Nothing But Horses Read Online Free PDF

Three treats later, she
said, “Okay, tell us all. What happened? How did you manage to get
to Lincoln from S.F.A. and Centennial? This is amazing.”
    “Grandpa,” I said. “I wasn’t happy with what
I saw at the other schools. He listened and then we went to
Lincoln. He convinced Principal Gallagher that I was the greatest
basketball player in the universe and I would be an asset to your
team.”
    “You will be,” Vicky said, “no worries there.
This is going to be so much fun.”
    “We’ll be together for the next two and a
half years,” Robin said. “Then, we can figure out which college we
want to attend.”
    “I’m just happy to be at your high school,” I
said, grinning at them. “Now, if you get your horses together, we
can ride for a while before we have to do chores.”
    “I’m on it,” Robin said. “Help me put
together Charming, and then I’ll help you with Aladdin, Vick.”
    “Works for me,” Vicky said and they headed
off to the tack-room.
    In slightly more than a half hour we were in
the indoor arena. We worked our horses on the ground so they could
see there weren’t any monsters in the ring. Then, I checked their
gear and they mounted up. Aladdin played ‘follow the leader’ with
us. He could walk behind our horses. I kept the pace down because I
didn’t want him to spook and drop Vicky again. It didn’t mean we
couldn’t do a lot of activities, we could and we did.
    We practiced all four of the walks, beginning
with the medium, then up to the extended, onto the free and down to
the collected. We did serpentines, spirals and circles before we
began patterns and transitions between the four-point halt, backing
and more walking. After that, we rode without hands, dropping the
reins on our horses’ necks. We did Cowgirl and Cowboy jumping jacks
at all of the walks too. Wow, we were all that and the proverbial
bucket of carrots.
    Grandpa made it down to the ring and watched
us from the bleacher area. He asked Vicky about how she trained
Aladdin and who was next on her list. Since he remembered how the
Arabian felt about guys, my grandfather didn’t come into the arena.
He just sat on the benches and talked over the wall to us. When
Vicky was ready for a break, she pulled into the center and waited
while Robin and I increased our speed and trotted our horses. After
a bit, Robin parked Charming next to Aladdin
    Since Nevada was focused today, I asked for
and got a perfect show-ring lope. We cantered both directions and
then called it a day. Grandpa told me that if I worked him for
enough hours each day, my big red gelding might do well in the
show-ring. Of course if I didn’t, then my horse was ready for a
semi-permanent vacation.
    My huge Belgian-Morgan-Quarterhorse cross
would turn 15 in less than two weeks. Like every other year, I’d
see to it that we had carrot cake in the house while he got five
pounds of carrots in his manger. Nevada was born on New Year’s Day
when I was two, and we grew up together. Mom swore that I called
him, ‘No-No, Veda,’ when I helped her train him as a foal and the
name stuck. I demanded to be the first person on his back when he
turned three.
    At five, I was even more stubborn than Autumn
ever thought of being. Nevada may have pulled the typical colt
tricks with my mother in the saddle, but he was an angel with me.
Even if I got mad at him sometimes, I never thought of letting him
leave Shamrock Stable. He was mine, and I was his. And that was
life, as we knew it.
    Grandpa offered to help Vicky while she
unsaddled and groomed Aladdin. I told him that it might not be a
great idea since the bay Arabian had gender bias, but Vicky said it
would be good for him to have a guy around. The two of them went
off to the horse’s stall. As he passed me, Grandpa promised he
would be careful so Mom didn’t freak out.
    Once we took care of the horses, it was time
to move onto chores. Robin and I cleaned the top barn. We watered
and fed. We headed down to the