I had did a post called School Science Story Thing, and it was a preview of this story, so here is the full version of the story.

A RODEO MIRACLE

Where are they? They should have been here by now, I look down at my watch as I saddle my horse. It’s 3:00. Now I won’t scold my friends for being late to the rodeo, but I hoped that we could’ve warmed up our horses together. I hate the idea of having to deal with Patricia and her followers alone. Soon I see Shawn’s rig pull up right next to mine, then Kayla’s followed and did the same thing. I walk up to Shawn’s truck and smile,

“Good afternoon” I say, 

“Sup” he replies,

“ I know we’re late but I have a reason for this. Kayla was trying out for volleyball and I was trying out for football” I looked at Shawn with some surprise I didn’t know he or Kayla liked sports. The only sport I do is rodeo and that’s final ( I’m not a big fan of sports).  

“Oh cool, I didn’t know you liked sports” he chuckled, by this time Kayla came up and joined in on our conversation.

“There’s a lot you don’t know about us” Kayla says,

“Apparently, guys we’ve been friends for three years and I am just now finding out that you like sports!” Shawn and Kayla laugh,

“Yep” Kalya says 

“What else do I not know about you two?”

“You know everything else about us Annie. It’s just that you didn’t know that we liked sports, but now you do” Shawn said. Shawn was the only one who called me Annie that was my real name but as soon as we became friends Kayla decided that we needed nicknames for each other, Shawn didn’t like the idea but I was cool with it. So my nickname became Ann and Kayla’s was K. Kayla thought that Shawn’s should be Shawnie boy or S, but he hated them so he is just Shawn. And now that nickname (Shawnie) has become an inside joke with all of us. Now technically K didn’t come up with the nickname Shawnie, it was actually his grandmother. 

We were sitting in her kitchen  thinking of a nickname for Shawn when his grandma suggested Shawnie. She called him that a lot so when his grandma suggested it, he turned red. Anyway it’s now an inside joke. Me and Kayla always call him that but we soon stop because he gets annoyed with us and walks off so then we have to beg him to come back finally he rolls his eyes and says, 

“Fine but you must promise me to not call me that the rest of the day” K agrees and that’s how it usually goes. 

“Shawn do you want me to upload your horse for you?” I say. I really wanted to get started on this whole warming our horses thing so maybe we can avoid Patricia. But we were too late. I can hear her music blasting before she even pulls up. She is still clear by the highway! I know the song that is playing, it’s Rodeo by Garth Brooks. Now I loved that song, but she annoyed me by playing it. I think she annoyed everybody else too because I could a couple of people say,

“Well here comes Patricia Thogmorton The 3rd” She ruined people’s day well, not really ruin but people like quiet before they compete, or at least as quiet as you can get, but most people like to hear the sound of animals (horses) instead of someone’s loud music blasting in the air!  

“Yeah that’d be great thanks” Shawn replies, it takes me a minute to realize he was answering the question I had just asked him. I walk to the end of the trailer and open the end door. I click to Snowfire and Thunder Shawn’s two horses letting them know I was there.  I grab Snowfire’s halter and lead her out of the trailer and to the tying ring I tie her lead and I place my hand on her rump and keep it on the buckskin mare until I reach the end of the trailer, then I go into the tralter and grab Thunder’s halter and tie him up as well.  I make my way back to Shawn’s truck. 

“How’s Willow K?” I ask,

“Oh I’m not riding Willow today” Kayla says,

“Then who are you riding?” 

“My new horse, Moonlight”

“That’s cool that you got a new horse but Willow still has plenty of years in her does’t she?”

“Yeah she does but I thought I would try out Moonlight”

“Has she ever been to a rodeo?” 

“Yeah she has. Don’t worry Ann I  have ridden her so it’s not like I bought her then just took her to the rodeo, besides if things don’t go well in the first event I brought Willow” I sighed a little with relief, when one of my friends get a new horse I have to make sure ( I don’t have too but I do) that they have ridden the horse and that they are comfortable with the horse before they take the horse to the rodeo. I just don’t want them to end up with a horse like Copper. 

Every time I ask him to go fast he blows up and acts like the broncs in the bronc riding. Ugh he is the worst! Shawn always takes an extra horse just in case, sometimes he offers for me to ride Snowfire but I say no I have to break him of this habit ( it’s going to take a loooong time before I can break him of the habit). 

“Good now go saddle so we can warm up, and if we’re lucky we might be able to avoid Paticia”      

“Ok” And with that Kayla took off to her trailer and started to unload her horses. I got to see the new horse Kayla had brought, Moonlight was a jet black horse she was really pretty. Then she unloaded Willow, her dappled grey horse, she took them around to the other side so she could saddle. Kayla was definitely going to stand out with her horses. She had the two most uncommon colors here. 

Now they were not really uncommon but here in our rodeo family (all the kids that rodeo here) had all buckskin horses or just grey horses not dappled grey just grey like my horse Copper and sorrel horses like Shawn’s other horse Thunder. Oh yeah and I can’t leave out the bay horses. I make my way back to my trailer  and go inside the tack room. I come out with a bridle and I put it on Copper, I lead him a few steps and then I throw the reins over his neck then step on I ride back to Shawn’s truck where he has both horses saddled already! How does he do that? I did not take that long to put the bridle on Copper and then get on!! Shawn puts his bridle on Snowfire’s saddle horn and then unties her from the trailer, he mounts Thunder and grabs Snowfire’s lead. And with that we head over to Kayla’s trailer where she has just finished saddling Willow. 

She did the same thing as Shawn but she mounted Moonlight instead of Willow.  It was strange to me that she was riding a different horse instead of Willow.  We took off towards the arena. The song changed to, “I wish Grandpas never died” by Riley Green. Patricia had pulled in the parking lot and was now unloading her horse, and saddling him. Patricia had tons of money and she showed it by her clothes, rig, and horse. But she was not the nicest person in the world.  

We were soon at the gate of the arena. I reached down and opened the gate and Shawn and Kayla rode through and I closed the gate. We take off in a walk in the arena, we make one circle around the arena then we take off in a trot, after we make a circle we lope. Then we do our own thing. I turn my horse around and do the same thing the other way.  

By the time I make a circle in a lope all that way around the arena Patricia has made her way into the arena and is warming up her horse. Oh great now Clumsy and Clueless will be here next. That’s not really their names but that’s what me Shawn and Kayla call them. They are Patricia’s two followers Clare and Mindy. Mindy is Clumsy and Clare is Clueless or Clueless Clare. I know that if Patricia is here that means that Mindy and Clare will be here soon. I ride up to Kayla who is now getting on Willow.

“Is everything ok?” I ask,

“Yeah I am just getting on Willow to warm her up a bit. I know she probably is warm, but I just thought I would get on her and have some one on one time with her” Katla said,

“Oh good I just thought something was wrong with Moonlight”

“No we’re all good, see Shawn is doing the same thing but he is tying Thunder to the fence and getting on Snowfire”

“Are you going to tie Moonlight to the fence?”

“Yeah” Kayla gets on Willow and grabs Moonlight’s lead, she walks Willow over to Thunder and ties Moonlight next to him. She then takes off in a trot around the arena. By now every one that rodeoed here was here. Miny and Clare were here, and Clive. Clive was here……. in the arena he had already saddled his horse and was sitting on his horse in the middle of the arena  with a couple of his friends. Me and K rode by him. 

“Here comes the girl who can’t ride” Clive said referring to Kayla. I was a ways behind her so I knew Clive was talking about Kayla, that made me mad. Kayla could ride. She could ride really well, she got up early every morning, fed her horse and then after her horse was done eating she would ride in her arena.  She worked really hard so she can get better and better each time, I’m sure that Clive has not even put in that much effort.  

“And look at her comes her little friend who can’t go fast and try to keep up with all the others” that time he was talking about me. It was true I could not go fast but like I said my horse acts like a bronc, and sure I could not keep up with the others. But that was it, I could not stand the insults! I rode up to Clive and I noticed that Clive had his feet out of the stirrups. Perfect.

“Hey Clive” I said,

“What?” 

“Shut Up!” I say, then I push him off the side of his horse.  I take the reins off his horse’s neck and I take off in a lope with the horse following me. Clive takes off after us yelling,

“Give me my horse back!” he said,

“Not unless you promise to be nice” I say, in a singsong voice. 

“I will never promise that!” he replies. I make one circle and then I stop, Clive is still running after me. I drop the reins over the horse’s neck and he takes off. A lot of people (the families of the rodeo kids) were laughing. I look back at my friends who are laughing too. I could not help it, I had to do it.  I stood up on my horse and took a bow. People cheered and hollered. Then I put two fingers on my forehead and saluted then winked.  I sat back down on my horse and I trotted out of the arena.

“Mission accomplished” I whisper. I look back over my shoulder Clive’s horse is running and bucking while Clive is trying to catch him. This will be going on for a while I thought. 

We got threw the roping and the speed events well most of the speed events, now it was time for the last event (speed event) the pole race. 

“Patricia Thogmorton The 3rd” The announcer called. Patricia made her run,

“Good job Patricia that will be a 20.00” Daaang she was really fast on that pole run!

“Annie Smith you’re up next ” Ok, I got this. I rode through the gate and took off in a lope down the poles. When I got to the end pole I turned my horse around it then we weaved through the poles until I got to the end pole. I did the same thing. By the time I got back to the other end I got a little confident. 

I asked Copper for a Little more, he was wringing his tail! This is bad, this is bad. Next thing I know he blows, he kicks up his heels and we’re off. Oh great just my luck he’s doing it again he’s acting like a bronc! I came out of the saddle and I hit the dirt. I stand up, my legs are a little shaky. I turn to my horse, he gives me an ignorant look.

“You know what you did!” I said in a low voice, gritting my teeth. I grab the reins and I get back on. I look up only to see Shawn and Kayla running up to me. 

“Are you ok?” they say in unison.

“Yeah I’m fine” I say flatly,

“Are you sure?” Shawn says,

“Yeah, I’m just a little shaken, that’s all” When we get through the gate, Patricia was sitting on her horse just beside the fence,

“You couldn’t even stay on your horse!” she laughed and Clare and Mindy joined in, they sounded like witches cackling,

“I would like to see you try to stay on him, Patricia, sense after all you are the horse expert” She looks away saying nothing. 

“Thought so” I say and I ride off, 

“One day I am going to beat her then she won’t laugh” I mudder as I take my horse to the place where most kids take their horses to wake them up. (sometimes kid’s horses fall asleep while they are waiting).

 I lope Copper around letting him know that I am the boss NOT him. Then I walk him back to the trailer. I unsaddled him and then loaded  him in the trailer. It’s dark. I say goodbye to my friends and head home. I unload Copper and put him in his pen. He nickers, telling me that I need to feed him I throw him some feed and say,

“Yeah, yeah I heard you” I go into my house, take a shower and get ready for bed, I am asleep the moment my head hits the pillow. 

I woke up to the sound of my phone, someone sent me a text. I really don’t want to answer it but I do. It was a text from Kayla.  Hey so my grandpa has this friend who has some horses that he needs a good home for because he can’t ride them anymore. They still have some years left in them if you were interested in trying them out today I could take you! 

Yeah that would be great thanks! I reply. Now I am not the squealing type but the moment felt right, so I squealed.  I quickly ate breakfast and got dressed by then Kayla had arrived and was now coming to the front door. I open it,

“Morning” I say,

“Morning, are you ready to try out some horses!” 

“ Heck, Yeah I’m ready!” We walk out of the house, Kayla gets in her truck and drives over to the saddle shed. I load my saddle in the bed of the truck. Then I climb in the passenger seat and Katla climbs in the driver seat. Soon we’re off! The drive was not that long, maybe one or two hours. We soon pull up to a ranch, I see two horses tied to the fence. One’s a bay horse, a really pretty bay horse! The other is a sorrel, he is really pretty too. Both horses are big, well bigger than any of my horses. Kayla parks, and we get out she goes up and shakes this old man’s hand.

“ Hi Mr. Park. I’m Kayla, Mr. Grant’s granddaughter.”

“ He said you would be coming here today. And who is this?”

“ This is my friend Annie Smith, she’s the one who will be trying out your two horses”

“Nice to meet you Annie” Mr. Park says, I shake his hand. He leads me over to the two horses.

“The bay horse’s name is Juniper, and the sorrel horse’s name is Howard” 

“Those are perfect names!” I say.

“Juniper is the horse that if you drop your hand on his neck he will go, he is really light so you will have to use your feet a lot. Howard you will have to ask him for it but it does not take much” 

“That’s perfect! So how much do you feed them?” Mr. Park takes me over to a stack of hay. He opens a bucket and shows me a little can inside.

“I feed them a full can of oats for each of them, and a big chunk of alfalfa that I just split between them  ” 

“Any supplements?”

“Yes I just do a scope for each horse,  of Platinum Performance and Cosquin”

“ Where do you get that?” 

“You can get it at tractor supply, I still have some left if you want to take it” Mr. Park said.

“Thank you” I say.

“Are you ready to try out Juniper and Howard?” Mr. Park asked.

“Yes sir” I headed to the back of Kayla’s truck where I had loaded my saddle and a saddle blanket. I grab the saddle blanket  and pull it onto the tailgate, I just leave it there for now. I walk over to Kayla.

“Do you think you could ride with me?”  I ask,

“Yeah of course! I could ride one horse and you could ride the other then we can switch!” 

“Perfect, so which one are you going to ride?” I say.

“ I will ride Howard and you can ride Juniper” I go back to Kayla’s truck and I grab my saddle blanket and walk over to where the two horses are standing. I put the blanket on the fence and I walked over to the saddle shed where Mr. Park is standing. Kayla was already over there. 

“Do you have a brush that I could use Mr. Park?” I ask.

“Yes of course it’s right in there” he points into the saddle shed, right at a red bristled brush. I go in to grab it. I walk back over to Juniper and I start brushing him. Kayla starts brushing Howard. I start saddling Juniper, Kayla Starts to saddle Howard with a saddle and a blanket that Mr. Park lent her. Mr. Park walked up to us and handed me and Kayla each a bridle and a tie down for Juniper and Howard. I put the tie down on Juniper then I put the bridle on. I make him take a few steps then I get on him, Kayla mounts Howard and we walk the horses to a place where it’s obvious that Mr. Park rode his horses here. We walk them, trot, them and last but not least, lope them. Then me and Kayla switch horses. I haven’t quite got used to the saddle Kayla has been using but it works. Luckily we didn’t have to change the strupp length. We walk the horses back to the saddle shed  and I dismount Howard.

“What do you think?” asked K.

“I love them!” I said,

“Good,” Mr. Park said. 

“So, when can I come and pick them up?” I ask Mr. Park.

“Hah, I’m glad you like them you can pick them up whenever you like” 

“This friday is our rodeo Annie” I thought about it for a moment. Maybe I could pick them up tomorrow?

“Maybe I could pick them up tomorrow that way I could ride them a little more before our next rodeo?” 

“Yes of course” Mr. Park said.  I thank Mr. Park and I help him unsaddle the horses, I load my saddle in the back of Kayla’s truck. Then I climb in the passenger seat and Kayla climbs in the driver seat. Kayla drops me off at my house and I put my saddle in the saddle shed. And I go into my house, I spend the rest of my afternoon reading. Finally it’s time to feed the animals I do chores and eat some dinner. I get ready for bed, tomorrow, tomorrow is when I would go to pick up the horses. 

I again awake to the sound of my phone someone has sent me a text. I looked at my phone this time it was a text from Shawn.  I heard that u are getting new horses! I reply with, yeah me and K went yesterday to try them out and today we are going to pick them up! Kayla would be here soon. I quickly eat breakfast and then get dressed, I check my phone,

Can I go with u guys when u go to get your horses? I think we can all fit in K’s truck if Shawn doesn’t mind riding in the backseat. Yeah if u don’t mind riding in the backseat. I say

That’s not a problem, I just wanted to go. He replies. 

Kayla had already pulled up, then after a few minutes Shawn pulled up. I helped Kayla hook up to the trailer, then I ran into the house  and grabbed my wallet.  I loaded up in the passenger seat, Kayla got in the driver’s seat, and Shawn got in the back seat. When we get there I load the horses, and pay Mr. Park five hundred dollars. For the both of the horses. I spent the rest of the week riding the horses, I am finally getting sort of used to them. 

We are finally getting to the last event of the rodeo. This time our last event was the barrel race, 

“Patricia Thogmorton The 3rd” The announcer called, I lean over to Kayla and Shawn and say,

“That horse is way to hot” I watch Patricia trying to get her horse through the gate, the horse’s nostrils were flared, he was prancing, his head was held up high, he was sweating, and every time she got him close to the gate he would rear up just a little then run sideways and away from the gate. Finally she got her horse though the gate, but before she could turn the first barrel her horse reared up again and she came out of the saddle, and she hit the dirt hard. Her horse ran off to the other end of the arena, I had expected Clumsy (Mindy) and Clueless (Clare) to come into the arena and help Patricia, but they didn’t. So I did. I thought about how Kayla and Shawn came running up to me when I came off of Copper, and I was thankful that they came but nobody was running out to help Patricia, so I did. I nudge  Kayla and say,

“I got Patricia, if you get her horse” she nods, and we climb off of our horses, tie them to the fence and we hop the fence.  I run and help Patricia up,

“You ok?” I ask,

“I’m fine! Thank you very much!” she said, in a not so friendly tone. 

“Hey, I’m just checking on you that’s all”  I say, putting my hands up in the air to show that I surrender.  

“Well, I don’t need your help!” Patricia said. 

“Why are you being so nice to me when I have treated you like dirt” she asked,

“Well I have alway been taught to treat people that way I want to be treated, and that’s exactly what I’m doing” I say,

“Even though I treated you like dirt, your being nice to me, that’s…that’s… pretty nice of you”  Patricia smiles,

“Whoa, wait did you just compliment me! Are you for reals, complimenting me?” Patricia chuckles,

“I guess I am”  Me, Patricia, and Kayla with Patricia’s horse walk out of the arena. Patricia turns towards me and says,

“Thank you for running out there to come and see if I was ok”  I smile,

“No problem” I climb back on my horse and I start to walk him around, when Mrs. Writer comes up to me. 

“ Annie, as much as I hate to say this,” she looked like she was going to puke. “ Annie, this is the last time we will have a rodeo”

“What do you mean!” I ask,

“We lost a lot of our sponsors, and the city won’t pay help to fund what we do, so after tonight we are done and the city is going to bulldoze the arena and put some bludlings here instead, and I was hopeing that you could spread the word to every one” 

“Yeah I will spread the word,” I say the last few words quietly. I turn my horse around and I prepare myself to tell my friends the bad news. I walk my horse to my friends,

“Hey, guys can I talk to you for and sec?”  apparently my facial expression had said a lot because Kayla asked,

“Ann, is something wrong?” But before I could tell them the bad news, I was called out to go make my run.

“Annie Smith, your up” I go in and I make my run, when I get out I tell my friends,

“Hey, can we go to the warm up area so I can cool my horse off and I need to tell you something. As we walk I take a shaky breath, how could I tell my friends, there is no way I can break it to them gently this is what we do,  this is what a lot of the kids did for fun. This was the only time I could see my friends, because I didn’t go to public school, I was homeschooled.

“Guys, this will be our last rodeo,” I was scared to look at my friends, but I did. There was a look of shock and sadness in my friend’s eyes.

“What do you mean?” Kayla said,

“I mean, we lost our sponsors and the city is not going to found our association, the city is going to bulldoze the arena, and put some buildings here instead and Mrs. Writer wants us to spread the word” 

“Is there any way we can save the arena?” Kayla asked,

“Not unless you you have a bunch of money hidden somewhere” I said,

“How much money?” she asked, 

“Enough to keep funding our rodeo association” I look over to Shawn, he looks like he is going to throw up.

“Shawn, you ok?”      

“Yeah, I… I had a  rich grandma pass away and she left all her money to me,” 

“I’m sorry that your grandma passed away” I say, 

“Annie!” he said,

“What?” I asked,

“I have enough money to save the arena! Where’s Mrs. Writer, we have to let her know!” 

“I see her! She is heading towards her truck, guys we have to hurry or else we will never catch her!” Kayla said. We turn our horses around and we all take of in a fast lope over to Mrs. Writer. She coughs and waves her hand to clear all of the dust away. 

“What’s that meaning of this?” she said,

“Shawn has something to say to you!” I say,

“I have enough money to keep funding the rodeo association” Shawn said,

“That’s perfect! Now we can keep putting on these rodeos” Mrs. Writer said. 

There were three miracles that had happened that week,

Miracle one: I got my new horses,

Miracle two: Patrcica turned out to be nice,

Miracle three: We saved the arena! 

And I couldn’t be more thankful for all three of the miracles.