Stride

Chapter 2: Virginia

I wrap my black fleece tighter around me and walk to the back of my trailer. My new barn was absolutely gorgeous. It was easily a forty stall black lacquer barn with white trim. To the right is a walkway that leads to what looks like an indoor arena with wide windows showing the smoothly raked granite. To the left are a series of outdoor arenas and round pens. Out beyond the barn is acres of rolling hills enclosed in a black board fence. So of course I instantly hate it. Not to mention the Virginian wind is cutting right through my new jacket. This isn't exactly a dream come true by any stretch of the imagination.

While I was scoping out the barn, my mother lowered the ramp on the trailer and had begun unloading my tack. I unclip the rump bumper and walk to the front so I can untie my mare and back her out. Sunny nickers at me when I walk in front of her and I pet her smooth cream mane, smoothing the ruffled hairs on her perfect diamond star. "Hey little girl, ready to go meet some buddies?" I clip on her lead line and unclip the trailer safe one we had installed and open the front bumper. "Back" I command and Sunny begins to back down the ramp like we have done countless times before. Once on the ground, we walk into the gorgeous barn and I have to really focus on how much I hate this barn to keep myself from falling in love. Each stall was a rich mahogany with black iron bars on the windows and gold hinges on the doors. A gold nameplate gleamed on each stall door we passed. About halfway down the aisle, we passed a feed room, tack room and two wash stations. Sunny's stall was almost at the end, near the office, and was marked with a gold name plate reading:

Dark Sunshine

Sienna Bentley

I lead Sunny in and close the bottom half of the door behind me. My patient mare stands while I remove her halter and sheet, I drape both over the stall door and run my hands over her chocolate coat. She sighs and rests her forehead against my shoulder. At 17.2 hands, Sunny stands taller than the average Irish Sport Horse and about three inches taller than me. I've had her for about three years and we've never been apart longer than a week.

I slowly back out of the door and latch it, then gather up the halter and blanket and go to the tack room. My mother has already unloaded all my tack and put it in my new spot, so I place the halter on the rack and the blanket in my tack trunk. I turn around and slam into a girl with jet black hair tied into a messy bun.

"Omigosh I'm so sorry!" she puts a hand on my arm to steady me, "I'm Andi and you're new."

I laugh, "Yeah, I'm Sienna."

"Which horse is yours?"

"Dark Sunshine, she's an Irish Sport."

"Oh they're pretty. Mine's Let Me Fly, she's an Arabian and lives up to that fully. We call her Fly because she is the most annoying creature on Earth, but I love her." I noticed something about Andi, she didn't shut up, but when she talked about Fly, her crystal blue eyes turned absolutely loving.

Just as I was about to answer, a tenor voice calls from the doorway, "Hey Andi, wanna watch me work Ellie?" The boy that steps through is the spitting image of Andi, right down to the crystal eyes and black hair in a man bun. He stops when he sees me, "Oh hey, new rider."

"Sienna, this is my brother Asher. Asher, this is Sienna, she's got an Irish."

Asher rolls his eyes, "I go by Ash usually. Electrical Storm's my little Appy."

"I'm going to go with y'all are twins?" I ask.

Ash nods, "Unfortunately." He turns back to Andi, "Wanna watch me with Ellie? Sienna you can come too."

The three of us walk out to the opposite end of the barn, where a beautiful steel gray snowflake Appaloosa stands cross tied. I hold my hand out for her to sniff, "Hi Ellie. Wow Ash, she's gorgeous." I look at the spray of white dots covering her, varying in size. They did look like sparks across a gray sky.

Ash grins and slides a red western saddle blanket onto her back, "Thank you, I trained this little girl myself."

Andi and I continue to shower the very happy Ellie with love while Ash puts on a chocolate brown western saddle and matching breast plate, cinching her up before moving to put on a chocolate split ear bridle. The usual curb bit was replaced with a gentler snaffle. "Ellie has a very sensitive mouth," Andi explains, "Ash can't train her in a curb yet, she's still a little head strong."

While Ash checks his cinches and walks Ellie to the arena, Andi and I pick out the best seats on the rail to watch the pair work.

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Authors Note:

Okay so I'm so sorry for taking so long to update. To be perfectly honest, I didn't even realize I had people reading this. I cannot thank you guys enough for reading this book, it means so much to me