Post by Juiicy Fruiit on Apr 26, 2007 16:46:46 GMT -5
Here's my L.A. narrative about me getting a horse. It's an imaginary one, because i never really got one. 
“Justina! Hurry up and eat!” mom yells up the stairs. Whoa! What time is it?! I think to myself as I quickly roll over in bed to check my clock.
“8:30 a.m.!? This stupid clock. Oh, ha ha, it’s on, but the volume is turned down” I tell to myself as I furiously dig through my pile of clothes lying on my ugly blue hardwood floor.
“Okay,” I huff to myself, still scurrying around, jamming to my tunes that I’ve now turned up.
“Now where’s my stupid shirt?!” I finally find it, shoved in the back of my closet; poor thing, looks like a tornado went through there. I think to myself again.
“No time for this, get dressed dummy,” I say to myself. I quickly get my old, torn up, worn-out jeans on, and a long-sleeved shirt, then it’s off to the bathroom for my earrings. I jump across the stair landing and land in the bathroom. Jess is still asleep. Probably catching up on it from college. I think to myself as I think about which earrings to wear.
“I should wear the full body horse earrings, but they’re too small to notice,” I think to myself. I rest my elbows on the counter, although I still seem to be dancing.
“What are you doing? Have to go to the pot or something?”
I whirl around to see Jess, still in her pajamas, looking like she’s the one that needs to use the pot.
“Um, no actually, I’m trying to figure out which earrings to wear,” I replied, a sly smile on my face, since I know that unless she was really desperate, she’d use the bathroom while I was in there, but she’s already back in her room, finding her clothes. I sigh and turn my attention back to my earrings.
“The ones with just the head are pretty big and eye-catching, but whatever, I’ll wear those,”
“Talking to yourself again? Hurry up, I need the shower” Jess demands as she tosses her clothes by the tub.
“Well, duh! Where do you think I get it all from?” I reply as I put in my earrings finally. I reach for my hairbrush but Jess grabs it.
“Take your brush in your room and brush it, you have a mirror,”
“Yeah, but it’s too small to do anything with,” I say, whining now. I start to brush out my hair and I hear Jess mumbling to herself now, but I have no idea what she’s saying.
“Talking to yourself again are you?” I say. I meant it to her, but I know she didn’t hear me, since the shower is on full blast.
I put my hair up in a ponytail, and realize that I need my belt. I quietly pad across the landing again and pound on the door.
“What now!?” she yells.
“I uh, need my belt,” I reply, tapping my foot. If she doesn’t get a move on I’m going to be late.
“Well, then get it,” she snaps.
Luckily, the see through curtain is hanging up to dry outside, and the brown one is up. I open the door and it loudly slams on the doorstop. I grab my belt and run for it, slamming the door closed behind me, and running downstairs before Jess can yell at me: again. I get downstairs and dad is in the recliner reading the paper.
“Hurry up, the owner may think we don’t really want that horse,” he says to me jokily.
“Mmhm,” I reply as I head to the kitchen for some Cheerios. My own horse: finally. No longer a dream, no longer a story. My own animal. Well, besides the cow. I think to myself. After long searching online and in the newspaper, we’ve finally found a good horse, all my own.
I robotically get my bowl and spoon, still thinking about my own horse, and see that the Cheerios are still on the table; I sit down and grab the milk from the fridge, and eat my breakfast. I’m so filled with excitement I can’t hold it in.
“YAY! My own horse!” I childishly say, but I don’t care. Mom looks at me and then laughs.
I gobble down my cereal and soon realize that I’m finished, right when Jess comes to the kitchen. She grabs a granola bar and stuffed it in her mouth. I set my bowl in the sink, and make a mad dash for my boots. I shove them on and tie them, then I race through the dining room to dad.
“LET’S GO NOW!!!” I say, excitement showing.
“Okay, I’m coming’,” he says, slowly getting up.
He starts to pass me now, but I can’t wait any longer, so I push him as fast as I can through the dining room and to his shoes in the kitchen. Now he quickly puts them on as I shove him out of the way to go to the truck. We had to borrow grandpa’s trailer for the cows, since we don’t have room in our yard for it, but dad managed it to fit in the yard last night. I sling open both doors, and hop in the backseat of the truck, and slam my door. Jess is right behind me, but she sits up front since she gets carsick. We’re so childish. We talk about the dumbest things, and do and say the stupidest stuff, but it’s so hilarious. Mom and dad finally com and climb in the truck and off we go!
“So where’s this place at?” Jess asks me.
“Um…great question,” I say as I shove my hand into my pants pocket, looking for the paper that had the info on it.
“Here it is,” I say, clearing my throat. Jess mocks me, and we laugh for a minute.
“Okay, the address is 1541 Meadow View Drive, Rittman. The house is a brownish two-story, with a large barn, and arena off to the side,” I say.
“Oh, so you actually called for more information?” dad says sarcastically. I’ve been known to be invited to parties, and don’t know valuable information (house color, yard stuff).
“Yeppers, called them when you said we could get the horse,” I replied.
“So what’s all of the horse’s info?” Jess asks.
“Well…,” I start.
“Oh boy, I bet this will last the whole trip,” she says laughing.
After about thirty minutes, dad finally finds the house. We all get out, and everyone follows me. Naturally, I don’t normally like being the leader, of anything: period. It’s just not me. But I’m so enthralled with getting a horse, I break tradition and head for the side door.
“Honey, shouldn’t you go to the front door?” Mom asks.
“No, I asked the guy that on the phone, and he said to go to the side door because that’s where he keeps the halters for in the mornings.” I say matter-of-factly.
I nervously knock on the door, still clutching the slip of paper. I wait a few minutes, and then I hear dogs barking. Mom looks nervous, but I tell her not to worry. The man comes to the door, halter over his shoulder, one dog in each hand.
“Sorry about them, been cooped up all morning. I’m Jim Hanson, and this is Maggie, and Lucy,” he says, pulling each dog as he says its name. Of course, I pet each dog, and Jess does too.
“So you’re here to see, which one is it? Lily I believe?” he asks. He yells at the dogs to behave, and Lucy stays by my side, as Maggie runs over to Mom and Dad. They both pet her, but then of course, Mom orders her to go back and bug me.
“Um, yeah, the paint,” I say
“Yep, that’s her. She’s in the upper pasture, I made sure of it last night; wasn’t too happy though, being away from her buddies, but she got used to it,” he said, walking toward the closest pasture. We all follow him, and Lucy is still by my side. She’s kind of cute, the way her tongue flaps out of her mouth as she runs and chases Maggie every now and then. Jim whistles, and over a hill comes a gorgeous Arabian Quarter horse cross up to the fence, at a light, bouncy canter.
“This is Dunkin’ Doughnut, but we call her Lily,” he says, putting the halter on her easily, but he then takes it off quickly.
“Since she’s going to be yours, you go on ahead in and catch her,”
I calmly take the halter, and walk to the gate. I have no clue how to unchain it, and Jim comes to my rescue. I walk in, halter dangling next to my side, as I hold out my other hand. I click to Lily to get her attention. She switches her tail as she walks towards me a few strides. Hmm. She already partially trusts me; it’s not every day a horse will just walk up to a new stranger. Okay, maybe they will. Whatever. I think to myself, getting excited. No! Bad Justina, stay calm, don’t get the horse as excited as you or we’ll be here all day. I go back to my calm state, and start to walk to Lily’s shoulder. She stands very still as I slip on the spick and span leather halter, which he probably oiled up yesterday, but it looks great on her. I calmly lead her out of the pasture, and Jim leaves the gate open, since there are no other horses to escape.
“Great job,” Jim says, walking over to the barn. I stand there holding Lily for a minute, not knowing what to do. Jess comes over and strokes Lily’s beautiful brown and white flecked coat.
“Purdy horse,” she says.
“Mmhm,” I say, stroking her as well. Lily nudges my shoulder, then points her head to the barn.
“Oh, right,” I say. Jim is a bit farther ahead than we are, so I decide to trot Lily up, mostly for fun, but also so I can feel from the ground what her trot is like. Lily and I broke away from sis, and we set off at a great trot, Lily staying a step or two behind me, so that I was the leader. We reached the barn, and Jim had gone into what I figured was the tack room, just inside the barn’s doorway. Lily patiently stood still, although I don’t see why she wasn’t shifting very much, the ground was so hard and rocky. Jim came out carrying a magnificent, well oiled western saddle, but it wasn’t too showy, but it wasn’t on the too general purpose side either.
“Could you go back in there and get her bridle, there’s a hook with her name next to it,” Jim said, setting down the saddle.
“Um…will Lily stay here?” I asked. I knew horses could stay ground tied, but I wasn’t sure if she’d stay if I left.
“I can hold her for you sis,” Jess said, who was now at Lily’s side.
“No, she’ll be fine, she ground ties very well. I can have her all the way up by the house and leave her there to come back to get something from the barn or inside the house. Just drop the lead, and say ‘STAY!’ very firmly to her, and walk away a few steps to make sure she stays, and then you’re fine to go in and get the bridle,” he said.
“Okay.” I say uneasily. I drop the lead rope, and that surprises her a bit, but she doesn’t back, just raises her head.
“STAY!” I say loudly. I walk backwards a few steps, and she stands there, as if I was still holding her. I walk into the barn. I smell horse manure and hay and straw, all at once, and I can’t wait until I get to smell that at grandmas soon, since we can’t keep Lily at our house. I walk into the tack room, and it’s actually neatly kept up. Saddles are in great condition, there’s a shelf with a few ribbons and trophies, and I happen to see one with Lily’s show name on it. He never mentioned that she showed. That’s cool then; I can show her at the fair. What did she show in? I stand on my tip toes to see, and it says barrel racing, pole bending, and showmanship.
“Well coolness,” I say to myself. I look at the horse books that are on the shelf below it, the large tack boxes stacked to one side for shows, and the grooming buckets with each horse’s name on it.
“Hey um…Justina is it? Grab Lily’s grooming bucket to please while you’re in there, unless you already have grooming things,” Jim instructs, then I remember that I was supposed to be getting her bridle. I grab her grooming things, and see her bridle as I leave the room; I grab it, and then when I come back outside, Lily’s there, all tacked up, except for her bridle.
“I figured you’d want to ride her and make sure she’s ‘right’ for you,” Jim says.
“Sure,” I manage to say, stunned by how great she looks with the saddle on.
“Go ahead and do the bridle, since I know you’d have no problem with the saddle. Lily’s great with the bridle, hasn’t bit anyone yet,” Jim says, stroking her neck. I walk to her head, and hold the headpiece and bit out. I start to put the bit into her mouth, and I don’t even have to push on her mouth for her to open it. I gently pull the headpiece on and she closes her eyes since I didn’t pull to fast or hard. I make sure the bit is fitted correctly in her mouth, then do up all the buckles. Jim pulls over a block of wood for me to stand on, and it’s just the right height for me to mount. I smoothly swing my leg over her side, and I feel connected with Lily. I’ve never had that connection before.
“Would you like to go in the arena? I can open it,” Jim offers.
“Sure,” I manage to say for the second time. He must have put the dogs in the house because I hear muffled barking. In my distraction, Jim has opened the gate, and I kick Lily into a nice trot. We move together perfectly, me posting to her two-beat pace. We enter the arena, and there are barrels set up for a barrel racing practice course, but I’m saving it for later. We walk and trot a few laps around the whole arena along the rail, and then I want to go for a canter. I am in the center of the arena at one end, so we can canter in a straight line, right down the sandy middle. All at once, as quick a as a flash of lightning, I kick Lily and click to her, urging her on and on. And at that moment, for once, all I feel: is free. Free from all worries, all thoughts, and all tension. All I want to do is ride. After working up a good sweat in the arena for an hour or few, I had used the barrels as obstacle course objects; weaving around them, seeing how close we can turn around them, and Mom finally says to wrap it up, and I know, the deal is sealed. Lily’s all mine.
“Okay, but watch this first,” I say. I whisper to Lily, leaning over her sweaty, sculpted neck and said,
“I hope nothing bad happens, but I know you won’t let that happen, now will you girl?” Lily nickered and pawed the ground, raring to go.
“Okay girl, let it rip!” I yelled, kicking her sand-streaked, sweaty sides and clicking to her wildly. We soared at a break-neck canter; around the first barrel we went, then all at once came the second, following the cloverleaf pattern for barrel racing. We rounded the third barrel, and I gave Lily as much rein as I could, urging her, as if we were actually showing. The railing appeared, and I immediately slowed her down, as we turned to the right, and headed back to the other end of the arena at the trot, and Jess was there to open the gate this time.
“That was flipping’ cool sis,” she said as we walked out of the arena.
“Wow, yeah, I totally agree, you guys were great,” Jim said. I dismounted, and led Lily over to the trailer to untack, but then cooled her out for a while. Dad had made a temporary tack truck to hold my saddle pad, saddle, bridle, and halter, and put it in the trailer, bungee-cording it to the wall so it wouldn’t slide around and spill. I stopped Lily at a tie ring on the side of the trailer, and tested her ground tying abilities to get the lead rope from Jim.
“Here you are miss,” he said cowboy like, which was really funny. I giggled, and took the halter from him. I removed Lily’s bridle, and slung it over my shoulder, green slobber and all. As I was putting the halter on, Jess said jokily, “Eww, horses sure do have nasty boogies,”
“Ha ha, funny, I’ll save some for you,” I said laughing. Lily neighed so she could get in on all the action. Then Jess and I laughed even more. I tied Lily to the tie ring, although I didn’t really need to, but I wanted it to be ‘official.’ Then, I undid the girth, and looped it over the saddle, and took it off, and it was fairly light. Jess quickly opened the tack box for me, and I set the saddle in, and then, as I was taking the bridle off my shoulder, I noticed that there were boots in the trunk.
“Dad! There’s boots in here! Grandpa must have left them when you guys were making the trunk!” I yelled. Dad came over to look.
“Try them on, you do with all of his other shoes,” he said with a smile on his face. I slipped them on, and to my surprise, they fit perfectly!
“They’re for you dingy!” Jess said, laughing again.
“Oh how sweet!! Thanks,” I said, admiring them.
“Let’s get this show on the road and, GIT ER DONE!” Jess said. Immediately, everyone, including Jim, cracked up laughing. I closed the trunk, untied Lily, and got her situated in the trailer while everyone got in.
“Thank you so much Jim. Dad did pay you right?” I asked.
“There’s no need for that missy, he said he’d bring one of the tractors over for exchange for Lily,” he said.
“Lily is worth way more than those junky tractors, but whatever, I’m all for that!” I said, closing the trailer door, and happily hopped in the truck.
“Are you going to ride again when we get to grandpa’s?” Jess asked.
“Um, hello, Lily needs to get used to her new surroundings, but tomorrow, I will for sure,” I replied. I stared out the window, thinking of the many adventures Lily and I would have in the pasture at grandpa’s. After about a half an hour, I was immediately asleep
“Justina! Hurry up and eat!” mom yells up the stairs. Whoa! What time is it?! I think to myself as I quickly roll over in bed to check my clock.
“8:30 a.m.!? This stupid clock. Oh, ha ha, it’s on, but the volume is turned down” I tell to myself as I furiously dig through my pile of clothes lying on my ugly blue hardwood floor.
“Okay,” I huff to myself, still scurrying around, jamming to my tunes that I’ve now turned up.
“Now where’s my stupid shirt?!” I finally find it, shoved in the back of my closet; poor thing, looks like a tornado went through there. I think to myself again.
“No time for this, get dressed dummy,” I say to myself. I quickly get my old, torn up, worn-out jeans on, and a long-sleeved shirt, then it’s off to the bathroom for my earrings. I jump across the stair landing and land in the bathroom. Jess is still asleep. Probably catching up on it from college. I think to myself as I think about which earrings to wear.
“I should wear the full body horse earrings, but they’re too small to notice,” I think to myself. I rest my elbows on the counter, although I still seem to be dancing.
“What are you doing? Have to go to the pot or something?”
I whirl around to see Jess, still in her pajamas, looking like she’s the one that needs to use the pot.
“Um, no actually, I’m trying to figure out which earrings to wear,” I replied, a sly smile on my face, since I know that unless she was really desperate, she’d use the bathroom while I was in there, but she’s already back in her room, finding her clothes. I sigh and turn my attention back to my earrings.
“The ones with just the head are pretty big and eye-catching, but whatever, I’ll wear those,”
“Talking to yourself again? Hurry up, I need the shower” Jess demands as she tosses her clothes by the tub.
“Well, duh! Where do you think I get it all from?” I reply as I put in my earrings finally. I reach for my hairbrush but Jess grabs it.
“Take your brush in your room and brush it, you have a mirror,”
“Yeah, but it’s too small to do anything with,” I say, whining now. I start to brush out my hair and I hear Jess mumbling to herself now, but I have no idea what she’s saying.
“Talking to yourself again are you?” I say. I meant it to her, but I know she didn’t hear me, since the shower is on full blast.
I put my hair up in a ponytail, and realize that I need my belt. I quietly pad across the landing again and pound on the door.
“What now!?” she yells.
“I uh, need my belt,” I reply, tapping my foot. If she doesn’t get a move on I’m going to be late.
“Well, then get it,” she snaps.
Luckily, the see through curtain is hanging up to dry outside, and the brown one is up. I open the door and it loudly slams on the doorstop. I grab my belt and run for it, slamming the door closed behind me, and running downstairs before Jess can yell at me: again. I get downstairs and dad is in the recliner reading the paper.
“Hurry up, the owner may think we don’t really want that horse,” he says to me jokily.
“Mmhm,” I reply as I head to the kitchen for some Cheerios. My own horse: finally. No longer a dream, no longer a story. My own animal. Well, besides the cow. I think to myself. After long searching online and in the newspaper, we’ve finally found a good horse, all my own.
I robotically get my bowl and spoon, still thinking about my own horse, and see that the Cheerios are still on the table; I sit down and grab the milk from the fridge, and eat my breakfast. I’m so filled with excitement I can’t hold it in.
“YAY! My own horse!” I childishly say, but I don’t care. Mom looks at me and then laughs.
I gobble down my cereal and soon realize that I’m finished, right when Jess comes to the kitchen. She grabs a granola bar and stuffed it in her mouth. I set my bowl in the sink, and make a mad dash for my boots. I shove them on and tie them, then I race through the dining room to dad.
“LET’S GO NOW!!!” I say, excitement showing.
“Okay, I’m coming’,” he says, slowly getting up.
He starts to pass me now, but I can’t wait any longer, so I push him as fast as I can through the dining room and to his shoes in the kitchen. Now he quickly puts them on as I shove him out of the way to go to the truck. We had to borrow grandpa’s trailer for the cows, since we don’t have room in our yard for it, but dad managed it to fit in the yard last night. I sling open both doors, and hop in the backseat of the truck, and slam my door. Jess is right behind me, but she sits up front since she gets carsick. We’re so childish. We talk about the dumbest things, and do and say the stupidest stuff, but it’s so hilarious. Mom and dad finally com and climb in the truck and off we go!
“So where’s this place at?” Jess asks me.
“Um…great question,” I say as I shove my hand into my pants pocket, looking for the paper that had the info on it.
“Here it is,” I say, clearing my throat. Jess mocks me, and we laugh for a minute.
“Okay, the address is 1541 Meadow View Drive, Rittman. The house is a brownish two-story, with a large barn, and arena off to the side,” I say.
“Oh, so you actually called for more information?” dad says sarcastically. I’ve been known to be invited to parties, and don’t know valuable information (house color, yard stuff).
“Yeppers, called them when you said we could get the horse,” I replied.
“So what’s all of the horse’s info?” Jess asks.
“Well…,” I start.
“Oh boy, I bet this will last the whole trip,” she says laughing.
After about thirty minutes, dad finally finds the house. We all get out, and everyone follows me. Naturally, I don’t normally like being the leader, of anything: period. It’s just not me. But I’m so enthralled with getting a horse, I break tradition and head for the side door.
“Honey, shouldn’t you go to the front door?” Mom asks.
“No, I asked the guy that on the phone, and he said to go to the side door because that’s where he keeps the halters for in the mornings.” I say matter-of-factly.
I nervously knock on the door, still clutching the slip of paper. I wait a few minutes, and then I hear dogs barking. Mom looks nervous, but I tell her not to worry. The man comes to the door, halter over his shoulder, one dog in each hand.
“Sorry about them, been cooped up all morning. I’m Jim Hanson, and this is Maggie, and Lucy,” he says, pulling each dog as he says its name. Of course, I pet each dog, and Jess does too.
“So you’re here to see, which one is it? Lily I believe?” he asks. He yells at the dogs to behave, and Lucy stays by my side, as Maggie runs over to Mom and Dad. They both pet her, but then of course, Mom orders her to go back and bug me.
“Um, yeah, the paint,” I say
“Yep, that’s her. She’s in the upper pasture, I made sure of it last night; wasn’t too happy though, being away from her buddies, but she got used to it,” he said, walking toward the closest pasture. We all follow him, and Lucy is still by my side. She’s kind of cute, the way her tongue flaps out of her mouth as she runs and chases Maggie every now and then. Jim whistles, and over a hill comes a gorgeous Arabian Quarter horse cross up to the fence, at a light, bouncy canter.
“This is Dunkin’ Doughnut, but we call her Lily,” he says, putting the halter on her easily, but he then takes it off quickly.
“Since she’s going to be yours, you go on ahead in and catch her,”
I calmly take the halter, and walk to the gate. I have no clue how to unchain it, and Jim comes to my rescue. I walk in, halter dangling next to my side, as I hold out my other hand. I click to Lily to get her attention. She switches her tail as she walks towards me a few strides. Hmm. She already partially trusts me; it’s not every day a horse will just walk up to a new stranger. Okay, maybe they will. Whatever. I think to myself, getting excited. No! Bad Justina, stay calm, don’t get the horse as excited as you or we’ll be here all day. I go back to my calm state, and start to walk to Lily’s shoulder. She stands very still as I slip on the spick and span leather halter, which he probably oiled up yesterday, but it looks great on her. I calmly lead her out of the pasture, and Jim leaves the gate open, since there are no other horses to escape.
“Great job,” Jim says, walking over to the barn. I stand there holding Lily for a minute, not knowing what to do. Jess comes over and strokes Lily’s beautiful brown and white flecked coat.
“Purdy horse,” she says.
“Mmhm,” I say, stroking her as well. Lily nudges my shoulder, then points her head to the barn.
“Oh, right,” I say. Jim is a bit farther ahead than we are, so I decide to trot Lily up, mostly for fun, but also so I can feel from the ground what her trot is like. Lily and I broke away from sis, and we set off at a great trot, Lily staying a step or two behind me, so that I was the leader. We reached the barn, and Jim had gone into what I figured was the tack room, just inside the barn’s doorway. Lily patiently stood still, although I don’t see why she wasn’t shifting very much, the ground was so hard and rocky. Jim came out carrying a magnificent, well oiled western saddle, but it wasn’t too showy, but it wasn’t on the too general purpose side either.
“Could you go back in there and get her bridle, there’s a hook with her name next to it,” Jim said, setting down the saddle.
“Um…will Lily stay here?” I asked. I knew horses could stay ground tied, but I wasn’t sure if she’d stay if I left.
“I can hold her for you sis,” Jess said, who was now at Lily’s side.
“No, she’ll be fine, she ground ties very well. I can have her all the way up by the house and leave her there to come back to get something from the barn or inside the house. Just drop the lead, and say ‘STAY!’ very firmly to her, and walk away a few steps to make sure she stays, and then you’re fine to go in and get the bridle,” he said.
“Okay.” I say uneasily. I drop the lead rope, and that surprises her a bit, but she doesn’t back, just raises her head.
“STAY!” I say loudly. I walk backwards a few steps, and she stands there, as if I was still holding her. I walk into the barn. I smell horse manure and hay and straw, all at once, and I can’t wait until I get to smell that at grandmas soon, since we can’t keep Lily at our house. I walk into the tack room, and it’s actually neatly kept up. Saddles are in great condition, there’s a shelf with a few ribbons and trophies, and I happen to see one with Lily’s show name on it. He never mentioned that she showed. That’s cool then; I can show her at the fair. What did she show in? I stand on my tip toes to see, and it says barrel racing, pole bending, and showmanship.
“Well coolness,” I say to myself. I look at the horse books that are on the shelf below it, the large tack boxes stacked to one side for shows, and the grooming buckets with each horse’s name on it.
“Hey um…Justina is it? Grab Lily’s grooming bucket to please while you’re in there, unless you already have grooming things,” Jim instructs, then I remember that I was supposed to be getting her bridle. I grab her grooming things, and see her bridle as I leave the room; I grab it, and then when I come back outside, Lily’s there, all tacked up, except for her bridle.
“I figured you’d want to ride her and make sure she’s ‘right’ for you,” Jim says.
“Sure,” I manage to say, stunned by how great she looks with the saddle on.
“Go ahead and do the bridle, since I know you’d have no problem with the saddle. Lily’s great with the bridle, hasn’t bit anyone yet,” Jim says, stroking her neck. I walk to her head, and hold the headpiece and bit out. I start to put the bit into her mouth, and I don’t even have to push on her mouth for her to open it. I gently pull the headpiece on and she closes her eyes since I didn’t pull to fast or hard. I make sure the bit is fitted correctly in her mouth, then do up all the buckles. Jim pulls over a block of wood for me to stand on, and it’s just the right height for me to mount. I smoothly swing my leg over her side, and I feel connected with Lily. I’ve never had that connection before.
“Would you like to go in the arena? I can open it,” Jim offers.
“Sure,” I manage to say for the second time. He must have put the dogs in the house because I hear muffled barking. In my distraction, Jim has opened the gate, and I kick Lily into a nice trot. We move together perfectly, me posting to her two-beat pace. We enter the arena, and there are barrels set up for a barrel racing practice course, but I’m saving it for later. We walk and trot a few laps around the whole arena along the rail, and then I want to go for a canter. I am in the center of the arena at one end, so we can canter in a straight line, right down the sandy middle. All at once, as quick a as a flash of lightning, I kick Lily and click to her, urging her on and on. And at that moment, for once, all I feel: is free. Free from all worries, all thoughts, and all tension. All I want to do is ride. After working up a good sweat in the arena for an hour or few, I had used the barrels as obstacle course objects; weaving around them, seeing how close we can turn around them, and Mom finally says to wrap it up, and I know, the deal is sealed. Lily’s all mine.
“Okay, but watch this first,” I say. I whisper to Lily, leaning over her sweaty, sculpted neck and said,
“I hope nothing bad happens, but I know you won’t let that happen, now will you girl?” Lily nickered and pawed the ground, raring to go.
“Okay girl, let it rip!” I yelled, kicking her sand-streaked, sweaty sides and clicking to her wildly. We soared at a break-neck canter; around the first barrel we went, then all at once came the second, following the cloverleaf pattern for barrel racing. We rounded the third barrel, and I gave Lily as much rein as I could, urging her, as if we were actually showing. The railing appeared, and I immediately slowed her down, as we turned to the right, and headed back to the other end of the arena at the trot, and Jess was there to open the gate this time.
“That was flipping’ cool sis,” she said as we walked out of the arena.
“Wow, yeah, I totally agree, you guys were great,” Jim said. I dismounted, and led Lily over to the trailer to untack, but then cooled her out for a while. Dad had made a temporary tack truck to hold my saddle pad, saddle, bridle, and halter, and put it in the trailer, bungee-cording it to the wall so it wouldn’t slide around and spill. I stopped Lily at a tie ring on the side of the trailer, and tested her ground tying abilities to get the lead rope from Jim.
“Here you are miss,” he said cowboy like, which was really funny. I giggled, and took the halter from him. I removed Lily’s bridle, and slung it over my shoulder, green slobber and all. As I was putting the halter on, Jess said jokily, “Eww, horses sure do have nasty boogies,”
“Ha ha, funny, I’ll save some for you,” I said laughing. Lily neighed so she could get in on all the action. Then Jess and I laughed even more. I tied Lily to the tie ring, although I didn’t really need to, but I wanted it to be ‘official.’ Then, I undid the girth, and looped it over the saddle, and took it off, and it was fairly light. Jess quickly opened the tack box for me, and I set the saddle in, and then, as I was taking the bridle off my shoulder, I noticed that there were boots in the trunk.
“Dad! There’s boots in here! Grandpa must have left them when you guys were making the trunk!” I yelled. Dad came over to look.
“Try them on, you do with all of his other shoes,” he said with a smile on his face. I slipped them on, and to my surprise, they fit perfectly!
“They’re for you dingy!” Jess said, laughing again.
“Oh how sweet!! Thanks,” I said, admiring them.
“Let’s get this show on the road and, GIT ER DONE!” Jess said. Immediately, everyone, including Jim, cracked up laughing. I closed the trunk, untied Lily, and got her situated in the trailer while everyone got in.
“Thank you so much Jim. Dad did pay you right?” I asked.
“There’s no need for that missy, he said he’d bring one of the tractors over for exchange for Lily,” he said.
“Lily is worth way more than those junky tractors, but whatever, I’m all for that!” I said, closing the trailer door, and happily hopped in the truck.
“Are you going to ride again when we get to grandpa’s?” Jess asked.
“Um, hello, Lily needs to get used to her new surroundings, but tomorrow, I will for sure,” I replied. I stared out the window, thinking of the many adventures Lily and I would have in the pasture at grandpa’s. After about a half an hour, I was immediately asleep
