Cry, my beloved people

Raised Part 76

The horses looked peaceful, grazing in the morning sun, swishing their tails occasionally at the flies.   One of the young colts nickered as they entered the camp.   Andrea, the owner of the riding school, took them to a lively stallion and a mare, grazing together.  She clipped the lead lines onto them and kept the mare steady for Linette to mount it.  Linette stroke her neck and put her cheek next to Sophi, the mare's cheek and asked softly: "Will you help me today?"  Her soft brown eyes met Linette's and she licked her hand.   Gregory helped her into the saddle and mounted the stallion.

At first, they walked next to each other at a reasonable pace, Linette drew a deep breath and looked around her to take in the scenery.  It felt as if she exited a deep dark tunnel and see the sun and the green fields for the first time.  She raised out above the darkness and the warm light of the sun made her feel alive again.  Then the horses started a nice trot and she felt as if she was flying in slow motion above all her problems.  That was really good and she felt a strange bond growing between her and the lightly tanned mare called Sophi.

Gregory looked at her and smiled: "Shall we canter!"  He called and she noticed he reigned his horse and did something with his knee.  The big stallion darted forwards and the mare followed.

The horses went for their third-round around the field in a canter.  Linette felt free, flying in mid-air on the mare's back.  That was really something special.  Then they started trotting and slowed down to a walk as Andrea was waiting for them.

"Did you enjoy it," Andrea asked with a smile, as she noticed the blush on Linette's cheeks and Gregory's big smile.

"It was awesome." Linette cried as she glided out of the saddle and hugged Sophi around the neck.   Andrea gave her a carrot.

"Here give her a treat, would you like to cool her down, here's the lead, take her to the water over there."  Gregory did the same.

"Did you enjoy it?" He asked searching for her eyes.

"It was really awesome, it felt like flying.  Now I can see why you said it helped you.  The stallion snorted and sent a spray of water over them.

"We can unclip the leads now then we can return it to Andrea.  Linette rubbed the mare's neck again before she unclipped the lead and said: "Thank you so much for being so nice to me," Sophi looked her straight in the eye with her soft brown eyes, then she whinnied as she moved away.  The horse was growing on her.

"Shall we do it again tomorrow?" Gregory asked with a soft smile on his face, clearly glad that they could do something that made her feel better.

"That will be awesome, can we watch them for a while, before we return home?"

"Sure, we're not in a hurry and they look so peaceful when they graze in the greens.  I would like to have a few of my own, someday.  They can become good friends, like dogs, they understand you after a while."  He daydreamed.