The field trip that had been planned for the following day had been intercepted by a real emergency call. Just when Bella had retired to her room for the night, there was an announcement over the intercom, calling certain interns, Bella included, to the front entrance. In no time, the selected interns and team members loaded several items into a couple of pick-up trucks and piled into the vehicles. Adrenaline was like a drug. Bella couldn’t feel exhaustion nor pain even as the rope around her waist tightened. She was standing just in front of a mass of boulders in the river, knee deep in rushing rapids. A colt had somehow gotten himself caught between the boulders, and after the rescuers managed to get his leg free, he’d flailed out of their grip and into the strong current. “Careful!” one of the rescuers called out to Bella as she handed the rope to Seymour. He was also anchored with a rope around his waist and it took him a great deal of strength not to get washed away by the strong currents. While Seymour attempted to get the lasso around the colt’s torso, the creature tried to buck free. Logs were flowing rapidly past Seymour and the colt. They had to get him out fast before he was even more badly injured. The rest of the team were busy laying down plywood and covering the plywood with tarp to make some sort of ramp to pull the colt to safety. With teamwork, they all managed to pull the small horse back onto the bank of the river. He was in pretty bad shape and his leg was definitely broken. Bella frowned at the condition of the colt. She hoped with everything she had that they wouldn’t decide to euthanize the creature. He was young; he would heal. “Isabella,” said Seymour as the colt bucked and tried to escape, even with only three working legs. He’d seen Bella work with the animals on the farm and had taken to calling her the Animal Whisperer. Bella found it quite amusing, but in this situation, she hoped to have luck on her side. “Hey,” she said, keeping low as she moved towards the colt. “It’s alright. We’re not here to harm you. I promise. These nice people, as invasive and annoying as they may seem. They’re just here to help.” The colt actually seemed to be listening. Or maybe he was just waiting for the right opportunity to run off. Bella reached into her pocket, pulling out a couple of sugar cubes and offering it to the colt. The colt was shaky on his feet and it was obvious that he was malnourished. Who knew what he’d been through. Abandoned by her herd possibly. Or maybe she just wandered too far away from them. “Believe it or not, I know just how you feel… Yeah… That’s a good boy,” said Bella. The colt took the sugar cube and the team members took the opportunity to drape him in another tarp. He needed to be dried and kept warm. Despite the warm summer, the water was cold and it seemed he’d been in the water for quite some time. Hours passed before they were able to get the young horse lifted into the rescue truck and back to the ranch. Bella was beyond exhausted by the time she got back to her room. Her roommate was chatting endlessly, excited about this rescue opportunity, when all Bella wanted to do was take a shower, nurse her achy leg and climb into bed. There were just a couple of days left of this trip, but Bella felt satisfied and ready to go home. As she climbed into bed that night, she remembered to send a text to Belie, telling her she’d call tomorrow. Then her final text was sent to Nathan with a picture attached. Guess who helped save a colt’s life today. xD Super rewarding but super exhausted. Tired. Leg hurts. Just a few more days… Sweet dreams! As she drifted off, she couldn’t help but think: I can definitely see myself doing this for the rest of my life.
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Isabella Kaylee DwyerWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. Archives
December 2017
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