“OK, chase him up here!”
The dust of the corral had stirred up and was softly glowing in the sunset. I found myself on a beautiful black gelding named Uno in the middle of the corral, reigns in hand, with my friend Kelly riding beside me. Kelly, my adventure buddy for the last few days, is a seasoned rider. She’d invited me to ride with her on the farm where she works in the evenings.
A red bull calf with nubs for horns had defied the herding dog and slipped out of the pen, followed by a few other rebels. Don, the owner of the sprawling farm, had been moving the calves onto a trailer and shouted over to us.
I eyed the calves and the furiously fast dog.
“Just ride alongside them,” Kelly encouraged me.
I set my heels down, gently tapped Uno’s flanks and said, “Let’s go!”
This wasn’t Uno’s first rodeo. He knew what he was doing before I even moved. We came up to the calves and rode alongside them as the dog herded them back into the pen.
I had arrived on Don’s farm for the evening with only the goal of getting onto a horse.
“I’ve ridden before,” I’d said in a reassuring tone.
“Well…” Kelly corrected. “She’s been led around before. I’m not sure that’s riding.”
“If you are on a horse’s back, you are riding it,” I laughed.
“So you want to get technical,” Don said.
“I’m a lawyer,” I smiled.
“That’s what worries me,” Don muttered.
Kelly had saddled up Uno and her horse, a beautiful light-colored mare nicknamed Jazzy. She had explained how to tighten the cinch and what each part of the saddle does. Then we’d led the horses outside into a beautiful, spacious corral.
I put my right foot in the stirrup and slung myself up into Uno’s saddle. Don told me how to steer the horse using the reigns, how to go forward, and how to stop. Then Kelly and I were off into the corral.
This wasn’t Uno’s first rodeo. He knew what he was doing before I even moved. We came up to the calves and rode alongside them as the dog herded them back into the pen.
After walking for a while, I felt comfortable enough to move up to trotting. Trotting a horse, I realized, is way harder than it looks. All I had to do was tap Uno’s flanks and he was off in a trot following Jazzy. But I was popping in and out of the saddle so hard that I thought my brain might bounce out of my head.
Kelly laughed and gave me some pointers for following the horse’s rhythm. Then we rode out into the pasture to move more calves.
I loved riding Uno. He was in sync with me and seemed to know what to do before I did. And although it took a minute to remember what to do with the reigns and how to move with the horse, I felt comfortable and at ease.
We led the horses back to the barn and Kelly unsaddled the horses and handed me a brush. I brushed Jazzy, then watched as Don and Kelly moved the horses around for the night. I took a turn scooping manure out of a stall as the evening light faded into darkness and Don turned on the barn lights.
There was something about being around animals, and maybe specifically horses, that made me feel happy and eager to the do the next thing.
I thanked Don and Kelly and headed out into the darkness.
Maybe, I thought as I drove away, I’m actually a horse person.