This thing was big enough to eat me and not even burp! I couldn’t even see the top of the horse from my chair. I could see the side of a saddle, and some dangling foot-holding things.
Cats swish their tails when they’re annoyed. Do horses? Because this big boy’s tail was swishing away. It tossed its head as we approached; it made a snorty kind of sound. But to my astonishment, it did not move.
Trinity had her hands on her hips. “All right, Ms. Melody, this is gonna be a day you’ll never forget. Brace yourself for some serious adventure!”
Actually, I was! But at the same time, well, I wished a little bit that I was at the library reading about horses instead. But I also really wanted to ride a horse. My chaotic brain was working overtime, but the Let’s do this! side was winning.
I looked at the horse. The horse did not look at me. Evidently, it did not find me unusual. I guess I wasn’t even worth a second look. Fine with me!
Trinity put on a French accent and made introductions. “Melody, this is Jolie. Her name means ‘pretty’ in French.”
It was a girl horse? I was good with that. Jolie was the color of cinnamon-flavored chocolate. Her mane, black and flowing, made my hands want to touch it. Was it as silky as it looked?
Jolie wore a band around her mouth. It was connected to leather straps that led to the saddle—which these people thought I was going to sit in. That was a joke! I’d slide right off!
“What’s great is that Jolie has been specially trained to work with children,” Trinity told me as she stroked the horse’s nose. “And then she went to college for advanced training in working with kids with unique needs.”
I was imagining a horse sitting in a college classroom, taking notes on how to deal with kids like me, who just might freak out when they got close to her. I’d like to see those notes!
Trinity continued to explain. “A female horse is called a mare. And a male is called a stallion or a gelding. When Jolie was born—right here on this property, I might add; she’s a hundred percent Green Glades!—she was called a filly, the horse word for girl. But she’s considered to be completely grown now, even though she’s only twelve.”
That was all very nice, but she wasn’t telling me what I most needed to know: How the heck was I going to get on that thing? And then stay on? Because I watched horse races like the Kentucky Derby on TV every year. And Dad’s cowboy movies. Those animals got major speed!
So I asked.
“Yeah, thought you’d be wondering,” Trinity said. “I get on first—I put my foot in that stirrup and swing my other leg up over the saddle, so I’m sitting there.”
Good for you! I thought grumpily. What about me? That animal is like a million feet off the ground!
Trinity held up a hand as if to say, Calm yourself. She was right, I did need to calm myself! “As for you, you get airlifted into place. See that machine by the stable hands over there? It’ll lift you up, place you in a specially designed saddle right in front of me. I’ll buckle you into place, and off we’ll go!”
She fit a black riding helmet on my head—just like the ones that real equestrians wear. I hoped those picture-taking people were catching all this!
“You look like a professional, my friend!” she said, tightening the helmet strap under my chin. Then she did exactly what she’d said—foot in stirrup, other leg swung, and boom! She’d hefted herself up onto the back of the horse as if it were nothing. But in a minute, I was going to be up there too. And I thought the zip line had been scary!
Two assistants, wearing T-shirts that said TRUST ME—I’M A STABLE PERSON!, joined us. Everybody had jokes. Before I even had time to object, I was unbelted from my chair, scooped up, and slid into the lift device. As I was hovering right over the saddle—which felt like I was dangling from a crane!—a third stable hand guided me gently into a saddle and buckled me into place right in front of Trinity. The whole thing took barely a minute! And Jolie stayed still as still could be. I couldn’t believe it. Maybe one ear flicked. That was it.
Annnnd—hello, people!—I was sitting on the back of a real live horse! Gotta say, as tall as a horse looked from the ground, it was even taller from on top!
Using stepladders on each side of the horse, the stable hands made sure Trinity and I were buckled and strapped and secured. If we had an earthquake, I don’t think I could have fallen off—there were safety straps around my waist, my hips, my shoulders, and even my legs. I felt a little like a knight in armor about to go into battle. Okay, maybe that was a little over the top, but still—this was me, Melody Brooks. On. A. Horse.
“How you feeling, cowgirl?” Trinity asked. Without Elvira, I had fewer answering options. But a hum always means happy. So I hummed.
An assistant handed Trinity the reins, and Trinity said, “In a second Jolie is going to start walking. Just ten steps, then she’ll stop. So you can get the feel of it, okay?”
I nodded. I think. The helmet made my head feel funny—heavier and more unbalanced than usual. So I couldn’t quite tell.
Jolie moved forward, and I gasped and lurched forward, but then I was okay. She literally took ten steps—I counted—and stopped. This was gonna be awesome!
“You good?”
I was more than good. I hummed louder.
Though Trinity held the reins, she tucked a part of them into my hand so I could hold on as well. I was mostly managing to keep them there too. Jolie began to walk again, her muscles rippling as she moved. Her ears flicked this way and that, her mane shining in the sun. I found myself wondering what they washed horses with—some kind of special apple-scented horse shampoo?
Plop. Kerplop. Plop. Kerplop. I bounced in the saddle with each step she took. Thump! Ka-bump! Thump! Ka-bump! When she rose up, I plunked down. I laughed out loud. My skinny little butt was having trouble finding the rhythm. But I gradually smoothed out as I focused on every step that Jolie took.
Plop. Kerplop. Plop. Kerplop.
Thump! Ka-bump! Thump! Ka-bump!