“Hi there kids! My name’s Molly and I’m a Palamino mare. My coat is gleaming gold, while my mane and tail are blonde.  A long time ago my family came to Australia, from the south west of America”.

The family who had bought Molly, for their daughter lived in a big farmhouse in the country. The stable where she lived was not far from the house. In the stall next to hers was a small brown donkey. A stall is an animal’s bedroom, if they have four feet and can be ridden around the paddocks.

“Dan the donkey is my best friend”, she told Bob, the Kelpie sheep dog.

“Then why do you fight?” Bob asked.

“We don’t fight we discuss what happens around the farm. Quite often we don’t see things the same way”.

Bob nodded his head wisely as he didn’t see eye-to-eye with Cuffa, the cat either.

“Even the chicken and ducks disagree at times”, Molly told Bob.

“The worst of them all are the peacocks”, Dan said. “When they honk from the tank stand they scare the living daylights out of me. Why are they so loud?”

None of them knew, but Dan was right. They sounded like a ship’s foghorn on a quiet night. The sea wasn’t far from where they lived, and they listened to the sounds from the beach on warm summer nights. In winter the wind and rain blocked it out.

Molly was brought so the family’s daughter Zoe could ride at gymkhanas. The often did well so Zoe had a heap of blue ribbons on her bedroom walls.

On the following Saturday they’d be entering another club’s competition. Zoe fed, brushed and watered Molly every morning and night. During the day Molly walked or raced around the farm. In the afternoon when she got home from school, Zoe put Molly’s saddle and reins on and then practiced for the events they’d be in. Over the weekends Zoe rode Molly just for fun. They both loved galloping through the paddocks and visiting the sheep and cattle. For Molly this was horse heaven!

“Dan can you hear me?” Molly whispered quietly late one night.

“Yes of course I’m just next door”, he answered.

“I think we should all have an adventure”, the beautiful Palamino said.

“What did you have in mind?” her donkey friend asked.

Molly had been thinking of the hay, the neighbour’s across the laneway had just cut. She was very fond of freshly cut hay. Not that there was anything wrong with what Zoe gave her, but a change of diet is often quite delicious! Dan gave her a wink. He knew she liked to get and about now and then.

“Are you thinking what I’m thinking?” he asked.

“Yes it’s time we had another midnight feast”, she told her long-eared friend.

“Cool. A night out is just what we need and with a full moon up there, we won’t get lost again”, he said.

Together they made a really neat plan. On the next night as soon as it was dark, they let themselves out and went to go visiting Ned the brumby across the laneway, and share the feast with him. A brumby is a wild Australian horse who is quite often trained to do stock work. Ned was excellent at getting cattle across the paddocks and into trucks.

On the following night, under a huge, bright, shining moon the two set off together. They used their hooves to open their stable door; then tip-toed over the bricks so no one would hear them.  Using their hooves again, they opened the iron gates to get out of their paddock. Dan carefully closed the gate, so none of the other stock could get out.

“This is good fun”, Molly said as she flicked her long blonde tail.

“You bet it is!” Dan said, sniffing his way across the laneway.

Ned was waiting to open his owner’s gate for them. After they’d said hello to each other, they galloped across the paddock towards the freshly cut hay. An hour later their tummies bulged like little pigs!

Molly and Dan waddled their way back to their stable.

“We had a great mid-night feast, but I think it’s better if we keep this a secret from the others,” Molly said.

Dan agreed with her as he knew they’d be in trouble if Zoe and her family knew what they’d been up to.

Molly gave Dan a kiss on the cheek before they went to sleep. He was a great friend and she knew they have another wonderful night out together again fairly soon.

“A Palomino’s life is heaps of fun”, she whispered to her long-eared friend, as he began to snore!