Page 115 of Knot Her Cowboys
“I think she deserves an evening out as much as I do. I’ll ride with you on Big Jack.”
We went out to the stables together. Cooper had Ranger, Sky, Big Jack, and Betsy Boo all ready to go. “We’re adding Grizzy to the list too,” I informed him.
He frowned. “She doesn’t take riders anymore.”
“Just for a walk. No one is gonna ride our old girl.” I grabbed a halter from the tack room and went to go fetch her. “Grizzy girl!”
She came trotting over, looking at me suspiciously, until she saw the halter and thrust her head over the fence for me to put it on.
“Are you excited to go on walkies? I know, it’s been a while since you’ve been up in the hills. Say thank you to Riley, okay?”
Grizzy raced over to the gate and I let her free, leading her back to the stable, where everyone except Riley was ready and mounted.
“Hello there, beautiful girl,” Riley cooed. Grizzy melted into her attention.
“Come on, you two. The hills await.”
“Cash.” Riley laughed, moving to stand next to Big Jack. “How am I supposed to get up on this fucking mountain of a horse? I can’t even see over him.”
I tutted softly, passing Grizzy’s halter rope to Dakota. “BJ is a gentleman. Try to grab the saddle and see what he does.”
Riley reached overhead and Big Jack curled his foot, offering it to her for a step. “Oh my god. Shut up! That’s so cute.”
She scaled the horse and settled onto the saddle, leaning instantly against me once I joined her up there.
We set off into the sunshine. Grizzy didn’t actually need the rope or halter, sticking close to her new favorite person. When we hit the open plain, Grizzy and the horses broke into a smooth pace, gliding over the dusty ground and up into the hills.
Riley relaxed a little more with each hoofbeat.
Good.
I loved it when a plan came together.
No one talked much as we rode, opting to soak in our surroundings. Riley was cozy in my arms, the birds were singing in the trees, and the horses were pleased as punch to get out for the day. Poor BJ didn’t get to go on too many trail rides since his size was pretty fucking intimidating for people unused to horses.It was always a good day for him when we took him for a ride ourselves.
Grizzy, our ancient guard-mule, took her job very seriously. She kept one eye on Riley and one on the surroundings.
“Where are we going?” Riley whispered.
“To the lake.”
“You guys have a lake?”
“We do, but it’s pretty far out. We’ve been discussing developing a road out to it so we could have canoe rides and paddleboarding, but it’s a huge job, and I kind of like it staying wild.”
“I’m not going to say no to a secret, private lake.”
It took two hours of riding into the hills before we got there, Riley squeaking with delight as we turned around a bend in the trail and the sparkling blue waters spilled in front of us.
The lakeshore was wide, rocky in some places, but overall pretty comfortable. Dakota and Levi hopped down and began setting up our lunch spot. Cooper led the horses to get some water and I slid down BJ, helping Riley to the ground when I had my feet under me. It took hardly any time removing the bridles and replacing them with halters so I could hitch each horse to their own tree while we ate.
I passed Riley a bag of apples, her excitement bubbling up in the bond. “One for each. Don’t let any of them guilt you into extra. The rest are for when we’re heading back.”
She nodded dutifully and passed out the sweet treat to each of the horses, giving every single one of them some attention.
“She’s really fucking cute with them,” Levi said quietly to me.
“Why do you think I packed treats?”
