Starshine Ranch (A horse sanctuary)

 

One day my neighbor, Mrs. Packard, a long-time friend of my grandma asked me over for tea. When I explained my situation with needing a job, she gave me some wonderful information about a local program that was being organized by the village mayor Mr, Franklin..She said it sounded like the perfect solution for me, and I was filled with so much hope. My sweet neighbor even called the mayor for me to arrange a meeting with him later that afternoon! 

 So I saddled up Daisy and met with Mayor Franklin. After telling him the story of how my grandmother left her cottage to me, and how Daisy came to live with me, he simply nodded and smiled and then went on to reminiscence about my grandma. He looked off into the distance and smiled fondly remembering her. It turned out, the two of them were quite the couple in high school back in the day!  But then my grandma married someone else because Mr. Franklin had made the terrible mistake of cheating on her while they were dating. At first upon hearing this story, my heart sank with dread as I was certain this would negatively affect my chances of getting help with a job from the mayor now!

But then he looked over towards Daisy who stood there with her green puppy-dog eyes, doing her best to charm the old man..or so it seemed, and the mayor suddenly busted out laughing as he explained how he too had found one of these mysterious Jorvik Wild horses when he was a young lad.

A flicker of sadness then crossed his eyes as he dabbed at a single tear..He shared how he had experienced a bond like no other with that horse so long ago..a bond that never died, even long past the death of the beloved horse.

 

And just like that, he hurried into his office and drew up all the necessary paperwork to hire me to work at the Starshine Rescue Ranch, It was a temporary job, but the money was good. I had to fill in for the owner's daughter who was leaving to go on a promotional tour for her new album. I'm not too familiar with the local celebrity, Lisa Peterson, but I have heard one of her songs playing at the Jorvik Mall recently. She's very talented!

 

The only thing I had to do was to agree to care for the horses (with help from local volunteers). All expenses would be paid for by the village of Firgrove, and it's wealthy investors from around Jorvik.

 

My first day on the job and I must get twelve new horses settled into the stable!

 Soon after settling into my new job, we got the first horses delivered from a dire situation where an entire herd had been run off by an oil drilling company. It appeared drilling on land previously occupied by horses was more important than leaving the horses be..so after a kind trainer worked with the herd, he sent them our way.

It turned out the herd were all American Paint horses. There were twelve of them.. It was determined later on when the vet came out to examine the herd that all the horses were in very good health, which was such a relief! Looking at this herd of multi-colored and patterned coats I realized just how colorful the stable was now!
 

Although the job was exhausting I really loved working with the horses and learning so much! On our last day, Vision awoke from the branch she was napping on to fly over my head as if to tell me she enjoyed her days spent playing with the chickens and teasing the poor old cat on the porch..but It was time to saddle up Daisy and head back to the cottage. I promised me and Daisy would come by once in awhile to lend a hand and a hoof when extra help was needed.  I would miss coming here to work everyday though.