Page 52 of Back to You
We left the fans on for Custard, then locked the RV and started across the grounds. Gravel and dirt crunched beneath our sneakers as we came up on the main stable. It was tall and broad with hunter green siding and a tan stripe painted down the side, and a tin roof that matched. Upon walking through the barn doors, we were greeted by a spritely young woman with red hair tied up in a messy bun.
“Hiya. Are you two Hollister and Dane?” We nodded and she brightened, shaking first my hand and then Dane’s. “Great to have you! I’m Erin. I do most of the group rides at Featherwind, but sometimes we get people wanting private rides, like you. Totally okay! Now, before we start, have either of you ridden before?”
Dane and I exchanged a look. I shook my head. “Not once.”
“I have a few times, when I was a teenager. My uncle had a couple of ponies,” Dane added. “But we’re talkingponies.These guys were super short.”
Erin looked Dane up and down, then chortled. “Well I don’t think any of our ponies will comfortably hold a guy your size, unless you like your legs dragging the ground. Don’t worry. I had a feeling you guys would be newbies, so I picked out our two sweetest, calmest boys for you to ride. Follow me and I’ll introduce you.”
My stomach churned as she led us through the huge barn. Big fans blasted air between the rows of stalls, kicking up dirt and straw. Horses of all different sizes and colors peered out at us from behind the slatted railing of their enclosures. A couple of them pushed their muzzles out through the bars, their nostrils flaring. A loud whinny made me jump and stumble sideways into Dane.
Two very large horses stood in the walkway, already wearing saddles and bridles. Erin slipped beneath the ropes cross-tying them in the aisle and patted the first horse’s sleek pelt. He was solid black. The only patch of white on his body was the thin stripe that trailed down his long nose.
“This is Buster. He’s a total sweetheart. Hollister? You look a little nervous, so I think he’ll be perfect for you. He’s the guy we put all our first-timers on, aren’t ya, buddy?” She rubbed his nose and he bobbed his head. She waved me over. “Come say hi.”
“Uh…” I sidled over slowly, keeping my eyes on the massive animal. He flicked an ear and nickered, but he didn’t look like he’d rip my arm off or anything. I offered a hand. His velvety muzzle whuffed hot breath into my palm. “Hi.”
“I promise, he’ll take good care of you. Why don’t you get to know him a little bit, while I introduce Dane to Handsome” Erin winked and ducked under the ropes once more. I smoothed my hand over Buster’s warm neck, petting him softly. He responded by leaning into me with a contented sigh, his teeth clanking against the bit.
Handsome was a little shorter than Buster, but he was stockier. His coat was a bright red with white stockings on all four legs, and a blaze down the center of his face. Dane immediately went to him, cooing softly to the gelding, who ate it up.
Erin nodded and grabbed the reins of a smaller horse with white splotches across her red coat. She whinnied and side-stepped excitedly. “Let’s bring them outside and get mounted.”
Before I could register what was happening, Dane was on the back of Handsome with a whoop of delight. He leaned down and patted his neck. “Man, it’s been so long. I feel like I’m on top of the world.”
Erin laughed. “You’re a natural. Ready to ride, Hollister? Let me grab a stool.” She returned with a plastic step-stool which she placed at Buster’s left side. “Okay, now put your foot in the stirrup and swing your leg over, like this.”
I gulped and bolstered my nerves, gripping the saddle horn in one hand while trying to find the stirrup with my foot. Swing and a miss. Somehow, I managed to ungracefully land on the gelding’s back, where I held on for dear life. Jesus Christ, I was high up.
“Okay?” Dane asked, a lopsided smile on his face. “Breathe, Hols.”
“I’m breathing,” I hissed back, trying to subtly adjust my junk in the saddle. Shouldn’t have worn such tight jeans, apparently. Dane choked out a laugh and I flushed, but Erin didn’t happen to notice, thank god.
She gave us a quick lesson—how to start and stop the ride, basically—and promised us that our horses knew exactly what to do and where they were going. “They’ve done these trails so many times, they could probably do it in their sleep,” she joked.
It was weird, having this giant animal sitting between your thighs as you controlled it with a loop of leather. All I had to do was gently lay the reins against his neck and Buster turned. Tug on them with the slightest amount of pressure and he stopped. Nudge with my feet, he started walking again. Just like driving a car.
We moved at a slow and steady pace across the grassy acreage and down to the beach. After the first ten or fifteen minutes of our ride, my racing heart settled into something a little more sufferable as I realized that Buster wasn’t gonna buck me off or go crazy or something.
The ocean breeze trailed fingers through my hair. I breathed in deeply and closed my eyes, focusing on the powerful but peaceful horse between my legs. I smiled. Mom would be so proud if she could see me right now.
Erin put our mounts through the motions—walk, trot and canter—and I had to admit, it was pretty thrilling to run down the beach with the wind in your ears and a big goofy smile on your face.
Yeah, I was scared, but damn if it wasn’t the good kind of scared. The kind of scared you felt when you were sitting in the movie theater watching a horror movie, knowing you’d be screaming soon, but your boyfriend was holding your hand so it was okay.Thatkind of scared.
It was kind of great.
After we’d looped around, the horses seemed kind of antsy. Buster whinnied, loud and long, and in the distance, several horses whinnied back from the stables like they were calling them home.
“Alright, boys,” Erin called, moving her paint-splashed mare in front of us. The horse bobbed her head up and down excitedly, and Erin’s own grin matched her enthusiasm. “Ready to run?”
“Hell yeah,” Dane said, and I quickly nodded.
This is for you, Momma. One last ride.
I let out a shout of surprised glee when all three horses took off galloping down the beach. Their hooves pounding over wet sand, I gripped the saddle horn in one hand and Buster’s coarse mane in the other and let him do the guiding. The wind snapped my hair against my face and stung my cheeks, but god, it was fucking glorious.
By the time my feet were on solid ground again, my legs and butt-muscles ached, but I was grinning from ear to ear. Dane hopped out of the saddle and flung his arms around me, kissing my ear and laughing.
