Chapter Three: What Have I Done?

A/N The first paragraph is Mysteries POV, then we switch back to Skye's

As they led me through the woods, I couldn't stop the thoughts racing through my head. All the "what ifs". What if they hurt me? What if they starve me? What if I never make it out alive? I couldn't help it. I was just a paranoid horse. As the trees opened up to a field, the other horses started running, bringing me with them. My legs moved in sync with the other horses as we ran across the open field. Soon, buildings came into view, which terrified me. The last time I was near one of those... let's just say it didn't go too well. We slowed down as we reached a building, and I could sense more horses inside. The people got off their horses backs and led us inside. The walls were lined with boxes and in those boxes were horses. I was brought to an empty box and the rope that had been around my neck was taken off and the human left closing the door behind me.

When I woke up, I sat on my bed for a few minutes, contemplating what had happened. We had been riding in the woods, when we found a black horse. We brought her to the barn, and I had somehow become completely responsible for her. I now had to balance my school work, competitions, lessons, and double the amount of chores with training a horse who was afraid of people to barrel race. It was going to be a long year.

-flashback-

Immediately after we put Mystery into her stall, our barn leader, Scarlet walked up to us.

"If this horse is going to be in my barn, one of you needs to take complete responsibility for it." We all looked at each other, until Jasper suggested, "How about you Sky? Ramzie and I both have our own horses, but you just have Storm, and at the end of the year you won't even have him anymore. It makes sense because you can train Mystery while you train with Storm, and next year you can train on Mystery." Everyone agreed with Jasper, even me. He made a lot of sense. Scarlet concluded the conversation. "It's settled then. Skyler will take full responsibility of Mystery."

-End of flashback-

So, today, I had to spend some time with Mystery, get in some practice with Storm, and clean both of their stalls. Well, maybe not Mystery's, because she won't let me close to her.

I headed to the barn, deciding to clean Storm's stall first, as it would be the easiest thing to do.

I entered his stall, putting on his halter. I proceeded to lead him out to the round pen and asked Ramzie to line him a little bit to warm him up a bit while I cleaned his stall, and she agreed.

I walked back to his stall and began cleaning it out, which I actually sorta enjoyed. It didn't take long, as I had cleaned it the day before, and I was done in about 5 minutes.

After cleaning Storm's stall, I went to the rounded, where he was tacked up and ready to go. Ramzie had even see up the barrels for us. I hoped on his back and adjusted the stirrups, getting ready to run my favorite clover leaf pattern on a new horse. Hopefully, he would be amazing at it.

I took a deep breath, and kicked him into a trot, the a slow lope. We turned the first barrel perfectly, and the second. He bumped the third, but it didn't fall, just wobbling a little bit. When I asked him to remain at a slow lope for the home stretch, he tossed his head and fought the bit, speeding up slightly. When this happened, I slowed him down to a trot for a moment, then I let him go back to a lope. This time, he remained at a steady speed, which was good. I reached down and patted his neck, rewarding him for a job well done. I had him run the pattern a few more times, and he improved greatly, managing to stay at the same speed through my whole run.

I dismounted Storm and led him back to the barn, cooling him down on the way there. Once we got to the barn, I un-tacked him, rubbed him down, and put him back into his freshly cleaned stall. As soon as he was back in his stall, he rolled. Once I was sure Storm had enough water, I walked to Mystery's stall.

Mystery was hiding in the back of her stall, eyes wide in fear. I grabbed a few treats, and entered her stall very slowly. She retreated into the back corner of her stall even farther than before. I closed the stall door quietly, and sat down on the floor in front of it. I pulled out a treat and set it in front of me, letting her approach me when she felt comfortable.

A sat there for about an hour until she finally approached, very slowly. When she finally stood in front of me and grabbed the treat, I pulled out another holding it out in front of me, letting her make the decision to trust me. I was about to give up and put the treat away when she reached forward with her muzzle and grabbed the treat gently from my hand.

While she was distracted, I took my other hand and reached for her face. When she didn't move, I pet her cheek, as gently as I could. She flinched visibly, but I left my hand there, giving her a moment to get used to my touch. After a few moments, I began petting her, touching as much of her body as I could. Soon I could feel her leaning into my touch, so I stood up, ever so slowly.

She took a step back, but didn't go back to the corner, which was a good sign. I continued petting her, walking around her body, feeling her back, her legs, her flanks. I ran my hands over every inch of her body. I could feel the old wounds, healed, but forever carved into her mind. Many of them felt, and looked, like they had come from a whip. No wonder she was afraid of me.

After 10 minutes of touching her, I reached over the stall door, grabbing a halter. Mystery's eyes widened slightly when she saw it, but she didn't do anything. I approached her with it, and let her smell it. She seemed ok, so I rubbed it on her face a little, then moved it down her neck and on her side, proving that it was ok and it wouldn't hurt her. Once she had calmed down, I carefully put it on her face. Once it was buckled, a gave her a moment to get used to it before grabbing the lead-rope and attaching it to her halter.

Once the lead-rope was clipped I opened the stall door and led her out to the round pen. Surprisingly, she walked perfectly on the lead, which was good. When we reached the round pen, I led her inside. I closed the gate behind us and un-clipped the lead-rope. She trotted to the center of the round pen and rolled. When I was certain that she was ok, I left to go clean her stall.

When I got back, she was just standing there. I entered the round pen with a treat, calling her to me. She hesitated for a moment, and then walked up to me, really slowly. When she was finally standing in front of me, I clipped the lead to her halter and led her out of the round pen back into her stall, which had been freshly cleaned. There was also some hay waiting for her.

Today was Saturday, so I had all day Sunday to train Mystery. School started on Monday, which meant that I had one day before my life went from calm and collected to a hot mess. At this exact moment, I thought that I was prepared. I was anything but. Things were about to get real crazy, and I was nowhere near ready for it.

***

The moment I woke up Sunday, I jumped out of bed, took a shower, got dressed, brushed my teeth, and ran down to the cafeteria to eat a speedy breakfast. Once I finished eating, I ran out to the barn. I decided to go to storms stall first. I looked into his stall to make sure he was done eating, then I turned him out to the pasture. I cleaned out his stall, attempting to leave any leftover hay for him when he came back. When I finished with his stall, I left to do Mystery's. She was standing there, eating her hay quietly. I clicked to her and she lifted her head slightly, then resumed eating. I didn't take it personally though. If there's food involved, you can bet most horses are gonna ignore you.

I grabbed the halter and lead off of the hook outside of her stall and entered quietly. I walked up to her with the halter, and she watched me carefully. I held out my hand that wasn't holding the halter and allowed her to smell me. Once she seemed to recognize me, I slipped the halter over her head easily. I attached the lead to the loop on her halter and led her to the pasture and turned her out with storm. I left them to get to know each other and went to clean Mystery's stall. By the time I was done with that, it was 10 O'Clock. I woke up at 8:30, so I made pretty good time.

I decided to let them hang out for another hour or so, so I went to see what Ramzie and Jasper were up to. I went up to my room, and Ramie wasn't there, so I went to the cafeteria, where I saw Ramzie and Jasper sitting together. I walked over to them and sat down. "Hey guys, what's up?"

"Just chilling. You?"

"Well, I just turned Mystery and Storm out in the pasture, so I came over here to see what you guys were up to."

"well, I was thinking maybe I'd go work with Candy, wanna come?"

"Sure, sounds cool."

"k, lets go."

"K."

We helped Ramzie get Candy ready, then headed to the arena together. Ramzie worked with her for about an hour. When she was done, I headed out to the pasture to go get Storm and Mystery. When I got to the pasture, they were standing together, nibbling on the grass. I whistled to Storm, and he trotted up to me. Mystery following close behind. "Are you two friends now?" I asked, laughing at them.

I caught them both and led them to the rail, tying them up. I grabbed a saddle to fit mystery, and a matching bridle. I set the saddle and bridle on the rail, and grabbed the pad. I brought it to storm and set it on his back. I picked it up again and put it in front of Mystery's nose. After she sniffed it, I rubbed her with it. She flinched a little, but then she was okay with it, so I set it on her back. I felt her tense, so I pet her neck until she relaxed.

Now, the hard part. The saddle. When I picked it up, Mystery's eyes widened, her nostrils flared, and she started snorting nervously. "Shh, it's okay girl, you're alright." She calmed down a little, so I brought the saddle to Storm and set it on his back. I left it there for a second so that she could see that it wasn't hurting him. Then, I picked it up and brought it over to her. Again, I let her smell it first, then I set it gently on her back. When she decided not to freak out, I tightened the cinch and buckled the breast collar.

Next, I grabbed the bitless bridle, and replaced the halter with it. Then, I went back and grabbed all of storms tack, saddling him quickly. Then, I led them both into the arena. Ramzie and Jasper came over, so I had them set up the barrels and hold Mystery while I mounted Storm. Once I was on, I started leading Mystery around the barrels. We did it at a walk the first few times, then we started trotting, then loping. Once we had gone around the barrels what felt like 20 times, I dismounted Storm and gave his reigns to Ramzie.

Then, I mounted Mystery. When I got on, she spooked and took off around the arena. She didn't buck, so I stayed on. I grabbed her left rein and pulled, forcing her into a circle, or a one rein stop. Once she was standing still I tapped her sides lightly with my heels, and she started walking. I made her do the exact same thing as I did while leading her, and then dismounted. Ramzie led Storm while we headed to the barn to untack them. Once that was done, we put them in their stalls and headed to lunch. It was around 2 O'clock. Today went well. We had improved greatly since she first showed up, and I was extremely happy with the progress we made.