was riding Zeus. Zeus is a big white horse, He's a paint quarter horse and he is white in the winter, but when it became summer his spots come out. He is 15.3h and is 1200lb. Zeus is a big white furry thing in the winter and in the summer sleek looking. Champagne is a palomino champagne color (That's why her name is Champagne) Champagne is 15.0h and is 1500 pounds because she is smaller. Champagne is sleek all winter and sometimes fluffy but in the summer her color darkens and her maine gets lighter. 

It was a nice sunny day and we were running speed barrels. I got off Zeus and put the three barrel in a horizontal line and we got started. Now if there was one thing Zeus loved running and he loved running speed barrels and barrel racing, which is why i loved this horse more than anything. We started slow with just a trot, the arena dirt was kinda like concrete which wasn't good with running the horses on that arena dirty but we did it anyway because why not!! I put Zeus's boots on and bell boots so his feet would be protected and he wouldn't get hurt.

“ You ready?” she asked me

“yeah of course”

We got ready, just by trotting the pattern and not running, so they know the pattern. We started off slow so they don't get overworked, after a couple minutes we started to canter and run the pattern. We got a few people to join us and we started timing our runs to see who wins, by the time we had to cool our horses we had 3 people in the arena. Me with Zeus, Allison with Champagne, and Amanda is a boarder from century3 and she has a Paint Quarter horse registered AQHA (American Quarter horse Association), Her horse Nova is a black and white paint with a little bit of brown in the color, she is 8 and has such a sweet disposition. Amanda got to the barn around 8ish and started riding.

Amanda “I think we should time runs.”

Allison “ that would be great!!”

So we timed out runs and pushed our horses even harder then what we were doing. The arena dirt wasn't good for full out running but we trusted our horses to keep us safe. We started Allison went, then i went, and Amanda went.

“Wow what a rush!!”

Allison “Maybe we should walk the horses out so they don't get winded”

We walked our horses out for 15 minutes. They were drenched with sweat, and was breathing heavy, and just walking slow. We were talking about going to the beach in the next week or so with the horses, but Allison couldn't get work off. So we walked more and just relaxed and talked. Mine and Allison horse was tired, Amanda's horse wasn't because she was only riding for 20 minutes. Me and Allison rode for 1hr and 20 minutes.

“Let's go one more round and then we can put horses away and they can eat”

Allison “Yeah that's a good idea”

We went again and this time i pushed Zeus to the breaking point (trying to show off a little) we took off and went into the pattern. We were running back home and we were slowing down and he hit a really hard spot, we went down….. He came crashing down on me and me being stuck under him until he got up.

“ahhhhhh IS HE OKAY!!!!” I screamed

Mom “Is he okay!!??”

Allison “ FAith are you okay!!!???”

I got up and then Zeus got up, Zeus is a good boy, he got up and made sure i was okay before he got up. I love this horse so much!! I got up my face dirty, my used to be white shirt into a dirty mud shirt that was brown. My knee and elbow hurt really bad, i didn't care about my health all i cared about was Zeus’s health and made sure he was okay. I walked in him to untack him saying sorry over and over again.

“Zeus i'm so sorry i should have caught you i should have never pushed you!! i'm so sorry!!”

I got him all un-tacked and i looked over his muscles and his bones. He looked good but i didn't i was beat up and my knee was starting to turn purple and all sorts of colors. My elbow looked like blood and it bleeding dirt. I sprayed Zeus with this muscle relaxer so he wasn't uncomfortable when he was away in his stall. I put him away and fed him and did all that jazz, then i went over and looked at Poppy then sat down. My knee was hurting and my elbow, i was shaking because i was afraid that i might have pushed him to hard, or that i didn't pick him up fast enough.

“I'm so sorry Allison i should have picked him up faster!! This wouldn't have happened”

Allison “It's okay, i'm just glad you guys were okay. Things happen it's fine.”

Me and my mom went home and got cleaned up. I have just minor bumps and bruises, my knee by now is purple and blue which is gonna get worse “Great” I said looking at my knee. My elbow did not create a scab after a few days. I needed someone to talk to about what happened. At this time my best friend was in london, so i didn't get to talk to her until after midnight. She finally woke up and we facetimed.

“Hey how's london!!!”

Aurora “ It's great how is it there??”

“It's okay I said It could be better if i wasn't beating myself up about the whole zeus situation. Oh by the way me and zeus fell…… Yeah it was horrible!!”

Aurora “Oh my gosh what happened?? Is he okay?? Are you okay??”

“We are fine just really bad bumps and bruises, My knee is so cool it's all kinds of purples and blues, But we were running the pattern and he fell”

Aurora “Oh my gosh, you would be happy about that!! Well i gotta go i'll see you when i get home”.

We hung up and around that time is was 2 in the morning her and 8 morning time over there. I got ready for bed and cleaned myself up and went to sleep worrying about the next day and how he would feel and me to.
So, Girls or boys who loves horses please make sure your arena’s are tilled and not as hard as concrete or else something or someone will get hurt badly. It's not fair to the horse nor is it fair to you. Vet bills cost a lot more for a horse then a dog. 

So people who love horses and have horses NEED to take care of your arena and not let it get hard like concrete, or your horse will fall and get injured. If you love running your horse and love doing barrels and reining get the proper gear and do the arena.  Thankfully i was okay after a week or so, my knee stopped hurting and my elbow finally created a scab. Zeus was okay after a couple days after his off days and he wasn't hurting anymore. All of us were thankful that he didn't get seriously injured like break a bone or something. Next time you guys wanna show off or show some cool trick, consider all the options and don't just think about all the fun. Think about how the horse feels and how the arena dirt is, don't just do think about all the options.