Darcy had planned to take Dave for a ride around the local woods this weekend, but the weather forecast is awful. It says it’s going to rain all weekend and she knows Dave won’t want to go out and get wet.
“Muuuum, what can we do this weekend? The weather is rubbish!” she cries.
“Hmm, let’s see,” her mum replies. “You could watch a film together?”
“Boringgg!”
“What about baking a cake?”
“We did that last weekend,” Darcy huffs.
“I know, what about a spa day?!”
Darcy’s face lights up! Her mum helps her gather some essentials, then they put on their waterproofs and head over to Dave’s field ready to turn his shelter into a spa room.
They lay blankets over some bales of hay to make them comfy and put relaxing music on Darcy’s mum’s phone.
Darcy’s mum pretends to be the spa therapist. “Hello sir and madam, welcome to the Shetland Spa. We may look like a small spa, but we’ve got lots to offer! Your first treatment is a mud face mask – it’s a fresh blend, mixed only minutes ago in our spa garden.”
Dave and Darcy giggle. “Will I have to have a bath after this?” Dave asks sheepishly.
“We’ve got some luxury bath towels that you can use to clean your face afterwards,” Darcy’s mum replies, pointing at the old pony towels in the corner of the shelter.
She massages a little bit of mud into their faces and Darcy can’t help wriggling around.
“Next up is your mani-pedi.” Dave gets excited. “Can I choose which colour varnish to have on my hooves this time, please?”
Darcy’s mum laughs. “OK, but I need to file your ‘nails’ first!” She uses a small nail file on Darcy’s fingers and toes, then pretends to file Dave’s hooves.
“Which colours would you like?”
“I’d like red, please,” replies Dave. “Purple for me, please!” Darcy grins.
Darcy’s mum paints Darcy’s finger and toenails, then gets the hoof oil to ‘paint’ Dave’s hooves.
“Beautiful!” she smiles. “To finish the Shetland Spa experience, we offer a relaxing head massage. Who wants to go first?”
“Dave can go first,” Darcy says. Her mum starts massaging behind his ears and down his cheeks until she hears gentle snoring.
“Dave’s fallen asleep,” she whispers to Darcy.
“It must have been the relaxing music,” Darcy giggles.
“Let’s leave him to sleep while we tidy up the shelter, then you can give him a nudge,” her mum replies.
They pour the leftover mud mask back into the field, put the hoof oil away and shake the blanket from Darcy’s straw bed before folding it to put away.
When they’ve tidied everything else, Darcy whispers in Dave’s ear. “Daaaaave, time to wake up now. You’ve got to have your dinner before we go back to the house.”
He slowly opens one eye. “Did you say dinner?” he asks.
They all laugh, then Darcy mixes up Dave’s food in his special bucket before saying goodnight and heading home.
“That was so much fun, thanks mum!” she says and gives her mum a big hug.
“You’re very welcome, sweetheart. Now, back home and PJs on!”
Darcy runs back to the house, throws on her pyjamas and snuggles up in bed, thinking about all the fun they had today.
Fun fact
Most horses love being pampered. When they go to competitions, they will often have a bubble bath with lots of shampoo to make their coat nice and clean. Lots of horses also have their manes and tails plaited so they look super smart, and some will have their hooves painted with special hoof oil.
Dave recently came second in a National Riding for the Disabled competition and his clever friend Morph came first. The grooms at Cotswold RDA did a wonderful job of making them look very handsome.
If you liked this story, you’ll love the Dave and Darcy series, which you can purchase here.
I’d love to see your drawings to go with this short story! Please either tag me on social media (@loiskingscottauthor on Facebook or Instagram) or send a photo to lois@loiskingscottauthor.com and I’ll share the best ones on social media and this web page!
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