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Yankee

by Leah from Glenbrook Middle School

"Strong legs, soft hands, kind hearts" - Meadowview
Arabian Horse (http://www.exponm.com/ns/admin/calendar/EventPics/9_Th_arabian_copy.jpg)
Arabian Horse (http://www.exponm.com/ns/admin/calendar/EventPics/9_Th_arabian_copy.jpg)

Have you ever heard the saying, “Friends come from the strangest places”? I have heard it, and I believe it. I learned that heroes come from strange places too. My hero is not an actor, a friend, a sister or brother, a parent, or a family member. My hero is a horse. His name is Yankee. Yankee is my hero for a number of reasons. Yankee taught me a lot. When I first started riding him I was a beginner. Now I am an intermediate rider, and I learned a lot of my skills on him. The other reason Yankee is my hero is that he had patience.

Now as I look back upon my time riding him I realize how good he was to me. He had patience. Yankee was old, he had experience, and he probably knew every trick in the book. He was a good horse. He never tried to trick me. He never bucked, and he never tried to hurt me. He was a safe horse to ride and I love him.

Yankee was an Arabian. Arabians are a breed of horses. They are known for their great level of intelligence. Arabians have a lot of stamina, and are one of my favorite breeds. Arabians are one of the oldest horse breeds. Yankee was one of a kind.

I have ridden horses that have taught me a lot. If you asked me right now who my favorite horse was I would say Yankee. He taught me some of my basic riding skills. He made me the rider I am today. Some riders are afraid, I was never afraid of Yankee. I always knew I could trust him. What I didn’t know was the future.

I remember it vividly. One day I left the barn Yankee was at and I had no clue it would be the last time I walked through that barn. When I found out that I was going to ride at a different barn, I didn’t think about never seeing Yankee again. I was little, and I didn’t think about those things. I loved my new barn. People were nice, and I liked the horses. I remember when I found out that Yankee died. I walked into the tack shop. I saw some of my friends from Yankee’s barn. We started talking about the lesson horses. When I asked about Yankee they went silent. That’s when I knew that Yankee was dead. Yankee died of colic.

Sources

“Horse Colic”. Wikipedia. Wikipedia. 2 March 2009. 23 March 2009 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Horse_colic.

“Arabian Horse” Wikipedia. Wikipedia. 2 March 2009. 10 March 2009 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arabian_horse.

Page created on 4/6/2009 12:00:00 AM

Last edited 4/6/2009 12:00:00 AM

The beliefs, viewpoints and opinions expressed in this hero submission on the website are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the beliefs, viewpoints and opinions of The MY HERO Project and its staff.