Cowgirl's First Love

Chapter One

        Disclaimer: I did not grow up on a ranch, but I know a great deal about horses and rodeos due to my family (my uncle's a bull rider, cousin's a barrel racer, other cousin is a jockey, aunt is a horse trainer, and my other uncle was a pretty great calf roper) and my uncle has a large ranch in Central Texas. Also, for those of yall that don't know, breaking a horse means training it, not physically breaking it (: haha thanks yall for reading!

        Most people believe that once you're out in the country on a ranch somewhere that it's peaceful. Some people believe that growing up on a ranch shows you a different perspective to life, a simpler one. Some people believe that once you're out in the country that you fall in love with it. After all, that's what clichéd movies and books have shown us.

            Others believe that ranches out in the country are the homes to naïve, stupid country folk that wouldn't last a second in the city. Some believe that life on a ranch or farm is boring and stagnant.

            For me, I believe that growing up on a ranch in the middle of nowhere USA teaches you different values than a life in the middle of New York City does. I believe that I learned the different struggles of a country life: working chores every day, getting every possible thing you needed in the city that one trip because you wouldn't be visiting for another week, and even having to get your own eggs from the chickens.

            From a young age, I learned that if you wanted something done, you had to do it yourself. I learned that money doesn't grow on trees, and most of the time, it's tight. I also learned that breaking horses makes you a killin'. I learned that working on a ranch is tough, tough work, and you can't have somebody else do it for you.

            I think the most important thing I learned, though, is that living on a ranch in the middle of West Texas's plains of nothing will not allow you to chase your dream. And I think that was the hardest lesson to learn.

~

            I sat down on the splintered wooden bench underneath me. The dark wood was rough on my legs, but luckily I had a light skirt that covered half of my thigh. My dad was supposed to pick me up at this bus station half an hour ago, but I knew how things on the ranch could alter time.

            I was basically twiddling my thumbs at this point, when I heard a loud truck pull up behind me. I turned around to see my Dad's large Ford F-350 approaching the bus stop. I lugged my large suitcase up and pulled it over to the truck. Getting out of the truck was not my father or any of my three brothers, but instead it was a young guy I hadn't seen before. He had dark brown hair that was shaggy enough to see under his cowboy hat and green eyes that I could see clearly from the other side of the truck. He made his way over to me. He had on the same outfit that most of the guys around the ranch wore: a pearl snap or any long button-down shirt, jeans, boots, and a hat. It was the typical attire, I guessed you could say. He was good looking, though, nonetheless.

            "Are you McKenzie?" he asked sheepishly.

            I corrected, "It's McKenlie, but yeah. Dad couldn't make it?"

            He shook his head, taking my luggage from me and effortlessly throwing it into the bed of the pickup. He had the usual muscles that all men that work around a ranch have: strong arms and a fit torso. It worked with his tall build. "No, we were working out a herd of horses, and they got spooked. He had to go gather them around. I'm Luke, by the way, the new ranchhand."