Love in rodeo

Chapter twenty four

Collecting my split reins in one hand I threw myself into the saddle. My butt slid into it's perfect spot while my heels naturally pointed downward. As far as Red Dawn, he just shifted his weight and turned his head to face behind us.

Turning around in the saddle I spotted Duke and Matt trotting their way towards us. Since the lesson had gone better then I could have asked for, I thought a trail ride would be a nice reward for both me and Duke.

Matt on the other hand seemed more on edge as he pulled Duke down to a nice easy walk as I pushed Red Dawn forward. Duke's ears calmly moved forward and back, his nostrils flaring slightly as he took in the new scents.

"So what we doing?" Matt broke the silence slightly. A smile pulled at the edges of my lips.

"A trail ride" I slightly eyed up Matt out of the corner of my eye.

"Have you ever been on a trail ride before?" An eyebrow moved up on it's own as I thought of someone never going on a trail ride before. Was that even possible?

"Once or twice. It's been a while though" Matt shrugged. Nodding my head I steered Red Dawn into the opening of the woods where a well beaten down trail greeted us.

"And Duke?"

"Never" I twisted in my saddle to look over at Matt with my eyebrow raised once again.

It might be where I'm from and how I was raised with horses but isn't trail riding a common thing if you own a horse? Heck I know every horse I've ever ridden had at lest one or two trail rides under their belts.

Again Matt shrugged his shoulders as if it was nothing new. My eyebrow lowered down and so did my lips. I urged Red Dawn into a faster pace. Some reason I felt like Red Dawn could get me out of this awkward atmosphere that seemed to be surrounding me and Matt right now.

The thought made me grumble in dislike as I thought of losing another friend. First Jack and his nasty words, now Matt who wants to know a girl who isn't willing to open up her mouth.

I urged Red Dawn into a nice easy trot that seemed like a walk almost. My hips swinging to the movement of the saddle while my ears hounded in on the birds and our horses feet moving against the hard ground. The trees whispering sweet words in my ears as I continued down the path. Duke had no problem finding his footing over the fallen trees or rocks which surprised me slightly. And certainly surprised me more when I counted Red Dawn's trips to find out he had tripped ten times while Duke might have stumbled once.
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Finally I couldn't take the silence anymore. Matt had been as quite as the sun during the whole ride and I couldn't take it anymore! Just when I was about to scream my head off I spotted what I was really looking for.

The lake.

The dark trees opened up to a nice muddy beach that connected to the beautiful blue water. Flowers touched the outskirts of the greenery, while the great blue sky finally shined down on me as I made it to the clearing.

"Finally" I mumbled as I jumped down from my mount. Patiently Red Dawn let me unbridle him and put on his halter that I carried around just for this. 

"It's beautiful" glancing behind me I spotted Matt taking in the scenery in front of him. A true smile pulled at my lips as I watched his eyes land on me.

"So he speaks" teasingly I pulled the saddle off and gave Matt a playful smirk.

"I'm not the only one with a mouth" Matt followed my lead as we let the horses hobble around and placed the saddles down by the trees.

Turning around from the trees I glanced to the lake again. The green hills rolled behind the lake. The blue water sparkled back the sunlight to me while the deep blue seems to greet me. Sweating I pulled my shirt over my head.