Changing Ways

Chapter Twenty

Chapter Twenty

Fall off, fall off, fall off, fall off! I almost chant as I sit on the fence and watch Ethan lope around the ring. Fat chance of that happening I realize as I watch him skilfully turn Dragon in a tight figure eight, bending the quarter horse's neck. It's so unfair that he, being the foul person he is is able to ride while I, the brunt of all his jokes is sidelined on the fence with a broken shoulder.

As she trots past, Jenny shoots me a tight but sympathetic smile. What can I do though? I can't make things get better, so I guess I'll have to wait. "I'm sorry," she mouths so quickly I almost don't understand.

I shrug and turn my attention to Loni who is having a little trouble with Razz. The elegant but hot headed mare is having nothing to do with the signals sent from her rider, and shies at almost everything. You have to give Loni credit for keeping it all together as the mare throws up her head and lifts her front hoofs off the ground a few inches as a large gust of wind passes by.

"Maybe you best get off Loni," my Mom says at the other end of the ring, and starts to walk towards the horse and rider, "Razz doesn't seem to safe right now."

Loni sighs and shoots my mom a defeated look, "Yeah, I guess that might be best. Is there anything I can do to maybe calm her down a little bit?"

My mom things silently for a moment, and then patting Razz's sweaty neck nods. "Well you could always bring her to the round pen and lunge her a little bit or do some groundwork. It might help cool down her head a little bit."

"I guess," Loni says, and it's clear she's disappointed to be missing out on the lesson. She dismounts and pulls Razz's reins over the mares head, then loosens the cinch by about 2 holes.

"Come on," I say, jumping down off of the fence, "I'll walk you back up and help you untack her. If you'd like, I'd even give you a hand with lunging her. Of course I can't do much since I've been practically ordered to bed rest because of my shoulder but I can give you some tips from the fence."

"What do you mean, bed rest? You're not in bed," she points out, squeezing her hands on the reins as Razz balks, "come on, girly. Quit being such a crazy spazz when there's nothing for you to even worry about here."

After making sure Razz isn't going to bolt on her owner, I continue. "Well, I may have been slightly over exaggerating. You know when people are on "bed rest" it means they have to stay in bed? Well, it's not like that exactly, because even though I don't have to stay in bad twenty four seven, I'm not allowed on a horse. Which is like, banishing me to Hell or something."

"Umm....ok, then. I think I slightly understand your reasoning now," Loni laughs and holds the reins just a inch under Razz's chin.

"You do know that you can give her more freedom," I suggest, "also, I wouldn't advice holding it so tight with the reins since they're connected to the bit and it pulls really hard on her mouth. And I know Razz has a soft mouth so it might be why she's partly been agitated."

Slightly flushed, Loni abides and slides her hand a few more inches down the reins and Razz immediately drops her head in relief. "I'm just worried that if I don't hold tightly she'll freak, bolt and run away."

"Better than getting your arm ripped off from holding on though right?" I laugh, then remember when I told Loni she should turn Razz out more, "also, I thought you said you were going of put her in the pastures so that she could burn off some of her energy by running around."

"I have been putting her out," sighs Loni as we reach the stable, "but she just stands in the middle looking listless. She won't even eat. She's just so still. I'll let her go, and when I reach the gate she's in the same position. After doing chores, she's in the same position. I have no idea what's wrong with her. Frankly, I'm getting to be a little worried about her."