I saw that familiar smirk pop up on his face, but it quickly vanished, as if he forced himself not to make some sort of snide comment.
“It’s pretty easy. You go over to her left hand side, put your left foot in the stirrup, grab the top of the saddle, then use your leg muscles and your arms to pull yourself up so you can get over to the other side.”
Then with a quick motion he demonstrated on his big brown horse. He made it look so easy, so effortless.
“OK, I think I can do that,” I muttered, and the focused. I went over to Perdita’s side, put my left foot in the stirrup, counted to three, then tried to jump up as high as I could, grabbing the saddle and throwing my right foot over the other side of the horse.
I sort of got there. I managed to get my body on top of the saddle, but instead of being parallel with Perdita’s body I was lying across the saddle, one foot in the stirrup, the other leg in the air in a failed attempt to get it over and into the other stirrup.
Unfortunately, this precarious position wasn’t the most balanced, and as soon as I tried to move I felt like I was going to fall off completely. I knew falling off a horse was normal, but I didn’t want to do it when I was still just trying to get on the horse.
“A little help please?” I squealed, and I heard Jack laughing as he saw the position I got myself in. Moving his horse over to me, with a quick movement he moved my right leg over, which automatically slipped my body into the right position.
“Some people can’t do that elegantly,” he joked, and I laughed.
“Be nice, it’s my first time on a horse.”
“I am being nice, if I was mean I would have taken a photo,” he replied.
Perdita was the nicest horse ever. As soon as I got onto her she was still as could be, letting me get comfortable on her. I pat her mane while Jack led me towards a path leading further away from the house.
“Now, just tap her gently with your feet and she’ll start moving. She’ll probably follow Brownie anyway, but this way you can get used to directing her.”
I did as he said, gently tapping her with the side of my feet, and sure enough, Perdita began to take slow steps, following in the same direction as Brownie, Jack’s horse.
“If you want her to change direction, pull the rein firmly, but not too hard, in the direction you want her to go. Pull back if you want her to stop.
“Will she listen to me?”
“Yes, definitely. She’s been raised with people her whole life. You’re not going to have a problem.”
Jack was definitely right. We reached a fork in the path pretty quickly and as he led Brownie to the left, I pulled firmly on Perdita’s reins and she followed him.
“Good girl, thank you,” I whispered to her as she walked along, stroking her mane once more. This was fun!
“Enjoying yourself?” Jack asked, as if he could read my mind.
“Definitely!” I replied.
“Good. You’ll have to get actual riding gear if you want to do this regularly, otherwise all your clothes are going to start smelling like horses. Do you want to keep going?”
“I definitely do.”
“Do you want to learn how to trot?”
“I’m really not sure what that is, but yes.”
Another smile from Jack.
“A trot is sort of like a jog. Not as fast as a canter, but faster than a walk.”
“OK, let’s do it.”
“The important thing here is to relax, and get into the rhythm. If you tense up, you’re going to get bounced around. You want to let your body move in rhythm with the horse. When we walk, give her a slightly harder kick, and she’ll start trotting after us.”
Jack started off by doing it with his horse, and I watched as they sped off into the distance. That was a trot? It already seemed way too fast. Perdita seemed anxious to follow, and as soon as I hit her side again she did, and I immediately clutched at her mane, feeling like I was going to fall off.
Every single time her legs hit the ground it felt like I was being shot into the air. I remembered what Jack said and tried to relax, and tried to move my body with the horse. Slowly, but surely, I started to feel a little bit more comfortable. Then it started being fun! The air was whipping through my hair, like a quick breeze. I leaned forward and enjoyed the sensation of Perdita running underneath me, which we did until finally coming to a stop when we reached the end of the property and were along the side of the road.
“Do you want to go into town?” Jack asked.
“Sure,” I replied. To be honest, I would have done anything to keep this day going. After all, Jack was being nice to me! What was this all about?