Ryan had many horsy friends, one of them used to breed Arabians and happened to know almost every horse breeders in the country. He was bound to know what stud the Appaloosa horse belonged too.

Mikaela waited anxiously while dad talked on the phone to his friend Dan.
"Hey Dan... good thanks, um I have a horse Mikaela found in to mountains and it's branded, I was wondering if... Yes please... A,E,S... Ok perfect thank you." He hung up and sighed. "And now we wait!" His smile disappeared when he saw how worried Mikaela was.
"Hey, don't worry that horse'll be fine." He patted her shoulder reassuringly, she gave him a smile that meant everything was alright. But despite his words she felt a deep gorge of grief in her gut. Mikaela wasn't worried about finding the horses owners or not, if she kept him he would be the first horse She ever owned, apart from the farm horses like Hugo, the bay would be Mikaela's very own.

The bay nickered as She approached the side of the barn were he was tied up. "Well, even if your owner is found, I still need a name to call you in the mean time!" Mikaela thought long and hard as She filled a hay net for him. The sun was beginning its descend. By the time she came out of the barn with the hay the sun was directly behind the horse, giving him a golden outline. "Apollo, that's what I'll call you!" She whispered into his ear. Mikaela was expecting him to nod his head and neigh like they do in movies or books, but this wasn't either of them, he just stood there staring at her with those big brown eyes.
"Mikaela!" Dad yelled from the house. She ran across the drive way up to him. "It's Dan he wants to talk to you." In a spilt second that deep gorge returned to her gut.
"Hi Dan what is it?"
"Oh hey Micky I want to talk to you about the horse."
"I'm all ears!" She really doesn't want to hear what he has to say but he's not going to say what she was expecting.
"I found out what his brand means, he's from Appaloosa Equestrian Stud in Riverton."
"OH DAMN IT!" Mikaela could feel tears threatening to fall, she couldn't believe she was crying for a horse she didn't even know.
"Excuse me?"
"Sorry I just don't want to give him back."
"You don't have to, the stud went bankrupt two months ago, I contacted the owner and he doesn't want the horse back!"
"OH MY GOSH REALLY!!???" Hope replaced the gorge in her gut.
She talked with him for a couple more minutes before hanging up and bombarding Ryan with her crazy talk. "Can we keep him dad please? I'll look after him, I promise you won't have to do a single thing!" Dad held her arms at her side to stop her from jumping in his face. "I'll have to talk with mum when she gets home from the photography studio!" Mikaela grinned and raced back out side. Apollo nickered as She unclipped his lead rope. She led him inside the barn and tied him beside an empty stall. Inside the tack room she searched through the extra covers and tried to find one that would fit. Eventually She found one that was navy blue with white edges. He was only around 15.2hh. She buckled the blanket as tight as it could go, since it was slightly too big. Mikaela found some treats in the feed room and let him much on an apple while She put him in his stall. The stall was three from the front, the first two being occupied by two of the farm horses, Hugo and a grey station bred mare called Jess. Dads mare Bella was on the other side of Apollo, she was a chestnut quaterhorse. Mikaela unhooked her western hat from Hugo's stall door and hug it on Apollos. She always hanged it on her favourite horses door. Finally She filled each horses hay nets and water troughs before sprinting back up to the house just as mums car started coming up the drive way.