Free Spirit

Chapter Nine

Riding was... actually kinda fun. Much harder than it looks on TV, but fun.

I'd been put on Red, the slowest horse on the ranch. We'd started with steadily walking around one of the dirt arenas, letting me get used to the unfamiliar feel of Red beneath me. Now, I was rising to his trot, all the way around the arena track.

Jacob was a good teacher. He took things steady and slow- perfect for me.

I imagined myself riding Spirit across the plain where we had first met, his long, stretching strides eating up the ground, the wind tearing against my face, catching my hair, and if we galloped fast enough, we could outrun anyone, anything, we could...

The searing pain in my arm jolted me back to reality.

I'd fallen off of Red, probably due to me not concentrating properly, and had landed on the surface of the arena. The arena dirt had helped cushion my fall a little, but I still felt sore.

"Amy!" Jacob ran over to me. I clutched my arm, my eyes welling up with tears. I wiped them away with the back of my grubby hand- I was determined to NOT cry in front of Jacob.

"Are you ok?" He asked, taking my free hand and pulling me to my feet.

"It hurts," I motioned towards my supported arm. "A lot."

"You've had a bad fall," Jacob explained. "Can you get back on?"

He looked at me with concern, his brown eyes staring deep into mine, waiting for my answer.

 I (painfully) tore my eyes away and thought about Spirit- if I ever wanted to ride him, I had to start somewhere. 

"Sure," I said. "Let's do it."

-

After my first lesson, I spent the rest of that day with Jacob. He talked to me about when he first got into riding, why he moved to Canada, how he'd met Uncle John.

"He loves you, you know." Jacob stated. We were sat beneath the porch side by side, watching as finally, the sunset appeared. The sky was painted in beautiful shades of red, orange and yellow, steadily melting into dark purples and blues. The heat had dropped a little, and a light cool wind blew strands of my curly brown hair into my face.

"It doesn't feel like it," I started. "When I came here two weeks ago, it was like he just took me in to be another one of his stupid stable hands or something. No offence."

Jacob laughed. "None taken." Then, his voice dropped an octave and his face suddenly because more serious, his forehead creased. "It's been hard for him too though, Amy. He's never looked after a child before. He doesn't understand people, I guess. He's only ever understood horses. That's why he came out here, to get away from the crowds of people, to take them in and train them, to make them something amazing."

To train them, to make them something amazing...

"Even wild ones?" I asked.

"Erm, yeah, I suppose so. Why?"

I suddenly had an idea. It was crazy, but it could work.

I was going to train Spirit.

Guys!! I did it!! I wrote a longer chapter for y'all!

Anyways, do you think Amy will actually train Spirit? Will she make him something amazing??

Comment what you all think!