Grabbing Mane by Natalie Keller Reinert

Author:Natalie Keller Reinert [Reinert, Natalie Keller]
Language: eng
Format: azw3, epub
Tags: horseback riding
Published: 2020-06-23T00:00:00+00:00

“SO,” HEATHER SAID around a mouthful of bacon, “how goes horse ownership?”

“It’s amazing.” Casey made her declaration without hesitation. She tipped back the dregs of her second mimosa. “It’s the best.”

Everyone around the table smiled and made little cheering noises.

Casey accepted their appreciation with a broad smile as she accepted a third champagne flute from the circulating waiters. Why not?

They didn’t need to know the truth: that she’d spent the past week spiraling downwards from a competent, confident rider relearning all of her old skills to a nervous rein-clutching mess who didn’t have the first idea of how to ride a novice horse. That she’d been revisiting that old horsemen’s wag, green plus green equals black and blue, over and over in her thoughts. That she’d been grabbing a handful of mane every time James flicked an ear at a passing butterfly.

She wasn’t a green rider, she’d been telling herself over and over, but the speech was hitting her psyche with waning success as the days went by. She felt like a green rider. Let James make one silly move, and she didn’t know how to react.

Last night, while she was riding in the arena with Gwen, had been the worst of it. She’d gotten up the nerve to trot and was posting ungracefully around on the rail, her balance shifting as James first sped up and then slowed down, reading but misinterpreting all of her body’s unconscious cues. Sometimes she caught up to Gwen, who was trotting little Shadow around the arena as well, and sometimes she fell way behind them—that was how uncoordinated her riding was, and how inconsistent.

Although, she’d had to admit to herself as she’d hosed James off after the ride, her good little horse hadn’t let her ineptitude bother him. He just stuck his nose out and trotted on, and didn’t get freaked out by the changes in tempo she inadvertently forced upon him.

There was something to be said for that, anyway. James was a Good Boy. He wasn’t going to punish her for being a terrible rider.

The only truly rough moment had come when he’d wanted to canter after Shadow, and she just hadn’t felt ready for that shift in speed. He’d tugged at the reins as Gwen’s pony went past, lifting his head and gaping his mouth when she tried to hold him back, and for a horrible moment she’d felt her legs sliding behind her and her upper body tipping forward as he wrenched her out of the saddle. Then the end of the arena came rushing up to meet them, the fence naturally slowing him as he turned to avoid a crash, and Casey had managed to get herself back in the middle of the saddle where she belonged.

“Well, you stuck it out,” Gwen had said later, listening to Casey’s tale of woe in her no-nonsense manner. “So I’m not sure what the problem is.”

The problem, she’d wanted to shriek, was that she’d forgotten everything. And now she was in completely over her head.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.