“Good. Get her a helmet though. Protect that pretty head.”
“Wait, what?” I know my eyes are as wide as they can get. “You want me to ride? I don’t know how to do that! I can’t…I can’t…um…”
“Sure you can,” Sabin says.
“Sabin will take you nice and slow, right?”
Sabin nods. “I’ll hold the reins and walk her around. You just sit there and enjoy.” He looks to Pearce.
Pearce nods at him. “You’re in good hands,” he says as he backs up and waves. “Shepherd here has a way with all the animals, especially Mia. A natural rider, that boy is. Have fun, kids.”
My knees might not be actually shaking, but I am a little nervous when Sabin buckles my helmet for me.
“You’re gonna love this, B.” He moves a small step stool next to Mia’s left side and helps me get my foot into the stirrup. “Now, just grab on to her mane and then push up and throw your right leg over.”
“I have to grab her mane? Doesn’t that hurt her?”
“No, not at all. You can grab the horn if you want instead.”
“There’s a horn? Like a car?”
Sabin laughs loudly, and I glare at him until he stops.
“Okay, okay. Sorry. Not that kind of horn. This. The sort of knobby thing on the saddle.”
“Oh. Okay. If you laugh at me again, I’m not getting on.”
“I promise I won’t.”
Miraculously, I get up on the first try. Sabin does have to put his hands under my ass to push me all the way on, but I still count it as a success.
I sit up and exhale.
“Perhaps not the most graceful mount I’ve ever seen, but you did it!” Sabin says happily.
“And you got to touch my ass!”
“I did! Win-win!”
Sabin holds Mia’s reins as he slowly walks us around the ring, and I love every second of it. Mia is incredibly gentle and calm, and soon enough, I relax into the ride. We go around the arena three times.
“Do you want to hold the reins and ride by yourself?” he asks. I must look hesitant because he adds, “I’ll walk right next to you.”
I agree, and he hands me the reins.
“How do I tell her where to go?”
“If you want her to head right, just open up your right arm a bit—don’t pull on her mouth or anything—and take your right calf and put a little pressure on Mia’s right flank. She’ll understand what to do. Give it a try.”
So, I do, and I’m surprised when just the pressure of my leg on her side gets her to turn. “She did it!”
Sabin smiles. “She did. What’s interesting is, when horses are in the wild, the alpha mare always nips at the flank or shoulder of the other horses to direct them where to go. A lot like a dog herding sheep. So, we just copy that. In a sense, we become the alpha. They understand pecking order. Pearce says horses are like toddlers. They like structure and boundaries, and they love being praised.”
I make Sabin take my picture, but right after, I wave him back to my side. I ride like this—technically on my own but with Sabin only a few feet away—for twenty minutes. We don’t talk. We just walk and ride, and it’s utterly perfect. I see why he loves this so much. It’s almost meditative.
“You look very handsome, Sabe.”
He does. The cowboy hat, the sun hitting his cheeks, the stunning backdrop of this priceless property—it all enhances how good he looks. I have tremendously missed him.
