Nothing But Horses (7 page)

I couldn’t blame him for not wanting to stay
on the ground. She was a steady old mare. Still, a lot of folks
wouldn’t want to try riding a horse for the first time in a game
setting. What if she bolted or spooked? Hang on, this was
Luchenbach. She hadn’t done either in years. The class moved on
toward the mounting benches.

Vicky was one of the first up on Summertime.
She rode up to the far end of the arena, Autumn behind her on
Dream. They immediately began leading exercises while the next two
riders, Robin and Dani swung into their saddles. The other students
continued the routine until it was my turn.

I led Nevada next to the bench. Mom stepped
up and held the right rein and my off stirrup. “What’s up? I can do
this by myself.”

“Humor me. I’m your mother and he’s doing his
horse-show crap.”

“Okay.” I swung up and settled into the
saddle. I slid my feet into the stirrups and collected on the
reins. “I’m ready.”

“Good. Stay put until Dave is too.”

I looked behind me and watched him vault up
onto Luke’s wide back. He nodded at me. I reined Nevada toward the
rest of the horses and he moved forward at a medium walk like he’d
been doing it for years. Talk about a real comedian.

We went through the warm-up of start, stop
and turn circles faster than what the beginners could. After that,
we rode on the left track, then the right. We lined up for games.
Vicky held Summertime down to a slow trot which meant Autumn was
the first across the finish line. When it finally got to my turn, I
was against Dave. He would do the barrels while I weaved the candy
canes.

Mom went over and coached him through the
introduction and how to play his game. He added something nobody
else heard, but she smiled in a way that I’d never seen her do
before. And I’d watched a ton of guys flirt with her over the
years. Dave must have a pretty special line.

I’d undoubtedly hear about it later when she
shared with my grandmother, so I kept my mind on Nevada.

He snorted at the red and white plastic
canes. If I’d been down here by myself, I’d have nailed him either
with my legs or the romal for his snarky attitude, but I didn’t
dare. Like Grandpa said, “beginners and horses can always learn a
lesson in mean, so be careful what you teach,” and I wasn’t setting
a bad example.

I reached down to pet Nevada’s red neck. “Hi,
I’m Sierra and this is the best horse at Shamrock Stable, Nevada
von Puke-stick.”

The audience laughed and I smoothed my
horse’s golden mane. “We’re playing Candy Cane Lane. We’re going to
weave through the canes three times and beat Nevada’s mommy to the
North Pole.”

I hoped it would be as easy as I made it
sound. Dave rode up to the first barrel and I sent Nevada after him
and Luchenbach. Granted, we were side by side, not directly behind
her and this time my horse focused on the job, not on acting scared
of the horsy props. I used my seat to ask for a collected trot and
Nevada flicked his ears. Then, he jogged a couple of steps.

He wound through the canes, left, right,
left, until we reached the far end of the line. We went around the
end, then began weaving back. I noticed Dave mirrored us and
wondered just what he had in mind. He was only supposed to go
through the barrels once, but he went around the last one and
didn’t cross the finish line. Instead, he rode through the row of
barrels again while Nevada and I went back up the candy canes
again.

We made the last turn and I signaled for a
trot. Nevada picked it up and jogged home beside his mom. We
crossed the finish line and stopped at the same time. Lots of
applause and Mom came over to me. She patted my knee. “Nice
ride.”

“What are you going to do about Dave’s time?”
I whispered. “He didn’t play the game the right way. He should have
just weaved the barrels one time.”

Mom smiled and rested a hand on Nevada’s
neck. “Oh, I’ll exercise some judge’s discretion and give him a
special prize.”

“Okay, as long as you don’t penalize him.
He’s never been to one of our parties before.”

“I’ll be fair,” Mom promised. “Now, let’s
wind this up so we can have lunch. I’m sure the horses are ready to
eat and I know the people are too.”

Robin helped me feed the hay in the top barn.
When we reached the indoor arena, we discovered that Vicky had just
finished down below. Tom had stuck around to help her. He lingered
to feed Shiloh an extra carrot, then passed one to her grown
daughter.

“Your horse has a lot of spirit,” Tom told
me. “I don’t think I could ever handle one like him.”

“I wouldn’t call it spunk,” I said.
“Sometimes, I think he’s in major brat mode. He doesn’t mind small
groups, but he really isn’t good in large classes.”

“That’s one way to say it.” Robin heaved a
sigh. “Whenever I see you or Vicky ride, I’m totally jealous. You
can handle such obnoxious mounts and I don’t want to be on them. I
hope Twaziem acts like Lady when you finish training him, Sierra.
If he freaks like my brother’s horse, Nitro, or your Nevada, I
don’t know what I’ll do.”

“He has a completely different personality.”
I slid my arm through hers and bumped hips with her. “Twaziem loves
you, Robin. He’ll do anything to please you and he’s smart enough
to know you don’t like the wild and crazy crap. This is only a
phase. Nevada will straighten up soon. He’s just bummed with
babysitting.”

“Babysitting?” Tom asked. “What does that
mean?”

“He’s tired of carrying unbalanced riders,” I
said. “He doesn’t want people yarding on his mouth. He’s smart.
He’s figured out if he acts up, only advanced students will ride
him.”

Tom shook his head. “And some people think
animals are dumb. That sounds pretty intelligent to me.”

Chapter
Six

Shamrock Stable, Washington

Sunday, December
22
^nd
, 4:00 pm

Santa Needs A Reindeer
was the last
competition at the party. It was a crazy galloping game of cone
stealing, horsy tag where one person was ‘
It’
. Instead of
chasing the other riders, the person in the middle tried to take
their cone and position on the outside of the circle. The beginners
played at a walk and trot. Intermediates tended to stick to a jog
and lope, but when the advanced got going, we tore from a halt to a
dead run. Nevada and Lady loved this opportunity to act crazy and
Summertime was quick to catch onto the rules.

He pranced up to Nevada and Vicky smiled at
me. “Santa needs a replacement for Rudolph this year. Do you have a
reindeer he can borrow?”

“Sorry, I need all mine. Go ask Dave. He has
lots.”

Behind her, I spotted Dani and Emily
exchanging hand signals. Vicky turned away and headed toward Dave
sitting on a Luchenbach statue. I made eye contact with Emily and
she nodded. We had a three-way switch going. Meantime the rest of
the group looked fascinated by the conversation between Vicky and
Dave. He wanted to know why she was the one looking for reindeer
when Santa was the guy who actually needed them.

Perfect timing. I eased up on Nevada’s reins
and the big chestnut galloped toward Lady’s place, but she wasn’t
there. She and Dani had already left. Out of the corner of my eye,
I saw Vicky spin Summertime and bolt for Emily’s cone. The race was
on between her and Dani’s Quarter Horse. Just before they reached
the spot, Lady pinned her ears flat back and gave Summertime an
evil glare. He slid to a halt and Dani had the cone.

“Score,” I yelled. “Dani’s safe.”

“I don’t think so,” Mom intervened. “Dani,
you don’t get to win by siccing your mommy horse on a gelding.
You’re
It
next time.”

“We could go again,” Vicky said. “It’s barely
four and with everybody here, we’ll zoom through chores.”

“I know we will, but it’s started to snow. We
need to start our barn work early so nobody gets stuck in bad
weather, or on icy roads.” Mom started across our circle, pausing
to talk to Dave. “And don’t think I didn’t see you stalling the
person who was
It
so everyone had plenty of time to change
places.”

“He didn’t,” I said, but by the way he
grinned at me, I knew he had.

Wow, the gray-haired guy had some fancy
moves. Mom always freaked when we got going in a high-speed, horsy
version of the games she used to teach balance to new students.
She’d thrown in a ringer, someone who looked like he couldn’t make
his horse zoom, but had beaten the rest of us and kept the pace of
Santa
somewhat sane.

I swung out of the saddle and took Nevada
over to Dave who had just dismounted. “I can take Luke with him if
you like. I lead the two of them together to paddock almost every
day.”

He stretched. “I’m a bit stiff, but I can
take care of my horse. Thanks, Sierra.”

“Up to you.” I tried to remember if any of my
mom’s rodeo wanta-be cowboys had ever stepped up after riding to
look after their animals. Nope, they generally figured either I was
their groom or Meredith was. No wonder she had a bit of an attitude
when Mom said she planned to date Dave.

I led Nevada over to the side gate and Dave
followed with my horse’s mom or dam. Dani slid into place behind
us. Emily, Vicky and the other three students had geldings that
lived in the lower barn. Mom had come back from talking to the
beginners and intermediates to speak to her intern. I figured she
was telling Vicky how well Aladdin had done in his portion of the
games when we had to ride at slower gaits.

The little bay Arab had come into Shamrock
Stable with an attitude when we rescued him. I’d been afraid he was
headed for a one-way trip to Canada and the closest
slaughter-house. Mom wouldn’t sell him to a private home. A new
owner could sue us for dealing in dangerous animals, especially
since he spooked and dumped Vicky last month. Aladdin was too small
for me to ride, so I couldn’t train him, but Vicky did an amazing
job.

I’d seen Emily eyeing him and figured she
might sign up for the pre-owner package, using him for her regular
mount. All in all, this had been a good party. I opened the gate
and walked out into the needle fine snow. The almost invisible
flakes had already started to fill up the remains of the grass, but
we didn’t have much of an accumulation yet.

When I reached the barn, I found Tom in with
Eddie and Houston. Eddie was teaching Tom how to unsaddle, showing
him all the steps from unfastening the breast collar to undoing the
latigo, then tying up the gear appropriately. Tom stood and
watched, listening to the kid’s lecture.

When he finished the demonstration, Eddie
asked. “Do you have it?”

Tom nodded. “I think so.”

“Okay, because the last thing before you lift
off the gear is to call for a ‘saddle check.’ You go practice on
Nevada and Sierra can come here.”

“What?” Tom turned and saw me in my horse’s
stall. “He’s kidding, right?”

“Afraid not. Eddie’s got it going today,” I
said. “You learn by doing. It’s the way we’ve always done things at
Shamrock Stable. Don’t worry. Nevada’s ready for supper and he
knows he needs to be a naked pony for that.”

“I’ll try.” Tom still looked concerned as he
left Houston’s stall.

“Hey, Dave’s right next door,” I said. “I
won’t be far away.”

“Horses like leaders,” Eddie said. “Just
pretend you’re bossing people at the restaurant where you work and
you’ll be fine.”

“Good point.” I put the reins across Nevada’s
neck. He gave me almost the same kind of stare that Tom had. I
petted him. “Don’t worry, bud. You’ll get supper. Promise. I’ll be
right back.”

I left the stall and walked down the barn
aisle to look over Eddie’s work. He was totally amazing me today
and I hoped he kept trying. While I checked the saddle, the kid
watched me. Finally, I asked, “What’s up?”

“Could I learn to play the games like you and
the advanced class did? I can barely trot on Houston. Does he
gallop?”

“Sure he does.” I helped lift down the saddle
and gave it to him, laying the pads on top. “You should see him
when he and Prince Charming are in the paddock together. They race
all over the place.”

“What do I have to do to ride in your
classes?” Eddie started for the door. “I want to progress and
Meredith only lets me walk.”

“You have to be able to do our version of
cowboy dressage,” I said. “You’ve got to know all four walks,
demonstrate them and ride with and without reins.”

“What else?”

“Do all the exercises at the walks. Be able
to do transitions between the walk, the halt, backing and trotting
off smoothly,” I said. “Meredith is gone until mid-January. You’ll
be taking lessons with my mom. If you really focus and come to ride
three or four times a week, you should be in the intermediate class
after the holidays.”

“I’ll make it.” Eddie toted his gear in the
direction of the tack room.

I returned to my horse’s stall. Tom had
unfastened the breast collar and was undoing the cinch. “Wait a
second,” I told him. “How can you be out of the beginner class if
you can’t untack?”

“I can.” Tom pulled the latigo from the cinch
ring. “It looked like Eddie needed more encouragement to step up
and like you said people learn by doing.”

I reminded myself that he was just here to
chase cowgirls and not to let him impress me, but it was hard duty.
With so many people still at the barn, we finished watering,
feeding and mucking in less than an hour. The snow continued to
fall and we were up to almost a half inch when we walked over to
the office. Grandma met us there. She’d made a huge poster of the
winners of the
Deck the Stalls
contest.

Vicky and Autumn tied for first place in the
staff category. Emily won for the advanced students and Dani came
in second. Robin took champion in intermediate and Eddie was the
top beginner. The contest winners had fancy certificates, courtesy
of Grandma again. I so had to get her to teach me how to do that on
the computer. If they didn’t win a big prize, they had a
consolation gift of horsy conditioner to use the next time they
groomed.