Stayin' Alive

Chapter Two

I opened my eyes and scrunched up my eyes at the sun coming through my large window. Thank goodness it was Saturday. I swung my feet over my bed with a renewed energy and crossed the room to my large bookshelf. I took yet another Bee Gees book out and crawled back under the covers, using the sunlight to read. I glanced up at the clock then, it was seven thirty. 

  Two hours later I set the book onto my oak nightstand and changed into black bellbottoms and a Bee Gees '79 tour T-shirt. My mama was cooking up hashbrowns and eggs when I walked downstairs. Daddy was reading the newspaper at the table with his glasses just barely hanging onto the tip of his nose.

     "G'mornin' honey." My mama said.

     "Mornin'." I attempted a smile and plopped down into my chair, facing my father. The Colorado plate seemed to be right above his head from my vantage point. The Eggs popped as they cooked. I looked out the window at my three horses in the field. I had a Friesian-morgan, an Arabian-Quarter Horse mix, and a paint horse. I rode them all Western and wore all the fancy attire to go along with it. I knew I should ride them today, it's been awhile since I last got up on one. "Hey guys?" I asked. Dad glanced over at me to show he was listening, while Mama continued fixing breakfast. Somehow, I got the feeling she was still listening, so I asked what was on my mind. "Is it alright if I ride Reckless today?" Reckless was my favorite of all my horses. He was the Paint Horse that I so dearly loved and had owned for about seven years now. 

     "Well I don't see why not, as long as you're careful." Mama warned me. She'd always been a little hesitant to let me ride the horses ever since I got bucked off of my Grandma's old Paint Horse. It had been an accident on my part. I'd tightened the reins too much and the horse got antsy and decided to start bucking until I was thrown off. It wasn't the best experience I'd had with horses but it wasn't gonna stop me from getting back on again. "Make sure you get something in your stomach before you go out. Here." She turned around and set a full plate of hash browns and eggs in front of me. The smell of cooked potatoes wafted up to my nose. I breathed in deeply to get the full scent and scooped a big pile of it into my mouth. The hash browns had just the right amount of crunch to them. The yolk oozed out of the egg when I sliced into it, just they way I like it. I shoved the rest of the food in my mouth and rinsed off the plate, headed up the staircase to my room. I crossed the room to the large Victorian-style walk-in closet. I went to the left side of the room where my vast amounts of shoes were placed. I chose a pair of black square-toe Ariat cowboy boots, blue jeans, a black Western shirt with a Texas Longhorn on the back, and a black cowboy hat with a teal Texas Longhorn on it. I set the whole outfit on the long table in the center of the room. 

  After I was dressed I went downstairs to the main level and crossed the large expanse of the main room and opened the large oak doors. 

     "Be careful honey!" My mama called to me. 

     "I always am!" I yelled in reply, and shut the door behind me before running to the tack room where Reckless' halter was kept. It was hanging on a peg that read 'Reckless' over it. I pulled the leather halter from the peg and looped up the lead rope as I made my way out of the shed. Reckless was in the middle of the pasture, grazing with Comet, my old horse, at his side. 

  Once I reached Reckless I flipped the leadrope over his neck and slipped the halter over his head, buckling it moments later. I gave a light tug on the leadrope as I backtracked the way I'd come, and he followed. Comet and Zoro, my mother's horse, followed us as we made our way to the shed where I'd tack him up. 

  As soon as we were in the shed again, I led him to the station where I tacked him up. I clipped the crossties to both sides of his halter and got a hoof pick out of the tack-box. Reckless stomped his hoof impatiently and snorted, making snot droplets fly onto my face. I patted him on the shoulder before bending over and urging him to pick his leg up so I could clean his hoof. Small clumps of dirt and grime fell to the floor as I cleaned each of his hooves in turn. 

     "There you go buddy!" I stroked his shoulder and grabbed a curry comb from the tack-box, before rubbing it in fast circular motions around his whole body, getting most of the dust and caked on dirt off of his coat. 

  When I was done, his coat was pure and glossy. I then left the room to get his saddle, saddle blanket, and bridle from the tack room. Reckless pawed the ground impatiently as I grabbed his saddle blanket and flipped it onto his back. I then pulled a mounting step stool up to Reckless and climbed it so I could heave the saddle onto his back. Reckless snorted again as I pushed the step stool away and began cinching up his saddle. His saddle was a barrel racing saddle so it had a regular cinch in the front and a barrel cinch in the back. I looped the front cinch the way you tie a tie and buckled the barrel cinch loosely. Reckless exhaled deeply as I worked on getting the bridle over his ears and the bit in his mouth. It was your everyday simple snaffle bit. He accepted the bit and it slipped into his mouth, scraping against his teeth on the way in. It settled into the port of his mouth and I pulled the step stool to his left side. I got onto the top step and unbuckled the left crosstie before stepping into the left stirrup and mounting myself up onto his back, making sure both my feet were securely in the stirrups. I then unbuckled the right crosstie and squeezed him with my legs. He started walking and I directed him towards the gate. 

     "Ready to go for a run boy?" I asked, leaning forwards towards his ears. He began impatiently pawing at the ground and I gave him a kick. Then we were off, cantering towards the clear cloudless skies of the South.

         Thanks for reading!:)

                                                                          ~~~**Peace and Love**~~~