Two and a half Rescues

Chapter 2

The next morning my mom makes me go to early church before we can go get Reggie. All through church my thoughts are scattered. I should be paying attention but all I can think about is picking up Reggie. In less than an hour he will be mine.

Finally we exit the church and head back home. My dad already hooked up the trailer before church, so all I need to do is grab my blue cheetah print haybag I bought and fill it. I hook it in the trailer then grab my camera and we're off. It takes exactly 19 minutes in my mom's car to get to the barn, but with the truck and trailer it takes 27 minutes. 27 minutes in which I can barely contain my excitement. 

We drive up the driveway and I see Lucy out lunging Reggie, "Hey!" she says walking Reggie towards us, "I was just getting some of his energy out before we load him. Could you go get the syringe in the grain room, Jess? It's to calm Reggie down for the trailer ride." I run towards the barn and find the syringe with no trouble. I run back and Lucy inserts it in Reggie's mouth the same way she does with de-wormer. "This should do the trick," she says.

She leads him over to the trailer and I brace for the worst, but he smoothly lifts his front feet onto the trailer. Then he stalls, stretching his body as far as he can so he can avoid getting into the trailer. That's when Lucy pulls an apple out of her pocket. He can't resist that!  Finally his first hind hoof is in, and not long after his other hoof follows suit. I hop into the trailer to help her tie Reggie, knotting his leadrope through the loop. Then Lucy hands me his papers and before I know it we're driving back home with him. The whole way back I stare at the trailer, still uncomprehending that he's mine. Really mine. 

When we arrive home Dad parks the trailer. Earlier this week we had set up a small pasture for Reggie, becuase we weren't certain that he would get along with the cows. Reggie is restless in the trailer so I quickly open the door and untie him. Then I gently back him out of the trailer. Once he's out of the trailer his ears perk and his eyes dart over this new place he will be living in. 

I take him through the gates into his pasture then unhook his leadrope so he can explore his new home. I look over at the nice lush grass in the mostly flat pasture. I look over and see the trailer Dad drove in here yesterday. It's one of his crazy ideas that instead of making a lean-to he put a trailer in the field to get Reggie out of the weather. Maybe it will help Reggie get more used to a trailer, but if he doesn't go in it it's okay because it's summer so he won't get too cold. My mom insists that I come inside for lunch, so I scarf down a sandwich before running back outside. I see Reggie has calmed down and is grazing, so I swing into the barn to grab my lunge line. 

"Okay Reggie we're gonna have to do some work today," I tell him while attatching the lunge line to his halter. I lead him to the flatest part of the pasture, near the gate. I stop and send him out around me in a circle, clucking to tell him to trot. When he is warmed up enough I kiss for him to lope. He only breaks his lope once so I take him back down to a walk and do the same thing on the other side. When we're finished he stops and turns towards me, "Good boy, Reggie!" I coo walking up to praise him some more. 

I unhook Reggie then walk back to the barn to grab my grooming supplies. I curry over Reggie's sweaty body, praising him the whole time. By the time I'm finished it's nearly time for evening chores, so I fill up Reggie's hay bag and bring out a 5 gallon bucket half full of water. He gulps down the water and greedily yanks hay out of the slow feeder hay bag. "You're such a silly boy!" I giggle, "But you're perfect for me." I kiss his face and go to finish chores in the barn. I feed all the pigs and leave out some dog food for the barn cats. I approach the house and am ambushed by our border collies. "Teegan! Toby! You two!" I exclaim between bursts of laughter, "Get off so I can get you your food!"  Finally they get off so I can walk inside to grab their dishes and food. I fill Teegan's cutesy pink bowl with her name on it and Toby's blue one with his name on it. I made these dishes for the fair last year, they recieved blue ribbons, obviously. I sit on the step watching the farm eat it's dinner, until Mom calls to tell me our dinner is ready. 

"So Grandpa said he is going to be coming over for dinner tomorrow night," my mom says during dinner.

"That's great!" I reply.

"Is Grandma coming?" my brother, Micheal who is 11 asks.

"Yes, Grandma is coming and she promised to bring supper," Mom replies laughing.

"Yay!" my other brother, Davy exclaims. The rest of the night is uneventful as I read my book for a few hours then decide to rest up for tomorrow. Maybe I'll try putting a blanket on Reggie, I think hazily as I drift into a peaceful sleep.

Author's note:  Yay! 1 person actually read my story :0 Comment, vote, and read on! ILYASM