I woke the next morning to find Blue laid flat out on his side, no less than a foot away from me, snoring. He was actually snoring. I giggled and mentally cursed myself for not having my phone to record this. Still, it would be a memory I would hold forever, that I knew for sure.

My stomach growled alerting me to the need for food. I only had one biscuit left which meant I'd spent nine days out here so far. Nine fun filled, soul fixing, heart warming days with this incredible horse.

No food meant I'd have to go on the hunt for some and that would be difficult to do with a giant dog in tow. Even if I did it legitimately and bought food from a shop, he'd still be hanging around outside which was kind of noticeable, even to country folk.

I ate my biscuit and pondered my options. How could I make him understand he needed to hide whilst I sourced myself some food?

All of a sudden, Blue woke up, propping himself up on his shoulder. His ears were like radar antenna, twitching in all directions. Then with a huge grunt, he pushed himself to his feet and pulled a face at me with his ears back.

"What? Did you have a bad dream or something?"

He nipped at the air beside me, his teeth scraping together as he did. I stood up, shocked. I knew he meant business. My heart began to race and adrenaline poured through my veins. What was going on? What had he heard or sensed?

Walking out of the barn, he stood with his head up high, listening. I followed him out and waited next to him. I strained my ears but couldn't hear anything except early morning birds. He took a couple more steps and turned to the left, his attention focused on something behind the barn.

I still couldn't hear anything. His entire body started quivering and he lifted his tail. He was getting ready to run but from what? Not particularly wanting to be flattened by him when he decided to bolt, I moved out of his way and stood next to the hay bale mounting block.

Just as I opened my mouth to speak to him, I heard a shout from behind me. I peered around the side of the barn to see a quad bike flying this way, a couple of dogs running in front of it. A fair way out still, I could barely make out the person on it, but they were definitely heading this way. I ran into the barn and grabbed my bag, throwing it over my shoulder.

Blue spun around and trotted over to the hay bale, pawing at the ground. I didn't even think about it—I hugged my bag to my stomach, jumped on the hay bale and then onto his back. I threw my arms around his neck, leaning down over his withers, and closed my eyes.

My hands had barely clasped together before Blue took off with a spurt of energy that literally sucked the air from my body. I could hear nothing but the wind whistling in my ears and the thunder of Blue's hooves.

I clung onto him as he flew over the moor, zig zagging from side to side with the agility of a rabbit. If I hadn't been hugging his neck so tight, I'd have fallen off already. I didn't dare open my eyes. I trusted Blue and that was all I needed.

At various points when he changed direction, I heard the roar of engines, shouts, and barking dogs. Whatever Blue was doing wasn't working. We weren't going to escape. He couldn't outrun vehicles, not even a racehorse could do that.

We kept on going for what felt like ages. He was getting tired, I could feel it in him. His breathing was heavy and laboured and his pace had begun slowing with every stride. Beneath my hands, his chest was slick wet with sweat.

"Blue, easy boy. You're going to kill yourself," I said, scratching his chest as best I could through the damp hair.

He eased down to a trot, his sides heaving like bellows. I sat up and looked around to find three Land Rovers and two quad bikes coming at us from all sides. Four dogs were careering towards us, barking and snarling.

I stayed put on Blue's back, figuring it the safest place to be. Before I could even think, a gunshot echoed through the air. I screamed, "No!" and flung my arms around Blue's neck, desperate to keep him alive in any way I could.

Seconds later, a dart appeared in Blue's shoulder, little pink feathers sticking out the end of it. I plucked it straight out but as Blue stumbled beneath me, I realised it had already gotten to him. I tried to sit up but instead found myself sliding off him towards the floor, a streak of blood following me as a crunch sucked me into darkness.