Page 7 of Reining Her In

I flip my head back around, my available hand instinctively reaching for Nancy’s loose reins, but my eyes are drawn, and my attention turns away before I can grab the leather strap. “Oh my God,” I mutter, my mind racing as I see the horse near the barn rear up. Standing almost vertical on its hind legs, the rider’s face cast with terror. But that’s not what freezes me in place.

It’s her. The sapphire blue eyes are wide filled with fear, her mouth agape was her horse slams its front feet to the ground surging her face forward into his neck, throwing her even more off balance. Her mount digs in and barrels forward, knocking two people to the ground. And she’s heading straight toward Nancy and Grand Teton.

And me.

But I don’t care about me, only about them.

“Nancy!” I shout, louder than I should, and Grand Teton jumps at my voice, sending Nancy off balance as she frantically tries to sit up and regain the reins. “Go! Get out of the way!” I push at Grand Teton’s shoulder giving the animal a gentle smack on his hind quarters, but it’s futile. Teton is a solid fifteen hundred pounds and already has a look of terror in his eyes.

Just as Nancy sits up and grasps the situation, the other horse is bearing down on us. The terrified animal’s nostrils are open wide, the whites around his eyes showing. Nancy kicks at Teton’s sides, pulling his head to the right just as the chestnut mare with the beauty that already tugs at my heart is on top of us.

Time is running out, the crowd now screaming. Nancy is fighting to move but the chestnut is galloping and closing in on us, out of control. My beauty’s horse hits the fence just to our left, spinning around, bucking and kicking out, smacking Grand Teton in the side of the head as Nancy tries to pull him around.

The crazed mare reacts, rearing up and screeching, spinning my way as I’m barely able to miss being barreled over. Blood explodes from Grand Teton’s head.

“Nancy, here! Dismount!” I manage to grab one of Teton’s reins, holding on as he jerks and pulls, tearing the leather through my palm, burning as I reach up with a single open arm, my cane falling at my feet.

Instinct kicks in and Nancy knows what to do.

She’s an experienced horsewoman, and the best place to be in a situation like this is not on top of an injured and frightened animal. In one swoop she flings her leg over the back of the horse and down into my waiting arm, her legs crumpling under her, but just as quickly she is back upright, her hands securing the other rein as Teton backs away, his powerful legs digging into the dirt desperately trying to be anywhere but right here.

“Take him!” I point and yell.

Grand Teton wants nothing more than to be somewhere else, so when his trusted rider runs forward with his reins in her hand he more than gladly follows.

“Get him to the vet!” Blood is dripping down from the gash on his head as they run in the other direction from the chaos.

As I’m shouting orders at her, there is more crashing to my right. I don’t want to lift my eyes, but I react automatically, spinning on my good leg and lurching forward as the chestnut mare takes off at full gallop into the solid wooden fence surrounding the riding ring. I’ve seen a lot of things happen at horse shows, but this is one of the most out of control horses I’ve ever seen.

My heart stops, I should have done something more.

Travis comes running, but it’s too late, the mare is completely in flight mode. Everything seems to slow down. The angel I’d met this morning is on top of a speeding freight train as I watch her hold on for dear life.

The crowd is going crazy. I take off at as much of a run as my shattered leg will allow, lurching over the broken boards of the fence with my arms high above my head, trying to draw the terrified animal’s attention. Something is very wrong with her horse. Experienced riders and horses do not react like this unless they are hurt or something else is going on.

“Whoa!” I use a calm, commanding voice, just loud enough to draw attention, but just as the horse looks up, Travis comes out to scream at the rider. The horse bolts straight forward toward him, and he dives behind a solid wooden double gate jump, the horse heading straight for him.

She’s doing whatever she can to control the animal, and finally, the beauty can grab one rein to do what we call an emergency turn. She pulls with all her strength on one rein, forcing the horse’s head to turn. With the mare’s head facing in the other direction, she slows down, at least for the moment, following her nose as horses do.

“Keep pulling, circle her!” I’m within ten feet now, stumbling in her direction and the horse is slowly turning my way, but she’s still crazed. She bucks and rears, the rider, has the reins ripped from her hands, and I see what is coming next before it happens.

“Please—” Her eyes train on me in a look of such horror my heart stops beating.

The horse jets forward, crashing through the first set of poles on the jump that Travis cowers behind, trips, then comes tumbling down, falling head first into the next jump, throwing the terrified beauty straight into the solid wooden pole that holds up the horizontal wooden poles.

It’s all in slow motion, but I still can’t get there fast enough. Her helmet smacks the wood, her body flipping end over end with the force and forward motion, her mount coming down with her as her boot is caught in the stirrup and the enormous animal collapses to the ground next to her. The mare’s front feet paw in the sand and each time she struggles she hits my beauty in the helmet until the strap finally gives out. As I throw my body over hers, the horse brings down a final hoof blow, straight onto the top of her unprotected skull.

I block two more hoof beats with my back, the pain barely registering until the animal falls still.

An eerie silence falls, pulsing around us. My heart beats deafening in my ears. The enormous mare, exhausted, lays gasping for air. But all I care about is the raspy breaths of the angel under me.

I’m spitting dirt as I lift my body from hers to reach over and frantically free her foot from the stirrup in case the animal finds the strength to have another go.

Her hair is wild around her head, the formerly neat bun at the nape of her neck a tangled mess. The dust from the sand and the flailing horse settles on her, and as I look down, I’m as terrified as I’ve even been. And yet a spark is lit inside me.

She is a fragile doll, and she looks broken, but her eyes flutter open. The shimmering blue is unfocused for a moment before she rests her gaze on my face. I want nothing more than to scoop her up and fix her. Take her somewhere with me and be sure she’s safe from now on.

“You’re okay.” I brush some dirt from her cheek, praying silently that my words are true.

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