Chapter 1: Walking- Learning the Basics
Chapter 2: Jogging- Keeping Your Seat
Chapter 3: Trotting- Gaining Confidence
Chapter 4: Cantering- Making the Jumps
Chapter 5: Galloping- Smooth Sailing (Or So You Thought)



I sweep a hard bristled brush across hair: black, white and marbled. A whiskery nose brushes across my ear as my horse, Bastin, turns to inspect my handy work at cleaning his coat. “Are you ready to go for a ride?” I ask, scratching his neck and giving him a cookie. As I throw all of his tack on him, the old, worn leather of the western saddle squeaks as I cinch it tight. “Ok, just a little bit longer and we’ll go. I just have to get Zeus ready.”

“Alright.” Coming out of Bastin’s stall, I grab Zeus’ halter and a crop-- just in case. “Come here Zeus. We’re gonna go for a little ride and see what exactly is ‘wrong’ with you.” He had been dropped off earlier in the day by his owner, Vicki, who wants me to work with him on his behavior and respect issues. I walk up to him with my shoulders back and my head held high; this shows a relaxed but assertive posture. Slipping the halter easily over his head, I slide the crop into my back pocket. Well scratching behind his ear, I ask, “Now that wasn’t so hard, was it?” I lead him out of his stall and hook him up to the cross ties without incident. The barn door opens behind me as I grab a shedding comb and start brushing out his winter coat. Moments later I feel arms wrap around my waist.

“So this is him?” my fiancé Kaleb asks. His warm, soothing tone comes from above my right ear.

“Yup, this is the almighty Zeus, who apparently threw the head groom on Tuesday,” I reply, leaning back into the embrace with a frustrated sigh.

“Okay, what’s up? You never sigh like that when you haven’t even had the horse for twenty four hours. Is he as bad as the owner, what’s her name… ah, Vicki, said he is?”

“That’s the problem; he’s nothing like the unruly, threatening and dangerous animal she described on the phone. I worked with him in the round pen this morning and he was well behaved, gave me my space and never threatened me. At the end, he walked right up to me and let me put his halter on and lead him out. Honestly, he is one of the most well behaved horses I think that I’ve ever worked with. Whoever trained him taught him amazing manners.” I turn and look at Kaleb, resting my hands on his chest. I’ve never been good at keeping my emotions hidden and this time is no different.

“You’ve had to deal with this in the past, so what is so different with this one?”

Turning from Kaleb, I walk up to Zeus’ head and stroke my hand down his face, giving another sigh as tears start to pool in my eyes, threatening to spill over. “Vicki said that I’m his last hope.” I say with a conviction and finality in my voice. “If I can’t help him, she said that she was going to put him down. She believes that he isn’t worth the time or the money to try and sell him.” I suck in a deep breath as I swipe the tears that found a way to leak out, effectively destroying the confident and sure persona that I had spent most of the day trying to construct.

“And?”

“And there is nothing wrong as far as I can see! That woman is willing to kill a horse for acting like a horse. She expects Zeus to act like he isn’t a living, breathing animal with a remarkable ability to learn and understand. They have emotions and one of those is anger. Zeus could have been having a rough day or was in pain. Instead, she chalks his action up to a behavior problem and calls me right away.” Tears now freely stream down my face as my anger level rises. I hate people who see animals as only money and don’t care about what happens to them, the people who would sooner put the animal down because it’s costing them money than trying to fix the problem. Kaleb once asked me why I have people like this as clients if I hate them so much, and the truth is that I don’t take the horse on for the client, but for the sake of the horse because if I don’t, who knows what will happen to the horse. “What if I can’t help him Kaleb? What if he dies because of me? How can I give him back to that woman knowing what she is going to do if he messes up again?” I rest my head against Zeus’ neck and whisper my real fear just loud enough for Kaleb to hear. “What if I can’t save him?”

Kaleb walks up behind me, turns me around and pulls me into a bone crushing hug. My shoulders shake as I try to stop the tears. He hugs me and waits until I’ve calmed down before pulling me away from him. “Sam, look at me. You are going to save him. Do you want to know how I know?” I nod, my throat still clogged from crying. “It’s because you love every animal that comes through here. They could practically kill you like that draft horse, Starr, almost did after he bucked you off and ran you over. As we were driving to the ER you kept telling me that it wasn’t his fault, he was just scared. Over and over again until I promised you that I wouldn’t call his owner and have him carted out of there before you got back home.” Kaleb turns me to face the stalls, almost all of them filled with horses. “You saved all of those horses Sam. Whether you kept them from going to auction or bought them from their owners or even adopted the ones from abusive homes. You can save Zeus because that is what you do, you save those who need it and give them a second chance.” A smile slowly creeps across my face as I look at all of my horses, remembering each one of their stories and how they came to be mine. “And if we need to, we can put an offer in on Zeus.” I turn to him, mouth practically dropping open in shock.

“But that money is for the wedding. We won’t be able to have a big wedding like your family wanted if we use it on Zeus.”

“Sam, I know you don’t care if we have a big wedding or not, and I know that you would spend every penny that we could to save horses. You and I both know that this is more important than a big wedding. Anyways, if my parents want us to have one then THEY can pay for it.”

I hug him tight and give him a kiss. “Thank you, so much.”

He hugs me back and waves away my thanks. “Now I’ll do the chores while you finish brushing and tacking up Zeus, you still have to see how he is out on the trail. Then we can go for a ride, come home, order pizza and watch one of those scary movies you like so much. How does that sound?”

“Great, absolutely perfect,” I say, finally gaining back my full smile.