He’s going to be late. No ETA.
Then I sent one to Carter himself.
I’ve let Mal know.
I held myself back from telling him off about being late for his first lesson, but I also had a horse to ride, and that took all of my concentration.
I turned the sound off my phone, grabbed a two-way and hooked it on my belt, and took the young gelding I was trying to bomb proof and off we went.
He was to be the 16thbirthday present for a client’s daughter, and the parents wanted him to be bomb proof and for me to figure out what the horse liked to do. They were good people, they weren’t going to let their daughter do show jumping, for example, if the horse hated it. Not on this horse, anyway.
He was to be as safe as possible, a clean slate with a little experience in a lot of things so that whatever she picked to do with him, it would be easier for them. They had a long life together ahead of them, given that he was just five years old, and since she didn’t have great big plans of being the next whomever in any discipline, I felt they’d do just fine.
Which was why I took the gelding to the creek and back, even going so far as to show him the cows that were closer to the barns at the moment. For our cool down, I guided him toward the outdoor arena, expecting to see Carter on a horse. The arena was empty though, and when I looked around, I didn’t see anyone at all.
Frowning, I got my phone out of my pocket and checked the time. Yeah, it’d been an hour and some change. If Carter was late, he should still be here.
The gelding shifted his weight enough for me to remember what I was supposed to be doing. I registered that there weren’t more messages from Carter, either, and put my phone away.
Instead of using the walkie, I rode the gelding to the stock barn where Demi’s lesson horses stayed.
Mal was on his phone right outside the doors, and he lifted his gaze. “Oh, hey.”
“He hasn’t shown up?” I asked, reading the slight frown on his face.
“No. I assume he hasn’t called, either?”
“I just checked and there’s nothing.” I got pissed off in an instant, which made me tense.
That, in turn, had me making the decision to get off the poor horse so my mood wouldn’t rub off on him.
I was done with him for the day, but there was some distance to cover to get him back to the training barn. I scowled.
“Is Tommy around?” I asked Mal.
“Yeah, I think so. Lemme check.” He walked back inside, and called out for the kid. Soon, they reappeared.
“What’s up?” Tommy asked, smiling widely.
“Can you do me a really big and important favor?” I asked him.
Mal behind him held back a smirk and said nothing.
It was as if someone gave Tommy two inches of extra height suddenly. “Yeah, of course!”
“I need this one back in the training barn. He needs to be brushed and then he can go back to the pasture with Ramona and the others.”
I had several smaller paddocks and had a system of deciding which horses fit together and which definitely didn’t.
“I can do that. He’s one of the newer ones, right?” Tommy approached the gelding and held his hand out for him to sniff.
“Yeah, he’s not skittish though. Just all around inexperienced.”
Concentrated on the gelding, Tommy murmured, “I’m sure you can teach him plenty of things….” Then he caught what he’d just said, his eyes widening and a crimson blush spreading on his face.
I ignored it all for everyone’s fucking sake. “If you can walk him there and—”
“Yeah, I’ll uh, get to that.” He avoided eye contact as he took the reins from me, then gently coaxed the gelding to follow him.
