Beau's Journal

[Beau]

Photo by Olena Shmahalo on Unsplash 

On top of a worn wooden desk in a narrow attic office lies a leather-bound notebook, embossed with a rearing horse in silhouette. It almost looks out of place, an expensive gift in a tired old farm house. Yet it is clearly starting to get use, as the edges are becoming rubbed and the tie that holds it closed is loose, as if forgotten.

The room smells like leather and ink, like sun-baked hay and vanilla.

Surely Beau wouldn't mind if you took a small peek...

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[Beau]

Spring, SY17

I can't believe it. omg, my hands were shaking when I finally picked up my pen! It's so hard to put my thoughts into words -

OK, so. At Christmas, Dad told me that he was handing over the farm to me!! - well not quite. Actually he was more like 'Sorry you don't have a wrapped present this year, Beau,' and I asked why and he said I was actually inside the present. Like an idiot it took a while for me to guess around his clues and then be like... wait. The FARM? he nodded.

THE FARM.

Actually OK, it's a little soon to take on ALL that responsibility just yet. But he said he was going to start training me on actually running the business since I'd been studying so hard on my own. I was excited but then I didn't believe him. Not until he gave me access to the business accounts. He would NEVER do that if he didn't trust me and expect me to take over.

Anyway a couple of months have gone by now I guess but today we were sitting down to lunch together and as we were talking about the state of the farm I said, you know Dad, I'm going to add horses to the farm. He said he knew, and oh, that reminded him of something. He got up and walked off to his bedroom, and came back a few minutes later and placed a business card on the table in front of me.

Black Ridge Percherons.

"An old friend of mine runs the place and has some mares getting ready to foal this season. Go down and meet her. You'll get your pick of the litter. Or, well, whatever you horse folk call it."

I

AM

GETTING

A

HORSE!!!!

I'm going tomorrow. I can't sleep I can't I can't!!

but at least now I FINALLY have a reason to use this pretty journal. . . because.

I. AM. GETTING. A. HORSE.

Word Count: 336 ⁘

[Beau]

Spring, SY17 (Continued)

OK I am so exhausted but I'll kick myself in the future if I don't write down what happened today.

I drove out and met Anna early in the AM - she's dad's friend, the one that runs Black Ridge. She's such a sweet, plump lady - I bet if she'd been around when I was a kid I would have called her aunt. They're almost an hour drive down south where the weather's drier but still gets enough rain to keep forage growing most of the year. It's a pretty simple place - nothing fancy like you see in those magazines - but that's because they're dedicated to the working horse, not some fancy show horses who turn their nose up and run the second they see a tarp. 20 stalls, but some of them sit empty just in case they're needed.

Dad apparently had told her a lot about me - how I'd been horse crazy since I was old enough to stumble over to a little rocking horse he'd built me (I remember that!!) and how I'd read and looked through all our old family notes and pictures from the teams we used to have back when. Sure I figured he'd told her that, but then she told me he'd also gone into how much I'd been studying horses, going to horse shows, rodeos, and auctions, all while auditing ag classes at the college. She said "Your dad's mighty proud of you, Beau - and he thinks that if anyone can bring horses back to Buckthorn without running the farm to ruin, it's you."

Took me ever ounce of willpower not to tear up then. Might be a bit now.

Anyway - she and dad figured that the best way to get me started is to learn the whole process, from foaling on. I absolutely LOVE that - I mean it'd be really cool to just get a horse right now, but a horse that I helped raise? That taught me how to be a good horseman? OMG it's just - so cool. She's got four mares coming ready to foal soon, though one of the foals is promised to someone already. The other three though I can pick from, though she told me 'take some time, don't just claim the first wet set of legs.' EEEK.

So here's the long and short of the deal - after spending a few hours out there touring the place, getting to know folks and horses - I've gotta split my time every day. I need to spend two to four hours a day out at the stables helping out and learning, and the rest I've gotta spend with dad training how to run the farm. It's gonna be hard for sure - but there's no way in hell I'm going to miss a single day.

Which means I  need to sleep, like, now. I wonder if it'll be a filly or a colt that catches my heart...

Word Count: 492 ⁘