Tai’s mouth opened in an impressed O. He turned to address the horse. “Well, thanks for the education, Pitch.”
The horse snorted and bobbed his head in Tai’s direction.
“So, Pitch for Claire, and for Tai, who has never ridden a horse before…” Kayla’s eyes widened in mock dismay, and Tai laughed.
He and Claire followed her to a stall across the dusty aisle. Inside stood a chestnut pinto slightly taller than Pitch. Her stall plaque bore the name Memento In Vino.
“Okay, I know what a blues lick is, but this one’s a riddle,” Tai said. “Remember the Wine? What kind of name is that for anything, much less a horse?”
Claire shrugged. “Registered names can get pretty random and/or cryptic.”
“We call her Magpie,” Kayla said. “She’s a good height for your long legs, and I’d recommend her for a vampire novice. Not as docile as some, but she’s not going to test you either.”
Tai stepped up to the cutaway portion of the stall’s front wall. For a moment, Magpie simply looked at him. Then she whiffled through her nose and took a few steps forward.
“Hey, Magpie,” Tai said. “Want to be the first horse I’ve ever sat on?”
Magpie came to him and bumped his shoulder with her nose. Tai chuckled, and she bumped him again.
“Is that a yes?” he asked Kayla.
“Definitely. Let’s tack up.”
“Uh, do what now?”
Before they’d even set out on the trail, Claire was more in love with Tai than she’d ever been. He had no idea what he was doing, but he gamely helped Kayla tack up Magpie while Clairedid the same for Pitch. Of course, Kayla checked Claire’s work, stuck a few fingers between Pitch’s barrel and the cinch strap, before pronouncing both horses ready to go. She left Magpie and Pitch in crossties and went to tack up her own mount, and Claire walked straight to Tai and kissed him.
He took her mouth with a deep kiss that brought her up on her tiptoes to wrap her arms around his neck. Then he pulled back.
“Any particular reason for that?” he said with a grin.
“You’re adorable around horses,” Claire said. “Instinctively talking to them like they’re people, willing to help and learn, not annoyed when you get corrected five times in two minutes.”
“Why would I be annoyed?” He patted Magpie’s neck. “Hey, here’s something I do know. Magpie’s a Paint, right?”
“She might be a Paint, but she’s definitely a pinto.”
He blinked. “Forget it. I don’t know anything.”
Claire laughed. “Pinto is the spotted coloring, and it can be present in a lot of different breeds. Specifically, Magpie’s an overo pinto. Paint is a breedwiththis coloring; there’s a registry for them that traces bloodlines, pedigree. So every Paint is a pinto, but not every pinto is a Paint.”
“I think I followed that, actually,” Tai said.
Kayla joined them in a few minutes, walking a tacked-up bay with a showy blaze and three white stockings. “Okay, y’all, we’re ready to hit the trail.”
“Who’s this?” Tai nodded to the bay.
“This is Burrito.” Kayla turned to him and blew his forelock off his face, and the horse whiffled in response.
“Is Burrito his legal name, or just what we call him at home?”
Kayla laughed. “Just what we call him. His registered name is Arpeggio.”
“Nowthatis a great name.”
Kayla and Claire mounted, and then Kayla instructed Tai to do the same. He was a natural, going to the horse’s left side before he was told, easing his weight down to the saddle carefully.
“Heels down,” Kayla said from Burrito’s back. “Yep, good, and your stirrups are the right height. There you go, Tai, you’ve got a perfect seat. Most vampires do. Now, if we stay on the trail, you don’t have to do a lot of steering. These horses know exactly where they’re going, and they follow each other almost all the time. But in case something random happens, let me give you a few pointers.”
