Those Crazy Katz' of Windsong Lane: Chapter 25

Chapter 25: Late July

In late July the girls and Jack had been taking riding lessons for several months and had become pretty comfortable around the horses. They were allowed to come and start tacking up, or saddling, the horses on their own. During their rides, they had progressed from simply walking to trotting, and a tiny bit of cantering. They knew that the horses could be a little bit temperamental, and some days the horses just wouldn’t listen. Sarah, in particular, seemed to have trouble some days. If she were feeling the least hesitant, the horses would pick up on that feeling and would refuse to do what she asked.

Sarah also suffered from jumpiness when a horse would seem to go faster than she expected. One day they were cantering, and the horse she was on got spooked by a cat that jumped up on the railing. The horse reared slightly, Sarah let out a small scream, and the horse became even more spooked taking off at a gallop. Fortunately, they were in a ring, so he couldn’t go far. When he reached the far end of the ring he stopped, but Sarah had been terrified and had almost fallen off. It took her quite some time after that to work up the nerve to canter a horse again. Ellie was a natural and didn’t seem to have the problems with confidence that Sarah did.

Jack loved the horses just about as much as the girls did. It was an experience he had never had before. It wasn’t just about riding that was fun for him, it was as much about getting to know the “horsiness” of these animals; how they acted and reacted to things. The instructors taught them about the parts of a horse and they also got to see the vet when she came and do check ups a few times. Jack stayed and watched with an eye to seeing if it were something he would want to do some day. Thus far, he just couldn’t make up his mind. So many things were so interesting. It was hard to pick one thing.

They all enjoyed the lessons and were very thankful to have the opportunity to learn about horses. Working with such a large and mostly gentle animal was mostly confidence inspiring, and there was something about being in the stalls and grooming them that enriched their outlook on things in an indefinable way.