Amelia and the Bareback Rider

chapter Four

Amelia leaned in closer, burying her face in his neck, taking a deep breath of his scent. "I've missed you, Brownie."

"Are you sure this is okay, Amelia? Are you sure your father doesn't need my help today?" Cooper asked from the next stall over, where he was brushing Blondie the way Amelia had shown him. Only the slow speed belied his unsurety with this new task. Then again, maybe he was just being meticulous as was his nature.

"I'm certain. There is too much work to be done here to offer a day off when it cannot be taken. Even last summer, Pa was talking about the need to rebuild that section of the paddock fence." Amelia put her own brush down. "Come here, and I'll show how to put the saddle on. And then I'll need to adjust the stirrups for you."

"But aren't you using the saddle?" Cooper asked, turning town her.

"No, I'll let you have it. I am both more used to horses in general, and I've ridden bareback before many times. It takes more coordination."

Cooper came to stand near to her, and put his hand out to touch the heavy leather. "But isn't riding bareback painful for you?"

Amelia shrugged. "Less comfortable than a saddle, maybe, but not painful. But that's another reason you should have the saddle."

"But won't your father think I'm being unchivalrous? Or that I'm uncoordinated?"

A smile playing at her lips, Amelia replied, "No. He knows I can ride bareback, and I think he presumes that you have not."

"Can we both ride bareback? It seems the logical solution. And if it is how you have done it before, I would like to experience it."

Amelia studied his ernest blue eyes for a moment before nodding. "Alright. But you have to follow my instructions so that you don't frighten or injure the horse."

"I will."

"And you should ride Brownie, then. He is more used to it than Blondie."

"I will."

Amelia helped Cooper place the bit and the reins. Amelia quickly put Brownie's bridle on him and walked him out of his stall. She held the big horse firmly while Cooper used the rail of the stall to help him heave his leg across Brownie's broad back. "Whoa, boy, whoa," she soothed her favorite horse.

She handed her husband the reins. "Cooper, move forward, so you're not squeezing his stomach. To here, this crease behind his shoulders. You can hold the rein slack; he knows what he's doing."

Enjoying the role reversal, she explained how to grips the reins, the correct way to sit and balance, and warned him of things he should not do. To his credit, Cooper complied with all her directions without comment or disagreement. Lastly, Amelia instructed him on all the proper commands before she opened the barn door. "Now walk him out to here."

Cooper made the correct noise, and Brownie walked slowly out of the barn. He was so well trained he had already stopped before Cooper even told him to, but Amelia didn't point it out as Cooper looked so pleased with himself. She quickly put the full saddlebags over Blondie's withers and swung her own legs over behind. It felt strange, after all her civilized equestrian lessons. She had missed it, though, being this close to her horse.

Coming up beside Cooper and Brownie, she asked, "How is it? Are you ready?"

"It's . . . strange. I'm a little frightened to think I am at this giant beast's mercy. And," he shifted slightly above the horse, "you're right, it's uncomfortable."