Confessions of a teenage horse-aholic

4) Male Equestrians are always in demand.

The day was busy, which was no surprise. Once the weather started to warm up, there was always a higher demand for riding lessons. Jo and I were running around the barn all day in an attempt to keep things running smoothly. I can't speak for Jo, but I was pretty exhausted.

     Jo was staying over, as usual. She was at my house more than her own, which was fine because she only lived next door. I was sitting at my seat at the table, and Jo was nowhere to be seen which was very odd with her.

    “ What's for dinner, Mamma L?” She walked into the kitchen loudly. I smiled, Mamma L was a nickname that we used all the time when we went through our thug phase. I looked up, and was surprised to see Jo actually dressed for dinner. The both of us were usually pretty tired after a full day of work, so we usually came to dinner in comfy frumpy clothes. Jo changed and washed up after we got done in the barn apparently. She looked nice, it was just odd.

    “J-sizzle, we're having pasta dear. Will you set the table while I finish up in the kitchen? Alex, go get Blake for me, tell him dinner is ready.”  My mom said affectionately through the window connecting the kitchen and the dining room.

    “ When do we ever set the table?” Jo asked, as she headed to the kitchen to get the plates, cups and silverware.

    “ Since we have a guest. So help me, JoAnna if you embarrass me or yourself, I will make sure you get the smallest price of desert and you will be the last one to get it. ” My mom warned her.

   “ L-dawg that's just cruel, you wouldn't do that to your second favorite daughter would you?” Jo bantered back at her. She was still using our thug names for my mom, I really hope she wasn't trying to bring those back. I smiled and shook my head at my best friends antics.

   I walked out of the kitchen and stared at the stairs. The stairs were probably one of my worst enemies, especially after a long day. I groaned and began to climb them. After a long grueling journey up the stairs, I arrived outside Blake's closed door. I started hesitantly at it. Do I knock or do I just walk in? I decided to play it safe and knock. My eyes widened when a heard a crash coming from inside the room. I rushed inside to see what the noise was, I quickly scanned the room and found the source of the noise. Blake was on the ground, looking up at me sheepishly. His blanket was hanging off his bed and his pillow was halfway across the room.

     “ Did I, uh, scare you?” I asked him.

     “ You woke me up, and I uh, kinda sorta fell off my bed. ” He mumbled. You could definitely tell he just woke up, his voice was croaky and his appearance was ruffled. He ran his hand through his brown hair and scratched the back of his neck. He attempted to get up, but he couldn't quite get his large body to cooperate. He looked up at me with a blush evident on his face. I extended my hand to help him up. I leaned back, to brace myself against his body weight. He was finally off the found after a lot of pulling from me. He ran his hands over his clothes in an attempt to smooth them out.

   “ What did you need?”He asked, his voice sounding a lot less sleep deprived.

“ Oh! Dinner is ready. ” I practically shouted. I gave him an apologetic smile.

“ Great, I'm starving. ” He said enthusiastically. I turned and walked out of his room. I was walking in the lead, just because I wasn't sure he knew his way around just yet, after all he hasn't even been here for a day.

  I sat down in my usual seat, next to mom and across from Jo. Blake sat down next to me and Jo wiggled her eyebrows at me. Mom passed the bowl around, and everyone took what they wanted from the bowl. I sat pushing the pasta around my plate, I guess my eyes were bigger than my stomach because there was no way I was going to be able to finish my meal.

   “ Alex!” My mom shouted. I jerked my head up, off of my hand where it rested.

    “ I'm sorry, what?” I was clueless about what the conversation was about and how I was involved in it. I guess I got distracted.

   “ Blake's horse is coming in tomorrow, and I was hoping you could help him get settled. ” My mom said, her voice strained. She hated when I wasn't paying attention.

   “ Yeah, that'll be fine. I didn't know you rode Blake. ” I answered.

   “ Yeah, I've been riding for a while now. Flame has really helped me through a lot.”

   “ Tell me about him, so I know what kind of care and housing he will need. ” I said, all business.

   “ Well, Flame is almost seventeen hands. He's not really all that trusting of people so I will probably do anything that needs to be done with him. Feeding, grooming, turnout, everything. I got him almost a year ago. I went to my friends barn to watch him work with his horse and to help him out with his chores. I saw Flame, and as cheesy as it sounds, I was just kinda drawn to him. He was in a small muddy run that was built for a much smaller horse. My buddy warned me to stay away. He said he was a crazy thoroughbred. I started asking about him and apparently his owners were scared of him, so he never got out and never got ridden. He came straight off the track, so he was just too much for them, they didn't know what they were getting into. He wasn't in the greatest shape, he was fed, but he had no muscle mass, his feet were horrible and he was covered in mud. I convinced the owners to give me a chance with him. They were so impressed with how far I came with him that they gave him to me. It helped that he was way too much for their daughter, she wanted to show him. ” He explained.

  “ How does he deal with other horses?” I asked.

   “ He's not really all that well socialized, he was kept isolated for as long as they owned him. He isn't aggressive, he's actually the opposite, he's very shy. He doesn't know how to communicate very well with other horses. ” Blake answered

   “ Is he a gelding or a stallion? ” I asked, it was my last and most important question.

   “ He's gelded. ” Blake answered simply.

   “ Okay, he'll be in the quarantine barn for a while just to make sure he's safe to be around other horses. Once we know he's not carrying any diseases, then we'll move him to the boarders section of the barn, unless you want him to be in training. There's a stall next to Dreamer that's been empty for a while, we'll see if he works out there, if not we have other stalls open. ” I gave him the basic rundown.

   “ Sounds good to me. ” He agreed.

   “ He's scheduled to arrive around noon, so Alex, you'll need to help Blake get everything set up for him in the morning. ” My mom told me.

   “ Be at the barn by four. ” Jo added.

    “ Jo, that's a bit much. ” I pointed out.

   “ Well, I was planning on giving him a tour on horseback tomorrow before we help him set up the stall. It would be good if he's familiar with the trails by the time Flame is out of quarantine. ” Jo explained.

   “ You don't have to be there at four. Eight will work fine, because I'd like to be done by ten just in case anything happens or he arrives early. ” I turned to Blake and told him.

   “ Okay. ”

A/N: Here's a present from me to you for the holidays, whatever you celebrate. I'm sure there's lots of errors, but I write on my phone because I don't have a computer. So, just point them out and I'll fix them.