I’ve never been on a horse before, and I’m about to ride forty-five minutes to an hour one way?
Am I crazy?
Is it safe?
What the hell have I gotten myself into?
“Why Tinkerbell?” I ask, watching her expression.
She glances at me, her face blank. “Oh, well, Tink is familiar with the route to Alpha and back. She used to be stationed in the stables over at Alpha for a few years, so she knows it. You could drop her reins entirely and she’d take you right there. All you have to do stay in the saddle.”
“Don’t lie to me, Theo.”
She grins. “Oh, I’m not. On my honor as an Auden—Tink will take you right to Alpha Camp.”
“There’s something else. I know it.”
Theo glances past my shoulder, and I see a Hispanic teenager—Hector’s son, judging by the build and facial features—leading a tall, long-legged black horse with white around its ankles and a long blaze on its nose. It’s dancing, it looks like, head twisting this way and that, feet prancing and tail swishing. The boy leading the horse reaches up, pats her nose, and murmurs to her, and she quiets. A little.
“Um. Maybe a, um…calmer horse would be better? I’m not exactly an experienced rider.” I have to grit my teeth to keep myself from backing out of this.
Theo just waves a hand. “She gets prancy sometimes, but once you’re on her back, she’ll calm down.”
“Are you sure?” I ask, watching the horse as she comes to a stop near me, her hind legs still moving around anxiously.
“Absolutely. And, like I said, all you have to do is stay in the saddle—she’ll bring you straight to Alpha, and the boys there will fetch Will for you.”
The boy hands me the reins, and I take them automatically. “She has just eaten some grain,” he says, in a thick Hispanic accent. “She will not try to eat the grass too much, I think.”
“Thank you, Javier,” Theo says. “Did you bring a helmet and a release?”
Javier nods, points to a helmet hanging by the strap from the horn part of the saddle, and then digs a folded piece of paper from one pocket and a pen from the other, handing them both to Theo. Theo unfolds the paper, scans it, and then places it up against a flat part of the saddle. “Sign this, please.”
I scan it. “What is it?”
“An injury release form. We’re a commercial enterprise, so anyone not employed by Bar-A has to sign a liability waiver. Standard practice.”
I frown. “Do you anticipate me being injured?”
She blows a raspberry. “No! It’s standard practice. If you don’t have a waiver on file, you have to sign one. Everyone we hire signs one as a condition of employment. Protects us from being sued left and right. Horses, even well-trained ones like Tink, are still animals, and things do happen. That being said, Tink will take care of you. She’s a little spirited sometimes, but she’s steady, and she knows the way backward and forward, in the dark, in the snow.”
“A little spirited,” I echo. “That sounds like ranch talk for ‘dangerous.’”
“Hey, you want to talk to Will? You have to go to him. This is the only way to do it. I can’t spare an extra hand to get you out there, so this is the answer.” She hands me the helmet and I clip it on, grousing under my breath about messing up my hair; I catch Theo smirking, having heard my complaints. “Tink knows the way—you don’t. Just stay on her back, and you’ll be fine.”
“Staying on is the issue.”
Theo shrugs. “Gotta start somewhere, I guess, right?” She takes the reins from me, gestures at the stirrup. “Left foot in there, stand up, and swing over.”
I hold on to the horn and the back of the saddle seat, lift my foot into the stirrup. I have to lift my foot very, very high. Hauling myself as hard as I can, I manage to stand up in the stirrup, and then, with a shaky leg, swing over and sit in the saddle.
“Hoooo—oh boy, oh shit. Holy shit, I’m way up here.” My knees shake, my gut trembles. “I don’t like this.”
Theo smooths her hand against Tinkerbell’s neck. “Easy now. Calm down, Brooklyn. Deep breaths. She’s spirited, but well-mannered. She won’t throw you.”
“Throw me? She could throw me?”
“Like buck you off?” Theo smiles at me reassuringly. “She could, but she won’t. Just hold on with your knees, but don’t put your heels against her sides.” She hands me the reins. “Keep them somewhere between taut and loose. Tight enough that you can pull one way or another, but not so tight she doesn’t have slack to move her head.”
