Halt at X: A North of Boston Novel by Sims Sally Ann

Author:Sims, Sally Ann [Sims, Sally Ann]
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Published: 2015-05-18T16:00:00+00:00

Purple and Orange

The first Saturday in March was in the sixties, practically balmy, and, despite the threat of muddy trails, Lucinda was determined to hack the mare through the woods. After all, this is why one had a horse, wasn’t it? To enjoy the woods and the sunshine and forget about everything else. What she really wanted to do was ride on the beach, but she’d wait till she got more experience under the mare’s girth.

Lady Grey had done well in her preliminary training and was queen of walk, trot, and halt. And surprisingly calm for a former racehorse, thought Lucinda, but Holly had smiled knowingly when Lucinda commented on this in their last lesson.

“That’s another misconception,” Holly said. “That all thoroughbreds are spazzes. It just isn’t true. Get them away from the track. Turn ‘em out. Treat them well, and they have no reason to lose their heads.”

Lucinda tacked up in the crossties and led Lady Grey into the indoor to mount and stretch her legs before they headed out. As the mare passed by, Nanogirl whinnied with growing impatience from a stall where she’d been sequestered by Ramsey, and Lucinda heard a swift kick against the stall wall, about a foot off the ground. Ramsey ambled over toward the loose box stall.

“I’m hoof soldier to a princess,” he joked to Lucinda.

At the entrance to the indoor, Jay, holding Paz’s reins, leaned against the wall, hovering over Thea, who also leaned against the wall with her arms behind her. She was laughing at something he said and arching her back, thrusting her hips close to his. Jay spied Lucinda approaching through the entrance and stepped away from Thea, but not before Lucinda registered their proximity to each other, then turned away and mounted.

“Back on you go, lass,” Jay said to Thea.

Lucinda walked the mare twice around, then exited the indoor at the parking lot entrance area. The sun felt splendid on her face, and she loosened her reins, the mare stretching her neck forward and lengthening her stride.

When they entered the oak-pine woods, a song sparrow, inspired by the newly tender weather, burst into his bouncing Ping-Pong ball song. Lady Grey negotiated the hard frozen ground and the soft muddy ground, sometimes different hooves on different surfaces. In a well-drained field north of Salt Marsh Stable, Lucinda squeezed the mare into a trot, but she cantered instead. Lucinda just shifted her weight forward and let her run. On the back of her silver horse, Lucinda felt, for the first time in years, free. This is why I ride, she thought. A freedom that you can never recreate on two legs.

The mare continued toward the trees on the other side of the field, and then Lucinda turned her to the right. Lady Grey’s shoulders were stiff on the turn but she came right back to the walk when Lucinda shifted her weight back into the saddle and eliminated the slack in the reins. The mare would need a good bit of training to get her to bend properly around turns for her dressage tests, but all in good time.

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