Gift of Love
It was a warm summer's day as the young
blond girl walked down the path that led from the house to the corral.
Her big, red dog raced ahead of her chasing after a squirrel that ran
across the path. The squirrel ran
up the tree and chattered angrily at the dog.
"Come on Red leave that poor
squirrel alone." The girl
commanded and continued to the corral. When
she reached the corral she looked around for her horse, but she could not see
him.
"Lancelot!" She yelled at the top of her lungs. A loud whinny and the thunder of pounding hooves answered her
call. She watched as the big black
gelding raced toward her with his head and tail held high.
He truly was a vision of beauty. He
came to a stop within a foot of her and nuzzled her pockets looking for the
carrot she always brought him. She
reached out and patted the white blaze that ran down his face.
"Not so fast boy."
She laughed as her blue eyes shone with love for the big black horse that
stood sixteen hands. "You know you have to shake for it."
The girl bent over with her right hand extended.
Lancelot lifted his left leg and offered it to his master, who took it in
her, right hand and pumped it up and down three times. After the girl let go of
the leg she pulled out the carrot she had in her pocket and gave it to Lancelot.
"You know Uncle Nick thinks I spoil
you." She said as she patted
his neck. She put her arms around
the horse strong neck burying her face in his mane as the tears began to fall.
*****************
She
was so excited. This was the first
time her father let her accompany him to a horse auction. She watched the horses being led in and out of the auction
ring as she stood beside her father. She
noticed how her father carefully studied each horse and only bid on the very
best horses. At lunchtime the
Auction broke for lunch.
"Come on Tara. Let's go get
something to eat." Her father
said to her as he started to walk toward the confession booth.
After Tara and her father finished their
lunch they walked around the grounds looking at all the horses while they waited
for the Auction to resume. As they
walked past a group of horses, Tara noticed a little bay mare with a white
stripe running down her face. The
mare's ribs showed though her dull coat and her hooves where to long.
Tara recognized the little mare as one of the horse that was on the
auction block early that morning. She
was one of the horses her father didn't bid on.
Tara watched as a man came and roughly grabbed the little mare and tried
to lead her away. When the little
mare refused to move the man started to hit her with a whip.
Without another thought Tara ran toward the man and the horse.
"Don't hit her."
She screamed at the man
"She is my horse girly I will do
what I want with her." The man
sneered
"Tara, let's go."
Her father said as he tried to pull her away from the man.
"Papa you can't let him hurt
her." She pleaded
"The horse is his and even if I
don't agree with how he handles her it is his business honey."
Her father explained
"Then buy her. You said that I could chose any horse I wanted for my twelfth
Birthday. I want her."
She cried.
"Are you sure sweetheart.
You can have a better horse."
Her father asked.
"Yes, I am sure."
Tara said with conviction. She
knew that she could have chosen a horse from one of the high bred stock on the
Barkley ranch, but she wanted this little mare.
Heath knew that Tara was choosing this
horse because she felt sorry for the little mare.
He knew he should tell her no, but as he looked into his daughter's
determined blue eyes he saw a fire that he had not seen burn in those eyes since
her mother died three years ago. He
turned to the man.
"How much do you want for the
mare?" He asked.
"One hundred." The man said
"I'll give you sixty.
We both know she isn't worth half that much."
Heath countered
"Okay sixty it is and only because I
like the little lady." The man
said knowing that he got a great deal since he only paid fifteen for her.
Heath handed the man sixty dollars.
The man handed the lead rope to Tara and walked away.
"So what are you going to call
her." Heath asked
"I think I will call her Gem."
Tara said as she stroke the white strip that ran down the little mares
face.
**************************
When they arrived at the ranch with the
horses they bought at the auction Nick came out to look over the new string of
horses. When he saw Gem he could
not believe that Heath would buy such a horse.
The little mare was just under fourteen hands and she had bad
conformation. She stood pigeon toed
and when she trotted she threw her front legs out to the side.
The mare had to be at least fifteen.
"What do you call that. " Nick
scoffed
Heath saw his daughter's face drop at
Nick's words. "This is Gem,
Tara's new horse. She picked the
mare out herself."
"Well your daughter sure did not
inherit your eye for horse flesh." Nick
stated shaking his head, as he looked the mare over.
"Maybe not Nick, but she inherited
her mothers compassion." Heath
said with pride in his voice as he grinned at his little girl.
"The man that owned the mare was beating her so Tara insisted we buy
her."
Tara smiled back at her father as she saw
the love he had for her shine though his dark blue eyes. Her heart swelled with pride when she heard him tell Nick
that she was like her mother. She
and her mother were really close. When
her mother died during childbirth three years ago part of her heart died as
well. She went into a shell and did
not talk to anyone for over a year. It
was her father's strength and love that finally brought her out of it.
He had been there for her even thought his own heart was broken by the
death of his wife and unborn child. He
never gave up on Tara and she knew he would always be there for her.
Now he was defending her choice of horse to her Uncle Nick. Tara ran and threw her arms around her father.
*****************************
Tara rode Gem everywhere.
Everyone would tease her about her little mare, but she did not care.
A year after she got Gem she decided that she wanted a foal from Gem so
she approached her father and Uncle about getting Gem bred.
"Father, Uncle Nick could I bred Gem
to Prince." She asked
"You want to bred that mongrel of a
horse to pure bred like Prince." Nick
exploded. "Any foal that mare
would have would be worthless.
"Worthless!
Tara screeched. "So
does that make me worthless."
"Now where do get that from?"
Nick asked his angry niece
"Everyone knows my father isn't a
full Barkley, that his blood isn't pure. So
does that make me worthless." She
asked. Her voice raising with each
word.
"That is enough Tara."
Heath yelled at his daughter. "You
will apologize this instant to your Uncle."
"No I won't.
He has done nothing but insult my horse since I got her."
She yelled back at her father as she stormed from the room and ran to her
room. Once in her room she flung
herself on the bed and cried.
Heath watched as his daughter raced from
the room. He was furious at her for
her behavior. "I am sorry Nick
I will make sure she apologizes to you." Heath said as he started to follow
his daughter.
"No, Heath I should apologize to
her. I never realized that she
would parallel that horse with your life. That
she would feel that she is not as much of a Barkley as the rest of us because of
what I said about her horse."
"I always thought that it was in the
past. That it would not affect my
child, but I guess sin affects everyone."
Heath said as he looked out the window.
"Let me go talk to her."
Nick asked as he placed a hand on his brothers shoulder."
Heath just nodded his head.
**********************
As Tara lay on the bed crying she heard a
knock on the door. "Tara, can
I come in." Nick pleaded
"Go away." Tara ordered. "I
don't ever want to talk to you again. I
hate you." She knew her father
would be angry with her for the way she was treating her uncle, but she did not
care.
"Tara, I am sorry if I hurt you when
I teased you about your horse. I
was only joking." Nick
apologized though the closed door.
Tara slowly got up and walked to the door
and opened it to allow her uncle in. "If
you never meant anything you said about Gem then why did you say them?"
Nick looked into her dark blue eyes that
were so much like her father's and saw the pain that he had caused.
"I said them because I thought they where funny and because I am
stupid. I never realized that you
would take them seriously. I did not know I was hurting you. Please forgive a foolish old man." Nick said giving her his best puppy dog eyes.
"You
are not old and you are not stupid. You
are just insensitive, and I am probably too sensitive."
Tara said as she looked at her feet.
"I forgive you Uncle Nick. Just
never say anything bad about my horse again."
"Okay I won't and if you really want
to breed her to Prince you can."
*********************
A year latter Gem was due to give birth
to her foal any day. Tara took up
camping in the stable. Heath, who
did not like the idea of his daughter sleeping alone in the barn, camped with
her. It was the fifth night in the
barn that Gem finally had her foal. Tara
was asleep when Heath shook her awake.
Tara watched as the little foal came into
the world. Her father had to help
the mare because she was having difficulty and he had to break the sack that
surrounded the foal because it would not break.
If her father had not been present when the foal was born both mare and
foal probably would have died.
Both father and daughter watched as the
little steel gray foal with a white blaze on his face struggled to his feet and
walked over to his mother and began to suck the first milk, which is essential
to his survival.
"Well you have yourself a colt.
What are you going to name him?"
Asked Heath
"Sir Lancelot."
Tara answered with pride in her voice as she watched her newborn colt
suckle.
Nick came into the barn and whistled when
he saw the foal. "That is one
good looking colt. Maybe we should
keep him as a stud."
"No.
He is Tara's horse so he will be gelded. A stallion would be too much for her to handle."
Heath stated.
*****************
With the help of her father Tara trained
Lancelot. She would spend every day
after school playing with him. Within
the first two weeks of his birth she had him halter broke.
She made sure that he would allow her to pick up his feet.
She even trained him to shake a hoof.
She would put blankets over his back so that he would get use to
something on his back.
When Lancelot turned two she started to
train him to longe. She introduced
him to the saddle. At first she
just left it on the corral fence so he could see it and smell it. Then she started putting it on his back and the taking it
off. Finally when he was use to the
weight of the saddle on his back she slowly did up the girth. He was a little nervous, but he trusted her.
Heath always watched as his daughter work
with the colt. He would give her
pointers of what to do and what not to do.
But she seamed to be a natural and picked things up very quickly.
She reminded him of him self when he was her age.
Heath remembered Nick saying that Tara
did not inherit his eye for horseflesh, but as he watched the black two year old
colt move around the corral, he realized that Tara had seen something in the
mare that he himself had missed. After
Lancelot was born they had rebreed Gem. The
filly Gem had was also a good-looking foal.
Nick was so impressed that he insisted that the mare be added to the
breeding stock even though her foals would not be purebreds.
When Lancelot turned three Tara insisted
that she should be the one to ride him. Heath
did not like the idea and was afraid that the horse would buck her off.
He told her that he would ride the colt first.
Tara defied her father's wishes. The
next day as Heath watched, Tara put the saddle and bridle on Lancelot like she
had been doing for the past year. She
walked him to the other end of the corral from where her father stood, and she
mounted Lancelot. Lancelot just
stood there and turned his head to smell her leg as if to say
"What are doing up there."
Tara petted his long black neck and then she dismounted.
Heath came up behind her and grabbed her
shoulder. His face was red with
anger. "I told you I would
ride that horse first. He could
have bucked you off. You could have
been killed."
"But he didn't buck and I knew he
wouldn't. I sorry I defied you, but
you would not listen to me. I am as
good of a rider as you, Uncle Nick, or any of the boys, but because I a girl you
treat me like glass. He is my horse
and I should be the one to ride him."
She told her father.
Heath looked at his seventeen-year-old
daughter. She was right she was a
good rider and she could read horses. Of
course she would have known if Lancelot were going to buck or not.
He had refused to let her try to ride Lancelot first because he was
afraid that she would be hurt or killed. He
had lost his wife and one child he could not bare the thought of losing Tara
too. Since his wife's death he had
been over protective of his only daughter.
Now he realized his little girl was growing up.
Soon she would be leaving him to start her own life.
"You are right, I should have
listened to you. But you should not
have disobeyed me. For that you are
grounded for the rest of the week. You
are not to work with Lancelot until the week is over.
Then you can ride him." Heath
said as he took Lancelot's reins and led him to the barn.
When her week of grounding was over Tara
began riding Lancelot. Heath
accompanied her on her rides. At
first he rode with her because he was afraid that she could get hurt on a green
horse, but latter he rode with her because he enjoyed the time with his
daughter. Tara also enjoyed the
rides with her father. They would
ride together almost every night except for times when Heath was too busy to
accompany her, and then Tara would ride Lancelot alone.
Heath was very impressed at how well his
daughter had train Lancelot that he had her help train the new foals born on the
ranch.
****************
Two
years latter
"He will still be here when you get
back you know."
Tara let go of Lancelot's neck and turned
to see her father standing beside her. "I
know but I will miss him while I gone."
"Oh sure you going to miss the
horse, but not your father." Heath
said with a mock hurt in his voice as his blue eyes danced with laughter.
"You know I will miss you."
Tara said as she threw her arms around her father.
"Well you don't have to go to Europe
with your Aunt Audra and cousin Sue you know.
You could stay here with me and your horse."
Heath said.
"I know, but I want to see Europe
and it will only be six months. Sue
is looking forward to us going together. You
will take care of Lancelot for me won't you?
You will ride him so he does not get out of shape?"
"Don't worry I'll take care of your
horse." Heath said
"I know you will look after
Lancelot, but who is going to look after you." Tara asked with concern in
her voice.
"I'll take care of myself
sweetheart. Now we better get
moving if you are going to make that train."
Heath answered as he took her by he hand.
They both exited the corral and headed back to the house with Red racing
ahead of them chasing squirrels.
*****THE END