Rider Of The Mustangs (Draft)

The Hunt

Chapter Eleven: The Hunt

"Sometimes I hate horses." I hear Mikaela curse as the sun begins to peek over the horizon. I turn from tacking up Celtic for the hunting event to see Mikaela stumbling to keep her balance. "They just seem to love hurting us when all we do is feed them and love them." She explains as she hobbles over on her crutches.

"And in two weeks time you will be complaining about not being able to ride them." I chuckle. Mik shrugs her shoulders before flopping down on the ground and dropping her crutches to the ground.

Celtic snorts at the strange items before turning his attention to the carrot I hand him. He chomps happily as I pick his hooves and realize they all need their hooves trimmed when we get home. How lovely. I roll my eyes and finish cleaning out his hooves before turning to fixing his mane into tight little braids.

"Ooh! Let me help!" Skye races over and takes a running leap for Celtic's back. The stallion whips his head around while she's lying over his back and bumps his nose under her foot. The boost causes her to go right over his back and hit the ground on the other side.

I actually collapse from laughing as Skye lies their stunned and Mikaela slaps her hand against the ground as she laughs. We begin to look like retarded seals when Skye gets to her feet and brushes off her jeans. She tries to look dignified but there's no hope after what we just saw.

"Oh God! Do it again so I can take a video of it." Mikaela laughs as we all turn to Celtic. He stands there with one hoof cocked and ears flickering around lazily as he dozes. "Don't look so innocent Celtic we all saw it."

The horse in question looks to us out of one eye before closing it and facing the wall of my trailer. I chuckle and pat his neck before finishing the one braid I had been working on. Skye huffs before grabbing a stool to boost her up onto his back and this time he doesn't try to knock her off. I hand her a bunch of elastics before moving to his mane right behind his ears and giving him a little tug. He lowers his head and we continue on with braiding.

"I brought you my old hunting clothes." Kyla says. I turn to see her carting over a felt covered helmet and a greenish coloured jacket.

"I thought you never jumped before?" Mikaela frowns. Kyla drops the stuff on the tack room floor before plopping down beside Mik.

"My mom wanted me to try hunting, but I never ended up doing it." Kyla shrugs her shoulders before handing Mik a chocolate bar. The conversation quickly dies and we are left in silence.

"You're going to be late!" Alyssa calls from the gate where she sits astride Devil May Care aka Satan's sire. I throw on Celtic's saddle pads and saddle and, while Skye hurries to put on his bridle, I tighten the girth and make sure everything is in place. I even put on his jumping boots.

"Go kick ass." Mik squeezes my shoulder before hobbling away with Kyla and Skye to go grab food from the fair. I go through the gate and close it behind me before leaping up onto his back. It's like he becomes a live wire under me as I place my feet in the stirrups and pick up the reins.

"Oh hurry up." Alyssa rolls her eyes before trotting away on Devil May Care. Satan calls out, but is ignored by them as I turn back to see him staring after his sire and owner. The poor horse.

"Let's run this bitch over." I grin to Celtic before walking him away from the camp and heading once more down to the fairgrounds. Celtic tosses his head on the way down when I spot Alyssa stopping in the middle of the trail. I stop beside her and we wait for the others. Eventually, people begin to trickle in and then the hounds are called.

"Easy." I soothe Celtic as about thirty hounds start barking in the distance. Celtic throws his head up and listens with ears pricked forward and eyes wide with the thought of danger. "You're okay." I pat his neck as the dogs appear around the corner and come sniffing around the horses' hooves.