Hold On

I was an excited kind of nervous. The kind you get before you go on a big roller coaster, or before a big game. Now me, I wasn’t going on a big scary amusement park ride, or getting ready for an important game. I was waiting to go on a horseback trail. Something I’d been waiting for the entire trip to South Dakota to do. Little did I know that would also be one of the scariest parts of my vacation.

Finally, the horses were being rinsed off and their saddles were being strapped on their backs. The anticipation was growing stronger the longer I was standing in line. First they called my Mom’s name and she hopped in a huge, beautiful, grey horse. Then my sister, and lastly they called my name. I walked up to a big, dark colored horse. Bigger than any horse I’d  ridden before. With my foot in the stirrup, I swung my leg over. I was on, that was something I’d been fearing I’d forget how to do. Luckily I didn’t and I’d made it on without falling off.

Unsteady, I had to wait for at least ten minutes, because we were the first ones to get on our horses we had to wait the longest. I could tell my mom’s horse, Blue Bonnet, was going to be trouble. He would freak the other horses out by getting too close or nudge them. I was terrified that he would do something like that to my horse, Scooter. When he started to inch his way over to me and Scooter, my pulse quickened and I was starting to freak out.

Slowly, Blue Bonnet crept closer. Naturally I began to try to calm Scooter by talking to her. The man who ran the trails said that once Blue Bonnet started to get moving he’d be okay, but I wondered,  if they knew Blue Bonnet hated waiting. Why did they put someone on him first? Putting that question to the back of my mind, I tried to move away from Blue Bonnet. While remaining in line.

Now the scariest part was coming. Blue Bonnet decided to get way to close to me and Scooter and my sister and her horse. This caused a lot of panic from the horses. My sister and her horse backed all the way into a stall behind the line of horses. Scooter and I got the worst of it. Amongst the panic my Mom couldn’t get control over Blue Bonnet and he nipped at Scooter, causing her to kick her hooves into the air.  This made me go grasping as fast as I could to her neck, and the reins. I could feel my body start to panic. With a scream caught in the back of my throat, I squeezed my eyes tightly closed and held on waiting for it to all be over.

I was completely stunned when all four of Scooters legs were back on the ground. In shock, I clutched the reins for at least a minute after it was all over. Breathing heavily. I couldn’t help but wonder, how did I manage to stay on that horse? Maybe I was more afraid to fall than to be in the air. Either way, I was just glad to be on the ground and to have a horse between me and Blue Bonnet when we  went on the trail.