Chapter 28 One Last Ride Together
She watched Evan brush Bill’s coat and straighten his mane so that it lay neatly, and she mimicked his actions as she tended to Cherry. When he finished with the brush, he brought out the saddle blanket, and she watched as he placed it over the withers. It was much higher up than she realized; much higher than she had placed it before. She placed her blanket several times, trying to make certain that it was right. He had paused to watch her. “Get it up onto his withers pretty good and make sure that it’s even. We don’t want the saddle to wear a sore on him,” he observed. “There you go, you got it.”
He turned away and went to get his saddle. He very effortlessly swung it onto Bill’s back with one hand and then adjusted it in place. She watched as he walked around to the other side and made sure the cinches and straps were not twisted or tucked under the saddle where they might rub a sore. Once he was certain that everything was straight, he walked to the front and pulled the latigo through the cinch and tightened it, loosely buckled the back cinch, and then turned to watch her.
“I can’t lift it with one hand,” she said. “How do you do that?”
“Sometimes I have to hold the reins on a horse and saddle him at the same time,” he answered. “It takes rhythm and knowing how to time the swing, but you can do it with two hands. Cherry isn’t going anywhere.”
He showed her how to put the cinches and stirrups up over the seat of the saddle so that she could lift it onto Cherry’s back without them being under the saddle or pushing off the blanket. That was the part that she had struggled with before, and it had never crossed her mind to do what he had done. It simplified things a great deal. In fact, she was able to get the saddle set on his back with the first try. “That’s the secret,” she said. “I fought with that part for fifteen minutes when I tried it myself.”
“Now, look at your cinch ring,” he said, pointing to the large, round “d-ring” below the saddle skirt, which had the latigo attached. “You want to line that up just back of his shoulder and cinch him up pretty close, but not too close to the back of his shoulder. That is part of the reason that your saddle didn’t stay on right, I would guess.”
She moved the saddle to where he had shown her and then paused to look at him.
“You’re doing fine,” he said. “Check to make sure all of your straps and cinches are clear on the other side. It saves you from having to redo it later.”
She walked around to the other side and adjusted everything so that it was hanging free, then returned. She remembered to put her hand on his rump and walk closely behind, just like he had taught her before. Then she put the latigo through the cinch and began to tighten it. When she thought it was pretty snug, she looked at him.
“Get another notch or two,” he advised. “It won’t hurt him. It has to be snug to stay on.”
She worked on tightening the cinch two more holes. It was hard work, and she strained to get the second hole to line up with the buckle. He showed her how to get more leverage, and she easily tightened the cinch to the next notch. She buckled the back cinch, loosely, just as he had, and looked at him one more time.
“I think you’ve learned pretty well,” he smiled. “Now there won’t be any fear of the saddle turning on you. Are you ready?”
They led their horses out of the barn and into the ranch yard. Evan stepped into the stirrup, put one hand on the horse, and swung easily into his seat. She wouldn’t be able to do that in a million years, she thought. She crossed the reins over Cherry’s neck and put her foot in the stirrup. She grabbed the saddle horn and the seat and began climbing. She finally was able to swing her leg over onto the other side and was proud of herself for not having to use the fence, extremely glad that she had stopped in a secluded patch of trees on the way in order to change into the jeans and shirt that Evan had given her.
When she was set in the saddle, she gathered the reins and measured them out, making sure that they were even, before started out, not waiting for him to take the lead. She was back in heaven. The gentle rocking on the back of Cherry was exactly what she had been missing the last several days. Her eyes were wide open, as were the rest of her senses. She felt alive again, and she was soaking it all in as they rode silently together.
She could smell the pine and the sage. The sage was especially strong with the morning dew still lingering upon it. Sam and Lucy had fallen in along with the two of them and were trotting along with their tongues hanging out to the side. They would look up at her occasionally to see that she was still there, and they would check on Evan as well. She thought it was cute and funny that they did that. She wondered what they were thinking. Were they along to make sure that everything went smoothly?
“I think that I could do this forever,” she said after a long period of silence.
“You certainly seem to take to it.”
“It is so peaceful and free,” she said. “It makes me feel so alive to sit on his back. It is so much different than driving, because it isn’t a machine, it is a living, breathing animal with its own mind and its own spirit.”
“Yep,” he agreed. He didn’t want to interrupt her. He watched her face as she talked. It glowed with contentment. He was able to forget about the ring. He was able to forget about everything but watching her as she experienced something that he had always loved. He saw the elk back in the spot where they had been a few days before. He waited to see if she would see them too.
“Oh, look,” she said. “Our little herd of elk is back.” She eyed him with an evil grin on her face.
“I know what you’re thinking already,” he grinned. “You better keep your reins…”
His words fell into the space behind her as she started Cherry into a gallop and then into a run toward the herd of elk. He touched a spur to Bill and fell in behind her. She is damned sure a game one. A few days before, she had been scared out of her mind from doing the very same thing. She’d put that all behind her and was leading the charge.