Saddle Seat

Chapter 4

On the drive home, my aunt was surprisingly quiet. So, I wasn't surprised when we pulled into a parking lot. I just didn't like the parking lot.

We were parked in the lot of my aunt's prestigious barn, with some fancy name to go with it. Whoop de do.

"Now listen to me Sadie. I am willing to let you enroll in homeschool, and let you go out and hang with friends, never stepping foot in school again, but-" I sighed, I knew there was a catch. "-You need to come every day and work at the stable, and every Tuesday and Friday take a riding lesson. Is that clear?" My aunt looked me in the eye.

"Why? Are you worried about me in school or something?" I asked, feigning offense. My aunt looked at me.

"I just want to make sure you're safe. Okay?" I nodded, then sighed. I mean, I wouldn't have to work, I could just hang and go for my runs here and stuff.

"Fine." I huffed. Today was Monday anyways, so I wouldn't have to go through any immediate torture. We got out of the car, and my aunt handed me some jeans and a faded blue v-neck t-shirt, as well as socks and leather boots. I walked to the bathroom and grudgingly got changed. My aunt looked me over.

"Okay for now. Now, I want you to goest Marcus, he is one of the head grooms here. Go see what you can do to help. I'll track you down at around four." With that, she spun off, racing down one of the isles with all the horse house things on either side. I checked my phone, bored already. It was only 11:45. Not even noon yet.

I sighed, and went to find this Marcus person. Eventually, I found another human being in the seemingly endless rows of horse houses. He was a tall, lean brunette with amber eyes, maybe in his 20s.

"Uh hi.... Do you know where I can find a guy named Marcus?" I asked him. He broke into an effortless smile.

"That's my name, please don't wear it out." I scoffed.

"Umm.... Okay, anyways, my aunt told me to come find you to see what I could do to help, so..." I trailed off. Another smile was earned from Mr. Smile McSmileyFace.

"Umm, well I have a pony that needs to get ridden, so you can do that. Nothing much else." I froze, then slowly nodded.

"Sure. Do I need to wear a helmet?" I asked. He shook his head.

"Normally, I would say yes, but the pony will take good care of you. He's all tacked up over there." Marcus pointed around the corner, so I headed over there to investigate.

The "pony" was old and fat, not small and lean like proper baby horses are supposed to be. Why does he call this old nag a pony if it's like 400 million years old?

I took the pony outside, and remembered what my aunt did. So I climbed onto the stairway to nowhere, slid onto the pony's back, and undid the little feet holder thingies. Then, I put my feet in the metal part of the thingies, and gathered up the leather part of the thing on the horses face. I nudged him forward, and he moved forward into a walk. I patted him. I tried to keep my heels down in the metal things, but it was hard!

After a few walk laps, I asked the old pony forward. He lurched into something bouncy that I couldn't sit to like I could the walk. So I pretended I was doing squats or whatever, and rose and fell. It was uneven and choppy, and I felt so off kilter. But eventually, I got the hang of it. So I went over the poles on the ground. Then I walked again.

I was breathing hard when Marcus came out.

"How's it going?" He asked.

"Good, just about to take some of these fences." I said fences nonchalantly, hoping he couldn't see I barely even knew how to do that bouncy walky thing.

I urged the pony into that uncomfortable walky thing again, rising and falling, this time in more of a rhythm. I directed him to a short fence, maybe only half my height, and I'm a good 5'8. It looked only 2'0 or something in that range. But as I got closer, it looked a lot bigger. Suddenly the pony leapt forward over the jump, and I did my best, trying to mimic what my aunt looked like jumping in pictures. When the demon pony landed, we were doing a fast, smooth, rocking movement that was much better than that atrocious bounce-walk. I look at another fence, and it was big, and wide too. It looked like two jumps meshed together. Like, one, and them BOOM! Right there, the other. Well, go big or go home right? I closed my eyes over the jump, and did my best to maintain my seat in the horse-shaped, strap on chair. Or whatever it was called. When we landed, I opened my eyes, only to see the ground coming at me as the pony jerked its bottom in the air, tossing me.

I fell the the ground, and my face was the first thing that hit. I felt like my nose got crushed against my face. And then my body hit. I lay there, not sure if I was alive or not. Stupid, stupid, stupid! Trying to show off, trying to be all cool like that. Ugh. Now I hurt all over.

Marcus ran over.

"Hey! Are you okay? That was a bad fall! How's your head? Neck?" To be honest, I was pretty sure I figured out why horse rider people used helmets, but I didn't say anything.

Instead, being stupid, I stood up, and brushed myself off. Immediately, I wanted to hurl all over the floor and fall down and die, but, I really forced a smile, and nodded. Then, things got worse. My aunt ran out.

"Oh my- Baby! Are you okay? What happened? Why are you even out here?" I waited for her to come to me, then collapsed into her arms. "Marcus! Get the onsite medic! Now!" She yelled. She turned back to me. "What happened? Tell me."

"Well, Marcus told me the only thing he needed done was to get this pony ridden. So I did. And I was so stupid, and tried to show off, and now I am here." Every word hurt, so it took a while to say that. The medic showed up, and checked me out.

"Nothing too bad, just some bruises, scratches and a sprained wrist. Could have been worse." Marcus, my aunt, and I all sighed. The medic left, and Marcus turned to my aunt.

"Cindy, I am so sorry, I don't know what went wrong-" My aunt stopped him, and gave him a glare.

"What went wrong?! Hmm, I don't know what went wrong besides sending my niece, who's never ridden, WITHOUT A HELMET, riding a pony that I myself deemed unsafe for beginners!! That's what went wrong! Now if you will excuse me, I have to go make my niece feel better." With that, she left, helping me hobble to the barn lounge. She put an ice pack on my wrist, popped popcorn, opened a coke, and turned on the television.

"How are you doing?" My aunt asked, looking at me with very concerned eyes. I swallowed my pain, trying to conceal it.

"Fine." She looked at me. "Okay, okay, I kind of hurt. All over." She sighed, and went to pop more corn.