Book 1: The Horse Whisperer (Pin Hawthorn Love Story)

Chapter 7

"I thought your mum banned you from the stables?" I query, tilting my head.

"She changed her mind after the incident with the horse thieves last night. So... can I ride him?!"

I stroke Raven's neck as I say, "I'm afraid not. He's not ready."

"But he lets you ride him," Zoe reminds me.

"He's not ready for other people to ride him. When I had Pin try once, Raven threw him. It will be awhile longer before you or anyone else can ride Raven, Zoe. But," I add as I dismount and pull the reins over his head, "you can turn him in for me and brush him down. Grooming your horse is a great way to form bonds with them!"

I hand Zoe the reins and she grins at me. "Ok! Come on, boy," Zoe says as she leads Raven to the stables.

I went to find Amber to give her her jumping lesson.

I find Amber already leading Merlin out of the stables. "Ready for your lesson?" I ask, patting Merlin's neck.

"You bet!" Amber replies. We head for the arena and Amber mounts while I get the lower fences and Puissance Wall set up.

"Ok, Am, warm him up and then go through the course," I call.

Already in the saddle, Amber nods and takes Merlin for his warm up. Finishing the warm up, Amber canters around to the first jump. She sails over it but nicks a pole. Amber canters towards the second jump.

"Keep your leg on him, Am," I instruct and she does. They reach the second fence and they clear it with ease. I encourage my sister as she goes through the course.

Finally, Amber turns Merlin around and canters towards the Puissance Wall. She keeps her hands steady and gaze ahead. Merlin reached the wall and Amber moves with him as he Merlin leaps into the air. They sail over the wall and land a lurid sloppily before taking off.

I clap and smile as my sister trots you to me, before halting. "Really good, but you need to watch your landing. And keep your leg on Merlin."

"I know," She mutters.

"Take him round again," I instruct with a wave of my arm towards the jumps.

For the next hour and a half, I instruct Amber on her jumping. I soon call it a day and she goes to turn Merlin in to his stall.

As I was walking by, I bump into Marcus. "Hey," I greet.

"Hey. How's the jumping lesson coming along?" He asks, smiling.

"She's getting a lot better. What's up?"

Marcus says, "Ah, Zoe tried to ride Raven just now but he bolted with her."

My brown eyes jerk wide at this. I say with a frown, "What?! And after I told her not to! What was she thinking?"

"Zoe did tell me you told her she couldn't ride Raven, but she was insistent," Says Marcus.

"How is she?" I ask with a hint of concern.

"A bit shaken up, but Zoe said she was walking back. So try not to be too hard on her, okay?" Marcus responds. I nod my head and he walks away.

I decide to go do some chores by cleaning and refilling water buckets and hay nets. As I was refilling Ariel's hay net, Pin pokes his head over the stall door.

"Hey, Emma," Pin greets.

"Hey," I say, throwing him a smile.

"You need a hand with chores?" He asks.

"That would be great. I just need to muck out some stalls," I say.

"I'll get started and we can meet in the middle."

"Sure."

Pin asks me, "Are you okay?"

I say with a sigh, "Zoe tried to ride Raven even after I'd told her not to. He isn't ready for other people yet."

"You'll get there," Pin tells me. I go up to the stall door and lean on it. "I've seen you work your magic before."

I roll my eyes as I remind him, "It's not magic."

"You make it seem like it is," Says Pin. We lean in to kiss but Sam interrupts as she jogs you to us.

"Em, you need to come with me for a minute."

We jerk back and I nod my head. Pin opens the door and we follow Sam to the main yard where a woman with blonde hair in a ponytail was standing by a horse float with a beautiful bay Thoroughbred mare that has a white marking on her forehead.

"Hi. I'm Sarah Carter. You must be the famous Horse Whisperer?" The woman says.

"Oh! I'm not—" I begin to deny but Pin cuts me off.

"Yes! She is."

I shoot him a look which he just returns with a teasing smirk. I amend, "I don't whisper to the horses—I listen to them."

"Well, I heard of you recently and I was hoping you could help me with my horse? This is Rosie," Sarah says, patting the bay horse's neck. "She used to belong to someone else but I bought her six months ago. She refuses to let anyone ride her. If I can take Rosie to the arena, my friend Jack can demonstrate." She gestures to the brown haired man beside her, a saddle in his arms.

I nod my head. "Sure. That would be great." We go to the arena and Jack takes the lead rope from Sarah and we lean on the fence outside to watch. Jack tried to put the saddle on but Rosie immediately tosses her head up and shifts away, whinnying.

Jack tries again only to receive the same result.

"See? She shies away as soon as you try to saddle her," Sarah says. She calls to Jack. "That's enough, Jack!" He stops trying to tack up the mare and sets the saddle down. Sarah turns to me. "Well? Do you think you can do it?"

"I can definitely try," I say with a nod of my head.

"Great." Sarah smiles as we head back to her float and Pin offers to help put Rosie in a stall. "Let me know when you're finished. Here's my contact number."

"It's hard to say how long it will take," I tell her honestly, taking the small piece of paper from her and tucking it into my left front pocket of my shirt.

"Take your time. There's no rush," Sarah says to me. "Good luck."

I nod and Sam and I watch her get in the passenger's seat as Jack comes up to the truck. He spares me a smile and hops in before driving away.

I tell Sam, "I'll let Rosie settle in and start working on healing her tomorrow."

Sam nods her head as she says, "Ok. I know you can do it, Em."

After finishing my chores with Pin's help, I take Soverign for a trail ride for nearly two hours. After I'd cleaned his tack back at the stables, I find Amber and we head home.

While grabbing a snack, Mum in her office, writing, Amber says, "I heard we got a new horse?"

"Yeah. Her name's Rosie. She refuses to be saddled while ridden," I explain, grabbing a red apple and a Vanilla Coke can from the fridge.

"Well, no matter what horse comes your way, I know you'll do great," Amber says.

"Thanks, little sis. We'll walk the dogs after we'd eaten, 'kay?"

Amber nods and we plop down on the couch to eat while watching TV, as Ruby and Shadow curl up with us.