* a few weeks later *
"Today?" I asked, wedging my phone between my shoulder and ear as I undid Dub's girth. "That's so exciting! Can I come over tonight or is that too soon?"
"Of course you can come over," Molly said through the other end of the line. "We're having leftover Chinese food for dinner. We can go over after we work with Titan today."
"That sounds perfect," I said as I lifted my saddle off and placed it on the rack. "Okay, we can talk more when you get here. I'll have Titan ready, just let me know what time you're planning on coming."
"I'll be there in twenty minutes, I'm leaving in a few."
"Awesome, I'll go grab him now. See you soon!" With that, I hung up the call and led Dublin with me. After I turned him out, I went and got Titan and brought him back into the barn. After a good grooming session, I tacked him up in all his gear and put his bridle on. Just as I was finishing the last latch, Molly waltzed in.
"Ready to go?" I asked. I looped T's reins back over his head so I could lead him into the arena.
"As always," she grinned. I handed her my horse and the three of us walked over to the arena. As Molly mounted, I set up everything we needed to do our usual warmup. It consisted of one walk lap each direction, before trotting a few laps in each direction, then cantering both ways. All blindfolded. Then we ride through cones to practice steering, over poles to engage all parts of the pony, and we've even done trot 'barrel races' to try another way of finding obstacles in the dark.
Molly was a much better blindfolded rider than I was. I was an eventer. My sport consists of finding distances and judging fences and counting strides. I relied on my sight to ride much more than Molly, who rode through the feel of the horse in dressage. While we were both able to ride blind, she picked it up much quicker and was a bit more comfortable with it.
As I watched Molly do the warmup, my mind drifted back to Leo. I didn't know the details, but I knew he was going home tonight. He's been feeling a lot better, but his vision improvement has hit a plateau and hasn't gotten any better.
Last week, the doctor told him the chances of him regaining his vision were less than five percent.
Hearing that news was difficult for everyone, but no one was surprised. I think we all knew it was true, but having Dr. Kelley confirm our worst fear just reminded us all that this was real.
Even with his negative prognosis, Leo was happier than I had seen him in a while. He smiled more and even though he couldn't see out of them, his eyes were brighter. It had been a few weeks since his breakdown about us, but we were closer than ever. I made sure to spend at least an hour alone with him a day. His favorite thing to do was ask me what it looked like outside that day. I tapped into my weak creative side and tried to show him what the day looked like.
"Today, the skies are darker," I described. "Imagine Titan's mane. Or, the color of Aspen's halter. Hannah's truck."
"The rug in your room?" he asked. "Your eyes?"
"Exactly," I laughed. "The tree has no birds today, I think they've gone for cover from the storm that's coming."
"What about the flowers?"
"A bit droopy from the heat," I said as I craned my neck to look at the flowerbox outside of the window. "The purple one's looking especially rough. But don't worry, we'll be getting a ton of rain tonight."
I was snapped back to the present as Molly cantered Titan by. Titan was really starting to enjoy his new line of work. He was a bit confused the first couple days we did this training, but he's really taken a liking to it.
"Alright," I said to Molly after she warmed him up. "What's the plan for today?"
"So I read some of Dad's notes on jumping," she began. "I know we've been struggling with that since he just goes for the jumps. But, I think I have a drill that will help a bit."
A few minutes later, Molly and I had set up her drill. We were going to do it with sight for now, and depending on how he was doing, work on it blind after. It was a single jump, and a couple strides later, another three jumps set up side by side in an almost semi-circle pattern. The goal was to have Titan stop and think about the jump instead of just rushing. Because he had three choices after the first jump, he would rely on his rider's guidance to get him through the exercise.
"Jumping is your thing, not mine," Molly said. "I'll guide you through it, but you're riding."
I laughed and hopped up onto Titan. I trotted him around and loosened myself up before attempting it. As predicted, Titan laser beam focused on the jump directly in front of the first one, and it took a bit of work to get his attention to the jump on the right. Once he realized he was going to the wrong jump, I could feel him falter before turning and going over that one.
"I think he just realized something," I laughed as I circled him back to do it again. Every time we went through, I went over a different jump following the lone first jump. I could feel him get looser and more maneuverable every time we went through. He stopped trying to pick the course and allowed me to guide him through. One he was willing to be led, I was able to use minimal reins again and just ride with my seat.
"I think we can try it blindfolded now," I said as I took the bandana off the fencepost. "I'll need you to call out straight, left, or right and help me steer."
"Let's try this," she said, hopping down and coming into the center of the ring. I brought T back out to the rail and trotted him.
"Turn now," Molly directed. I (hopefully) turned T towards the first jump and listened to Molly's cues. "Three, two, one, jump! Go right!"
On cue, I felt Titan preparing to jump and was able to two-point with him over the obstacle. I then put pressure in my right stirrup and turned my shoulders in the direction of the obstacle.
"Three, two, one, jump!"
"Whoo!" I exclaimed after T and I successfully got over it. "That was awesome!"
"That was really good!" Molly called out. "Now do it again!"
-
"This is exactly what I needed," Molly said as she shoveled Teriyaki chicken and rice into her mouth. Me, Molly, Kendall, and Leo were all sitting in the Fraser's living room eating leftovers and chatting. Molly and I had a very successful session with T, but couldn't say anything about it with Leo here as we didn't want to spoil the surprise.
"So, girls," Kendall began. "School starts in less than a month."
Molly and I simultaneously groaned, receiving a laugh from Leo.
"Hah, losers," Leo joked. "I'm not going to school."
Kendall nudged him on the knee to reprimand him. "Correction, you can't go to school. But don't worry - we'll figure something out for you when the time comes. You girls, however, have a decision to make. Hannah and I have been talking. We both agree that going to the high school would be a good way to focus on something other than Leo for a change."
Molly and I exchanged a look, not liking the way this conversation was going.
"However, we both also agree that you two are the strongest, most stubborn girls we know. So that's why we're both going to let you finish high school online if you want to."
"That sounds perfect!" I said at the same time Molly exclaimed "YES!"
The four of us started laughing again. Once it died down, I spoke up. "This will work out great. I actually really enjoyed the online classes I took when I moved. I was able to zip through them at my own pace and I actually learned a lot."
"Perfect!" Kendall smiled at us. "I'm glad you guys want to do this because you're both actually enrolled already."
Leo laughed in amusement. I watched him and smiled. I was so happy he was happy and I couldn't wait to surprise him with Titan.