The Birthday Horse



It was in the middle of July and kids were enjoying their summer vacation. Along the
streets, kids would play while parents talked with others and bought stuff at stores. Some
families were rich and could afford expensive private schools, huge houses, lots of stuff for
their kids, and even the most expensive horse. Other families weren't rich or poor, and could just earn enough to care for their families, send their kids to school, and give their children small toys. A little girl named Felicity Bennett was eleven years old and lived with her parents in a small house on Coconut Avenue. Her parents, Samantha and Tom Bennett, worked at a tack shop. They worked from nine in the morning till six-thirty in the evening so that they would be able to put food on the table.

"The school bus is here!" Samantha hollered from the kitchen. She finished making
Felicity's sandwich and put it in her backpack. Felicity ran down the stairs, snatched her backpack, and ran to the school bus. She sat down beside her friend, Abigail Wellington, and talked to her until the school bus stopped. In class, Felicity couldn't stop thinking about horses. She dazed in every class and even doodled small horse drawings on her note
book.

"Felicity Bennett!" a loud voice said sternly. Felicity awoke from her daydream and
looked at the teacher. "Are you focusing on the history lesson?" the teacher, Mr. Smith,
asked. Felicity gulped. All she could remember was her daydream of her winning first place in a horse competition. "If you cannot pay attention in class anymore, then you'll be given extra homework to make up for it," Mr. Smith said. Getting back to the lesson, he opened the history book and began reading the text.

After school, Felicity went to Green Lake Ranch for her monthly riding lesson. The
instructor, Jessica Fenwood, gave each student their horse or pony's tack. Once they tied the horses and ponies to posts, they began tacking them up, starting with the saddle pad. In just fifteen minutes, they were in the arena following Jessica's instructions, one by one.

"Remember to keep your heels down, Madison!" Jessica said, "heels down and back
straight!" Madison trotted the Appaloosa gelding around the arena twice. "Good work!" Jessica commented, "Next, Felicity." Felicity tapped the horse's sides twice and started trotting. Keeping her back straight, hands relaxed, and heels down, she post-trotted around the arena. She followed the horse's rhythm, rising out of the saddle and going back down, over and over again until she made her two loops around the arena.
"Excellent!" Jessica exclaimed, "do you know how to canter?"

"Yes, I do," Felicity answered, "may I?" Jessica nodded and watched carefully as Felicity cued the horse to canter. Like a pro, Felicity kept her back straight, hands relaxed, heels down, and followed the horse's rhythm. She cantered the horse around the arena once and then stopped in front of Jessica.
"Very good!" Jessica exclaimed, "how many years have you been riding?"

"For five years," Felicity said.
"You are a very good rider, Felicity," Jessica commented, "I must say that you are an
intermediate rider. You should go to Rose Valley Riding Academy. They're a very good riding
academy and you seem to know your stuff." Felicity smiled. "Cool! But my parents can't
afford a riding school."
"I'm sure we can figure something out," Jessica said. She turned to look at the other riders
and instructed them to untack their horses and ponies and put them in the pasture for the day.

Before Felicity's parents came to pick her up, Jessica told her that she could work at Green Lake Ranch and save up her earnings and do some small jobs for others like helping people mow their lawn and raking up leaves. Felicity agreed that she would give Jessica's ideas a try.

So for the next few months, Felicity helped out at Green Lake Ranch and did some
small jobs. She worked every day after school and on Saturdays. While saving up every penny she could, she also donated some of her money to charity. Felicity was doing well at every job she did, so she decided to put an ad up online to tell people that she was open to doing random small jobs, including pet sitting.

In a year, Felicity had earned up enough money to go to Rose Valley Riding Academy.
She was so happy that she could finally go! Of course, she told her parents about the academy. Samantha and Tom were also happy for their daughter. Felicity's dreams had come true! Well, her dreams had almost came true. The one thing she had always wanted was to own her very own horse! That would be the dream. But first she had to excel at Rose Valley Riding Academy.

On May 19th, Felicity started going to Rose Valley Academy. She followed every
single one of the instructor, Samuel Stife's, instructions. She was doing so well at Rose Valley
Academy that she was official an advanced rider. She could jump four feet high jumps, master each gait, tack up without supervision, and properly groom a horse. Her parents were proud of her and she was proud of herself. And, even though she had riding lessons once a week, every day she would go out and continue working at Green Lake Ranch and do small jobs. Soon enough, all of that hard work paid off. She had lots of experience around horses, and she even had enough money to purchase a Miniature Horse or a Falabella.

On April 30th, it was Felicity's eighteenth birthday. As a nice surprise on her birthday,
the owner of Green Lake Ranch offered her a full time job. Immediately, Felicity accepted
the offer and thanked them. When Samantha and Tom came in the house, she told them the great news.

"Congratulations!" both of them said, hugging her, "were so proud of you! Happy birthday, sweetie!" Felicity smiled and said, "Thank you!"
"Let's celebrate!" Tom said, "our daughter's eighteenth birthday and the wonderful news!"
Felicity sat down and Samantha and Tom slowly carried the birthday cake in the room while singing, "Happy Birthday." Samantha put the birthday cake in front of Felicity and Tom took
pictures. Felicity made her wish and blew out the candles. Carefully, Samantha cut the cake
and gave each one of them a slice. Shortly after having some cake, Tom and Samantha
decided to present Felicity her birthday present.

"Come here," Tom said. Samantha closed Felicity's eyes with her hands and slowly guided her outside where Tom stood.
"Happy birthday, Felicity," Tom said. Samantha took her hands off of her daughter's eyes.
Felicity gasped and took hold of the lead rope. She patted the grey horse's soft coat and soaked in the wonderful sensation.

"He's all yours," Samantha said smiling. Felicity opened her mouth to say something, but she couldn't find the words to say it. She couldn't believe it. She finally had a horse to call her own. She was so happy that she began crying.
"Thank you so much!" Felicity exclaimed. She hugged her parents and went back to her
horse.

"Your very much welcome, dear," both of them said, "do you know what your going
to name him?" Felicity nodded slowly. "Yes, I do," she said, "I'm going to name him Treasure because I will always treasure him and love him."

So from that day on, Felicity boarded, Treasure, at Green Lake Ranch. She cared for
him, put him in the pasture all day every day, rode him, and competed with him in her very
first competition. They competed in a show jumping event that was specifically for Trakehner breeds. Felicity will never forget that day and moment when she first got, Treasure, and when she competed in show jumping and won first place.