This has happened: Emma bought the black Arabian mare Dark Shadow, also known as Sasha, from a salesman at Goldspur Farm and is now wondering if her choosing the black horse was such a good idea. Sasha is a high-strung mare with lots of energy and she’s very strong as well. The mare broke loose from her stall the first morning and had to be corralled at the Vineyard. The baroness also told an amazing story about the statues placed around the vineyard which symbolized a horse they’d raised. 


-”Give her more leg and put her on a circle!” Chiaras voice could be heard all through the riding stable. She was a stern teacher, even though Chiara was my best friend and knew more about horses then I. Her voice echoed as I struggled with Sasha who refused to listen to even the slightest of my aids. I did my best to make her walk calmly. But no matter what I did, she kept bolting and galloped around the riding stable. I was terrified and didn’t know what to do. Tears welled up in my eyes and rolled down my cheeks. There were people on the ledgers, watching me embarrass myself.  When I passed them in uncontrolled gallop I could see Alicia standing there, laughing at me with her snarky friends.
-“Pull on the left rein and take her in on a small circle!” I could hear Chiara say again. I tried to do what she told me and yes, Sasha knew what I meant. She galloped in a small circle, still very fast, and then she jumped sideway, sending me flying into the side shoulder first. A sharp pain shot through my body and it felt as if I had broken my shoulder. Sasha bolted again and did her best to get Lion started as well, but he just stood in the middle, half asleep. He had not reacted when I crashed into the side. Chiara hurried to my side.

-“Oh my God! Are you alright?”
-“I’m fine.” I muttered and slowly stood back up. I forgot about the searing pain in the shoulder and looked for Sasha. She stood all the way down the other end of the ring and looked at me for a bit before throwing her head up and trot up to Lion.
-“Don’t worry, we’ll teach her how to behave. We just have to take it one day at the time.” Chiara smiled encouraging. I didn’t smile back as I did my best not to cry.
-“If you say so.” I whispered softly.
When we got hold of Sasha, I sat back up on her and again tried to get her to walk calmly.
-“Okay, playtime is over and it’s time to calm down.” Chara called to me as she got up on Lion. –“We’ll walk them back to the vineyard. I’ll do some research in my books and we’ll figure this out for you.” She mused and we walked out of the dressage-ring of the riding stable.
-“I really hope so! It just feels so hopeless right now. She is so strong and so difficult; I don’t know what got into me when I bought her. None of my other horses behave like this.” I sighed stately and wiped a tear from my eye. Chiara laid a hand on my hurting shoulder. I braced from the pain.
-”It will be ok! I promise you that! I’ll call you later in the evening when I find something, because all she need is some schooling, but also an assertive rider.
-“I will also look it up at the computer tonight. I’ll just feed the horses first.” I answered her and managed a pained little smile. She smiled reassuringly back at me.

The evening came in fast now during the winter season and in February the temperature often went down to -15 degrees Celsius or below. My horses were in the stable for the night and enjoyed the extra cuddles I always gave them during feeding. I stayed with Silje and just watched her eat a while. She needed a lot of feed and extra energy now as she was about three months out from giving birth to her foal. It would be so much fun to have a foal in the gang! Silje snorted at me and went back to her hay. I left the horses to themselves and made my way back to the old library and my room where I prepared a cup of tea. It was usually only tea that made me truly warm during the cold season. I stood by the window and looked to the stables, rubbing my bad shoulder and waiting for the water to come to boil. I couldn’t Sasha and my problems with her out of my mind. Would she fit in with the rest of my horses, whom were all so calm and content, whilst Sasha wanted to take the world on full speed ahead? The teapot behind me signaled that the water was ready. I turned the computer on and sat down with my steaming cup. I opened Google and started to do some research about Arabian thoroughbreds. I wanted to know more about the breed before taking on the pressing problem with Sasha and the schooling.

-”Emma? Are you in there?” I flinched awake from the desk, trying my best to understand were I was. I was in my room, I knew that much at least. It knocked on the door again and I turned around, rubbing my sleepy eyes. I flinched again as the pain in my shoulder became evident. It was worse today. I groaned and massaged it lightly.
-“Hey? Sleepyhead! You’re going to be late for the morning muck out!” Now I could make out who it was calling me. I opened the door and outside was a short girl with brown hair to her shoulders. She had a warm coat with the vineyard seal on, a vine with grapes on and in italic; Vineyard. Tight, black riding pants and sturdy winter-boots. Capucine stood in the doorway with a sandwich in her hand and said –”we’ve overslept and they’ve already started without us.” She took a bite out of her sandwich and peered into my room, noticing my computer still running and showing the Wikipedia side on Arabian thoroughbreds. 
-"You’ve better hurry up. Judy won’t like that we’re late." Capucine disappeared down the stairs and out in the cold. The door closed behind her as I stood on the stairs, watching her leave.
I wrestled on some clothes and a warm jacket and went down to the stable were the day had already began.

Almost every one of my horses was out in their paddocks and only Sasha and Danny were still in their stalls.
-”Put Sasha in with the other Arabians and put Danny in the smallest paddock, I’m planning on taking him out for a ride later on.” I told a stable hand as she went into Sashas stall. She nodded her head and fetched a very excited Sasha. I stood just outside the stall and watched how she handled the horse. She was completely calm when she put the halter on, not letting Sashas energy affect her.
Sasha followed her out to the paddock, going slightly sideways with joy of being let out. The girl disciplined the mare, telling her to walk calmly instead and Sasha complied. The other of the Arabians stood in the paddock eating hay to keep their warmth and watched how Sasha bolted, playfully bucking, overjoyed when let loose.

The girl went back into the stabled and fetched Danny.
-“I’m sorry, but I don’t know you name.” I told her as she came back.
-“It’s Linnea”, she answered and kept watching me.
-“Was she good to you? Did Sasha behave when you took her out to the paddock?” Linnea smiled.
-“Oh so that was the Sasha! Everything went fine. I also have an Arabian in the same paddock.” She said reassuringly and I smiled back shyly. –“Oh, you don’t have to worry; I’m not like Alicia Kembell. And I used to have the same problem with my horse as you do!”
-“Is that so?”  I smiled nervously, didn’t know what else to say. What kind of rumours had Alicia started about me now? Linnea and I helped each other mucking out our horses stalls, ate lunch together and headed back out to the stable. I got Danny from the paddock and started preparing him for our ride. He stood quietly as I brushed his black fur. Danny is a 7 year old Friesian horse who belonged to my sister. I promised to take care of him when she studied to become a veterinarian in Jorvik City. He is a very calm and gentle horse, and even though he’s a stallion; it didn’t pose a problem. You could do anything with him; he still would simply just stand there, enjoying the attention. But then again, Danny and I had known each other for many years. He had been in our family since he was two years old. Linnea stood in front of me, preparing her brown horse; that stood just as calmly as Danny.

As soon as we were done we headed out towards the Silverglade Village. But after that we went separate ways as I headed on to Mrs. Holdsworth, whom had invited me for dinner. I stopped Danny when the first downhill panned out and held my shoulder tightly. It hurt a lot and I felt dizzy. Danny stood completely still as I collapsed atop of his neck. I closed my eyes and focused on staying awake. I opened my eyes again when heard an approaching rider and I tried to sit back up. My vision was blurry and I tried really hard to see who was coming. Someone came riding from the Harvest Counties on a dark brown horse. My vision cleared a bit as I rubbed my eyes. The one coming walking towards me was a guy. He had a black winter-coat, thermo pants and sturdy winter-boots.
-“Hi there! Imaging bumping into you like this.” His dark voice sounded familiar, but I couldn’t quite place it for the moment as I did my best to stay in the saddle.
-“Sorry?” I answered.
-”I’m not surprised you don’t remember me, but I’m Derek Goldspur. I sold you Sasha three days ago” , he laughed and stopped next to me. I recognized his voice now and nodded slightly. My shoulder hurt really badly, but I braced myself as to not show it.
-"I thought you sounded familiar", I said, smiling.  -"But I didn’t know you stayed at Goldspurs. I haven’t seen you around before."

-"I know. Usually I live at Jorvik City, but I’ve moved here for a couple of months to sell off the rest of my horses. And since Jakob is my grandfather he offered me to stay there." He said with a smile. -"Are you heading to Moorland?" he asked.
-"Yes, i’m visiting with a friend of mine who asked me home to dinner.” I answered him and clicked softly at Danny as a signal to start walking. 
-"Oh, that’s nice, I’m also visiting with a good friend over dinner to talk old memories.”
He fell in behind me in walk. –”How is Sasha doing? Has she settled in with you?” He asked as we walked down the road to Moorland.
-“Yes, she is doing just fine. She has a couple of other Arabians to hang out with in the paddock. She runs around like crazy and seems to enjoy herself”, I smiled back at him.
-"Like always then! It’s good to know she got a good home. Sasha has had a lot of different owners before you, so I really hope you’ll keep her." He said sombrely. 
-"How come?" I asked and turned towards him. He was silent for a while and I could see he struggled with what to say.

-“Well, as you probably have noticed, she has a lot of energy. I believe it’s because of that nobody would keep her. They try their hardest, but no matter what they do it seems Sasha won’t listen to them. But during the time she has stayed with me; she has shown no such behaviour. We have done dressage and jump obstacles and I can tell she wants to make her rider happy. I can’t understand why everybody keeps giving up on her.” He finally answered.
We had just reached Moorland and rode passed Moorland stables.
-“I really hope you’ll be able to handle her. She is wonderful when she starts working with you instead of against.” He smiled and closed his eyes as he drew in the crisp winter cold.
Danny snorted and I stopped him as we came to the road to Mrs. Holdsworth.
-“Well, I’m off this way. But thank you for the talk and for telling me a bit about Sasha. It motivates me to work even harder to find the real her.” I smiled towards him. Derek was a very handsome guy. Dark eyes, black unruly hair. His hair might even be considered wild and unkempt, but it was very charming. He had high cheek-bones and dimples formed when he smiled. Scratch handsome… He was hot! So damn hot and I felt my cheeks flush. I smile shyly at him when I realised I had stared at him.

-"So, are you joining me at dinner with Mrs. Holdsworth then? She invited me too. She and I are good friends!” He laughed as he realised we were both heading towards her house. 
-"I’ve stayed at her place before the baroness made me move in at the vineyard and work for her.”
-”Well this is interesting! It looks like it will be a fun evening.” he laughed and walked towards the cottage. Mrs. Holdsworth looked out the windows and waved as she saw us approaching. I didn’t really know how to feel at the moment except that it would indeed be very interesting.