Back in the Saddle

Chapter ten

Firm nickered at a passing horse as I groomed him in the cross ties. His thick winter coat was caked in dirt and mud and I was trying to scrub the hard mud off him with a curry comb. I wasn't having much luck.

"If you're going to do this again, you don't need to go out in the pasture anymore." I joked at the big chestnut horse.

Finally after getting him to look half way decent I lead Firm down to the smallest round pin.The out doors one where many children lessons are held. Then I unhooked the halter and rung out a lunge line. After lunging him through the 3 main transitions, walk, trot and canter, I slowed him back down and allowed him to come up to me.

I grabbed the light english training saddle that I had brought out with me and placed it gentley on Firm's back. Then I fastened the girth around him. Firm didnt seem to mine the extra pressure around him. For it being the first time he had a saddle on, I was proud of the young horse's calm persona.

I let Firm push out on the lunge line but as soon as he got moving he started to buck immediatley. I got him to keep moving until he calmed down while having the saddle on his back. Once he did settle down I called it a day and returned Firm to his pasture.

"How did it go?" Meagan asked when I returned back to the barn while carrying the training saddle back into the tack room.

"Firm did put up a fuss over the saddle but he did relativley well. He calmed down after a while."

"That's great." Meagan replied.

As I walked out of the tack room I saw that Meagan was preparing for a trip. Her suitcase was out with her riding gear and she had all of Isaac's belongings packed as well.

"I almost forgot about your competition this weekend!" I said "Is there anything I can help with?"

"Yeah could you fetch Isaac's traveling wraps? They should be in my trunk."

I quickly grabbed Meagan's wraps and handed them over to her.

"Are we going?" I asked

"I know Mom and Grandma are coming, you can as well."

"Yah, I'm sure Firm would not mind a weekend off." I replied

"Great! I'd love for you to come!" she said  "When are you going to register for a competition?" Meagan asked me

"I don't know but that would be fun. I bet Honey would do well in a hunter class." I commented

"She definitly would, she has great disposition. I bet Firm may have gotten some of her jumping charm as well."

"That would be ideal, athough I have a feeling he's going to be more of a show jumper."

"That's Isaac." Meagan commented.

Meagan and I finished packing the car up and then headed back to the house. A gray cat, with a belly swollen with kittens, greeted us at the porch.

Back in the house I checked my phone with new messages from Wesley. He wanted to know if I would be willing to hang out later.

/Of course/ I texted back /when and where?/

His reply was immediate

/I'll pick u up at 7 is that OK?/

I asked my parents for permisson before I answered yes. My family loved Wesley so they had no problem. "Your curfew is 9 o'clock" My father reminded me.

Before getting ready I payed a visit to Honey who was munching on hay in her stall. As I approached the door she lifted her head and sighed a sweet smelling breath in my face. I stroked her velvet, soft muzzle before going up to the main house, not before promising her a ride tomorrow though.

***

"So may I ask where we are going?" I asked  my boyfriend.

Wesley gave me a smirk as he pulled out of my drive way "Of course not," he said with a shake of his head "It's a surprise."

"Oh come on! You know I hate surprises! Just tell me, please?" I whined

"Nope I'm not telling you and nothing you say or do is going to change that."

I let a sour expression show on my face but Wesley just laughed.

After about twenty minutes on the road Wesley said "We're almost there, dear." I took a look out the window as to find a hint were we might be but we were just in town nothing gave it away.

Wesley then pulled into a place labeled "Pete the Pirate Mini Golf."

"Miniature Golf? This is were your taking me?" I asked

"Is this OK? I thought it would be fun."

"I'm going to lose." I said quickly. I've never done miniature golf.

"I've never done anything like this either, so we'll both be stuck at the first hole together." Wesley said as we climbed out of his car.

He walked to my side and slid his hand into mine. Then we walked into the pirate ship to start our date.

***

"Woo! Hole in one!" I said gleefully as I hit the ball into the first hole with no problem. Sure it was the first hole and just a straight shot in but it didn't change my excitement of not having to chase the ball around hoping that it will finally fall into the hole.

Wesley took his turn and got his ball in on the first try.

"With this performance we'll be able to play with Tiger Woods pretty soon." Wesley joked

The first few holes were a breeze but once we made it to the fifth hole, which involved having to hit the ball over a hill and through a pattern, we started to find the golf a bit harder. By the time we finished Wesley and I were wiped.

"How many times again did we have to fish our balls out of the water?" I asked exasperated

"I don't think Golf is our thing." Wesley agreed

"It was plenty of fun though, Thank you." I replied. I slid my arm around Wesley's waist and he slid his arm around mine as we walked back to the car.

"It's 8:20." Wesley told me as he took a look at the time on his phone.

"I have to be home by nine." I replied disappointingly.

"Guess I better take you home then." Wesley said and then he leaned down to lightly kiss my lips. I kissed him back and enjoyed the moment. I didn't want to go home and as foolish as it sounds I wanted to continue to do horrible at golf, if that meant being with Wesley. Kissing Wesley was amazing enough and when we pulled apart I blushed because I parted away unwillingly. Wesley chuckled and kissed me softly again before we climbed into the car.

Later when I got back home and Wesley was gone I sighed with happiness. Leaving New York for Kentucky didn't turn out to be such a bad thing after all.