One sunny spring afternoon Miss White and her friend Hetty went for a lovely ride on the horses. They saddled the horses up and Miss White put her boots and spurs on so she could get Gilbey to move to the gates if she needed to. The spurs are very blunt, they just help the horse understand what you want them to do! Miss White was riding the amazing Gilbey and leading Dodge, and Hetty was riding her darling horse Midge.
The river that they had to cross was running a little bit high because of the heavy rain the night before, but the horses didn’t mind. They liked the splashing of the water on their bellies, and they knew that on the way home they would get to have a long, cool drink to quench their thirsty throats.
Up the hill the horses strode, by the top they were sweating and puffing, but they loved being out with the wind in their manes. Hetty and Miss White chattered happily, they were glad to be out riding too.
The sun was starting to go down, so they headed towards home. On the last gate, Miss White unhooked the gate and Gilbey pushed it open with his nose, then everyone walked through and both Gilbey and Dodge closed the gate with their chests, then waited for Miss White to hook the chain up again. They are such helpful horses!
It wasn’t until they were home and unsaddled, with their tummies rumbling for some food, that Miss White noticed one of her spurs was missing. The hill was so muddy that day, and they had ridden such a long way, that Miss White resigned herself to the fact that she would probably never see her spur again.
A couple of days later, Hetty put the horses out into the paddock that leads down to the river and the hill. There was plenty of green grass, and the horses were very glad to be there! They kicked up their heels and galloped around, then put their heads down to munch the delicious, juicy spring grass.
When Hetty went to bring them in the next morning, Gilbey wouldn’t come when he was called. Usually all the horses run to the gate when they see Hetty coming, but this time it was different, Gilbey wouldn’t move. He had his head down, peering at something on the ground under his nose. Hetty walked over to see what the problem was, and saw something glinting in the early morning sun. It was Miss White’s spur! Gilbey had found it, and wasn’t moving until Hetty picked it up to give back to Miss White! Hetty couldn’t believe her eyes, and when she had picked it up and put it in her pocket she gave Gilbey a scratch and he happily let her put on the halter and lead him away.
Gilbey is such a clever horse, I bet you can’t wait to read another one of his adventures!
