by Allison, age 13

“Whoa, whoa, WHOA!!!!!!” I screamed at my horse. He ignored my voice and my yanking on the reins. He thought what was behind him was more terrifying than I could ever be. I let him get away from the plastic bag fluttering on the road behind us and sighed. There was no way on earth I could use this horse for trail rides.

I had never planned to use my beautiful Summer as a trail horse. I thought he would always be a special horse only I would ride. And then I discovered the cost of owning him. My parents agreed that I could have him if I helped them pay his expenses. There was no way I could give him up. After attempting to make money in several generic ways (the lemonade stand does not work! I made twenty-five cents, and that’s only because my mom felt sorry for me!), I decided to find a job that I was good at — in other words, HORSES! Trail rides sounded like a great idea. In fact, my only idea, but that was before I discovered how much Summer spooked. No mother in her right mind would let her child, who had never been on a horse before, ride Summer. That horse is afraid of everything!

We had tried getting him used to plastic bags and loud noises, but he bolted like he was doing now. I turned him around and took another route home. This one was hopefully devoid of plastic bags. At home, I put Summer up and walked to my room, without hope. I pulled out one of my many horse magazines and began to page through it. I stopped at the section marked Ask HorseGirl. ‘Frustrated in Oregon’ had asked, “My horse is so easily spooked, he jumps at everything. What should I do?” HorseGirl had replied, “Get him used to what he is afraid of; this should calm him.”

“Don’t listen to her ‘Frustrated’ — that doesn’t always work!” I shouted at the magazine. I sighed. I just couldn’t get away from my problem!

My parents had started dropping hints about me owing them money for Summer’s feed and vet expenses. I decided it was time to take action; we had other horses, Summer didn’t need to be a trail horse right now. I put an ad in the newspaper and called some people who I thought might be interested. The response was decent, just about enough to pay for half of Summer’s expenses. I had one problem though. A mother wanted to bring a group of children to have a birthday party and go on a trail ride together. I was short two horses, but I needed this money badly. To provide one available horse, I could walk and lead the trail ride on foot. But for the other… I guess Summer would just have to do it. “It wouldn’t be too dangerous. I would just ask for an experienced rider to ride Summer,” I tried to convince myself. It wasn’t working. I felt nervous about the whole thing.

The morning of that trail ride, I saddled up all of my horses carefully, taking extra time with my Summer. A minivan arrived and more kids jumped out of that van than I thought was possible. Each of them ran to Summer, the most beautiful horse we own, and started petting him and clamoring to be the one to ride him. I told them only an experienced rider could ride him.

The lady who I assumed was the birthday girl’s mother spoke up, “My little Janie rides all of the time. Let her ride him.” Little Janie put on a dazzling smile.

“Are you sure, ma’am?” I asked, “He is a slightly advanced horse.”

“Yes, I’m sure!” she replied happily. This still didn’t put me at ease. Janie looked a little ditzy. I was scared to think about what she would do on a horse that spooked.

All of the little girls adjusted themselves in their saddles and we began. The ride was going wonderfully, and Summer was behaving beautifully — he was practically prancing! My doubts and worries slowly slipped away.

No matter how slowly they left me, those same worries hit me like a cannonball when I saw a plastic bag fluttering in a tree up ahead. I knew Summer had seen it too, his eyes were widening and he nodded his head furiously up and down. Before I could get to him, he took off.

Janie yelled in a pitiful voice, “Stop, make him stop!” Summer slowed and gradually stopped, his eyes still wide. I stood still in shock. Why had he stopped? Janie giggled nervously and soon the rest of the group joined her. “This is the most fun trail ride we have ever been on!” the children said to each other. I suddenly realized what had happened. To these children, anything that had to do with horses was special. But a fall, which can cause an experienced rider to become wary around horses, would scare these children so much more. Summer, through “horse intuition”, knew that. He knew no matter how scared or vulnerable he felt, these children were even more helpless. That’s why he stopped.

I wonder if he would go near that bag now, I thought. But there was no way I would tempt fate after that close call. “Time to go back!” I called to all of my little horse riders. I was answered with groaning. I giggled. Now was a perfect time for some advertising. “Don’t act so sad,” I told the girls, “Tell your parents how much fun you had and maybe you can come back!” I had a feeling the girls would plan future visits on the ride home. After being paid and my clients had left, I skipped back into the house.

When my parents asked how the ride had gone, I flashed my stack of money in front of their eyes and smiled a smile even more sparkling than little Janie’s. I was keeping Summer!

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