Her Valentine Cowboy by Kit Hawthorne

Author:Kit Hawthorne
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Harlequin
Published: 2022-11-07T13:16:20+00:00

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THE DOZER WAS still sitting there, not running, when Gillian showed up for her first lesson the next day.

“Hi, Gillian!” Susana said. “Good to see you. We’re going to get started right away, getting the horse out of his pen, and grooming and saddling him. While we do that, I’m going to go over some ground rules, and then we’ll get you in the saddle. Are you ready?”

Gillian nodded.

Susana led her to Barrymore’s pen. The chestnut gelding came right to the gate, looking eager and alert. Susana had decided to use him as Gillian’s lesson horse because he had such beautiful manners. Whoever had trained him had done a great job, and it seemed a shame to keep him cooped up and let it all go to waste. Besides, part of her deal with his owner was that she would provide exercise for him, and she figured this qualified.

She kept up a stream of talk, going over the ground rules as they came up naturally—the importance of shutting gates, how to safely approach a horse, putting on the halter, how to butterfly the lead rope instead of wrapping it around your hand. She would demonstrate each rule, then have Gillian do it herself. Gillian nodded in the right places and did as she was told, but with a lack of enthusiasm Susana had never witnessed in a student before. In her experience, kids generally started out starry-eyed over the horses, and then either got disillusioned over the hard work involved or accepted it as part of the deal. Gillian seemed disillusioned from the start.

It was almost heartbreaking how excited Barrymore was to get saddled. He was so responsive and eager to please.

Susana started Gillian on circles. Gillian’s performance wasn’t brilliant, but she did appear to be making an effort.

Part of being a good teacher was figuring out how an individual student learned best. Susana tried all the usual things. She used cones to help Gillian visualize the circle. She drew the exercise on paper. She demonstrated it herself on Leda.

By the end of the lesson, Gillian hadn’t exactly had a huge breakthrough, but that was all right. They’d made a start, laid a foundation. Time would take care of the rest.

She showed Gillian how to give Barrymore a treat, holding her hand flat to protect it from being bitten. Barrymore’s strong teeth daintily skimmed over Gillian’s palm to pick up the treat, and Susana caught the ghost of a smile on Gillian’s face.

But by the end of the second lesson, she was starting to wonder if Gillian wanted to learn to ride at all. Kevin had said Gillian was wild about horses and eager to take riding lessons, but she was showing as much enthusiasm as if she was getting a root canal. Maybe Kevin was projecting some old unfulfilled childhood desires onto his child. It happened. And now, either he was too blind to see the truth, or he was determined to get his money’s worth, so to speak, whether Gillian liked it or not.

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