Heart Of Phantom

"Lessons"

Hi! My name is Ashley Lyng, but my friends just call me Ash. I live in Tennessee in a town called Ripley. I love it here, it's tucked away so we rarely get visitors. Everyone knows everyone. I am hoping to get enrolled in the University of Tennessee. Horses have been a huge part of my life, I would spend so many hours helping around my family's barn. Only a few years ago, something flipped my life upside down. When my mom died of cancer. I lived with my father afterwards . He had recently lost his job, and was working at a local gas station. He used to be such an outgoing person, everyone would smile when he walked in a room. Everyone in Ripley Tennessee knew him as the goofball that he used to be. But he soon got into alcohol, and became an alcoholic. He spent more time out at the bar with his new friends, then he did with me. He would always come home, and give me a million chores that I just couldn't do in the time he gave me. The second I got my license, I went to the barn everyday, and my aunt gave me the responsibility of lessons. For every lesson I did, I got $10. Then, I finally saved enough money to buy a very small house near the barn. To some people it seemed weird that an 18 year old already had a house of her own, but to me, it was the norm. Anyways, without further a do, the story.

Beep! Beep! Beep! I woke up to the annoying sound of my alarm clock. I lazily opened my eyes, and smacked the snooze button. I then dragged myself out of bed, and unplugged the cord. Then, I threw on an old Star Wars t-shirt, and jeans. After that, I went into the bathroom, and brushed my tangled hair, and put it up into a ponytail. After that, I went downstairs, and began preparing my favorite, apple pancakes. I sliced the apples into little cubes, and then made the batter. Then, I turned on the stove, once it was at the correct temperature, I put a pan on it, and then poured the batter. After that, I put the cooked pancakes onto my plate, and turned off the stove. Then, I unplugged my iPhone, that was charging on my counter. Once I sat down, I looked at my phone, and saw that it was already 7:30! I quickly gobbled up my pancakes and rushed out the door, and jumped in my car. I drove all the way to my family's boarding stables. At last, I got there, and I was greeted by my horse, Buster. I gave him a treat, and let him continue his time in the pasture. I watched him as he slowly walked back towards the run-in shed. I then noticed how bad his arthritis was getting. His back legs creaked when he walked, he was getting quite old. Twenty-three years to be exact. I shook him out of my mind and drove up to the parking lot. I was finally greeted with my aunt, she seemed disappointed. The first thing she said to me was, "You are late, you only have one lesson today though." "Ok, sorry" I replied. Just as she walked away a red minivan drove in, and the second it parked, a little girl jumped out. She had her hair in short pigtails, a pink shirt with (you guessed it) horses on it, blue jeans, a purple helmet with unicorns on it, and sparkly zebra print boots. "Hi!" She said excitedly. "Hi!" I said back. Then, her mom came out. She was just wearing a plain pink tank top, jean shorts, tennis shoes, and sunglasses. The girl's mom then said, "I'm sorry, she is very excited right now." "It's totally fine!" I said back. "Ok let me just see who you're riding today, Ok?" "Ok!" She said back. I looked at the white board and saw "8:30- Kelly is riding Rio". I then looked at her and said "Ok today you're going to be riding a little pony named Rio! Sound good?" "Yeah!" She was jumping up and down. I could tell that this was her first time riding, Rio is a jerk, everyone knows that for a fact if they've ever ridden him. "Ok follow me to his stall." "Ok!" She said. We walked to his stall, and her eyes lit up when she saw the pure brown pony. "He is so cute!" She yelled. I picked up the halter, and put it on him. "Would you like to lead him out?" I asked. "Yes Yes YES!" She said quickly. "Just walk and he'll follow you, and you're going to follow me to the tack room. Ok?" "Ok!" She said. We then walked to the tack room, and I tied him up. After that, I grabbed a soft and hard brush, a curry comb, and a hoof pick. "Ok, this is called a curry comb." I picked up the curry comb, and handed it to her. "It's for getting rid any dried up mud." "How do I use it?" She asked. I started rubbing him in a circular motion, "Like this!" I said back. She started to remove the small patch of mud on Rio's shoulder. Then, I handed her the hard brush "This is the hard brush, you use this to get rid of all the dust. You just brush like you would a dog." She started to brush him with the hard brush. After she finished with the hard brush, I handed her the soft brush and said, "This is called a soft brush, this is usually for brushing their legs and helping to make their coat nice and shiny!" "Yay! This is so fun!" She said back. After the soft brush, I handed her the hoof pick, and said, "This is a hoof pick, it's for getting all the mud, and rocks out of their hooves. I'll hold his hoof up and you can pick it out! Ok?" "Ok!" She replied. Then, I picked up his hoof, and then I said "Don't forget, never touch the triangle in his hoof, it's called the frog, and can hurt if you try and touch it." "He He, frog!" She said before a fit of laughter, I joined in after awhile." We finally finished grooming, and I then grabbed the smallest saddle I could find and Rio's bridle. After that, I put the saddle on and explained all the steps, finally I slid the bit into Rio's mouth, and grabbed my lunge line. She lead Rio into the indoor arena. I checked the girth. Finally, I helped her on him. I hooked the lunge line onto his halter, and I sent him in a circle. I taught her the basics on riding, pulling left rein to go left, right rein to go right, pull both to stop, kick to go, and all the voice commands. Then, I unhooked the lunge line, and she did all the things that I taught her to to. Her mom had her phone up taking a video with tears in her eyes. That is my favorite part about this job. Then it turned 9:30, so I decided to end the lesson there. I helped her get off, untack, and turn him out in the pasture. Then, she gave me a big, fat, hug. Her mom got her in the car, and as they drove off, she rolled down the window, and waved goodbye.

Uh hai! Sorry this was finished so late! A load of thunderstorms rolled through and our power went out, thus, murdering the wifi. Also, sorry how boring this chapter was, Phantom will be appearing in the next chapter so stay tuned for that! Why do my chapters feel like they are going too fast?! WHAT IS HAPPENING?!

One last note: Thanks GerberMermaid for suggesting the Phantom character I thought that it was a cool idea so yea!
Im so tired....
#StupidThunderstorms
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