Flying Change

Chapter 1

"Oof!"

The sand rushed up to meet me and my breath deserted me in one long stream. I hit the deck with an almighty thud and lay there eyes closed letting my body recover from the blow. I desperately sucked the air back into my lungs as my body began to regain its bearings. Gingerly I opened my eyes and slowly picked myself up off the floor to see Geoff rushing over to me, leaning heavily on his stick.

“Bloody horse,” he swore as he reached me, “You okay?”

“Fine,” I confirmed brushing the sand off my breeches and looked up to see the dark bay stallion standing at the other end of the arena quite calmly munching on some rose buds plucked from one of the bushes over the arena fence.

“He’s impossible, you had a perfect spot.” Geoff fumed at me, “In all my years I have never met one like this, you sure know how to pick ‘em.”

“That I do,” I gave him a grim smile and finished brushing the grit off of the back of my jacket.

“Well go get him,” he snorted, “He’s bloody well going to do it till he gets it right.”

The fact that that might well entail me hitting the floor again was noted grimly in my brain as I trudged over to catch Dance Partner, the particular beast that was giving such hassles this morning.He was an evil genius. Picasso once said “Learn the rules like a pro, so you can break them like an artist.” Well this horse had definitely perfected the art. Any evasion or tactic to remove me from the saddle that he could think of, he was using, and using them successfully. I guess that’s what I got for jetting off to see my boyfriend for a week. Apparently Dance didn’t like sharing.

“Come on terrorist,” I muttered as I took hold of his rein and prevented him from destroying any more of the rosebushes. I flipped his reins over his head and put my foot into the stirrup, hopping lightly into the saddle. He stood patiently while I settled myself into the saddle and shortened my reins. I gave him a small nudge asking him to walk forward. It was met with a huffy stamp of his hoof.

“Dance, come on,” I sighed giving him a slightly stronger nudge I felt him grab the rein and the tell tale bunching of the quarters and just had time to slam my leg forward into safety seat as he snaked his head down and launched into a rodeo show that any cowboy would be proud to sit. “Arrrgh, Dance!” I shouted as I hauled his head up from between his knees and gave him a kick forward. Somehow I managed to push him into a canter and wrestle some form of control. I turned him onto a tight circle and pushed him into a frame riding forward and into the bridle. It took a few minutes but finally he began to settle and after a few transitions, I rode him towards the line again. I kept my weight back, hands up and leg on. He cantered towards it calmly and popped the bounces, one stride to the tall vertical, land sit up, hold for the five to the Liverpool. I jammed my leg on and he flew it effortlessly. We repeated the effort twice and finally Geoff broke his grim silence.

“That’s enough.” He called from his spot on the rail. I looked over and nodded bringing the stallion underneath me to a trot and after a few strides a walk.

“Now was that really so hard?” I asked grimly as I let my reins slip and Dance shuddered to a halt rubbing his head against his leg vigorously and finishing with a long suffering sigh, just for dramatic effect. I shook my head and slipped off of his back giving him a pat and running an eye over his booted legs. His three white socks were stained tan from the sand and his tendon boots were spattered with sandy trails. He was small but mighty and I suppressed a smile as he let out an almighty neigh as Val arrived to take him. Val was groom extraordinaire, friend and local gossip, not that she’d ever admit that. She was fantastic with the horses though and she certainly made my life easier on days like these.