True Love Waits

Chapter Twenty Six

       "You about ready to head into town?" Chandler asked Maleena, hopping up on the wooden planked fence of the outdoor arena where Maleena was practicing running barrels on one of their barrel horses.

       "Just about. I want to run around one more time. That last run wasn't great." Maleena, short of breath with her hair windblown, remarked. 

        "Mal, you've already been out here for an hour. If you run too much more, Brutus here is gonna collapse." Chandler grinned at his stubborn sister. 

        "I know. Just one more time." She held up her finger, indicating only one more run. "I promise." 

       Letting out an airy chuckle, Chandler groaned, knowing he wouldn't be able to change Maleena's mind. "Only one more run, and that's it. We have stuff to do."

      Maleena put a hand up in defense. "I know. I know. Here, can you please record and time this run for me?" She asked, pulling her phone out of her pocket, handing it to her brother.

      "Yep." Chandler took the phone, pulling the camera app up on his sister's phone, positioning himself on the fence to hold the phone still enough to get a good enough video. "Ready whenever you are." 

       Maleena positioned herself and Brutus at the end of the arena before taking a deep breath , seating herself deep in the saddle, picking up her reins. Squeezing her heels into Brutus' side, the pair took off at a dirt spitting gallop, heading straight for the first barrel. Rounding it perfectly, the pair headed for the second barrel. Leading off the barrel, one of Brutus' front hoof slipped, but barely enough to compromise his composure as he ran towards the third. After a clean left turn around the final barrel, Brutus gave it his all, running his heart out despite being tired after already running the cloverleaf for an hour. Any time that they lost after tripping off the second barrel, they certainly made up for on the stretch home. 

        "15.5." Chandler smiled, checking the time on the video recording. "Not bad for a tired, beginner horse." 

         "Not bad, but not good enough to win a futurity race, either." Maleena shrugged, patting Brutus' neck, praising him on a good run. Reaching down, she grabbed her phone from her brother. "Considering we have been running for over an hour, and Brutus hasn't been run for a while, I will take the time." Maleena watched the replay on her phone, instantly seeing several areas where she wanted to improve. Instead of giving into the urge to run the pattern again to try working out the small mistakes, Maleena shoved her phone in her pocket, thanking Chandler for recording and timing it. "I wanted to ride practice on Stryker, but since he's almost 7, he's way older than the futurity horses. I mean those horses are only three or four, and have never competed in a rodeo before. Hence, why I wanted to practice on Brutus today. He's four and is still fairly new to the barrel game. But I will tell you what. He is an awful hard worker. I might have to start entering him in some events, just to see how he does around crowds and under the pressure of the lights and races." Maleena thought out loud, rambling on excitedly. "Anyways, I am goin' to cool Brute down here, then I will be ready to go into town." Without waiting for a response from Chandler, Maleena led Brutus to the edge of the arena, setting his reins down on his neck, letting go of them. Dropping her feet from the stirrups, she allowed herself to fully relax, telling her barrel pony to do the same. Periodically, Brutus would lift his head to look at the blue plastic barrels in the arena, wanting to run the race he was falling in love with. 

       Maleena walked Brutus around the arena a few more times before sliding off his back by the gate, lifting the reins off his neck to lead him into the barn. Chandler joined her, walking beside her into the barn. "Y'all are really lookin' good out there. Stryker is fixin' to be jealous." Chandler teased.