let's ride

Dixie-May Jackson · 08-20-2011, 10:36 PM

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Erm...next day I guess. 19th, early-ish. Big Grin

Word Count → 702

Dixie was up pretty early the next morning, tacking Duke up and mounting to go for a ride as the sun came up over the mountain’s peak. She sat upon her horse as the sunrise washed over the valley and lake coloring it in beautiful shakes of oranges and muted blues and purples. It was breathtaking to say the least, made her wish she was gifted in the art of painting, so she could capture the moment forever. Once she was done ogling, the real work began. Because both of the males were sleeping, she rode up to Gypsy and tossed a rope around the mare’s neck. Yipping softly, she gave a tug and walked them a few hundred feet away to get a short morning workout done. If she planned on training Thomas to do anything with horses, the beasts needed to get some early morning energy washed out before taking on the untrained man.

Kicking her heels into Duke’s sides, she encouraged him to pick up the pace to a steady lope, her body falling into the motions easily as they rode around in wide circles. The morning air was crisp and cool, a light breeze washing up from the huge lake, making everything more refreshing. Her sleep had been perfect, warm and snuggled up to Wayne always helped her get more sleep. Happy and slightly giddy for the start of the day, she got the horses to go even faster, laughing heartily as they galloped around the field. There was nothing to stop her from having this fun, the feeling of total freedom washing through her body. No one and nothing was going to make this moment any less significant than it was in her mind.

After about thirty minutes of riding, she noticed a light foaming of bubbly white sweat covering Duke’s neck and shoulders. Smiling, she slowed him to a walk and took then back over the tree where the men were at. Wayne was up with a small fire going again, a little kettle of water boiling and some dried meat sitting out for their small morning meal. Dixie slid down from Duke’s back and took all of his tack off, letting him go roll in the grass and play in the water with Gypsy for a while. Her body sank down to the ground near Thomas and she grinned at him seeing that he was still a little sleepy looking, but overall alert and ready to start with his horse training.

”Okay, Mr. Thomas…after we have a bit of food, we’re gonna get you started with Duke; just the rub down and the tackin’ up parts first.” Her voice was soft and smooth, letting him know that everything would be okay and that she had control of the situation. Wayne took all the bedding and rolled it up, putting it back in the traveling packs so it would be ready when they decided to move once again. He gave Gypsy a few pets before coming back and taking a few bites of the dried jerky meat. Dixie grinned at him as she ate some and handed a few pieces to Thom. It was tough and pretty much tasteless, but there was nutrition in it that was vital to their survival…and it stemmed the hunger growling in their bellies.

Once they were all done eating, Dixie stood and took Thomas’s hand, leading him over to where the now dirty horses were grazing. She reached down and grabbed a large handful of grass. ”We don’t have enough room to be carrying brushes around, but this works almost as good. Just rub the grass in circles all over the dirty spots, the rough texture will make the dirt and dead hair fall away easily.” She continued to rub her grass filled hand over a small patch of the chestnut stud’s withers, showing Thom how all the dirty stuff just seemed to conglobate and fall away. The horse sighed and shook his body a bit, sending dust flying all over. Dixie just smiled and shook her head, rubbing the grass over him more, ”This is also a good bonding technique…so c’mon, let’s get him all cleaned up.”

Image courtesy of PNNL@Flickr; table code by the Mentors!

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