Thud. Stephanie Ducharme’s back hit the hard dirt of the riding ring. She sat upright, spitting out mouthfuls of dirt. The hot Kentucky sun bore into her hazel colored eyes. She stood up and heard her mother calling anxiously to her. Stephanie spotted her horse, Nightmare, who was trying to avoid being caught by Marie Ducharme.

    "Are you all right, Steph?" Marie asked as she came over to where Stephanie was standing. She worriedly scanned her daughter with crisp gray eyes. "You took quite a fall just then."

    "I’m fine," Stephanie replied as she brushed herself off. She pushed a lock of golden-brown hair behind an ear. "But what’s wrong with Nightmare all of the sudden?"

    "I’m not sure yet," said Marie, deep in thought. "But I don’t like it. I want you to take him back to the barn and untack." Her mother eyed Stephanie. "Then you should head up to the house and get cleaned up." She held out the bay horse’s reins to her. The big gelding made the two people look petite, even though they both were quite tall. "Now move along," Marie said impatiently. "I have to go feed the rest of the horses."

    Stephanie sighed as she took the reins from her mother and turned towards the barn. The sun danced off of Nightmare’s clean, sleek coat and onto the girl’s freckled face. Stephanie smiled slightly as she passed the pastures filled with horses, who were contentedly grazing grass. She knew she was very lucky to be living at Willowcreek Stables, her parent’s hunter/jumper training facility, with the luscious rolling hills which holds the blended colors of the sunset each night.

    When she reached the cool, dark barn, Julie, the barn’s stable hand, immediately appeared in front of her. "Here, I’ll take him," Julie offered as she took the horse from Stephanie. "You go and clean up. You’re a mess."

    "Okay, thanks," Stephanie said before she turned and walked towards the house.

    Stephanie opened the old screen door to the farmhouse, and it creaked shut behind her. She started to walk up the hardwood stairs when she heard a mumble of voices in the living room. She had no reason to think twice about it until she heard her and Nightmare’s names, in addition to the word "sell". She quickly backtracked down and joined her parents’ conversation.

    "Hi, Steph," said Stephanie’s father, Brian, who was nervously running his hand through his short brown hair. He was an excellent horseback rider, once even riding in the Rolex on his magnificent dapple gray horse, Vanilla Sky. The Rolex is one of the biggest horseshow competitions in the United States. 

"Your mother and I have something to tell you." Brian said tentatively. 

    "Yes," joined  Marie. "The thing is, we don’t have the time to train any of the horses that we own ourselves. We need paying customers to keep this place up and running." She gestured towards the barns with the peeling paint and scattered hay.

    "I know that," replied Stephanie in an annoyed tone. "So why are you telling me this?"

    "Honey, your mother and I are afraid that we might have to sell Nightmare," her father blurted out quickly. "We think that if he stays in the condition he’s in at the moment, we won’t be able to re-train him as a jumper. And there’s no way we can possibly afford to keep him as a pleasure horse. It leaves no option to us but to sell him." The color drained from his face.

    A look of horror and astonishment swept across Stephanie’s face as if she had been slapped. "What are you talking about?" she asked them, looking from one parent to another with fiery passion in her eyes. Marie shot a hard look at Brian before continuing.

    "You have two days to get him back to normal. Then, if he’s not better, we will be forced to put him up for sale," she told Stephanie. "And I think I even have a buyer," she added.

    "Who?" Stephanie asked, still furious at what her parents deciding what to do with her horse.

    "Ashley Bouvia. I heard she was looking for a horse. When I saw her mother at the grocery store yesterday. We talked, and she said that Ashley would have no real intentions to show or take lessons. Plus they’re offering a lot of money," said Marie, searching for a look of interest on Stephanie’s face. Ashley was a very pretty, rich, but nasty little girl. She seemed to always get what she wanted, and had always admired Nightmare for his grace and talent. Stephanie knew she would never give Nightmare up to a girl like her.

    "No!" Stephanie finally yelled. "I’m not going to let you do this!" And with that she stomped up the stairs, went into her bedroom and slammed the door. You could tell that she was never going to back down.

    The next day of school droned by. When Stephanie finally got home, she immediately went to the barn. She grabbed Nightmare from his stall and practically threw his tack on. She buckled her helmet strap and led him from the barn, spurs in hand. She never had to use spurs on him before, but she knew today she just might. She was determined to make her horse better. She mounted and rode to the ring. She quickly warmed up before setting up a small cross-rail. She turned him towards it and felt him hesitate. She gave him a firm kick with the spurs. Nightmare cat-jumped over the poles like they were snakes, trying to snatch his feet up. He tried to halt.

    "Get up," Stephanie spat through clenched teeth. He paid no attention to her. She spurred him again and clucked her tongue. He lazily responded to her. They went on like this for an hour, until Nightmare was too tired to fight her and started to jump more willingly. She stroked his neck in praise.

    "Yes, that’s good," she told him. Stephanie worked him more and more under the burning sun until she finally called it a day and went inside. She told her parents about her success.

    "He’s doing great," she told them excitedly. "After just a little work over some small cross-rails, I got him to get around a course with the big stuff, including the roll-top." A roll top was a half-barrel shaped jump with a green covering, which can be very scary for some horses. She hesitated. "Since he’s getting better, does this mean I can keep him?" Stephanie's eyes gleamed with hope.

    Stephanie’s mother said nothing for a moment. "Alright," Marie sighed after what seemed to be the longest minute in Stephanie’s life. The girl practically jumped ten feet into the air with joy.

    "Oh, thank you so much!" Stephanie ran out of the house and headed towards the barn. When she reached Nightmare’s stall the horse nickered a happy greeting to her. "Good boy," she crooned. "You’ll always be mine!" He neighed as if he understood perfectly. "Now," Stephanie told him, "Let’s go for another ride."