My Brother Says I'm Dangerous

(19)

"Can't I just go in the car with you?" I beg Charlie, who is leaning on his truck watching, amused.

"We really need four horses." He shrugs. "We need the strength." I look around, desperately wanting another option.

"How do I even get up there?" I ask miserably. 

"I'll give you a leg up." Hunter says. "Give me your foot." I hesitantly put my foot in his hands, and try to practically crawl my way up, but it doesn't work. I'm short as it is and I have little upper body strength.

"Hang on." Hunter sighs, brushing the dust from my shoe off his hands. Suddenly before I have time to protest, he picks me up by my waist, hoisting me up into the saddle. I scream, and cling to the horses neck not wanting to fall, trying to breathe after the sudden contact.

"Never do that again without asking first." I shake.

"He got you up there didn't he?" Jackson shrugs. Everybody else mounts there horse, and Hunter clips a rope, connecting Annabelle and Pickle.

"You ready?" He asks me. I nod shakily, clipping my helmet on tight, gripping the ropes and Pickles mane. I'm going to die today. Hunter clicks his tongue, and his horse starts to move, but Pickle doesn't even budge.

"See?" He snorts. "Damn horse wouldn't move if the apocalypse hit." He tugs on the rope, and my horse starts to walk. I grip his mane even tighter, not wanting to fall off. 

I see Charlie speed off ahead of us in his nice, comfortable truck, and I wish I was in it. Or better yet at the house. Or better yet-Ohio where people don't ride horses. Ollie and Jackson stay just ahead of us, as the horses pick up speed. I start to get used to this strange feeling of a trot, and I think my thighs will hurt in the morning.

"This horse is going to fast!" I cry out, and Hunter laughs. 

"It's fine, we're speeding up to a gallop." He says. "You won't fall out, keep your feet in the stirrups and hold on." Eventually, all horses are 'galloping' and I try to open my eyes, and look where we're going. We're going across one big field, and I can feel us going down a slight hill.

"Where are we going?" I ask Hunter. 

"The corral." He says. "It's like a big clearing of land, but blocked off. We're going to use it for the branding." I nod, not bothering to ask what a branding is again. Nobody seems to want to tell me. "Throughout the year we kind of use it to hold junk, which we use for the bonfire." He continues. "But now the bonfire is the day after the branding, so we need it clear."

We come up to a small cliff, and Hunter stops the horses, Jackson and Ollie pulling up too. Over the cliff is a large clearing, almost like a small hole in the ground. It's filled with junk. Old mattresses, wood, everything. 

"Charlie!" Jackson yells. Charlie looks up from sitting on top of his car in the corral, and waves. 

"Come on." Jackson says, and we follow him down the path into the corral. It starts to get a little rocky, and Pickle stumbles, but manages to make it onto the grass.

Everybody slides off their horses, and I look down nervously. It's a long way down. Hunter sees me hesitating, and goes to grab my waist again.

"No." I say quickly. "There's no need.. No need to touch." He gives me a weird look, but I ignore it, taking a deep breath and I slide off the horse, sighing in relief when my boots touch the ground. 

However my happiness doesn't last long, as I take a step to turn around, and fall to the floor, my legs like lead. I hear chuckles, and look up to see everybody looking down at me.

"As that's the very first time you rode a horse, I think it's ok to have jelly legs." Charlie laughs, as I get up slowly, my legs finally regaining strength. 

"Ok." Hunter whistles. "Lets get to work."

We spend at least an hour, probably more clearing out the coral. They got strategically placed in the truck, trying to use all space possible. The boys seem pretty determined to not make a second trip.

When the truck is completely full, Charlie grabs some heavy duty rope and he connects small trailers, almost like sleds, to the back of every horse.

"Wouldn't this be bad for the horses?" I ask Ollie, as the other try to lift what seems to be a very heavy wooden crate, to put on the back of Pickle.

"No." Ollie says, assuring me. "These horses live on a ranch, they're working animals. Their strength is incredible, they probably love the extra work. We treat them well, so they trust us."

Eventually the corral seems pretty empty, and everybody starts to get back up on their horses. I look at Pickle, not knowing what to do, not wanting Hunter to lift me again. I suck it up, putting my foot in the stirrups, and jump, clawing at the saddle, practically using my fingernails to scratch me way up into the seat. I huff, as my butt meets the saddle, and Hunter sighs.

"You could have just asked for help." He says.

"I can do it myself." I say. 'It's fine." He lets it go, and we start up the path again. I can feel the extra weight, and I hold on, not wanting to topple over backwards. 

This horses thing just doesn't agree with me.