25 Mary
When we got to the stables on Saturday, my saddle was there. I unpacked it, and it felt good to see the old, scarred leather. Sarah looked at it, smiled and gave me a hug.
I had spent a short Wednesday afternoon working with Hero and The Bay. With my posing commitment, I couldn´t spend as much time as I wanted. By then I´d read most of the book Sarah had lent me. Hero and I went in with the young group for a while, although their regular teacher was back, working from crutches. I helped out some, then got out of the way. I thought I would just work both horses and see what they knew that I know too.
In the ring, I tried everything I could do and a few I couldn´t. Hero is a well-schooled horse, as I had decided earlier. When I ran out of time, I put him up and brought out The Bay. We worked together as before. Today, though, he seemed to have lost his nervousness about being mounted suddenly. He was glad to see me, and we worked for an hour until I felt as though I knew where his strong points were.
Now it was Saturday. I showed Hero my saddle, but he didn´t seem especially interested. I was just excited to have it again. We worked with Sarah and her group for a half-hour. I´m really pleased how much the girls seem to like me working with them. They don´t jockey for position, or try to show off, at least with me. When I came out of the ring, Rudy Self was waiting for me with his bunch of friends, all mounted.
“Morning,’ I said, tipping my hat. They all grinned like fools. What a stitch!
“Good morning, Mary,’ Rudy seemed to be the spokesman. “We were wondering if you´d be willing to show us a few things.’
“Well, I´ll tell you what. I want to spend about two hours working with Hero, here. I want to run him through some things, practice a little. Maybe get a little ride in the woods, too. If you want, you can ride with me. I´ll tell you what I´m going to do, and how I´m going to do it. You try it yourselves while I do. If you can´t figure it out, I´ll try again. Otherwise, wait until next time. Will you buy that?’
“Sounds good to me,’ said one of the ladies.
“Uh, one other thing. I´m glad to work with you, but Sarah´s got a business to run here. After we´re done, you´re going to have to talk to her about this as though it were a class. Is that okay?’
It was okay.
“‘Course, that means, if you like this, I´m probably stuck with you for a while.’
They just grinned at me.
We went into the big ring and worked for a long time. Each time I gave Hero something to do, I told them what I planned, and the cues I was going to use. Then I went ahead and did it. They tried it themselves at the same time. Some of it was pretty ragged, and I´d generally have to show them again what I was up to. This didn´t hurt me or Hero any, and it seemed to help them. But I didn´t really interrupt my own practice plan. In fact, I worked the hell out of all of us. After an hour or so, we went out into the woods, riding down the trails and giving the horses a chance to stretch out in a canter.
When we were done, I took Hero back to his stall. The class started putting their horses up, too. They came by, each of them saying thanks, and ‘see you next week.´ Seemed okay to me.
I brought out The Bay and took him into the ring. This time, I put him through all the things we´d agreed on the last time. Then I started teaching him new things. This was harder. I had to try and find a way to tell him what I wanted to do, what the cues meant, without forcing him. I tried to make him want to go where I intended. Slowly, we managed. I learned how I could give him a cue and wait to see what happened. He knew I was asking for something, and would try and work it out. If he got it wrong, I´d tell him. It wasn´t quite trial and error – I, at least, knew what I wanted. And I´d learned from the book what some of the standard cues were. Most of them were no surprise.
After an hour, we´d done a lot. I took him through the woods and galloped him up and down the ride. He loved it. When we got back, he got his apple, and I walked over to the office.
“You´ve started yourself a class in Western Pleasure Riding, Mary. Congratulations,’ Sarah said.
“How many?’
“All of them, and I think you might get more as time goes on.’
“I don´t want more than about eight, Sarah. Gets unwieldy. It´d kind of help if I knew what I was doing, too.’
“Like any other teacher, you´re going to have to stay ahead of your class. That´s all.’
“Are you getting good money from them?’
“Mary, I´m charging double my normal class rates. They didn´t bat an eyelash. As for you, we need to agree on your fee.’ Without batting an eye, she added, “With or without lunches?’
“With, please. I love your sandwiches.’
We talked about money for a while, and I agreed to take a pretty good fee for teaching. Schooling The Bay wasn´t mentioned.
“Next week, Sarah, I think I can put you up on The Bay, if you want to try it. What do you think?’
“If you say it´s okay, I´d love to try him. Did I see you riding him out to the woods today?’
“Yeah, I galloped him up and down that ride to the south, there. He really enjoyed the exercise. He´s fast and he handles really well.’
“I didn´t tell you. He´s never been out of the yard before.’
“Oh... Well, uh... he has now.’ We both grinned.
Will had been sitting and talking with Sarah while I worked The Bay. We walked out to the car together.
I said, “Will, it looks like I´ve signed up to teach riding. Just what I said I wouldn´t do. And I´m so happy, I could bust.’
Will hugged me tight. “You´ve begun to be yourself, Mary. That´s all.’