The Mare

Velvet

When I saw her again, Fiery Girl came to me with love. She made the nicker noise. When I went in the stall with the halter, she put her head down and forward to show me what she felt. I couldn’t ride her or even lunge her because the paddock was icy. So I groomed her, brushed her, scratched her, rubbed her. She wiggled her lips.

Ginger said she didn’t think I really wanted to come live here because I would miss Dante and my mom. Her voice when she said it was high and hard with no love in it. She was right; I knew it wouldn’t be any good for me to live with her. Still, I wanted her to say yes. I wished she had said yes.

I rubbed my mare’s legs. Her head was down and her eyes were soft. I remembered how she was when I first got here, how she bit her stall and they had to put that strap on her face, how hard it was to even touch her. I kissed her scars, and I know she felt the love in my lips. Whatever happened with me and Ginger or Ginger and Paul, I had to keep coming here so that I could take care of my mare, always.

“The next time you come, Estella says you’re welcome back at her stable,” said Pat.

“Why?”

“I’ve told her how responsible you’ve been, and she could see it when you got the mare into the trailer. It probably helps that Beverly’s not around.”

“Why is she not around?”

“Let me count the whys! I’m sure you’ve noticed between the time you started coming and the time you left, there’s fewer students, fewer horses boarded. Which is another reason Estella would like you to be there. She’d like you to represent her place at an event coming up — you’d make the place look good.”

I was embarrassed about how I smiled, but I couldn’t stop. I said, “I could ride Fiery Girl?”

“I don’t think she’s the best choice. She has jumped before, I’m sure of that now, and she looks good taking the jumps. But she’s not consistent like Chloe; she’s temperamental — but on the other hand, she has competed before so…maybe! If you work hard on schooling her, maybe Fiery Girl.”