5 months later I was sitting outside on Hilary, I’ve been practicing doing tricks, I want to join the Sweethearts, their a rodeo here in Texas they travel around the country, but I already know mama will say no, but when I get older I can. I leaned down to Hilary’s ear, ‘’You ready girl?’’ I told her to go, she started running as fast as she could, I took my foot out of the stirrup and put it on the other side like I was getting off, then leaned down so I was almost touching the ground with my head, then flipped up and put my leg back on the other side, ‘’Good girl!’’ I slowed her down to a stop, ‘’Good girl,’’ I patted the side of her neck. ‘’Ok, I need you to keep going straight, and don’t turn, or I could get hurt, ok.’’ I turned Hilary around, and she ran as fast as she could. I took both my feet out of the stirrups and slowly put them on her back, and stood up on her, then leaned forward just enough that I wouldn’t fall, I felt the wind on my face and Hilary’s running under my feet, I closed my eyes and put my arms in the air, ‘’Woo, yeah, go faster Hilary!’’ She ran even faster, I opened my eyes and saw that we were almost at the turn, I slid down back in the saddle and grabbed the reins then turned her around as fast as I could. I took her to the barn, and put her in the little fenced in area behind the barn with Shade, I walked to the water hose and filled up their water and gave them some hay. I walked over to Hilary and patted her side, ‘’You’re getting better, just a little more training, and the Sweethearts will be asking for us to join them. Then Lillian walked up to me, ‘’Training for what?’’ ‘’Oh, uh, nothing.’’ ‘’You said just a little more training.’’ ‘’Ok, you got me, you can’t tell mama ok?’’ ‘’Ok.’’ ‘’I’m training for the Sweethearts Rodeo here in Texas, and I want to make sure my tricks are perfect, so when I ask mama she’ll say yes, and besides we need the money.’’ ‘’You’re what, you’re training for the Sweethearts!’’ ‘’Yes, please don’t tell mama.’’ ‘’Oh my gosh, I need to see what you can do!’’ ‘’We can’t right now, we’ve been training for 3 hours, she needs to cool off.’’ ‘’Ok, I can rate you, and tell you how good, or bad you are.’’ ‘’I doubt that we’ll be bad, we’ve been practicing for like two months.’’ ‘’Two months, and you never told me!’’ I looked down in shame, ‘’I know, I’m sorry.’’ Both of us started laughing, ‘’Hey, how about Chase comes over, and we can all hang out?’’ ‘’Yeah, that sounds good.’’ She grabbed her phone, ‘’Hey, I have an idea, when he answers we both say hey-lo really loud.’’ ‘’Awesome!’’ We waited then he answered, ‘’Hey-lo!’’ ‘’Oh my god, guys, that hurt.’’ ‘’Me sorry,’’ I said like a little kid. ‘’It’s ok, what’s up.’’ ‘’Lily is missing you, she wanted to call and ask if you could come over.’’ ‘’Well thank you for explaining that Dani,’’ she said irritated. Me and Chase started laughing, ‘’I’ll be over in five.’’ When he got here we did random stuff and talked about random stuff, it was pretty fun, ‘’Hey Chase,’’ I said. ‘’Yeah?’’ ‘’I approve.’’ ‘’You approve of what,’’ Lillian said. ‘’I approve of him, he’s not mean, I approve.’’ I was trying to act serious, but everyone started laughing and so I did too. ‘’Thank you Dani,’’ Chase said seriously, and we all started laughing again. About an hour later Lillian mentioned my wish about joining the Sweethearts. ‘’Really, you want to join the Sweethearts, that’s awesome.’’ ‘’Hilary should be cooled off by now, show us.’’ ‘’Ok.’’ I got up and brought her out, then got her ready,’’ What do you want me to do?’’ Chase whispered in Lillian’s ear, then she nodded, ‘’Do that one trick, where you stand on the horse.’’ ‘’That’s the one we were doing earlier.’’ I leaned down and whispered into Hilary’s ear, ‘’There’s people watching, but don’t get nervous,’’ then she started running. I took my feet out of the stirrups and put them on her back, and stood, I put my arms out and closed my eyes, and once again I felt that same rush I get every time, the wind in my hair, the feeling of the horse running under my feet. I slid back down in the seat and turned her around, and walked her back to them, ‘’Wow, Danielle that was awesome.’’ ‘’Thanks.’’ ‘’I rate you 10 and a ½,’’ Zi shouted. ‘’You’re lucky this January isn’t really cold, or your face would freeze up there,’’ Chase said, we all laughed. A while later Chase had to leave, and I put Hilary back in the pin with Shade. ‘’When do you plan to ask mama?’’ ‘’I don’t know, when I do I’ll probably be much older.’’ ‘’Yeah, if mama saw you doing that she would have a heart attack.’’
