life of a horse by kindy mined, caley paters, paterson lalaburty, mycayla lee (phonics books TXT) 📖

loved to dance. And then there was Prince Cyril, who was a studious boring boy. And last but not least, there was Cecelia, or, more formally, Princess Cecelia Marta of Andria. But she preferred the name Celia. Celia was different. She didn’t really care about crowns and dresses like her sisters. In fact, her number one priority was horses. Right now, she was riding her favorite horse in the whole wide kingdom, Blaze. Celia had rescued Blaze from the butcher when she went to the horse auction disguised as a commoner. There had been plenty other horses, but Blaze got her eye and her heart. He wasn’t much to look at, at first. He was covered in dirt and his mane was all tangled. He was so dirty he looked like he was black. She firmly decided to buy him. She heard the auctioneer say his number. She raised her hand “10 bronze bits!” she exclaimed. “I hear 10 bronze bits, does anyone give 20 bronze bits for this lovely animal?” the auctioneer said, laughing. A fat man with stains on his shirt raised his hand “15 bronze bits!” he said gruffly with a smirk on his face. Celia’s face turned ghost white. That was the butcher! That was when she forgot. She was a princess. A rich princess. She could easily jack up the price so high the butcher wouldn’t buy him. “5 gold bit!” she yelled to the auctioneer. Stunned silence followed. Then people started to whisper to each other “Did you hear that girl? She bid 5 gold bits on that sorry looking horse!” The auctioneer couldn’t believe his ears. He wanted to make sure the girl wasn’t lying. “Let me see the money, girly, and then he will be sold to you.” Celia fumbled with her purse, and brought out the five gold coins. The auctioneer eyes twinkled. “Sold! To the little lady in the front!” He grabbed the coins with his grubby fingers with a laugh and put it in his money box. Celia looked at the horse she just bought. Although he looked like he had been drug through the swamp and dipped in the royal stables manure pile, His eyes were warm and friendly, and he managed to nicker through all the filth when she approached him. She hastily took her new horse, which had a rope around his neck, and headed toward the river. There, managed to get some filth off, but it was so deeply encrusted that she had to lead him to the castle to wash him properly. When she entered the stable area, she was greeted by Ahern, the stable boy and her best friend. “What’s this? A moving manure pile?” he laughed, but stopped when he saw Celia’s serious face. “If I didn’t buy him, the butcher would have. Besides, something about him drew me to him.” Ahern looked at the horse “Well, it definitely wasn’t his smell. Let’s get to work, shall we, Celia?” And the two went and washed him. When they were all done, they couldn’t believe their eyes. The sorry mop of a horse turned into a beautiful golden chestnut stallion with a white blaze on his face. The sun was shining on him and added to his brilliance. “He’s the most beautiful horse in all of Andria!” exclaimed Celia, looking at Ahern. She then burst out laughing. Ahern was covered head to toe in all the muck from the horse. “What’s so funny?” he asked, turning his gaze from the horse to Celia, and immediately burst out laughing. Celia looked down; she too, was covered in muck. “Come, Giggles, let’s put him in a stall and go wash up in the river real quick. 7-up

Eva was at her window, looking out at the blurry ground, all muddy and brown. She sighed while she twiddled away with her short blond hair. Ever since her family moved to the country, far away from all her friends, she had been feeling lonely. None of the girls at her new school were friendly in fact they just seemed to ignore her. Eva’s teacher, Miss Benson, tried to make the girls on more friendly terms, but her attempts were in vain. Eva stared out to the old barn in her backyard, which was a sturdy building, even though it was old. She tried to play in it sometimes with her little twin sisters, Deborah and Liberty, but she kept on getting bored. One of Eva’s few joys was horses. Her new room was empty and white when she first moved in. It was now covered from the floor to the ceiling in posters of horses and ponies, and all her shelves either had figurine horses or books about horses and ponies. She knew everything about horses, like how fast a Thoroughbred can go, what to do if a horse is giving birth to a foal, and how small can a Shetland get. There was just one thing missing from Eva’s vast knowledge of horses and her huge collection of horse books and figurines, a real horse. Eva had asked her Mom if she could have a horse or a pony at least, but her Mom said “We’ll see” which usually means no. Christmas Eve was two days away, and it hadn’t even snowed yet. Eva heard a voice behind her, “Eva, can you help me with something?” said Liberty, Eva turned her head to her dark haired sister. “What do you need help with?” she asked, Liberty was holding a pink flowered cloth, “I want to make a doll dress for Debby as a present, but I need some help sewing it, and Mom is busy.” She said, her puppy dog eyes flashing. “Sure, it’s not like I have anything else to do.” Eva said, getting up.

 

Later that night, the doll dress was half done, and Liberty was content with that, saying that we can finish the rest tomorrow. In the morning Eva was helping her Mom make pancakes when her Dad came into the kitchen. “ Hmm, I smell pancakes!” he said with a smile. Mom swatted playfully at him with the spatula, “Shoo! They aren't done yet!” Liberty and Debby were busy making some orange juice at the table, which was becoming a bit of a mess. “Go help the twins please, Danny.” Mom said, going back to flipping pancakes. “Ok.” Dad said meekly, winking at Eva. While Dad was helping the twins, he said to Mom “I was just over at the Denver’s Ranch.” He said casually looking over to Mom. Mom froze little bit, then continued flipping pancakes “Oh, and what happened?” Dad squashed an orange in the juicer. “Oh, just seeing if he will sell any of his cattle to me.” Mom expertly flipped a pancake “How much per a head?” Dad said “Depending on some, 200 dollars per a head to 700 dollars per a head. The expensive ones were prettier or more gentle and docile, and better around children and small animals.” Dad scratched his head “Heck, you could almost call them perfectly well trained!” Mom was now putting the pancakes on a plate and Eva was getting out the butter and syrup. The orange juice was finished and the table clean of orange juice and the tableware was on. “Did you buy any?” Mom asked as she sat down for dinner. Dad was cutting into his pancakes as he replied “Yes, I sure did. I bought the 700 dollar ones, real pretty and docile too. Glad I did it too.” Eva got excited “Daddy, can the twins and I pick out some we like and name them? Kind of will be like our own little pets.” At first Mom was shocked, but Dad was handling it well. “Sure you can.” Mom glanced at him, but he nodded, so she went back eating. “When are they coming?” asked Debby. “Right on Christmas Day, little one, won’t that be great?” Liberty clapped her hands, which were full of syrup “Yay! Christmas cows!” Eva was happy, although she would have preferred a horse. Still, a cow for a present wasn't so bad.

 

A cool breeze entered the room. It blew against the ribbons on the pinboard. 3 blue ribbons. 1 red. Ali touched the ribbons with her bare fingers and shivered. She remembered that brown pony. KiKi. She remembered his little stripe and blue eyes. Ali felt tears wipe down her eyes. So many memories. Now KiKi was sold. It was the hardest decision Ali ever had to make. KiKi was happier now. In his home at Texas. Ali climbed onto her bed and layed down, staring at the ceiling. A faint neigh came from outside. Ali's house with her mom and dad was by a horse barn. Except she doesn't think her heart will heal. Ali crawled to her door and opened it, scrambling. Outside was warm. The warm air was coming into the car window. Ali felt the rumble of the engine under her. "So." Her mom tried to make a awkward conversation. She looked into the mirror and glanced at Ali then to the road. "Are you excited to go to the barn? I hope it reminds you of KiKi and makes you happier." Ali opened the door when the car stopped in front of a giant barn. She stepped outside and felt her stomach nauseous. She rambled about stuff in her head. The doors opened. A horse came out. A beautiful one.

 

Ali blinked. The gelding was a chestnut with a star down his face. Her mom walked on, not realizing the gelding. She instead, walked to the barn and exchanged hands with the instructor. A blond-haired teenager was leading him. She glanced at Ali and walked toward her. "Hi! I'm Holly. Your 'young instructor'. " Holly laughed at her own joke and realized Ali was moon-blinked toward the chestnut. "So your giving eyes to old Ollie here, huh?" She smiled and patted Ollie's neck. "Old Ollie?" Ali asked. He didn't look old. More like a young adult. "Can I ride him?" Ali asked quickly, staring into Holly's eyes. "Um, well sure. Mrs Hailey already said your riding him. Mrs Hailey is my mom by the way." Holly handed Ali the lead rope and adjusted her helmet. "Go take him inside. I will tack him up for you." Ali nodded and walked him inside. Fans surrounded the stalls to cool the horses down. It smelled like barn. The best smell in the world. Holly took the rope and cross-tied the gelding. He raised his head high and yawned. "Don't get tricked by his yawning, OK? He's just playing with you." Holly said and got the saddle. Ali nodded and patted his neck."Kick him more! I know you can make him trot!" Holly walked along the rail giving directions to Ali. Ali kicked Ollie and he started to trot perfectly. It was super well balanced. She patted him and looked up. "Heels down, look up. Heels down, look up." She repeated in her head. But it was already perfect. "OK now were going to try a little canter is that OK?" Holly asked. Ali gasped. She smiled instantly and nodded. "OK, well kick him with you right le-"