“You take her and go first. He should follow, but in case he gets spooked…” Theo mused.
“Give me a second.” I held up my hand as I dug out my phone. “Hey River, where are you?”
“Hey, in the house, why?”
“Can you go close the gate to the yard and wait until we’re done moving the twins? Don’t let anyone into the yard, we need peace to get them to the arena.”
Theo’s eyebrows raised, but he stayed silent.
“Absolutely, give me two minutes, I’ll text you once I’m in position.”
I smiled. “Awesome, thanks.”
“Good thinking,” Theo said quietly.
“Thanks. He’s gonna text me once he’s there.”
The two horses had halters on, and Theo grabbed a lead rope off the hook by the stall, then handed it to me.
“Do you want gloves?”
“No thanks. I know not to wrap the rope around my hand and if it comes to that, I’ll let her go.”
Theo nodded approvingly. “Let’s hope it doesn’t come to that, but it’s the safest option for sure, especially with the gate closed. The immediate property is fenced in, so they won’t get far.”
I noticed Theo didn’t have gloves either, but that didn’t surprise me. I was pretty sure the man had all sorts of calluses on his working man’s hands. His fingers were long and everything about his hands were very masculine, and—my phone buzzed in my hand. I almost dropped it, but managed to stick it into my pocket instead.
“Okay, he’s ready now.”
“All right let’s go in carefully. Once we have them both on leads, you open the door and try to get her to walk calmly. If I call stop, you stop.”
“Sounds good,” I said brightly, but my heart was starting to pick up speed.
I hadn’t been around horses in a long time.
“Don’t worry, she’s very calm and they’re drafts. They’re like big dogs really, he’s just a skittish one because of what he’s been through,” Theo spoke in a calming, low tone, which I felt was both for mine and the horses’ benefit.
We entered the box stall, and I closed the door behind us. The mare was curious and came to me, probably keen on getting outside.
Theo’s calmness helped with the gelding, and watching Theo pat the giant horse with gentle firmness…yeah, something about that called to me, too.
“Okay, let’s go.”
I nodded and patted the mare. “All right, Hope, let’s go and be all calm so Truce knows there’s nothing to be scared of.”
She snorted gently, then turned her head minutely in a way that told me she was checking up on her brother.
“He’s coming. Don’t you worry, girl.”
I opened the door and stepped into the aisle, then gave her rope to get out of the normal horse sized door in a way that felt comfortable to her. As soon as she was out, I gathered the rope again and led her slowly toward the other end of the aisle where the doors were.
“Stop.”
I halted immediately, patting the mare who didn’t seem bothered.
“Okay, you can continue,” Theo said after a few seconds of shuffling hooves somewhere behind us.
I walked to the double doors we’d opened for this purpose. The smaller horses, especially calmer ones, could fit easily through the smaller human door, but for these guys it was better to have the big ones open.
