For The Love of Horses (Pegasus Equestrian Center)

by Diana Vincent

  Two successful jumps later, they approached the second combination, called the ‘corral’. Almost to the end of the course, Felicity was blowing a little harder, and Sierra could feel her energy beginning to flag. “Almost done,” she encouraged as she moved into two-point and even reached forward to stroke Felicity’s damp neck once. She urged her tired mount up to the first element of the combination, a split rail fence. Felicity sailed over and Sierra allowed one stride, and then using a direct rein and opposite leg, angled her to the left and then two strides to jump out over the last split rail fence of the combination. She praised Felicity, who answered her legs with a burst of speed as they galloped on to take the last two obstacles clean. They galloped between the ending flag poles, and Sierra allowed Felicity to slow her pace down as she chose, until they came to a walk.

  River and Tess came up to her, both wearing triumphant grins. Sierra dismounted, and threw her arms around Felicity’s neck, stroking and patting her in praise. She didn’t need either of them to tell her how well they had done.

  *****

  “Nothing Felicity can’t handle; or you,” Tess had said yesterday afternoon, after they walked the stadium course. As Sierra finished her warm-up and walked Felicity to the stadium, she remembered those words. Nothing to fear! Sierra was grateful now for the countless drills in her jumping lessons with Tess - gymnastic courses over low fences to develop Felicity’s ability to make quick, sharp turns and change her lead on the fly; line after line of cavalletti in various heights and widths and strides in between, to improve both Sierra’s and the mare’s timing; various jumps in bright colors, shapes, with flying banners, plastic flowers, moving parts, whatever Tess could dream up to build up Felicity’s exposure to frightening obstacles and increase her tolerance and courage.

  “She looks relaxed but fresh,” River said as he met her at the exit and walked with her to the arena.

  “I think so,” Sierra agreed smiling down at him. “She’s as energetic today as she was before cross country yesterday.”

  “Yeah, gotta admit, Tess really has nailed a great conditioning program. Okay, good luck,” he said as the gate keeper signaled to her she could enter the stadium.

  “Thanks,” Sierra replied automatically, her focus already on the jumps as she moved Felicity into the arena. The course consisted of twelve fences, up to three-foot-three in height, and included one triple combination, a stone wall, a square oxer and an ascending oxer, several verticals, and one narrow gate. The turns would not be difficult for Felicity, who had mastered flying lead changes.

  Sierra kept Felicity at a walk for several strides in to give her a chance to look around. She felt the mare’s muscles tense as flags on the standards of one jump flapped and snapped in a gust of breeze, but Sierra pushed her weight deep and took that moment to squeeze with her legs to move Felicity into a trot. By now, the mare was used to being distracted from whatever frightened her by moving forward, and she stretched her nose into the bit as she stepped up energetically. She had learned to trust her rider; if Sierra said, ‘nothing to worry about’, then Felicity believed her. “That’s my girl,” Sierra praised her, and asked for canter.

  Nothing presented to Felicity today was any different from what she had been faced with in the arena at home. Not even the bright colors of the rails, or plastic flowers in one of the verticals, distracted her from galloping forward to each jump.

  With Tess’s help, Sierra had counted the strides approaching the triple combination in their course walk, and as she landed from the preceding jump, she counted out loud, happy with Felicity’s pace, and moved into two-point with legs on to cue Felicity when to take off. With correct take-off, the next two elements weren’t at all difficult; two strides, take off and land, one stride, take off and then gallop on to the next obstacle.

  The last jump of the course was a narrow gate after a fairly tight turn. If the rider didn’t have the horse well in hand for the turn, many of the horses found it easy to run out to the side of the narrow jump. After landing from the next to last vertical, Sierra kept her weight forward for two strides to be sure Felicity stayed in balance after the jump. Then she sat deep with her weight back to slow the pace. Felicity responded obediently and they made the turn well under control, and Sierra had a straight approach to the narrow gate. Felicity pricked her ears forward and hesitated; oddly enough because the gate was a plain white color, making it the strange jump among all the other bright colored fences. “Don’t be silly,” Sierra murmured to her as she clamped her legs to keep the mare straight. When she still felt hesitation, Sierra tapped Felicity’s rump with her jumping bat. The mare obediently brought her hind end underneath and surged forward. Sierra moved up into two-point for the last two strides and then called out, “Go for it!” Sierra really did feel as if she threw her heart forward over the fence, and asked her mount to chase it. Felicity gathered herself, leapt up and over. They finished the course clean!

  The Pegasus riders left the championship with three trophies and a pile of ribbons. River won first place with both Corazón and Meridian in each of their divisions. Sierra and Felicity placed second in junior training. Candace and Moonshadow placed fourth in adult beginner novice, and Kate and Jubilee came in first in adult preliminary.

  *****

  With the championship over and the easing up of conditioning and training schedules, River did not have as much to distract him from the fact Sierra would soon be leaving for school. But with her departure just a few days away, and realizing he was soon not going to have her around, he found himself thinking a lot about the past years where they had seen each other almost every day. How am I going to manage without her? Then he started thinking about their relationship; and what kind of boyfriend he had been these past two years. Suddenly it occurred to him that he was a very lousy boyfriend, and maybe he had taken her too much for granted. He had never taken her out on a date, other than homecoming their junior year, and then senior prom, and both times, Sierra had asked him to go. He had never asked her out on just a regular date – out to dinner or to a movie. Everything they did together had to do with horses, other than hanging out at her cottage or in the lounge, (and of course there was making out).

  Now he was full of regrets. Sierra was going to be at a university where there would be many guys; smarter, richer, more experienced with girls, and much better looking than him. How could he measure up to that kind of competition? How could he possibly hope to keep Sierra’s love?

  Probably too late to become a romantic boyfriend that would outshine all the guys she was soon to meet, he nevertheless asked her out to dinner on her last night at home. He made reservations at a restaurant on Tess’s advice as ‘intimate and romantic’, and borrowed her Lexus to pick up Sierra. He even wore his best jeans, a button style shirt in a blue plaid print, and tried to smooth down his unruly hair.

  When he arrived at her cottage and Sierra walked into the living room, his heart ached with jealously of the unknown men Sierra would soon meet. She is so beautiful, mi angelita! She wore a summer tank-style dress in a tan and green print that ended above the knees of her shapely slender legs with her feet in brown leather sandals with a wedge heel. Her tawny, sun-lightened hair cascaded free in a wave to the middle of her back, only the sides pulled up away from her face and clipped in a barrette. She looked at him with what he hoped was adoration shining from her beautiful, rich brown eyes. How long will she look at me like that? She smiled, almost shyly, and he longed to take her in his arms and hold her tight to his chest; then kiss every one of the freckles across her nose, kiss the tip of her nose, kiss her eyes, and then finally kiss her lovely, adorable, tantalizing, delicious mouth; and then…

  But he did none of those things. He smiled a little shyly himself, and stepped up to kiss her lightly on her lips. They said goodbye to her mother, and he drove her to the restaurant, both of them feeling strangely awkward.

  It was easier in the restaurant. They were seated at a patio table and had
the distraction of ordering from the menu, and then making comments on the beautiful garden surroundings. Their dinner arrived, and they ate, making whatever mundane comments they could think of.

  When the plates had been cleared away and they waited for the dessert they had ordered, River handed Sierra two small wrapped boxes.

  “What’s this?” she asked in surprise.

  “Kind of a going away present,” he answered. “Open the flat box first.”

  With her face flushing, Sierra undid the wrapper and then opened the lid of the elegant box. Inside she found a silver necklace with an artistically styled running horse, with a diamond chip for an eye. “Oh my, this is so beautiful,” Sierra breathed out, lifting the chain from the box and draping it over the palm of her hand. “River, this looks very expensive!”

  “Just a little,” he said with a half smile. “It’s really from Tess. She gave me the money and said to get you something nice.”

  “Tess did that?” Sierra asked, amazed. “But you picked it out.”

  He nodded.

  “River, thank you, and thank Tess as well; but I will send her a card. It is beautiful.” She then fastened the chain around her neck, and fingered the horse where it rested against the bodice of her dress.

  “Open the other one,” River said.

  Sierra took up the smaller square package, suspecting it had a ring inside. Sure enough, removing the wrapping paper, she found a velvet-covered ring box. Inside was a silver band, crafted in a lovely, intricate design and set with two stones, a red garnet, River’s birthstone, and a blue sapphire, her birthstone.

  Now was the time for River to say his prepared speech. His voice cracked as he began, and he coughed and cleared his throat. “It’s a friendship ring,” he stated. “Sierra, I love you.” He held up his hand when she smiled and began to say it back to him. “I know you say you love me too. I think you do…at least now you do. You’re going to be meeting a lot of guys, and probably with a lot more going for them than most of the guys you’ve met at our high school…including me.”

  “River…”

  “Just listen to me. I know guys are going to be interested in you and ask you out. I think you should go out with anyone who you might feel attracted to…”

  “No! River, I love you…” Sierra interrupted, but he broke in again to finish his speech.

  “I want you to be sure, Sierra. I’ve been thinking a lot about this, and how much better than me you deserve. I hope you will still love me, even if you do meet a better man, but you deserve to at least have the chance to make that choice.”

  “River, why do you always have to put yourself down? I thought Mrs. Montoya was helping you with your self-esteem. There is no better man than you…”

  He huffed out on a short laugh. “I’m not putting myself down; I’m looking at myself honestly. I’m not very smart and you are brilliant…”

  “River, stop it right now!” Sierra spoke in a firm, angry tone. “You are smart. You just have a different kind of intelligence than the scholarly type. And River, what I love about you is not your brain but your heart. And there is nothing wrong with your brain, but do you think there is any man out there who has a better heart than you?”

  Frowning, he looked down at his lap. He lost the rest of his speech.

  “I’ve heard that when your boyfriend says he wants you to start dating other guys, it’s because he wants to date other girls,” Sierra said.

  “No!” River faced her again with a shocked look on his face. “That’s not it at all. You are exactly what I want.”

  “And you are exactly what I want. River, please, let’s not end our last night together in an argument. How do you think I’m going to feel going off to school tomorrow with you telling me to date other guys? You’re breaking my heart!”

  “Oh, Sierra, that’s the last thing I want to do. I know I’ll love you forever. He reached across the table to take her hand where it lay next to the ring box. “I want to marry you.”

  “What?” she asked in a whisper.

  “What I was going to say, is when you are all done with school, and if you still feel the same about me, I want us to get married.”

  “Are you proposing to me?”

  “Um, yeah, I guess I am.”

  “You guess?” she looked up at him coyly through her lashes.

  He laughed. “No, I don’t guess. Will you marry me when you are done with school?”

  “River, that’s going to be eight years.”

  “I know.”

  “Do you want to wait that long?”

  “No, I want to marry you right now.”

  They both laughed and suddenly all the awkwardness of the evening dissipated, and they looked at each other adoringly.

  “Yes, River, I will marry you.” Sierra slipped on the friendship ring and held up her hand to admire it on her finger.

  Their desserts arrived, they ate what they wanted, and then River paid the bill.

  “Do you want to walk through the gardens before we go?” he asked.

  “Yes, they are so beautiful, and it’s a lovely night.”

  They walked hand in hand out to a secluded spot with a bench, where they sat together and kissed long and passionately, knowing it would have to last until Christmas break.

  *****

  Pam’s car, packed with two trunks of Sierra’s clothes, books, and accessories, sat in the driveway of the cottage with a full tank of gas. Sierra had included riding clothes as well, for she planned to at least find a place where she could ride or take lessons. Sierra and her mother would share the driving for the twelve and a half hour trek from Firwood to Sacramento. Then her mother would return home after assuring herself her daughter was settled into her resident hall.

  “Goodbye, poor little, itty, kitty,” Sierra cooed to Socrates, who purred contentedly on her lap, shifting his head so that Sierra scratched all the right places behind his ears.

  “Sierra, don’t talk to him in baby talk,” her mother said, coming out of her bedroom with a small travel case. “Cats have too much dignity for that.”

  Laughing, Sierra gently lifted the black cat from her lap and set him on the floor. “It’s just that I’m going to miss him. I wish I could take him with me. Seems like you ought to be able to have a house cat in your room.”

  “Not very likely; and besides, Socrates is not a house cat.”

  “Are you sure he’s going to be okay here by himself?”

  “Sierra…”

  “I know, I know.” They had already been over the plans for this trip. Socrates had been left at the cottage before, when Sierra and her mother had been away at the championship. Their landlords, who lived in the house in front of the cottage, would check on him every day, and with the litter box just cleaned, they would only have to make sure he had food and water.

  Sierra stood up and looked around the living room, and then at her mother. “I guess I’m ready,” she said in a soft voice.

  Mother and daughter looked at each other, and then both sniffling through smiles, hugged each other tight; something they had been doing many times for the past few days.

  “Can you drive to the stable so I can have a little more time to say goodbye to Charlie?” Sierra asked as they stepped outside, locked the cottage door and walked over to the waiting car.

  “Of course, darling,” Pam said. Charlie bounded over from where he had been taking care of business when let out this morning. They were going to leave him with River until Pam returned home.

  “Oh, Charlie, how I’m going to miss you,” Sierra said as she climbed into the passenger seat and then beckoned for her dog to jump up and settle at her feet. She tossed her bag for the road into the back seat, and then stroked and petted Charlie’s head as Pam backed out of the drive.

  “You sure you’re going to be okay taking care of him?” Sierra asked, not for the first time. “Because River will keep him if you don’t have the time for him.”

  “Of course I’ll hav
e the time for him,” her mother reassured her. “I’m not the one in school anymore.” She grinned at her daughter. “He’s an old dog, and on the days I work, he’ll just sleep the hours away.”

  “You’ll take him for walks?”

  “Kitten, don’t worry, of course I will.” Her mother suddenly made a choking sound and then sniffed. “If I can’t have you, at least I’ll have your animals to keep me company.”

  “Oh, Mom.” Sierra found herself sniffing back tears again. “Why is this so hard? I mean, it’s what I’ve always wanted.”

  “It’s a big change, my sweet, grown-up college girl,” Pam said, flashing her another smile. “I am so proud of you.”

  “I’m going to miss you so much.”

  “You will at first; but you’re going to be so busy with your classes and making new friends, that before you know it, days and weeks will zip by and you won’t even think of me.”

  “I doubt that.”

  Pam reached over to pat her daughter’s knee. “I’m the one who’s going to miss you every single day.”

  “I should have enrolled at the university here for pre-vet.”

  “Honey, you already considered that option, and you have made the best decision. You have a much better chance of getting into the veterinary school if you are already enrolled at Davis, you know that.”

  “But I still would have a good chance, even if I got my biology degree here, as long as I kept my grades up.”

  “As much as I want you home, I agree you made the right choice. I’ve always known my beautiful daughter would someday fly away from me.” When she heard Sierra sniffing back tears, she quickly added, “Sierra, it’s the natural way of life that you grow up and leave home. I am going to miss you so much; no dog or cat or boyfriend, or anyone can fill the void of having you away. But you will always be my daughter and I will always be your mother and I am so grateful to have been given the privilege of having the most perfect child in the world. You are so much more mature and a much better person than I ever was at your age.”