Title of Short Story: A Beautiful New Day
Word Count: 1000
Author: Stefanie LeGrande
Bio: I have been riding horses my whole life. My short story contains true bits and pieces of my actual life. I am a Registered Nurse now but was a Licensed Veterinary Technician in an n Equine practice for 10 years. I just recently received a full scholarship to obtain my Masters in Nursing Education. I do have a new daughter that I was blessed with late in life as well as a 9 year old son and a wonderful supportive husband. My background until the last few years was in reining and working cow-horse. I have been pursuing learning Classical Dressage for the last year and a half. I have fallen in love with Dressage and will continue to ride and learn for the rest of my life! Hopefully moving up the levels as money, time, great instruction and the right horses become available throughout this journey!
It was cold with a north wind as typical of an Oklahoma night. Maryann was exhausted from working overtime through the month of December and now being on foaling watch with her Dutch warmblood mare Sienna. For the past ten days she has been checking her every few hours during the night. Although exhausting work, she could barely contain her excitement at the approaching time of finally seeing her Lingh foal. As Maryann entered the barn she was greeted by soft snorts of acknowledgement from Sienna. “Hello, sweet girl.” Maryann enters Sienna’s stall and begins a careful check around Sienna’s tail base. She notes definite relaxation of the muscle tone over the past several days. “Easy, girl.” “Just let me check your bag.” Speaking quietly to her, Maryann leans down and notes that Sienna has “waxed-up” quite a bit compared to earlier in the week. Sienna, although quiet seems a little more restless than she normally is in the stall. “Ok big girl, I am going to bed down outside your stall tonight.” “You think tonight is the night you are going to give me my dream baby by Lingh?” She quietly tells the aged mare how important this Lingh baby is that she is carrying. Sienna presses her big head into Maryann as she massages behind her ears. “Ok girl, I will be right here in case you need anything.” Maryann exits the stall and settles into her cot with a blanket wrapped around her. Max the barn cat jumps up to snuggle in for some warmth. Maryann reflects about the past year and how these grand events came about.
Maryann has a great foundation of caring for her equine partner as a Licensed Veterinary Technician. She spent ten years in an equine medicine and surgery center before becoming a registered nurse. She also showed horses her whole life, mostly working-cow and reining horses. During the last three years was drawn to classical dressage. She was fortunate to grow up around true “old-time” horsemen of all disciplines. While riding working-cow horses as an amateur, she was mentored by a world class horsewoman. She was taught the fundamentals of letting a young horse mature, being soft with your hands and that it was ok to “love” your show horse, and that learning never ends when it comes to riding. The high cost of traveling and cattle fees as well as going back to school influenced the difficult decision to sell her cow horse. Another change in life brought the blessing of a daughter late in life. When Maryann was exposed to the art of dressage, she was taken by its beauty. She saw parallels to the fundamentals she was taught early on by older horsemen and women. Some of these were; training in a relaxed environment and encouraging a content horse to develop a harmonious understanding with his rider.
Lying on the cot, she thinks about how just three years ago she was pregnant surfing the internet, dreaming of riding dressage someday. She remembers watching videos of Lingh “dancing” with Edward Gal. The Valentine’s Day video his owner Karen put together actually brought tears to her eyes. Would she ever be able to ride a dressage horse like that? She chuckles as she thinks of the sweat and soreness trying to back in shape after the baby and learning a new riding discipline. Now she has this incredible “gift”, having the opportunity to breed a mare of Sienna’s background to her dream stallion, Lingh. To imagine so many hopes and dreams are on centered on this foal. Someday her young daughter will need a horse of this caliber to compete as a young rider.
Sienna begins to move around her stall. “Easy, old girl.” Maryann tells her while getting up to check her. “It’s tonight, isn’t it big girl?” Sienna settles a bit and Maryann stretches back out on the cot next to Max, who has no intention of leaving a warm spot.
Her dressage mentor, Lilly has helped bring her along as a rider as well as her equine mentor Sassy. “Sassy” is a kind Percheron mare that she bought to learn dressage. Sassy and Lilly were patient with her as she got in shape after the pregnancy. They helped get her to her first set of goals of dressage. Maryanne smiled thinking of Sassy; she is truly a good soul but is limited in her athletism. Maryanne has been able to ride a few finished horses of Lilly’s. But, the dream of owning her own had seemed far away until Lilly talked complete retirement of her graceful old mare Sienna. Maryanne thought about it for a long time before bringing up the possibility of her taking care of Sienna in her retirement. She approached Lilly discussing the extra care that Lilly needed to keep her comfortable through carrying a foal and how to keep extra weight on her. “Please, just give me one chance to breed Sienna!” Lilly appreciated Maryanne’s hard work in learning dressage on her Percheron mare and understood the lack of funding for a top quality horse. Sienna after all had almost two decades of an international show career and she would receive outstanding care for the rest of her life from Maryanne. After, much deliberation she agreed to let Maryanne breed and care for Sienna.
Maryanne has dozed off for a short bit when she heard Sienna grunting. She quietly observes the mare lying flat out. Sienna labors very little more and a foal emerges. It’s a filly! Maryann quietly enters and begins to dry the filly with towels. She is already struggling to her feet. What balance already! Sienna rises and helps lick her filly dry. Maryanne doctors the naval and carefully watches as the filly tries to nurse for several minutes. Finally the satisfying sucking sound! Maryann takes a deep breath and notices the sun rising as a beautiful new day with a bright future begins. She thinks to herself, “Thank you”.
