Dear Pandas,

Today Ella’s going to tell you the last part of our spine-tingling stall story. Do you already have an idea whose voice we heard coming from the shadows? No? That’s okay too!

Surely, you have some idea? Alright, you Pandas sit back and grab a tea. I will tell you what happened. As you know, the horribly hot-headed horse hand, Horsey, threw us out of the pony stalls in a tizzy, yelling after us that we would never be able to ride the Shasan horses. With heavy hearts (which were, incidentally, still beating at a galloping pace from the terror of the whole situation), we headed home. We stepped outside and breathed a deep breath of the cool air. Suddenly, mid-breath, we heard a deep voice from the shadows: “Well, well, well…you two sure give up quickly.”

I nearly choked on my breath of fresh air! My poor little Panda heart started beating up a storm, once again.

Where on earth did that voice come from? It was the middle of the night and one couldn’t see a thing in the dark. Just then, a light flickered. Phew, what a relief to see Henry, the old saddle maker lighting his pipe. He leaned on the wall next to the door, as if he had been expecting us. “You two whippersnappers can’t give up that quick. Horsey’s a good person and the best trainer there is ’round these parts. You just can’t get him all riled up. He gets madder than a wet hen at the drop of a hat. There used to be times when Horsey took part in international riding tournaments and took home his fair share of medals and trophies. He was the only person in the entire world who could ride a Shasan horse. Together, Horsey and his horse were unbeatable.” Henry stopped suddenly.

Yeah, it was strange He just stopped talking all of a sudden. I thought that maybe he was remembering the good ‘ol days, when he was the saddle maker for a world-class champion.

Henry picked up where he left off: “But there was an accident. Horsey wasn’t allowed to ever get back up on a horse. Ever since, he’s a bit grumpy you could say. But if you show him just how much you love horses, he gets a little soft and might even let you in on the secret of his beloved Shasans. Give him a bit of time to calm down. Come back in a couple of days and you’ll probably have a bit more luck.”

Henry was really nice! And now we knew exactly what we needed to do: be nice both to Horsey and the animals, and he’ll surely tell us the secrets to riding them!

Okay, I’m going to read a bit more about horse grooming techniques.

Wonderful – that means Ella won’t be talking to me again anytime soon. That’s okay, she spoke enough for the day. I’ll go find something to eat.

Be good Pandas,

Ella and Max