The Riding Lesson

“I dare you.”

Two girls stood, jostling each other, on the cracked ramp leading up to the old barn behind Grandma John's house. Weed trees, grass, and stubby poison ivy were growing up in the gaps between pieces of concrete. The massive barn door, its wheel still on the track, had faded red paint in places on the rotting wood. Nita put an eye up to one rough crack to get a glimpse into the interior. Nothing could be seen inside.

“I can open it,” Nita declared. She stood to the right of the door and pushed with all her might, leaning hard. She gave a few pulsing pushes to dislodge the rusty wheel above her head. “Come on. Help me.”

Sadie, a good six inches shorter than her sister, took up a stance under her sister’s arms and pushed as well. The door gave a half-inch and stopped. Panting hard, they took a short break. Then, push, push, pu-u-u-sh! The door opened a little, then stopped. A tree growing up against the foundation prevented any further movement.

“I think I can get in now,” Nita said after poking her head through the gap. Inside, shafts of light made their way down to the empty floor here and there. It looked solid enough to walk on. Nita squeezed through the opening, pulling in her stomach and giving the buttons on her shirt a sharp tug as she went through. She stood and looked around. It was quiet and gloomy inside the barn but not frightening. Sadie slipped a hand into hers.

“Come on, I want to see the other side,” Nita said.

They walked across the floor slowly and stood in front of another enormous door. Nita grasped the handle and gave a tentative push. The door moved smoothly despite its weight. She pushed harder, and the door opened all the way. The courtyard was full of activity in the early summer light. Men, with horses on lead ropes, were walking out to the pasture gate beyond.

“Watch out, little missies,” came a voice from behind.

They jumped and scrambled to the right. A man walked by with a gray, then stopped and looked back. “Here, make yourselves useful and take this girl out to the pasture.” He held out the rope, and Nita took it and wrapped it around her hand. It was real.

“What is her name?” Sadie asked.

Rather than answering, the man looked at the rope wound around Nita’s hands and frowned. “Not that way,” he said. “If a horse took off, he would take your arm with him. I can see you need a lesson.” He unwrapped the rope from around Nita’s wrist and folded it up into an organized bundle. Then he took her right hand and closed it around the center.

“That is the right way,” he said approvingly. “Now lead her. Step out, facing forward, eyes on the gate. Don’t look at the horse, she’ll come along, she’s well trained. When you get to the gate, stop and open the latch, lead the horse through and close the gate. Then you can take the rope off and bring it back to me. Mind you close the gate though.”

“And you,” he said, looking at Sadie. “You walk next to your sister and not behind the horse. We don’t want you getting kicked your first time out now do we?”

“My name is Mr. John, and this girl is Bluebird.”

The girls looked at each other. Sadie's mouth opened in a wide “O”, but no sound came out.

“I’m Nita John, and this is my sister Sadie.”

“Well, Nita, go ahead and take Bluebird out to pasture and mind the gate as I said. When you bring the rope back, we’ll see about getting you girls a riding lesson.”

Delighted, the girls walked Bluebird over to the pasture and led her through the gate. She stood quietly until the rope was released from her halter. She ran along the edge of the fence, her tail streaming behind her. When she was almost out of sight, she stopped short and began to graze on the lush grass.

Nita and Sadie walked back to Mr. John, who was waiting at the barn. It was no longer faded and in disrepair. It was painted a bright deep red. There was an entire courtyard of stalls. The doors of empty stalls were completely open, but some were open at the top. In these, horses were looking out, anxiously waiting their turn to go out to pasture.

Mr. John led them over to one of the stalls and opened it to reveal a medium-sized chestnut horse with a white star on its head and four white stockings. “This is Star”, he said. “He’s a good horse for a beginner. Let's start with leading him over to groom and saddle him. Nita, you can put the lead rope on him, and then it is Sadie’s turn to lead him. You can follow me.”

Nita put the lead rope on Star’s halter under his chin, coiled up the rope, and handed it to Sadie. She grinned and stood up straighter. What an important job.

“Do you remember how to lead him?” asked Mr. John.

“Yes, like this,” Sadie replied as she stepped out with the horse on her right side, eyes forward, looking at the barn. They walked to the barn together.

Now there were wooden, walled stalls on both sides of a wide aisle. Mr. John motioned for them to stop. On either side of the aisle, a long rope with a clasp was tied to the wall. Mr. John hooked the ropes to rings on either side of Star’s halter. “This will keep him from moving too far while we get him ready to ride,” he said.

He walked a few steps over to a large box and took out several tools. “First, we will brush him.” He handed each of the girls a brush and showed them how to brush the horse all over. They started at the neck and moved to the back. Then they brushed under Star's belly, and down each leg, always brushing in the same direction of the horse’s hair. Next, they used a smaller, softer brush to clean his face. Mr. John showed them how to brush out the tangles in Star’s mane with a metal comb, holding the hair so it wouldn’t pull and hurt the horse, and then they brushed the tail, starting at the bottom and removing each tangle a bit at a time.

It was time to clean Star’s hooves. Mr. John took the hoof pick and picked up one of Star’s front feet. He bent it up until the girls could see the bottom of the foot. It was full of dirt. Mr. John began to clean the hoof out with the pick. Most of the packed dirt came out with ease as he scraped. He paid a little more attention to the area around the horseshoe and be a little more gentle with the more sensitive center frog area of the hoof.

At last, Star was fully groomed and ready for his saddle blanket and saddle. Mr. John adjusted the blanket over his back near the shoulder bone called the withers and lifted the saddle into place. Then he showed Nita and Sadie how to bring the girth under Star’s belly and fasten it to the buckle. Next, it was time to put on the bridle. He straightened out the bridle and the reins and got it ready to put on, then he loosened the halter and moved it down onto Star’s neck. He lifted the bridle and pushed the metal bit into Star’s mouth. His tongue went under it, and it slid all the way up to the corners of his mouth. Then he lifted the bridle gently over each of Star’s ears and arranged the forelock of his mane over the strap on his forehead. He fastened a leather strap at his cheek and another one under his chin. Then he removed the halter from Star’s neck and took up the reins.

He handed them to Nita, and she took them in her hand as he had shown her. Then they all walked outside to a round ring filled with sand. He showed Nita first and then Sadie how to mount into the saddle using the mounting block in the ring. Then he showed them how to hold the reins, sit in the saddle and squeeze and keep their balance with their knees, and how to keep their heels facing down in the stirrups. They each sat on Star’s back for a few minutes and walked him around the ring. It was so much fun!

Too soon, it was time to stop. Mr. John and the two girls walked Star back to the barn, took off his saddle, and groomed him again. They stored the saddle and blanket on its stand, and put his halter back on, replacing the bridle. Mr. John pulled a few bits of carrot out of his pocket and showed them how to feed it to Star with their hands flat and their fingers together. Then Nita and Sadie walked him out to the pasture where Bluebird was waiting. The two horses ran a few paces together and began grazing.

When the girls had returned the lead rope to Mr. John and walked with him to the front of the barn, he smiled at them. “I hope you’ll come again for another lesson some time,” he said.

Nita and Sadie smiled back and turned toward the door. It was still open only a few inches. They turned to say goodbye, but Mr. John was gone. The barn was dark. A few shafts of light were coming down from holes in the roof. They squeezed back out of the door and blinked in the summer evening light.

“Dinner, girls!” Their mother's voice came from the house.

After washing their hands, Nita and Sadie rushed to the table. They sat down with their mother and their grandmother.

“What was Grandpa like?” Sadie asked.

“Oh,” said Grandma John. “He was so handsome and so good with horses. It all ended during the war. He and his hands went into the army and were sent overseas. They were all killed. No one came back. I had to sell the horses to make ends meet and the barn back there has been closed ever since. Grandpa's horses were so beautiful. His favorites were a nice mare named Bluebird and a little chestnut gelding named Star. I'll show you some pictures after dinner.”

A new pickup pulled up in the weedy yard. Their father got out of it. Finished with their dinner, the girls ran out.

“Hi girls, I think it's about time you knew we are starting up the farm again,” he said. “The barn is dangerous right now, but when I get it fixed up again, maybe we can start by giving you a lesson.”

Nita looked at the side of the truck.

On the door was a picture of a star and a flying bird with a horse running underneath them. A label printed in white letters on the door read:

Star & Bluebird Farm

Mr. John, Proprietor

Riding Lessons.

“Sure, we'd like that," she said. She and Sadie looked at each other and smiled.