Gilt Sparrows - a Fifty Foal Challenge
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Life among the horses didn't slow down for celebration though. Sundance needed training, and Wolfe had to be assimilated with the others. Electrum, of course, was quite happy to welcome a new mare.
Sundance could practically fly - clearly she had inherited a great deal of talent.
But with a new pair of hands around the barn, there was time for some recreation. The Zenyattas now had a dozen snow men to race around, and someone was clearly up to something in the igloo at the winter festival!
Electrum was taking it easy for now; the snow was preventing many competitors from reaching the EC, so the races and jumping were cancelled. And there was always the new mare to court.
At last the young mare was fully trained, and Katie rode her down to the EC to sell. Interest in Sundance was very high, and after some spirited bidding she sold for $11,788. Katie was sad to see her go, but that was, after all part of the job. Sundance would certainly be well cared for.
Her mother's tale had an unusual ending: a few days after Bill and Wolfe arrived, Katie noticed a young woman leaning on the fence. She was watching Smokedance with unusual attention. She turned up again the next day, and Katie went over to speak to her. It developed that she had just returned home from college to discover that her mare - which her father had told her had died while she was in school - had actually been confiscated from him for neglect!
"I was raised by my grandmother," she explained. "My father hated his mother-in-law, and since she gave me the mare, he hated her too. When she died, we had to go live with him for a year, and I couldn't take Smokey to college the first year, because I couldn't afford to board her." She showed Katie some pictures that were clearly Smokedance - and clearly in excellent condition. "As soon as I could, I got a job at a stable near campus and made arrangements to work for board, but when I called home to tell Dad I was coming to get Smokey, he told me she was dead. I went straight home, but couldn't find any recent signs of her in the barn there. It turns out, he stashed her in an abandoned field, and didn't bother to provide hay or grain when the grass ran out. I only just learned a blue roan mare was confiscated by Animal Control and had been fostered out with you. So I came to see if it might be Smokey." She added wistfully, "She does look very happy here."
After some discussion with Animal Control, a deal was worked out where Clara Turner would be allowed to reclaim her mare, as long as she repaid a percentage of the costs accrued by Katie for Smokedance's care. Since Smokedance had been clearly delighted to see Clara, and Katie needed room for a new mare, she agreed to the terms. She actually charged the young woman only a few thousand dollars of the actual costs, but after several visits to the mare's new home, she was certain that she would not be neglected again.
Sundance could practically fly - clearly she had inherited a great deal of talent.
But with a new pair of hands around the barn, there was time for some recreation. The Zenyattas now had a dozen snow men to race around, and someone was clearly up to something in the igloo at the winter festival!
Electrum was taking it easy for now; the snow was preventing many competitors from reaching the EC, so the races and jumping were cancelled. And there was always the new mare to court.
At last the young mare was fully trained, and Katie rode her down to the EC to sell. Interest in Sundance was very high, and after some spirited bidding she sold for $11,788. Katie was sad to see her go, but that was, after all part of the job. Sundance would certainly be well cared for.
Her mother's tale had an unusual ending: a few days after Bill and Wolfe arrived, Katie noticed a young woman leaning on the fence. She was watching Smokedance with unusual attention. She turned up again the next day, and Katie went over to speak to her. It developed that she had just returned home from college to discover that her mare - which her father had told her had died while she was in school - had actually been confiscated from him for neglect!
"I was raised by my grandmother," she explained. "My father hated his mother-in-law, and since she gave me the mare, he hated her too. When she died, we had to go live with him for a year, and I couldn't take Smokey to college the first year, because I couldn't afford to board her." She showed Katie some pictures that were clearly Smokedance - and clearly in excellent condition. "As soon as I could, I got a job at a stable near campus and made arrangements to work for board, but when I called home to tell Dad I was coming to get Smokey, he told me she was dead. I went straight home, but couldn't find any recent signs of her in the barn there. It turns out, he stashed her in an abandoned field, and didn't bother to provide hay or grain when the grass ran out. I only just learned a blue roan mare was confiscated by Animal Control and had been fostered out with you. So I came to see if it might be Smokey." She added wistfully, "She does look very happy here."
After some discussion with Animal Control, a deal was worked out where Clara Turner would be allowed to reclaim her mare, as long as she repaid a percentage of the costs accrued by Katie for Smokedance's care. Since Smokedance had been clearly delighted to see Clara, and Katie needed room for a new mare, she agreed to the terms. She actually charged the young woman only a few thousand dollars of the actual costs, but after several visits to the mare's new home, she was certain that she would not be neglected again.
