Back on the Back of a Horse

Chapter 5

The chair I was sitting rocked side to side as I nervously swiveled it around in place. It was a really bad habit of mine, but a fun one. Hawks sat on the other side of the desk, observing me.

"We should probably discuss the training conditions."

I jumped slightly when he spoke first.

"Um...yeah..." I paused for a second. "What are the conditions on your side?"

Hawks offered a small smile.

"I need you to train my horse," he stood up and walked around to my side of the desk, gripped the edges of my chair, spun it to where I was facing him, and he leaned down to reach my eye level, "and myself."

We stared at each other for a moment, my dull blue eyes gazing into his dazzling brown ones. I had never seen a set of brown eyes with so much depth, so many layers. Light and dark hues set next to each other, with the slightest hints of black and green flecks. He blinked, and the moment was gone.

Hawks stood up straight and walked back over to his own seat.

Before he could talk, I spoke.

"We may have a problem."

He waited silently.

"I am no longer in the jumping circuit. I can't train you or your horse in show jumping. I've given up on that event."

Hawks nodded slowly. "Is it because of what happened at that show?"

"Yes. I don't ever want to put another horse in that kind of danger ever again."

He smirked. "I guess it's a good thing that jumping isn't what I came to you for."

Confusion crossed my expression.

"Then what do you want me to coach you in?"

"What were you doing in that video?"

I thought back to the video.

"That was more complicated than an average class. That pattern was a cross of multiple different disciplines."

He nodded slowly. "So what does that mean?"

I took a different approach.

"What disciplines of riding are you familiar with?"

"Well, I know dressage, show jumping, eventing, general horsemanship, and...that's it, really."

"And that's your problem." I leaned back in my chair.

As much as I looked up to this man, as much as I idolized him, he seemed like he could be a spontaneous idiot sometimes. I mean, how could he expect to come in here with his English-based training, and try to learn an entirely new discipline?! And to top it, he doesn't want to just learn one new discipline, he wants to learn a whole bunch of new disciplines. I sighed and rested my face in the palm of my hand.

"Why is that a problem?"

"Because you are asking me to teach you and your horse a completely new style of riding. I'm sure that you may pick it up easily, but your horse may have a few more troubles adapting to the new style than you may think."

He looked confused.

"Your horse is trained to do the English disciplines. If I were to try to train him to do the Western disciplines, then he would most likely either lose the previous training he had, or you two would become the laughing stock of the entire equestrian competitive world."

Realization bloomed in those brown eyes of his.

"Then what horse are we going to use?"

I thought about it for a moment.