Green Earth

GREEN EARTH

Heya! I’m Candy.

 I’m a Chestnut, with a white mane and tail and I live in Green Earth Riding school, Pondicherry, India! Oh, Come on, obviously I’m a horse, don’t be silly! So, want to know more? Well, I’ll tell you an interesting story, or maybe some interesting stories, but for that, you have to meet our gang. So, let me tell you about Green Earth. It’s owned by Jackie Lanes, she’s Swiss, and she’s won the National Dressage competition of India on her horse, Caliph, who’s very nice, but we don’t see a lot of him- he lives separately in a special stable. Then theres Brigette, she’s a trainer from France, and owns some of the horses. Her Daughter Rita is a rider, she rides the most cunning and snooty horse in the stable, Lazark. His rider is also cunning and snooty; you’ll see just how cunning and snooty, as she is in this story. There’s also an English trainer, Anne.  So those are the people around here. Then there are some of my buddies’ owners, some of the horses here are owned by other people, but stay here and are taken care of by the people here, and their owners come only to ride them and sometimes give them treats like sugar and carrots, and only the owners can ride them. I’m not privately owned though, I’m a school horse, I belong to Jackie, and anyone can ride me. I was born here, so I’m one of the oldest horses around. 

So let’s get going, to my buddies. There are 36 horses in Green Earth, and the stables are square, with the saddle and changing rooms in the middle, so six horses per side. I live at the end of one, so on my left are the brothers, Dollar and Euro, my best mates. Dollar is a bay; dark brown, almost black with a black mane and tail, and a white star on his forehead, and his left hind sock is white. His owner is Devika, she and her dad come every Sunday and Thursday, and Dollar sure looks forward to them, mainly for the treats! Euro is the same as Dollar, but with no star, and his right front sock is white! His owner is Isha, she comes every Thursday and sometimes Saturday. Next to them is Wet Wicket, the only horse in the stable who loves getting wet.  He’s a bay with a black mane and tail, and a black star on his forehead. He’s not owned by Shruti , but is almost always ridden by her. His best mate is Magic, aChestnut like me with a black mane and tail and a white star on his forehead. He’s the most stubborn horse in the stable, but the only rider he likes is Alex. He loves jumping with Alex. Then there’s the last horse on this side, the beautiful Zara Zara, who’s twin is next to her, Zindagi, but on the next side.  They are both identical, Black with white in places, and the same Black and white streaked tails. The only difference is Zara Zara is darker and Zindagi is a little lighter. Then the last member of our gang, Estagon, whom everyone says is the most beautiful horse in the stable. He’s pure white with a white mane and tail, he’s a great dressage horse, he can do the side trot an everything! So, now you know the gang. 

Oh, also, you should know the Rita’s sidekicks, Caroline and Cathleen. They both are from France and go to Rita’s school. Caroline rides Nuclear, he’s as snooty as Lazark, and Cathleen rides Rocket, Nuclear’s brother. Nuclear and rocket are grey and have black socks and white manes and tails, but Nuclear has a Black star and Rocket has a white star. So now, finally, we begin the story…

 The gang was chomping grass in a peaceful place in the Lake Grazing ground, far away from everyone else.

 “So, tomorrow’s the competition. That Lazark reckons that Rita’s going to win the fun round for kids again! The nerve! Isha and Devika are much better at canter, she bounces in her seat!” snorted Euro.

 “And he’s always going on about the fact that he’s taller than all of us!” said Magic. 

“But, listen to this- I know the plan for the fun races- First the rider has to trot over poles and go around barrels, then they have to- this is the funniest bit- eat a piece of biscuit which will be hung on a string,  still seated on their horse! Then they dismount, do the activities, then mount again, and go as fast as possible past the finish line- even canter! Now do you get how Lazark’s going to lose?” said Wet Wicket. We were puzzled. 

“How, WW? That makes no sense!” said Zara Zara.

 WW grinned. “Oh yes it does. You see, the contestants will be timed, and whoever does it fastest, wins the first prize, then the second fastest, gets the second prize. And so everyone will canter past the finish line, right? And Rita bounces in canter, so he does not like canter, and so he will probably do a fast trot- get it? It will slow him down. And then comes the  biscuit part. As he is tall, Rita will take time leaning back or lying down on Lazark to get the biscuit, as she will be too high to get the biscuit if she sits normally. But, as Lazark himself says, we are shorter- So, we will take less time and win the prizes. Good, eh?” he finished, out of breath, and started on some grass

.

 “Good one, WW. Now this will be fine as long as that Rita doesn’t try any tricks. Who’s going to be riding you, Candy? I’m being ridden by Tara.” Asked Zara Zara. 

“Me? Oh, I think it’s Tasha.” I said vaguely. 

And so we continued chomping grass and playing tag till they took us back to Green Earth. We were pretty confident that one of us, atleast, would win the next day.

The next day, Isha, Devika and Shruti arrived. Rita also walked in with Cathleen and Caroline, and her brother, Pinkesh, who was always eating something. Today it was a packet of chips.

“I’m going to eat the low biscuits, and we don’t even have to lean back on our horses to get the biscuits!” said Isha. 

“Hey, you lot? Don’t you know? The lower ones are for the kids on ponies, and you’ll have to try for the higher ones, maybe stand on your teeny toes if your little horses are too short! Right Pinkesh?” said Rita.

 “ Umm…. Yeah. Whatever you say, Rita!” said Pinkesh, staring into his packet. Devika and Isha looked at each other. 

“Oh god, now what?” sighed Devika. 

“Whatever. We’ll manage. Maybe Dollar and Euro will eat them for us!” joked Isha.  I looked at WW, who looked angry. 

“That Rita’s lying! There was no such rule when Anne was reading out the rules to Brigette yesterday when I heard!” he hissed.

“Now what? Devika, Isha and Shruti are going to be trying for the bigger ones, we’ll lose, as they are the first in the line, so they can’t even watch the people ahead!” groaned Dollar.

 “Oh no. But at least Tara and Tasha will win something?” said Estagon. 

“No, Devika and Isha will probably tell them too, or Isha will!” sighed Euro. 

“Now what are we going to do ??”,moaned Magic. 

“Hello, young horses. I couldn’t help hearing your conversation, and I believe I have a solution.” Said a voice, And a stallion whiter than Estagon and more beautiful than Zara Zara and Zindagi, stepped in front of our stalls. It was Caliph.

“Hello, sir. You’re my hero, I’ve heard so much about you.” Said Dollar.

“An honor to meet you young folks. I hope you are participating in dressage and will live up to the name of Green Earth?” smiled Caliph.

“Oh, yes sir. A-At least I believe we are.” Said WW. 

“So, to the problem. The solution was in your owners’ conversation. Think about it.” He said calmly. 

I could tell Dollar was really thinking hard because he was stamping his hooves, Euro appeared to be gazing into space, Magic was flicking his tail back and forth and Zara Zara and Zindagi were pacing their stalls. Finally, WW spoke. 

“Sir, I think none of us know. Would you tell us?” Caliph looked around.

“ Fine. Do you remember, Isha said, “Maybe Dollar and Euro will eat them  for us?” So, you follow their advice. Simple.” Said Caliph.

“Y-You mean, s-s-sir, that you want us to eat the biscuit?” said Dollar unbelievingly. 

“Why, yes.” Was Caliph’s simple reply as he trotted off, then he turned. 

“Good Luck, youngsters! Beat the rival riding schools and live up to Green Earth’s name.” And he walked back towards his special stable. 

That afternoon, we were all nervous. Euro and Isha were first in line. Euro winked at us. 

“Hope the plan works!” he winked as he trotted into the Ring. 

When they reached the Biscuit rope, we all held our breaths. But, no one noticed him and not Isha eating the Biscuit! All they saw was him bucking. Isha saw and just pretended to munch on something, and the crowd was fooled. Devika caught on and let Dollar do the same thing. Soon all of us had finished, I felt, very well. And then it was snooty Lazark and  Rita’s turn. Lazark had seen us, and bucked up like us, but as I told you earlier, Rita wasn’t as good a rider as Devika or Isha and Shruti, so she fell off but Lazark ate the biscuit. The crowd saw him eating the biscuit, too! So Rita had to really race through the rest, but even I have to say, she did pretty well. Devika and Isha were still worried about the fact that she might beat them. Rita came up after the competition, towards us. 

“My mom knows the results, but she can’t tell you what they are till the announcement. The fun prize has gone to… well, I won’t say!”  she said with a smirk . 

She looked at Pinkesh, who was now clutching a bag of nachos. He was too busy eating, Finally Cathleen nudged him. 

“What? I’m not giving you any nachos if that’s- 

“You idiot, what are you supposed to say?” whispered Rita, but we horses have good hearing, I heard. Pinkesh looked up. 

“Oh, Yeah. Mum said it’s Rita who’s won.” He said, and went back to his nachos. Isha caught Pinkesh by the collar. 

“Which Prize? In what section?” she asked him. 

“Umm… The…” he said uncertainly. 

“Fun, stupid!” whispered Rita. “Oh. Fun!” he said. 

“And what do you do in the Fun competition?” asked Devika. 

“Umm.. Eat? Because I think that’s the most fun thing ever… You can eat all you want! That’s it, right?” he said confidently. 

Devika and Isha started to giggle. Rita pulled him away. 

“Huh! She’s lying! She is- of course she can’t have won.” Said Devika, slightly uncertainly, as if to assure herself. Then Anne went on Stage and took the mike. 

“And the Winners for the Intermediate Dressage competition are Shaira Sharma, Green Earth 1st  , Mina Bhatt, Chennai Central, 2nd, Asha Salodia, Bangalore Official, 3rd . Beginner’s Dressage- Liza Fulton……..” she went on, handing a gold medal and a gift to 1st, A silver medal and a gift to  2nd , and just a bronze medal to 3rd.  Rita won 2nd in the Beginner’s Jumping, for which even Isha, Devika and Shruti cheered, as she was the only competitor for Green Earth in that section. Then, the Fun Section was announced. First the adults fun section was announced. When the Kid’s section came, Jackie took the mike. 

“This section had many excellent competitors. So, we have decided, that as there were too many good riders to change the number of prizes. We have changed the parameters you were marked on, making it easier for us to decide the winners.” She said looking around at all the kids. 

“So, let me tell you. In this section, we give awards to……” That five seconds for which she paused were tense. So tense you could feel the pressure in the air - even us horses! Caliph trotted up behind the stage, too. He smiled knowingly at us. 

“…ALL OF YOU!!! We decided that all of you were extremely good. However-” Jackie was drowned out in the cheers of what seemed like a thousand kids, all shouting, yelling, whistling, clapping, jumping, cheering, hugging each other- The usual stuff people do when they are happy- also known as going mad with happiness, which certainly fits what happened there. Isha, Devika and Shruti were jumping, cheering, screaming, and we horses couldn’t stop smiling. Caliph looked happy. He came a bit towards us. Rita, Caroline and Cathleen were the only ones simply standing there, looking slightly disappointed. Even Jackie stopped, as she could not be heard any more, and she started smiling. Brigette and Anne gave her thumbs ups, and the Chennai Central and Bangalore Official trainers were grinning. Jackie’s eyes looked a little wet .

“ATTENTION!” she fnally said after about 5 minutes of the hullabaloo. 

Everyone turned back to her. 

“However, We would like to give some Honorable mentions- The first being Isha Srivastav, Green Earth !”

 Isha, blushing, went up on stage for her certificate. Euro was stamping his hooves. 

“Next, Rita Shastri, Green Earthe, who managed the time limit though she fell off her horse at the 3rd obstacle!” and so Rita walked up on stage. Lazark smirked, too. 

“Masha Mandela, Chennai Central!” and a girl walked up on stage.

“Devika Vajpai, Green Earth!” Devika went up on stage, blushing. Dollar was stamping his hooves like Euro now. 

“Laura Olster, Bangalore Official!” And another girl, whom I recognized as the one in line behind Shruti, walked on stage. 

“Tasha Ruhia, Green Earth!” and my rider walked on stage. 

“Shruti Rathodia, Green Earth!” And WW Reared up in joy! 

The next day, we all ended up back in the orchard. 

“That was good, eh?” grinned Estagon.

“Yeah, and we beat Lazark, kind of, and it was-“

 “No, I was talking about the grass!” said Estagon, interrupting Euro. Everyone grinned. “But seriously, it was-“

“Fantastic!” 

“Awesome!” 

“Great!” 

“Wicked!” and half a dozen other exclamations of delight interrupted Dollar! And yes, our adventure, at least by horse standards, was all those things and more!