Chapter 18
Chapter Eighteen
“ H orseback riding? Are you sure that’s a good idea?” Lance was willing, if not able, but he was curious as hell. “I mean, I’m blind.”
“So? You can learn in here, and then you can go out with someone else if you want a longer ride. It’s good to work on your leg, on balance, and it builds confidence.” Luke sounded like he knew what he was talking about.
“Yeah, but I don’t know. It seems…dangerous.”
“Shit, man. Life is dangerous. You can’t let fear stop you. That’s no way to live.”
Luke had a point. It really wasn’t.
“So…okay. I’ll try it. Why not?” Someone would be with him, they’d be in an enclosed space, and these were therapy horses for guys in wheelchairs and with traumatic brain injuries. He could do this.
“Good, come on.”
“What? Now?”
“Yep. You have jeans on. You’ll be fine. Boone’s out here. He’ll help you mount.”
“Don’t I have to meet the horse first? What about Abby?”
“I’ll put her in the dog run and we’ll let her be a dog for an hour, fair? She’s not used to horses, at least not yet.” Luke was laughing at him. He could tell.
“Fine.” He could cowboy up. Totally.
Probably.
Maybe.
Hell, he didn’t know. He was a soldier, a medic, not a cowboy.
“Good deal. Boone, take Lance here. Put him on Sarge. He’s a good old man, solid as a rock, and happy to walk in a circle.”
His hand was put on a wiry, hard arm. “On it, boss.”
“Hey. I’m Lance.”
“Boone. You ever ridden before?”
“Um, I rode a camel once. Does that count?”
Boone chuckled. “Oh, that’s way harder. So, you’re totally mobile, which means you should be okay with a regular saddle.”
Wow. He guessed he was really doing this.
“I’ll let you meet Sarge first,” Boone went on. “Then I’ll saddle him.” ‘
“Sure. Do you have a snack?”
“I do.” Boone chuckled. “Good man.”
“Well, the dog trainers here all say that you never show up for a meet and greet with no snacks. I figured horses had to be the same.”
“Pretty much. Now, Sarge is a calm old boy, but some horses will react differently to your physical challenges, so just be aware at all times. You can’t see laid-back ears or bared teeth like a sighted guy, so you gotta listen to their feet move, feel the way they move their heads.
At signs of agitation, you might need to be hyperaware of where you can move or how to soothe them. ”
“Fair enough.” He liked that Boone was up-front and instructional. “You just don’t wander off to begin with, huh?”
“Never. I’m not about to lose this job,” Boone said, the laughter plain in his voice.
“Is it tough, finding cowboying jobs?”
“Not as tough in Texas as it is in other places, but I’m also a certified horse therapy guy, and a lot of times that ends up a volunteer position.”
“Ah. I get you.”
Boone steered him along the graveled path, then stopped. “This is a corral rail. There’s a slat just at mid-belly level for you. Can you feel it?”
He reached out and found the metal rail. “Got it.”
“Cool. Sarge is in this corral, so I’ll go grab his halter and lead him over. You’ll be separated from him by the fence.”
“I’m good right here.” The ground was a little uneven, the dirt loose, but he had a good grip, and his balance was pretty solid.
“Be right back.”
He listened to the stamp of hooves and the swish of a tail, then Boone was murmuring and the hoof falls came closer.
“Here we are, Lance. I’m at about your nine o’clock, and Sarge is fixing to be breathing right in your face. In fact, blow out a slow breath.”
“Okay?” He would do it, even if he didn’t get it.
“That’s good. Good. Now you’ve shared breath with him. Don’t jump,” Boone said just in time as soft breath and even softer lips explored his forehead and cheek.
He chuckled but managed to keep it calm. “Well, hello, there.”
“Okay, now I’m going to hand you a piece of carrot. Offer it up to him on your flat hand, fingers bent back a bit from your palm.”
He took the cool, damp veggie and did as bid, Sarge snuffling again, then gently nibbling it off his hand.
“So are they like dogs again? Some have soft mouths, some will take off your fingers?”
“Yes, absolutely. Can you hang here and love on him while I get the saddle?”
“Can you show me where it’s safe to put my hand on him?”
“Yep. Here’s his forehead and basically his muzzle. Just don’t stray too much into his nostrils and you’ll be good. And he loves a behind-the-ear scratch. Just follow his halter up.”
“I’m on it.” That sounded easy enough, and he was separated by the rails if anything went weird.
He rubbed nose and ears and even Sarge’s neck. Then he heard Boone come back.
“Okay, big boy. Here we go. Blanket first.” The rails twanged, and he figured Boone had put the saddle over one while he put the blanket on.
“So he stands really well for the saddle. I rarely have to tie his lead up. Not every horse does. They all have their own personality. Sugar is retired from riding, in fact, because she bites and kicks when a saddle comes her way.”
“Was she abused?” He’d heard stories of horses who had been worked too hard who balked at it later on.
“Most likely. She was an auction horse. But she’s actually really good with teaching therapy folks to do grooming. Stands like a dream for that. So she has a place here for good.”
“Oh, I like that. I like knowing that everything is okay, that no one gave up on her.” That suited him down to the bone, actually. To know there was a place here, even for the animals that weren’t quite one hundred percent.
“That’s the thing, isn’t it?” Boone chuckled, and Lance heard and felt, at the same time, the saddle come up off the fence. “Saddle now. Everybody needs a place to go and recuperate. In some cases, retire.”
“Yeah. I’m trying to decide which one of those I am—the recuperate or retire type.”
“Oh man, you’re still in your prime. You got forty years, sixty maybe. Don’t give up on yourself.”
He wasn’t, was he? He was more being logical and shit. “My man wants me to come to New Mexico with him to his house, but I’m not ready.”
He wanted to be, but he didn’t know how.
“What do you need to be ready?”
The horse knickered, and he thought he heard it stamp its foot.
That was the million-dollar question, wasn’t it?
What did he need to be ready? He couldn’t learn the house unless he went to New Mexico, but he wanted to know the house before he left.
He had no idea what he was going to do with himself all day.
At least at the house he was in now, there were people to talk to.
If Sloan was at work nine or ten hours a day, what was he supposed to do? Talk to Abby?
He wasn’t sure New Mexico had the infrastructure to deal with somebody like him.
“Well, I know the VA has stuff,” Boone went on as if Lance had answered him.
“And I know that there’s a bunch of stuff in Albuquerque.
My father-in-law lives out there. He’s retired from the Air Force and he’s got that AMD stuff.
So there’s a bunch of help and Albuquerque and Santa Fe are not all that far from one another.
You just gotta find you the right resources and go with it. ”
“That’s scary as fuck to think about,” he admitted. “I don’t know.”
“It is. No question. I can’t even imagine,” Boone admitted. “But I also can’t see that staying in one place because you’re scared to go to another’s going to work. You got to do you, though. I’m sort of stubborn.”
Lance shrugged, and his cheeks heated. “Yeah, me too.”
“Well, there you go. Start with the VA and the state commission for the blind. There’s always one, and they have amazing resources. Okay, time for the bridle. Now. I’ll be walking you around on a lead, but I still want you to get a feel for reins and such.”
“Okay. Cool. What kind of bridle does Sarge take?”
“Nice. Good question. He uses a bitless because of his soft mouth, so it doesn’t take much to tell him where to go. We’ll work on that later on in your lessons, but today we’ll just do a basic walk-through.”
“Is it weird that it doesn’t feel like a basic walk-around?”
Boone snorted softly. “I think that nothing feels basic right now until you get used to it. Just think, soon you’ll be wandering around like a wandering around thing.”
“Right on. That’s me. The thing of wandering around.”
They both started laughing, and he’d be damned if that horse didn’t start bobbing his head and pulling on the reins, laughing with them.
“Okay, so do I let him go, and are you going to come get me?”
“Yes and yes. If you’re out here by yourself—which I can’t think of a situation wherein you would be out here by yourself, to be honest—but if you are, you can tie the reins to the fence in an emergency.
As it is, this is the closed paddock. He’s not going anywhere.
Worse thing is going to happen is he’s going to walk the six feet over to where the gate is, but I’m coming to get you. ”
“Thanks, I appreciate it.” He felt bare butt naked without Abby here. He was so used to having her around now, that he just didn’t know what to do without her by his leg .
He wasn’t sure if that was wonderful or pitiful, but he was voting wonderful. Abby was his best friend, his constant companion, and she loved him, no matter what.
He was a lucky bastard to have her.
He heard the fence rattle, and then the sound of boots hitting the dirt.
“I just climbed over. Nice job not flinching, you’re going to be great at this.
I see you keep reaching for your dog’s harness.
I can tell you that lots of times, horses and dogs are not the best of friends.
It’s not a given, but you’d have to be real careful.
So there also won’t be a time when you come out here with the dog.
She can go out in the run, and she can be a dog.
She’s fine. You won’t be left alone, I swear to you a bomb could hit this place, and I would still?—”
Lance held one hand out. “I swear to God, a bomb hits this place, and I’m not living through another one. Clear?”
“Oh, shit. Oh, man. I’m so sorry I didn’t… That was incredibly classless of me.”
“Hey, it was an accident. Just, it’s too soon. My man and I, we were in it together, and it’s too fucking soon to joke.”
But he’d been able to say that, hadn’t he? That it was too soon, and he didn’t want anyone to joke about it, and he didn’t panic and he didn’t short out.
He’d done it.
That was good.
It felt really good.
“Wow. That’s nuts, man. How’s your dude?”
“Solid as a rock. I did him not so great and he came after me, and I’m going to make it work.”
“That’s the spirit.” Boone took him around through a gate, then paused to shut it behind them.
“Okay, we always let Sarge know we’re coming.
And never from directly behind. So we’re coming up on his left side.
Once we get close, I’ll put your hand on him, and then you can walk up toward his head, always keeping a hand on him. ”
“I can totally do that.” He listened closely to Sarge, trying to get a feel for his body language. He seemed… bored. Not impatient or unhappy.
At least to Lance’s untutored ears.
“Oh, he feels different back here.” Lance put his hand where Boone led him.
“Yep. Rougher, right?”
“Yeah.” And then it was a fascinating study in texture and communication as he and Sarge learned each other. He also learned about the saddle and bridle, and then he was learning how to mount.
“Whoa.” Once he was up, he had to use a muscle or two to stay there.
“See what Luke said about your legs and core?”
“Yeah, no shit.”
“Okay, so reins like this. Don’t pull back and up if you need him to stop. Pull back gently. Up might make him fight you.” They went through all sorts of adjustments, and then he was riding, Boone leading Sarge around the paddock.
Holy shit. This was so damn cool.
Riding Sarge sort of felt like sitting on a big rocking chair that was alive. And he smelled like nothing else Lance could ever imagine, mixed with leather and the green scent of manure.
And he was doing this.
And it was amazing.
By the time he had ridden a half hour and then Boone taught him how to give Sarge some water and groom him, Lance was exhausted.
But proud. Exhilaration filled him. “I did it.”
“You did, man. Let’s go get your dog.” Boone let him tuck his hand into the cradle of that lean arm, and he was heading back to the dog run to get Abby.
He couldn’t wait to tell Sloan about all of this .
His body was sore, but pleasantly so, and his brain was buzzing.
This kind of therapy he could get behind.