Horses, Riding and Boys

Starting Over

Being seventeen and graduated all Jessie wants to do is find her dream job and get away from home. And when she is offered to be the riding instructor at a prestigious all boys school in London, how can she refuse?

Jessie looked at the monstrosity in front of her, the barn held at least fourteen horses and had an unbelievable amount of corral and outdoor arena space around it, with a large indoor arena behind that. The schools Head Master led her inside and up a flight of stairs. She was shown her dorm room in the loft of the barn but it wasn't like any loft she'd ever seen before. At the top of the stairs were two doors, both were open and the insides showed they each took up a third of the upper barn space. The one room was obviously occupied. Most likely by the current English riding instructor, who currently sat in the "living room" space in between. There was a sectional couch with a flat screen tv with an epic looking stereo system. On the other side was a kitchen with a cute little 6 person dining table. There was a large view window that showed the alleyway in the middle of the barn that separated the stalls. After pausing to glance out the window she introduced herself to the man on the couch.

Reaching go out her hand toward him she smiled," Hello, you must be Mr. Glenworth, I'm Jessie."
He responded in kind and invited her to sit and relax while she waited for the street car to arrive with her baggage. Relaxing into the sectional Jessie instantly felt calm and while watching "Tanked" she reflected on her journey to this new world.

***************
"Okay, we have your suitcases packed, your tack and riding gear ready to be mailed to you. The horse your trained while in Germany will be trailered too you....Umm? Am I missing anything?"

Jessie rolled her eyes and cursed under her breath. "No mom that's all of it. Can I go get on my plane now?" Her speech started off exasperated but finished off with a whiny tone.

Her mother's glare made her regret her decision, of letting her current emotions into her voice. But before she could apologize her mother's eyes teared up and she was pulled into a fierce hug.

"I'm gonna miss you so much...." She sniffles a few times before pulling back to look at Jessie. " Don't forget to write or call or.... Just remember to contact me!" She finished in a huff.

Jessie smiled through the tears that blurred her vision and nodded. With one last hug she turned boarded her plane only turning back once to send a heartfelt wave her mothers way.

***************

Jessie sat on the couch for an hour before going to her room to unpack the stuff she had with her. Her larger bags and boxes wouldn't arrive till tomorrow or longer. After doing so she went down to the barn area to take a look at the horse they had in stock. There was a lot of variety between the breeds, from Friesian and Lipizzaner for dressage, to thoroughbreds and warmbloods for jumping and racing but there were only two horses in the barn that would suit Jessie's needs. The one was a quarter horse sorrel gelding that looked about that age that he couldn't do much, but you kept him around to use put young children or inexperienced riders on. While the second was the paint mare that she had trained while in Germany for a competition.

Jessie went and found a grooming tray then proceeded to go visit with her old friend. Walking toward the mare's stall she gently called out her name "Dusty, Duuuusty..." The mare nickered recognizing her voice, "Hey girl, haven't seen you in a while." She fished a treat for her out of the pocket of her jeans, the pulled a brush from the tray. Entering the stall Jessie started to brush her side, while talking softly to the horse. "We certainly don't have the amount of horses we would need to have a suffices western class, now do we, no we don't." Jessie continued to brush Dusty while thinking up a game plan.

3 hours later

Jessie slowly got up on Dusty and walked her in circles for a short while before trotting her around in the arena where she had just set up some barrels. Walking her to the one end to where the clover leaf pattern begun, she slowed to a stop,and adjusted her feet in the stirrups. She had already walked then ran the course while leading her horse. Now on top of Dusty the horse was ready to go. Jessie clicked her tongue while simultaneously digging her heels into the mares sides. The horse kept forward running straight for a few strides, reaching out her right arm she headed to the barrel on the right first. Dusty sunk into the pocket well and pulled out barely scraping the side of the barrel, then started to head across to the second. Halfway to the second she switched the mares lead then reached her arm out to the left, the mare turned her head and started to go around the barrel. Halfway around Jessie pushed her left heel into her making her rear end spin around head toward the third and final barrel. Dusty sprinted and almost did a sliding stop to not go past the barrel and they repeated the moves from the last barrel and pulled around heading for the end of the pattern, Dusty running at unbelievable speeds. As Dusty crossed the finish line she had drawn in the dirt she turned her to the side so she could run out her speed.

After a few minutes of walking her around the arena, to cool down, Jessie walked her back toward the barn. She removed her tack from home and placed it on her personal rack then proceeded to slowly brushing the mare down. Lots of horses appreciated being pampered by being groomed. Dusty included. But it wasn't just for the horses, lots of riders found that grooming a horse had a calming effect on themselves. And Jessie was definitely included in that group. Jessie often used the time she took to brush her horses to think. But at the moment she was hiding from her subconscious and what she was hiding from she had left back in Canada. And for that she was grateful.

As Jessie laid in bed that night, she found her self unable to sleep. Which caused to her to think back to what had urged her to take the offer of working at the school. She got out of bed and walked to the window that let the moonlight in. Avoiding her own regret. Drawing herself into the window seat she lent against the window. A pair of frustrated green eyes flashed through her mind earning a groan from her. She turned her gaze outside the window. A hooded figure could be seen coming out the shadows heading toward the barn. Jessie could clearly see them in the moonlight seeming to be carefully sticking to the edge of the shadows, and she had spotted the figure just as it was walking across the shadowless land the barn and arena was located on. I wonder if they know they are being watched? The figure slowed to a stroll then to a stop. They looked up suddenly and directly at her window. Jessie gasped even though she was still unable to see their face it had given her quite a start, chills ran down her back as she felt their eyes on her. The figure's gaze returned to the ground before scurrying back into the darkness. Well I'll be.

***************
"Come on we haven't got all day!" Jessie was currently unloading a hay trailer full of straw bales into the hay shed. She would pull a bale down and throw it off to the side where one of the older stable hands would stack it on the large pile that had already accumulated.

"Your fork straw like an old lady!" The one currently yelling was Mr.Glenworth. Him and the other 2 stable hands were currently unloading the lose straw trailer and creating a large messy pile. While they were 3 and her work force consisted of her and the stable hand her work was going smoother and quicker. And that only seemed to anger Mr.Glenworth more.

Looking down at her helper,"Wanna switch out for a little bit?" The clearly exhausted the older man nodded before climbing on top of the trailer as she jumped down with a bale in her hands. Jessie placed it on the pile before returning to grab another bale that had been thrown down.

They worked in silence due to the stable hand have some serious difficult with heavy lifting while talking. But not completely because Mr. Shouty on the other side of the shed continued to yell. And she smiled as she stacked the last bale and started to head over to help him with the loose straw. He yelling died down then ceased completely as she picked up a fork and helped them with their work.

After they finished they all went up to the loft of the barn where her and Mr. Glenworth's rooms were located and ate the supper together that she had put in the oven earlier for them. Jessie spent the rest of the evening getting comfortable with the people she was going to be working with the next 6 months.
And it wasn't so bad.

****************
Hey guys thanks for reading my first chapter I put a little work into it, but it's probably still awful anyway. Hope you enjoyed it. :) The picture is of my own Paint mare whose name happens to be Dusty *wink wink* at a branding. The video is of the CPRA Innisfail Ranch Rodeo in Alberta Canada.