One Shots
Beau Bennett (1)
"Hey, Beau, you okay?"
Beau looked apprehensively at the saddle, eyeing the beast nervously.
"Come on, you’re not scared of horses, are you?" you asked, swinging yourself into your seat with ease. "Have you ever been riding before, even?"
Beau’s hand went behind his head to scratch his neck nervously. “No, not really. Never really had the chance to, growing up in Cali playing hockey all the time.” He decided to attempt to mount, taking a quick step forward and trying to stick his left foot in the stirrup. “Iamdoing this right, aren’t I?”
You laughed as he clumsily hauled himself up into the saddle facing forward. “Yeah, you got it!” You heard him breathe a sigh of relief.
He looked around, confused, before looking back at you. “Okay, I’m on. Now what?”
You grabbed your reins in one hand, and lead his horse with the other. “Just hold on to the saddle horn for now.” He was still confused. “That thingy,” you said, pointing out the raised handle on the front of the saddle. He grabbed it immediately. “We’ll start at a walk, then go to a trot, and maybe a lope if you want.”
"Uhh, okay, whatever you say…"
You urged your horse forward, his following as his reins were tugged. Beau swayed in the saddle with the rhythm of the beasts’ footsteps. As soon as Beau’s mount was on pace beside you, you explained to him the commands and terms. “Okay, so you click your tongue to get him to walk, click more rapidly for a trot, make a kissy noise for a lope, and if he’s not following verbal commands, kick him.” Sensing his doubt, you added, “Don’t worry about hurting them. They’ve got thick skin. Oh, and ‘whoa’ is to make him stop. Again, if he doesn’t listen to that, then you have to lean back in the saddle and tug the reins back to get him to slow down and stop.”
He gulped nervously. “Okay, I think I got it…”
You leaned over to kiss his cheek quickly before spurring your horse into a lope. “Good luck!”
As you rode away laughing, you could hear his baffled exclamations of “Wait, what? What do I do now?” and later, “Wait up!” as the hoof steps pounded behind you.
