A new Beginning

A New Beginning

By Melissa Wiggins

We often find ourselves getting close to our a pets or other special animals in our lives. We are devoted to them, and no matter how much we love them, all good things must eventually come to an end.  Think about if everything we loved stayed exactly the same.   We may get tired of them or forget to see the beauty in that one special creature.  When you do have them in your life, appreciate it, because it may be the last moment you spend together....
It was a cool February day, and it hadn’t rained in a while so I could feel the windy dry air whipping at my pale white skin.  The brown and cherry red leaves on the trees were still buried in the ground from the many weeks before.  As I waited for my mom to pick me up at school and go to the barn I thought about the first time I had gotten my brown and white paint pony, Snickers.  It was a similar day, cold and windy, but instead it was a Saturday and not a Tuesday.  Also on my mind was on Miles, a big white Connemara pony who we had gone to see the week before.  My lease with Snickers was almost up and I had to find a new pony to lease.  This was exciting, but also meant I had to send her back to her owner... A chill ran down my spine just thinking about the idea of giving up one of my greatest friends...  Miles was a magnificent pony, but he also came at a price.  My mom had told me that he was quite expensive and that we probably couldn’t get him.  It was extremely unfortunate because I knew he was the one, but I had to keep in mind that everything happens for a reason.  When I first met him, it was like we were in a movie.  We looked at each other and everything else started to blur around the white puff ball walking towards me.  I had my hands in my pockets of my navy blue riding jacket, but before I knew it my hands were out and touching Miles’s creamy white face.  He had put his big head right where my arms were and that’s when I knew he was mine.  When we rode it felt like we had been a team for a few months.  I got my first lead change with him right after the blood red jump.  I could still remember the feeling of him switching his right leg in front of his left in the air.  
    Finally my mom had come to pick me up in her silver grey Honda van.  After she asked me how my day was, I was happy to get on the highway to the barn.  The barn is my way of relieving stress after  a long day at middle school.  Whether I’m at a horse show or the barn, I always find a way to forget about everything else. I get to concentrate on the people and animals I love most, which is extremely satisfying.  I wondered how my last few rides would go on Snickers. I hoped they would be great because I wanted as many good memories of her as I could get.  As we entered the peaceful grounds of the barn, I suddenly felt a happy sensation that started in the middle of my stomach and ended with the smile on my freckled pale face.  I hopped out of the car and went into the newly dragged ring to meet my trainer Julia.  She had just finished teaching a little girl when I strode up to her.   She seemed wildly ecstatic about something but I assumed it was just that the little girl, Charlotte,  had an amazing ride.  However, when we walked into the barn it was something entirely different, something that I was blown away about, something that made me happier than I had ever been in my whole life, and that something was Miles.
I screamed in total happiness. It was him!  Miles! I couldn’t believe it!  Again it felt like I was in a dream or a movie, but I was starting to get used to this feeling.  He seemed startled by me jumping up and down in front of him.  It wasn’t until then I noticed all the people around me, Julia, my mom, Nancy, Marianna, Margot and Emma.  After they all congratulated me I took Miles out of Snicker's  stall.  He nudged me as if to say “Hi, I’m Miles. We’re gonna be a great team one day”.   After putting him in the blue cross ties I went to go get my treats and purple brushes.  I was used to brushing a white pony, so it didn’t take me long to tack up.  It was still miraculous that at every spare moment he would try to nudge me and love on me.  As I put on his martingale, I flinched, waiting for the brown ears to go back and bite me.  Snickers would bite a lot... Especially when you were putting the saddle, martingale and bridle on.  As I walked into the ring to have a lesson I still felt like I was in a different universe.  Sooner than I hoped, my brilliant ride was over.  As we walked out of the ring, I whispered in his ear “Welcome to the barn! You are here to stay.”  After untacking and putting Miles in his new stall, I watched him as he ate his hay.  He was unlike any pony I had ever met.  He was caring but mischievous and I knew right then and there he was my best friend.  Even after walking away I could feel his soft chestnut brown eyes reflecting on my back.  His eyes were another characteristic I loved about him.  Instead of regular brown eyes, his were brown but with, what looked like, millions of dust particles swimming around in his eyes.  When I looked up I saw directly in front of me, Snickers.  As she was watching me I felt like someone was stabbing me in the heart.  I could tell she felt replaced, but I needed to move on and she needed to find another girl to teach.  She had taught me everything she could and it was time to let her go, and Miles made me realize this.  It would be selfish to keep her when someone else could learn from her.  
         I hope I touched Snickers’ life as much as she touched mine.  I will never forget her for as long as I live, but it’s time for me to move on.  There are things that we don’t want to happen but have to accept, things we don’t want to know but have to learn, and animals we can’t live without, but have to let go.  It was a new beginning and a new end, but so often we are so focused on the door that was just closed we forget to see the one that was just opened for us.