Sumer's POV
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they let me out of the hospital two days later and as soon as I got home I ran out to the barn and let myself into Aries's stall. I looked at him for a second before stepping up to him and grabbing a fistful of his mane, swinging myself onto his back. I kicked his sides, directing him out of the stall, and headed for the woods, kissing him into a canter.
We soon made it to the field with the hawk and I slowed to a walk, as we emerged from the woods and into the field. Aries lifted his head up and I gripped his mane tightly in case he spooked. I squeezed him with my heels and he walked on through the field. When we made it to the other side with no problems, I patted his neck and turned around to head home.
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"Sumer? You weren't just riding that horse were you?" My mom asked.
"Yeah, I was," I said, turning and rolling my eyes.
"I told you not to ride him for a while," she said.
"There was just something I had to do mom." She gave me a long hard look, before reaching for her phone.
"I was looking at this horse, she's up at Irongate Stables." She showed me a picture of a beautiful flea bitten grey horse. "And I wanted you to drive over there with me and take a look at her."
"Mom, we don't need another horse," I said. "Unless you're planning to help out in the barn." My mom hadn't been in the barn since my dad took his horse, Tellstar, and left.
"I guess I could maybe work that into my schedule.." She said hesitantly.
"Okay, let's go look at this horse." I said, heading out the door to the car.
– – –
An hour and a half later, we arrived at Irongate Stables. I saw a face look out the farmhouse window and she came rushing out when she saw us get out of the car.
"Hello," she said, cheerfully. "I'm Sandy, welcome to Irongate. Did you call about the horse?"
"Yes, I did. I'm Trina, and this is Sumer," my mom said, shaking Sandy's outstretched hand and then gesturing to me.
"It's great to meet you," Sandy said. "If you'll follow me up to the barn, I can show you Kamikazee."
We walked up a gravel path towards a big white barn with red shutters. Sandy slid open the red metal door and we stepped into an extremely clean barn. The isle was wide and about halfway down, if you turned left you would enter the indoor ring and across from that there was a door that I was pretty sure led to a tack room. All of the horses had trunks in front of the stalls and on both ends of the barn there were saddle racks.
As we walked down the isle, a few of the horses stuck their heads over the stall doors and I could see they were all beautifully groomed. I glanced into a stall and saw that it was huge.
"This is a really nice barn. I'm jealous," I said. Sandy looked down and smiled at me. We reached a stall on the right side second to the end of the barn, and as we approached it, a flea bitten grey horse poked his head over the door.
"This is Kamikazee," Sandy announced proudly.
"She's beautiful," my mom said.
I opened the stall door and looked at the horse standing in front of me. She had long, perfect legs, a slightly dipped back, and a beautiful flowing mane, not to mention her flea bitten coat was more then beautiful. I extended my hand and let her sniff the back of my hand before running my hand over her neck. I could feel the muscles right underneath her skin and I looked behind me and smiled at Sandy and my mom.
"May I ride her?" I asked, looking at Sandy. She turned to the side and reached for one of the saddles on the racks, presenting it to me, along with two pads. As I swung them over her back, Sandy walked down the isle and into the tack room, retrieving Kamikazee's girth and bridle.
I took the girth from Sandy and fastened it around the horse's stomach. Then I grabbed her bridle and put the bit against her mouth. She took it easily and I pulled the bridle up over her ears.
"Follow," Sandy said, jerking her head out of the stall. I led Kamikazee out of the stall and around the corner into the ring. Sandy led me over to a mounting block and I tightened my girth, and pulled down the irons. I swung the reins over her head and mounted as she stood stock still. I adjusted my irons and fixed my reins, then clicked my tongue for her to walk on the rail.
She had a peppy walk, something I loved in a horse, and when I asked her to trot, I could feel she was extremely smooth. She had a really fast trot thought and when we started cantering I began to see why they had named her Kamikazee.
Her canter was as fast as a gallop and I wondered what would happen if I pushed her more. When I squeezed with my heels, she would toss her head a give a little buck, which was actually hilarious since she seemed to never have learned how to actually buck. She could barely get her back legs off the ground, but I was sure if she wanted to buck me, she definitely would.
I did a flying lead change across the center of the ring, and apparently this time, she actually wanted to buck. She kicked her legs high into the air in a corkscrew buck and landed, continuing her canter like nothing happened. I laughed and brought her back to a walk. I glanced over at Sandy and she looked nervous. I gave her a big smile.
"Can you set up a small jump?" I asked. Sandy blinked a couple of times and nodded, walking into the center of the ring to adjust an already present jump. She lowered it two holes and glanced up at me. I nodded. The jump was about one foot six and that was beyond small for me.
I cantered Kamikazee around the ring once before turning the the jump. When she saw it she perked her ears and took a huge spot, landing on the other side with her tiny buck. I smiled and patted her neck. Even though she had a habit of bucking like this, I really liked this horse.
I took her to the jump again and held her back, preparing for a big spot. I counted my stride and she took the spot perfectly. I imagined me helping her get over her bucking and fixing all of her spots, and heading to shows. Big shows.
"Sandy?" Is it okay to raise the jump to three feet. She gave me a weird look. "I usually jump three foot six or three foot eight," I explained.
She nodded and walked over, raising the jump to three feet. I cantered around the ring again and when Kamikazee saw the jump, she increased her pace and I was positive we were going to make it over. I counted off my strides, and she hit another perfect spot, sailing over the jump. It was extremely hard not to drop my reigns and stretch my arms out to the sides.
I blinked as she landed on the other side and trotted her in towards Sandy and my mom.
"I love her," I said with a smile.
Sandy looked more then surprised. "Really—um..great," she stammered. "You uh..you felt that she bucked?" I nodded slowly, widening my eyes and raising my eyebrows.
My mom, not looking as surprised as Sandy chirped up. "So on the phone you said she costed $5,500?"
"Yes," Sandy said grateful to escape our awkward conversation. "$5,500."
I raised my eyebrows at my mom and she presented an already written check. I raised my eyebrows higher.
"I figured you might like her," my mom said as she handed over the check.
Sandy was bewildered at this point and took the check slowly, as is it wasn't really happening. "It's going to cost a hundred dollars extra if your buying her tack as well."
"Sumer probably has some tack for her, right Sumer?" My mom asked hopefully.
I glanced over at Kamikazee. "Yeah, she could fit in Aries's girth."
"Perfect," my mom said, clapping her hand once. "When's a good time for us to pick her up?"
"I think I'm free tomorrow at noon," Sandy said, finally getting her act together.
"Then we will pick her up tomorrow at noon."
– – –
After taking care of Kamikazee and returning home, I texted Grey.
Hey guess what! My mom just sprung this on me this morning but we went to look at a horse. She's beautiful. Her names Kamikazee. We're picking her up tomorrow if you wanna come
He texted back almost immediately.
Sounds cool. And I'd love to come tomorrow but I can't talk now. I'm with Emily.
"Oh," I said out loud. I blinked—my mind clouded because of the fact he was with Emily—trying to remember what time Sandy had said.
Ok. Come over at 10
That should give us enough time to get ready and drive up to Irongate. Grey read my message but didn't reply.
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