#equestrianlife

Garrett Graham was sprawled across the couch in the hockey house living room, one arm hanging over the side while half the team argued over an Xbox game.

Dean was yelling that Tucker was button-mashing.

Tucker insisted the game was cheating.

Logan was eating dry cereal straight from the box without looking away from the TV.

Someone had left hockey tape on the coffee table, there were three protein shakers on the kitchen island that no one claimed ownership of, and rock music drifted faintly from an upstairs bedroom.

In other words, a completely normal Saturday at the hockey house.

From the top of the stairs, Garrett's girlfriend came down carrying her barn bag over one shoulder. She already had on tan breeches, a fitted light blue quarter zip, tall riding socks, and her short hair haphazardly thrown into a nub for a bun. The only thing missing were her boots, which she left at the barn in her tack locker.

Dean looked her up and down.

"Damn."

She raised an eyebrow.

"What?"

"You horse people really dress like you're about to invade the English colonies."

She rolled her eyes.

"They're called riding clothes."

"They're expensive leggings."

"They're breeches."

"They're leggings with branding."

She laughed despite herself, throwing the nearby hockey tape at Dean’s head in retaliation, missing by miles.

"I'll see you idiots later."

Garrett glanced up from the couch.

"Heading to the barn?"

"Mhm."

"Jumping today?"

"If Lenka behaves."

Dean snorted.

"So... fifty-fifty?"

She smiled.

"Exactly."

Logan leaned over the back of the couch with wide brown eyes similar to a confused puppy.

"Genuine question."

She sighed, pausing at the door with her car keys in hand.

"Here we go."

"Is horseback riding actually hard?"

Before she could answer, Garrett laughed.

"No."

Every head turned toward him.

"I mean... you just sit there, right?"

The room falls silent, the only noise being the paused Xbox game on the TV.

Dean slowly set his controller down.

"Oh..."

Logan looked away and covered his face to hide his laughter from his confused teammates face.

"Tucker," Logan whispered, "he is going to die, do you think I’ll end up Captain?”

"What?" Garrett asked.

His girlfriend stared at him for several long seconds.

Then she smiled.

Not lovingly.

Not sweetly.

Dangerously.

"Oh, Garrett. You sweet summer child."

"What?"

"You really think that's all riding is?"

"Well..." He shrugged again, suddenly feeling as though he just stepped into a trap. "From the outside?"

"Kinda."

She nodded thoughtfully, humming lowly.

"Okay."

"...Okay?" Garrett contemplated what his obituary would say as she stared him down with a slowly growing cat like smile.

"Come with me."

"What?"

"To the barn."

Garrett laughed.

"Why?"

"So you can find out for yourself, silly.”

Dean burst into laughter.

"Oh, you idiot."

Logan reached for his phone.

"I'm canceling my plans."

"Why?"

"So I can witness your downfall."

Tucker leaned over the couch.

"If anyone asks if you've ridden before..."

Garrett looked over.

"...Yeah?"

"Lie."

-———————————————

The drive to the barn consisted almost entirely of Garrett explaining why he was convinced he'd be naturally talented.

"I play hockey."

"You do."

"I have balance."

"Mhm."

"I'm athletic."

"Very."

"I squat, like, four hundred pounds."

"I'm aware. Are you going to get to the point?”

"So obviously… I'll be fine."

She smiled at the road.

"I think you'll survive."

"So you admit, I'll be good."

"I absolutely did not say that."

-————————————————

The hunter-jumper barn sat on several acres just outside town, surrounded by white board fencing and rolling green paddocks where horses grazed lazily beneath the summer sun.

The moment Garrett stepped out of his girlfriends Mazda, the smell hit him.

Fresh hay.

Leather.

Clean shavings.

Horses.

It was an oddly comforting scent, one in which he had never experienced being a self proclaimed city boy.

Several horses and ponies lifted their heads from the grass as they walked toward the main main barn. Swallows darted in and out of the rafters, barn cats lounged on sunny fence posts, and somewhere in the distance someone was laughing as a pony emphatically refused to walk through a puddle with his rider.

"This place is huge."

"I think there’s about 25 horses on property right now."

"...25?"

"Give or take."

Inside, the barn was humming with activity.

A teenager pushed a wheelbarrow piled high with dirty bedding toward the manure pile.

Someone was sweeping the aisle.

Parents leaned against the viewing room windows with coffee cups in hand while watching lessons in the indoor arena. Seemingly unbothered by the constant commotion of kids laughing and horses nickering at one another.

A working student hurried past carrying three bridles over one shoulder and a bucket balanced effortlessly in her other hand.

A pony escaped one cross ties before being intercepted by a twelve-year-old without anyone seeming particularly concerned.

Two girls debated hoof polish with the seriousness of Supreme Court justices.

Garrett blinked.

“This is…”

He searched for the right word.

"...organized chaos."

His girlfriend smiled looking on fondly, seeming to immediately relax into the atmosphere.

"This is actually pretty quiet."

-————————————————

Before they had gone more than twenty feet, a little girl with two missing front teeth marched confidently up to Garrett.

She couldn't have been older than seven. Her paddock boots half zipped and her hair a rats nest.

She planted her hands on her hips.

"You're really tall."

Garrett smiled, unsure what was coming next.

"Thanks."

"Do you play basketball?"

"Hockey."

She nodded once.

"Cool."

Then she looked down.

"Why are you wearing jeans?"

Garrett glanced at himself.

"...Because they're pants?"

She looked horrified.

"You can't ride in jeans."

Before he could respond, another child , this one around ten , appeared beside her.

"Are you Miss Y/N boyfriend?"

"Yeah."

The boy nodded thoughtfully.

"She's really cool.”

"I know."

"Don't make her mad."

Garrett looked toward his girlfriend who was helping one of the working students re-wrap a standing bandage on a fat chestnut pony.

"...Little late for that."

"What'd you do?"

"I said riding looked easy."

Both children physically winced.

"Oof," the girl said.

"Dude," the boy added sympathetically while looking at him with eyes filled with judgment.

Garrett blinked.

"...Did I just get judged by elementary schoolers?"

A teenager walking past overheard.

"Yep."

Without even slowing down she added,

"Good luck."

-———————————————————————

His girlfriend disappeared into her own horse, Lenka's stall.

A moment later the big warmblood emerged beside her.

Conversation throughout the aisle softened almost instinctively.

Lenka was impossible to ignore.

Her dark bay coat gleamed like polished mahogany beneath the barn lights. Every muscle shifted beneath her skin as she walked, elegant and powerful without trying. She carried herself with quiet confidence, ears flicking curiously toward the people around her.

Several of the lesson program kids smiled the moment they saw her.

"Lenka!"

"I love her!"

"She's so pretty today!"

Garrett looked surprised at the children gushing over the large animal blinking lazily in the crossties, her back hoof relaxing as she settles.

"Your horse has fans?"

"She's been here a long time. Plus people always remember your horse and not you.”

As if on cue, a little girl wearing tiny tan breeches and pigtails came skipping over carrying a peppermint.

"Miss. Y/N, can I do her stretches today?"

His girlfriend smiled immediately and he couldn’t help but watch her in her own element.

"Of course. Flat hand please."

Garrett frowned as the child wandered over to the wall of muscle.

"...Her what?"

The little girl carefully offered Lenka the peppermint first.

The mare accepted it with exaggerated delicacy before lowering her enormous head.

"Good girl," the child whispered.

Then, with obvious practice, she gently encouraged Lenka to bend her neck around toward one shoulder.

"One..."

Lenka held the stretch patiently.

"Two..."

Then to the other side.

After that, the little girl encouraged Lenka to reach between her front knees before stretching toward each front hoof, rewarding every stretch with another tiny piece of peppermint.

Garrett watched in fascination.

"...What is she doing?"

"Carrot stretches."

"Except..."

"Peppermint stretches today."

"They help keep her neck and back flexible before work. My best girl is almost 15 and she deserves all the care.”

The little girl looked up proudly.

"Lenka likes doing them."

Lenka immediately huffed in the girl's face hoping to be presented with another peppermint for her efforts.

The child giggled.

"You already had four."

Garrett stared.

"She trusts a seven-year-old enough to put her entire head wherever she's asked."

His girlfriend smiled.

"Lenka knows when she is dealing with the kids."

"Why?"

"Because a lot of these kids have been helping to take care of her while I’ve been focused on school. I sometimes let our trainer use her in beginner kids lessons because she seems to enjoy it.”

"Wait. You’re telling me this horse teaches beginners?"

"When she's not showing."

Garrett looked at the giant warmblood in disbelief, Lenka staring back with a huff.

"The same horse that you said jumps a meter 1.30 fences?"

"The very same."

The little girl finished the final stretch before wrapping both arms around Lenka's face in a hug.

The mare closed her eyes.

Garrett felt something in his chest soften.

"I thought you said she was feisty."

"Oh, she is."

Almost as if on cue, another horse was lead past Lenka’s spot in the crossties.

Lenka flattened both ears dramatically toward the horse while snaking her head with irritation before immediately relaxing again as the little girl scratched her forehead.

"She's opinionated," his girlfriend corrected.

---

The same little girl looked up at Garrett with complete seriousness.

"Are you riding Lenka?"

"Apparently."

She considered this, pushing her lips together and narrowing her eyes up at him.

"For your first lesson?"

"Yeah."

She nodded solemnly.

"Don't bounce."

Garrett frowned. That didn’t sound ominous or anything.

"...Thanks?"

She grinned and skipped away before explaining further. Clearly done with the conversation in favor of her own spotted gray pony.

His girlfriend bit her lip, turning away to hide her smile.

"Oh..."

"What?"

"You'll understand later."

Another child yelled from farther down the aisle,

"Don't pull on her mouth!"

"And keep your heels down!" someone else added.

A working student carrying a stack of saddle pads laughed.

"They've adopted you."

Garrett looked around at the half-dozen children openly watching him like a science experiment. Patiently waiting to watch him lose all of his dignity in the ring. He would actually prefer to get slammed into the boards at a game than be judged by a group of barn rats.

"They're feral….."

His girlfriend grinned, leaning in and giving him a slow kiss on the lips before settling back to look at his face.