Santa's Daughter (1st bk of Santa Series) (Completed)

Chapter 5 (Edited)

Our house was not the fanciest house on Willow Tree Lane, but it sure was fancy. With its winding driveway and lush, green lawn in the spring and summer no one could miss it. White fence separated the pastures, making the over 100 acres look smaller.

Before the winding driveway split, a house could be seen, sitting on a hill. The house was tall, having five stories, and a partial basement. The whole house was made of brick, being built a long time ago. It had a black roof with steps leading towards the chimney, a place where I liked to hang out, if I didn't want to be caught.

White painted steps lead to the front and the back door, adjoined with an all around porch, which was also painted white. Concrete steps lead down to the basement, an easy getaway, from my grandmother, when she came to visit.

I looked out the window, staring at the first pasture, to see my six year old Arabian mare, standing on the other side of the pasture. Her head was bent, trying to get the rest of the grass. Her black, velvet ears were pricked to the sound of the truck, but she didn't move from her spot. Standing at 15.1 hh (hands high), she was a tall female and weighed a bit more, also. She was all black, except for a star on her forehead, that gave her the name Star.

My mom slowed down to a crawl, knowing what I wanted to do. "Meet me back at the house, Mary," Mom said, as I opened the door to the truck, so I could get to my horse. "Don't go off riding. We have work to do."

"Yes, Mom," I said, rolling my eyes. I closed the door shut behind me, before going over to the fence. I leaned against it and whistled, seeing her lift her head to look at me with her big brown eyes.

She whinnied in greeting, before shaking her head with a snort She galloped over to me, her tail erect. Star nudged my pocket and whickered, wanting a treat.

"Okay, you pig," I said, teasingly. I took a peppermint out of my pocket and handed it to her. She munched happily, bobbing her head, while I pulled her off blanket, so I can get on her.

I could ride bareback, Western, and English and knew all the techniques of each, even though I couldn't ride in horse races, because of my size and weight. I shook my head, clearing my head from those thoughts before I pushed her close to the fence and hopped on. "Let's ride," I said.

It could take up to years of experience, practice, and trust in the horse to ride bareback, without a halter or a bridle. Sometimes it didn't, but it usually depended on the horse and how much work they are.

I nudged Star with my legs, and she walked on. I squeezed her sides to pick her up to a trot. I got her to canter, but  she was being funny and not going fast, as she could. "Come on, you can go faster than that," I said as I squeezed her harder.

Star got my signal and started to go faster. We were flying, Star and I. She can be really fast, when she wanted to and made it feel like we were flying. Her head was bent a little, as if she was accepting the bit. Her ears flickered between listening to me and to the front, ready for anything that happened.

We came up to a fence that marked the end of her paddock, before it went to the next and then it was the barn. She got into a collective canter, and I just held on, loving the fact that the next two jumps felt like we were flying more than galloping did. I counted the steps until take off, not looking at the white fence.

Three... almost there...

Two... steady.

One... and we have, lift off!

  She jumped higher than the fence and snorted, shaking her head. Again, she picked up her stride, knowing that it was time to go into the barn. Her ears were pricked forward as she saw the long white barn up ahead.