"He's all yours. I hate to drop him off and leave. But I'll be back in town Friday! I'll be sure to stop by!"
Stella just dropped my new horse Zeus off. He has been such a sweet heart to me. Plus, I need to get back into rodeo. Zeus has done it before. Stella doesn't lie. I'm only doing the classic pole bending and barrels. I'm not pushing my luck with working the steers.
Getting this horse in the trailer already sucked. I'm scared to see how he reacts when he moves into a field he's never been in before. He's already spooky. Oh god, what if I mess him up. No, I've trained horses with worse problems. I'll be okay. He will learn like Kaela's horse did.
I slowly open the trailer and hope that he won't bolt out and knock me over. I feel him shaking from outside. This isn't going to end well at all. I step in completely. He didn't rip off his halter, which is good. He is drenched in sweat. He might as well have just been sprayed by a hose right before we moved him. He wasn't sweating from heat; he was sweating from being nervous.
I take the rope and he practically runs me over as I try to get him to the gate. He gets jumpy. There is no getting him to calm down. I hear Kelly, why is she here? "Smack him, teach him a lesson"
"He doesn't need it, he's scared." Just like me. I always found It weird how I can talk someone out of depression yet here I am. I think it's considered being a hypocrite.
I hear her say something to me as I'm taking off his halter. I'm not going to put up with her right now. I want to deal with my horse without another person over my shoulder. I'm not going to say anything though. Isn't that how you're supposed to be nice?
"RAIN!? I said hold him still!"
"I'm letting him figure out where he is. There is no problem."
Kelly always liked to tell me how to deal with horses. I've only known her for about 3 months. And she's taking over everything. I hear her getting ready to speak. Honestly where is the duct tape and krazy glue when you need it.
Zeus starts running up and down the fence line. He looks at me then stops. I'm tempted to mess around and play tag with him. But I don't want to look stupid in front of Kelly. Hell, why is she here again? Who invited her. All I know is that she jumped into my truck. I didn't say anything. I was at a stop sign. Not her house.
We always know that one person who invites themselves to everything. Bingo. She's it. I mean what was I supposed to do? Would I just look at her in the eye and not do anything! Say that I don't have time for her? Say that I don't like the way she mistreats her horse; therefore, I don't want her around mine.
I can't just wave hi and run away. Even though I should have just done that. I just want to break this stupid thing off. But I want some friends around here my age. I'm 20, shouldn't this be easy? Well it's not okay. Stella is 29, yet she's one of the greatest people I know!
I'm starting to wonder where the hell is Adam. He said he would be here. He already knows Kelly showed up. I have a feeling he knew before I even texted him. He went up to Denver today, so I guess if he shows, then he's showing up rather fast, guess I can't complain.
He's one of the only people I know who actually care about me. I always found that really weird. He only wants me to be safe. And when I'm under his watch, I am. Whether I like it or not, he is always there for me. One of the many reasons he is my fiancé. It's going well so far.
"Well I gotta go or else my dad will be concerned." Yes, Kelly still lives with her dad. She's 21. And still lives with her dad. She's never bothered to get a job. She believes she can compete in rodeos and start horses. I told her I could help her, but she only looks down to me. She truly believes I don't know what I'm doing or talking about. Her opinion. That's all her decision, not mine. I tell her I will help her, she blows me off and tells me her vast experiences. But I can tell it's a lie. I know this because her stories change every single time.
"Okay that's fine. Also can I have my bridle back, I think I might need it now." Yes, Kelly took my bridle.
"Um. I was using it, but yeah. I like how it's nylon. Speaking of which, I used to train this horse with nylon bridles, it rubbed his fur off. I really don't recommend it because he will resist it..."
I think she went on for 20 minutes. The whole entire time, Zeus and I were just eyeballing each other. He would gallop around and stop. Why can't I just run like he can. This horse reminds me of myself to much. We both are trapped, and so far, trust no one. Maybe I'll trust him. Maybe he'll trust me.
I get out the halter after he calms down. I need him to know that he can calm down and get comfortable with me and his surroundings. Now I can use my rope halter and not Stella's. This halter has only been on him once. And it looked nice and fit well. I don't know why I felt so much pride in that halter. This is weird having my own horse again. Now I have the right to buy tack I don't technically need. Whatever, things need to be color coded with me and my horse.
I climb over the gate, mainly because I have a problem with opening doors and gates in general. Don't even get me started on how often I fall down the stairs on a daily basis.
I slowly jump off the gate hoping that he doesn't spook. That's the worst case scenario right now. I've already worked on him with lunging before. He needs to get used to it. I have already been lectured on how important it is. Something I can transfer over with English.
He sees me. I can hear his heartbeat from 7 yards away. He lets out one snort before dropping his head and walking towards me. I think he is the only one who has wanted to approach me since I have moved here.
I hear footsteps behind me. Then they stop. It's Adam.
"I don't want to spook him."
"Walk slowly and calmly."
He makes his way over. He is careful not to scare Zeus. Adam knows how badly it will mess up everything. Our story is a long one. He used to not like it when I was around the horses due to the fact, I would get hurt way too often. All of the horses always get used to him being around. He ends up as a father to most of them.
"Rain, I swear to god if you get hurt by this freaking horse,"
"Then you'll keep him and love him unconditionally."
"I love you too much."
"I'm very aware. You can sit on the gate if you want just don't rattle it."
Adam gets on the gate as I commanded. It's time I actually work with this horse. I put the halter on him. He understands and doesn't try to run away. He drops his head and relaxes. I move him to the left and the right. Then I make him walk forward and back up. At this point I think we are on the same page.
I raise the lead rope. He starts to move towards me and not away. Suddenly what Stella told me kicked in. I side stepped into his hind end and he started moving away from me doing circles. This is technically lunging! We're off to a good start. He stays at a walk, a good thing, it's what I wanted from him.
I notice that he's really in my space so I just lightly swing the lead under his belly so he'll back off. He flinched then got out of my space. He started to walk straight so I just moved his head towards me, so he'll keep the circles going and keep his eye on me. I jump in front of him to make him stop. He stops cleanly and faces me with both eyes with his ears perked. I make him stand for 30 seconds and tap my chest so he knows he can relax and walk to me.
Once he comes over I rub in between his eyes. I make him back up just because I know he has problems with it. So far so good. Time to exercise the other side. I know this is his bad side. So this should be interesting...
I step over to his right side. He starts to yield to me. I raise the lead by his hind quarters and he gets the message and starts doing his circles around me. Same thing went down as the other side. I always had to keep pressure on his face this time because Zeus would always drift and start to go straight. An easy problem to fix for me.
I make him stop. He knows the drill and he stops. I make him back up once more. This time he does it perfectly. I take him to the middle of his pasture and take the halter off there. When I start to take it off, I keep it around his neck and make him wait until I say he can leave. He looks at me like when a kid yells "Moooooooooooooooommmmmmmmmmmmmm!" Because they can't get a bag of candy at the grocery store.
I let go of Zeus and he gently walks away with no explosive movements. He stops and looks at me. I see him sniff the ground and he does circles. Then he lays down and starts to roll. This is a good sign that he's comfortable in this space now. He gets up and does a cute little shake to get the dirt off. Then he starts to graze.
I look at the time. I have been working with Zeus for about 30 minutes. Adam waits until I give him the signal he is allowed to speak. I walk by the gate and start to climb over it and Adam follows. "What's for dinner." I ask to let him know I'm not upset or in a bad mood in any way.
"Cold Pizza". Adam answers.
"Sounds like my kind of night." We both laugh. He gets in his Ford truck that I have a love hate relationship with. Then I get in my Chevy that I love. I always would talk about how I wanted a Chevy Silverado that's black and had the black Chevy logo and it needs to have at least 2500 horse power. And I have now! Couldn't have asked for better honestly.
We race each other home. He won only because I had an idiot at a stop sign! Our little two-bedroom apartment, that is temporary, is cozy. We have a green sectional couch with a coffee table in front of it. Our kitchen is pretty tight, but is suffices. Our fridge has two doors. But it's one of the retarded ones that has the whole entire left side as the freezer. Which I hate! Our room has a queen size bed. Once again, it suffices. I have my Martin Saddlery saddle on display. Adam's Martin saddle is right next to it. Do I have regret spending over 8,000 dollars on two saddles? Not a single hair of shame!
We play my favorite game on the PS3. I hate the Xbox with a burning passion. We play my favorite platform game to ever exist on the PS3, Little Big Planet. Adam kicks ass the first round and leaves me in the dust. But the second round I got my game face on and had to carry his ass to the end. I look at the time. 23:34. We have been playing for 3 hours. I decide to finally get that cold pizza out of the fridge.
He follows and comes up behind me. He acts like he's about to kiss me. But instead he takes the slice out of my hand and runs away. What kind of a fiancé would I be if I didn't chase after him and attempt to tackle him? I say attempt because every single time I try, he always wins.