Emma lived on a horse farm; she loved every minute as she loved riding horses.
She was only ten years old, but she knew a lot about horses as she always went with her father to help him work.
She leant at an early age that it you have animals you have to look after them every day, as they would just get sick and die if they were left or forgotten.
This made Emma a wonderful worker and all she wanted was her own horse.
Horses are very expensive so her father used to let them grow up and then sell them so that he could breed new horses and sell again.
One day a little foul was born and this horse was very weak. Emma asked her father what was going to happen to this horse.
He said that this horse will never be a strong horse so he will keep it and if Emma looked after it she could have this horse.
She was so happy, and started looking after this foal.
A foul is a horse that is born and is younger than a year, and will later become a colt or a mare after she is two years old.
When a foal becomes a year old, it is called a yearling.
A young male horse is called a colt and a young female horse is called a filly.
This will tell us if it is male or female, but until the age of one year she will be a yearling.
Emma looked after this baby of hers like you will not believe as she so badly wanted her own horse.
She called the foal Beauty as this was the most beautiful foal she had ever seen.
This is just like parents feel about their children; they are so special, just because they are yours. Emma woke up early every morning and after having breakfast and before going to school she use to run down to see Beauty.
One day when she got there, the little foal did not look so good, she did not know what was wrong and she called her farther to come and have a look.
He realised that the horse was not getting enough milk from her mother and told Emma to fetch a bottle to feed Beauty and to ask her mother to call the veterinarian, as he just wanted to make sure there was not something else wrong with her.
A veterinarian is doctors who look after animals just like you have doctors who look after people.
Emma begged to stay at home that day as she was very worried about beauty. Her mother said, I will hear what the veterinarian say and when you get back from school I will tell you everything.
That was a very difficult day at school, because Emma could not think of anything else than her horse.
When she got home, her mother told her that the veterinarian said, she needs more food as she is not eating enough and this is making her sick.
From that night on Emma slept in the stall with her horse. She made a bed and her mother was not worried as it was not far from the house.
When the foal started getting better Emma was so pleased and glad that she did all the hard work as now she will have her own horse and she leant that things need to be done sometimes, and hard work will make things better for them all.
So if you want something bad enough, you have to learn to work hard for it, even earn money by helping other people like cleaning gardens, cutting grass, helping your mother this will give you pocket money to get what you really want. We cannot expect to just get and that is the end of the story, as when we grow up we have to work hard for our children and make a happy family.
Questions about what we read.
What is a baby horse called?
How long before you call it a yearling?
What is a female horse called?
What is a male horse called?
Where did Emma live?
What is a veterinarian?
