One of Andy Deats' instructors asked his class to write a paragraph describing a horse playing with an exercise ball.Andy offered it as a writing prompt on the Codey's World forum, and this is what I wrote.
However, instead of one paragraph I changed it into several paragraphs so it's easier to read.
Todd brushed Lady and led her out of her stall and into the paddock, then he left for school. Lady went to the side where she could see Todd's younger brother playing with a friend, tossing some sort of large ball around. She had hoped for a carrot, or an apple, but the two boys ignored her so she began nibbling on the grass just inside the fence. She quivered when the ball flew past her and she turned to see it land in the grass behind her. She turned back to where the boys had been playing and whinnied to show her displeasure, but she saw them walking off toward the road.
Lady walked over to the ball. It was very large, and when she poked her nose at it she found that it was very soft. She swung her head back and knocked at the ball. It flew up into the air and landed near the other side of the paddock. She ambled over and bumped it with her nose. It rolled several feet, and she did that several times.
She attempted to pick up the ball, but her teeth slid off and she couldn't get a purchase. She stood looking at the ball for a while, then walked up to it and gently nudged it with her right front hoof. The ball bounced several times and landed closer to the center of the paddock. She did it again, and she found that depending on how she nudged the ball she could control where it went.
This was a fun game, but she tired of it after a bit. She walked back to her favorite spot under the large oak tree. It was shady most of the day, and her water bucket was there. After some time she became bored once again, and she went back to the center of the paddock and the ball.
This time she was determined to pick it up. Several tries and several failures later, the ball had landed next to the fence, against the boards. That gave Lady enough bracing to keep it from rolling away as she tried to bite it. Two tries later she was successful. Her bite caused the ball to burst, which frightened her and she ran around the paddock trying to escape from whatever monster she had released.
Finally she calmed down, and could see that the ball was now flattened and lying on the ground. She stayed across the paddock from it, and eagerly awaited Todd's return so she could return to the safety of her stall. She also decided that from now on she'd leave balls alone because they bite back.
This story and the included images are Copyright © 2010 by Colin Kelly (colinian).
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