Back in the saddle

Sunday morning Tenac came by to pick up Mary for her next riding lesson. She was really exited to get back to the stables. As they were walking, they talked about Tenac’s latest mission and Mary’s last couple of days in the sanctum. Mary also told him about the adoption being finalised.

As they walked in to the stable, Mary walked straight over to Buttercup’s box. The small horse put her head through the opening and neighed softly. Mary smiled and began to rub its forehead. The horse seemed lost in pleasure and stood with a lowered head and eyes that were half closed.

“Okay, if we let her decide, you will be doing that for the rest of the day. Come with me” Tenac laughed. With a final rub, Mary followed him. He led her to a room filled with saddles and bridles.

Tenac showed her that each horse had their own saddle and bridle and then showed her the different parts and thought her about their functionality. He showed her how to care for the equipment and how to carry it. It was a lot heavier than Mary had thought.

Tenac carried Buttercup’s saddle and bridle over to the grooming part of the stable. He then asked Mary to take Buttercup out and groom her as he had thought her the previous time.

Mary was a bit nervous, she hoped she remembered everything correctly. She could feel that Tenac was beside her every step of the way. He let her do everything on her own, in her own pace. But he was there in case he needed to help her.

Mary brushed and pampered Buttercup until her fur shone. When she felt like she had removed everything that could make the equipment chafe against Buttercup, she took a step back and told Tenac she was done.

Tenac inspected Buttercup. He let his hands run over the horse to feel her soft fur. He lifted her hoofs and looked and then looked at Mary.

“Good job. Now let’s saddle her” her said and Mary smiled. She knew that he would have told her if she had missed something or done a bad job. When he said she had done good, she felt proud of herself.

Tenac put on the saddle as he described what he was doing and why. Then he put on the bridle as he did the same thing. Then he took both of them of and handled the saddle to Mary.

“Your turn” he told her and watch as she fumbled her way through the procedure.

“You need to tighten the saddle girth, if it’s to loos and you try to mount the horse, the saddle will twist and end up crocked” he told her and showed her again how he did it. She nodded.

Once Buttercup had been saddled Tenac looked at Mary.

“Do you feel up to trying to ride?” he asked.

“Yes” Mary told him. Trying to sound confident. It was a little scary to think about being on top of a horse. But she trusted both Tenac and Buttercup.

Tenac had her lead buttercup out of the stable and over to one of the open areas between the stables. It had a rough fence made out of logs around it. Tenac had brought what looked like a long rope with him that he let hang on a fence post.

“To get up into the saddle you take a hold of the reins and the front of the saddle with your left hand, grab a hold of the back of the saddle with your right hand. Then place your left foot in the stirrup. Jump using your right leg and stand in the stirrup, swinging your right foot over the back of the horse in one fluid motion” Tenac explained.

“It’s easier if you stand on a box in the beginning as it makes the jumping part a bit easier” he then said. “If you wait here, I’ll get the box” he told her.

“Tenac” Mary called out before he could leave.

“Yes?”

“Could I maybe try it without the box first?” she asked.

“Sure” he said, walking over to stand by Buttercup’s neck, lightly holding on to the horse. “Give it a go” he encouraged Mary.

Mary nodded, she wasn’t sure she knew how to do this. But she had seen the riders to it countless times during the trip to Salmis. She grabbed a steady hold of the reins and saddle and put her foot in the stirrup and pushed off. She felt herself going up, but she didn’t manage to lock her left knee in the upright position and ended up back on the ground.

“Once more, a bit more force in the jump, you almost made it” Tenac said.

Mary did it again, and this time she managed to extend her left leg and swing the right leg over the horse. Then she was suddenly sitting on Buttercup’s back.

“Well done” Tenac told her.

Mary was too busy trying to find her balance to enjoy the praise she got. Tenac walked around Buttercup and showed Mary how she should hook her foot into the other stirrup. He then told her about the correct hight of the stirrups and helped her adjust them to different lengths so that she could feel the difference.

Buttercup just patiently stood there, lost in her own world, while Mary shuffled around on her back. Mary was grateful for the horses calm temper.

Tenac showed her how her legs, feet, hands, and weight would be used to signal to Buttercup what she wanted the horse to do.

“We will start of easy, I’m going to lead her, and you are going to focus on finding the right stance and balance. Okay?” Tenac told her and Mary nodded.

When Tenac moved away from Marys side and up to buttercups head, Mary first felt panic start to bubble. Then she took a deep breath and went through all the instructions he had given her about how she should sit.

“Ask her to go forward” Tenac told Mary, looking back at her.

Mary let her hands move forward at the same time as she pressed her heals into the side of Buttercup. The horse started to move forward lazily. Mary had to bite her tongue not to squeal out loud.

Instead, she took another breath and focused on her balance. After a minute she found it easier to follow along in Buttercup’s rhythm and she didn’t feel as scared of falling off. They went round and round the paddock, Tenac leading Buttercup and periodically looking back to see how Mary was doing.

“It looks good Mary, you are ready for the next step” he suddenly told her.

“Are you sure?” Mary asked him.

“Trust me, I wouldn’t suggest it if I didn’t think you could handle it” he told it. Mary nodded, she trusted him.

Tenac lead Buttercup to the fencepost where to long rope were hanging. He tied it to her bridle and looked back at Mary.

“I’m going to be standing in the middle of the paddock. You will have more control of Buttercup, but I will still have some control through this longe line” he told her.

“Okay” Mary said.

Tenac lead them to the centre of the paddock and let go of the bridle, only holding on to the coiled rope.

“Make her move forward Mary” he told her, and Mary did as he told her.

Slowly Buttercup started to move forward, and Mary felt a thrill in knowing she had made that happen. Slowly Tenac instructed her to make the circles wider. Soon she was riding almost alongside the fence. Tenac was giving her pointers on her stans and hands.

“Okay Mary, you are doing great. It’s time to increase her speed a bit” Tenac told Mary.

“What?” Mary asked him, she could hear the fear in her own voice.

“It will be okay Mary, she’s barely walking. I know you like her but to be honest, she’s a bit lazy” he laughed.

“Don’t be mean to her, she’s just making sure I feel safe” Mary quickly defended Buttercup, making Tenac laughing even more.

“If you say so Mary, but let’s at least get her into a proper walk” he insisted.

Mary nodded and urged Buttercup on. She could feel the horse picking up the pace. To Marys surprise, it didn’t terrify her. She felt herself move with Buttercup in a way that let her stay in balance.

“Brilliant” Tenac smiled. “Now let’s try trotting, remember what I said about using your legs to dampen the movement” he continued.

Encouraged by the success of increase in speed last time Mary didn’t object but urged Buttercup on. Trotting was a whole different thing, Mary discovered. She understood what Tenac had told her to do, but she found it hard in the beginning to match her movements with Buttercup’s, making it an unpleasant experience for both Mary and the horse.

But after a while and with helpful hints from Tenac, she finally found her rhythm and it didn’t feel as she was just bouncing around.

“Now you got it” Tenac sounded pleased. “Take her down to a walk again.”

Mary did as she was told and after a while Tenac told her to halt and she did. Tenac came walking over to her.

“Great job Mary, I think that is enough for today. You still need to take care of Buttercup and we want you to be able to walk tomorrow” he told her with a smile.

He then instructed her how to dismount and they lead Buttercup into the stables and Mary brushed her and feed her. Tenac showed her how to inspect the gear and before Mary knew it, they were walking back home.

“Thank you for this Tenac, I am grateful for you teaching me” Mary said to him.

“Don’t mention it Mary, you are easy to teach, you’re a natural on the horseback” he told her.

“It really is a lot of fun” she said with a smile.

“I’m happy to hear you say that. I will have to bring you out to visit the clan the next time they are here” he smiled back.

“You really mean that?” Mary asked surprised.

“I do, I think my grandfather would like to meet you. I don’t think he has meet anyone from Domne before. He likes meeting new, interesting people” Tenac told her.

“I’m not that interesting of a person. But I would still like to visit one of the horse clans” she said honestly.

“Don’t underestimate yourself Mary, you have lived a pretty interesting life so far” Tenac laughed. Mary just shrugged.

They had reached her home and they said goodbye, as usual Tenac waited for Mary to go inside before he left.