𝐼'𝓋𝑒 𝑔𝑜𝓉 𝓎𝑜𝓊 [ Adopted by Elizabeth Olsen ]

Chapter 8: "The second lesson"

⚠️TW:⚠️ none

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"Great, do you remember how to get him to walk?" She asked me. "You just squeeze your legs right?" I asked and she nodded. "Yeah, if you're ready you can go ahead and start walking", she smiled.

I squeezed my legs together as I had done so many times last week, and Billy started walking at a slow pace.

We spent the first 15 minutes doing pretty much what we had done last week. I started off by just starting and stopping Billy before we moved on to steering. Nova made me weave through some cones, and I found it a lot easier than last week.

Mr. Miller eventually came, and he gave me a new exercise to do. I was instructed to try and make Billy walk as slow as he could on one half of a long side of the arena, and as fast as he could on the other side. (This is actually a really good exercise, you can do it in walk, trot or canter)

It was really difficult, especially as I had only really walked at one pace before, but I got the hang of it eventually. Walking kind of fast was a bit scary at first, because I thought Billy was going to start trotting at any second, but Nova was always there, reassuring me.

Once I had gotten the hang of walking both fast and slow, Mr. Miller asked me if I wanted to try and trot a bit. I knew this question would come, and I didn't know what to answer.

I really wanted to try and trot, because Nova had made it look so effortless when I had watched her ride, but on the other hand, trotting just seemed really daunting, I didn't really want to fall off.

Nova saw my conflicted expression, so she quickly reassured me. "I'll attach a lead rope to Billy so that you can focus on holding on to the saddle if you need to. If you need me to stop, just say stop, I promise Billy won't do anything", she gave me a reassuring smile.

"Okay, we can try, but do you promise to stop if I say so?" I asked her, a bit embarrassed because of my fear. "Of course", she grinned. "I'm positive you'll be able to hold on though." When I looked away, I saw her trying to stifle a laugh. She really finds this funny? That bitch! I'm terrified! Okay, it is kind of funny...

Nova told me that we would be trotting down the long side of the arena, and then stop when we came to the other side, so we would be trotting from K to H. (Riding arenas have letters, if you're an equestrian you prob know this)

"Ready?" Nova asked me when we got to K. I nodded. "Okay, hold on to your saddle, it'll be a bit bouncy, but you can just try and sit down for now, just try and get a feel for his movements", she instructed me. "Tell me if you need me to stop him."

Nova then asked Billy to trot, and all I had to do was to hold of for dear life. When she had told me that it would be bouncy, I didn't know just how much. My grip on the saddle tightened, and I tried to not fall off.

We eventually got to H, and Billy slowed down. "You ok?" Nova asked me. "Yeah, that was a bit scary but mostly fun", I laughed. "It is really fun once you get the hang of it, are you up for doing it again?" Nova asked me.

"Yeah, sure, why not?"

We ended up trotting a few more times, and every time I felt like I did better than the time before. Mr. Miller would come with some little pointers here and there to improve my riding. "Sit up! Keep your back straight! Look ahead of you! Heels down! Try and follow his movements!" When we were done, Mr. Miller instructed me to cool down Billy.

I hadn't done that last time, as I had just walked around last time, but since we had trotted this time, it was important that we cooled Billy down properly. Before he left, Mr. Miller told Nova something.

"You'd be an angel if you could maybe tell her the basics of posting trot, we'll try that next time, if there's a next time of course", he laughed. "Yeah, sure, I can do that", she smiled.

Ally had left about halfway through the lesson, so we were alone now. Ally had told Nova that she would go and get them both some lunch to eat.

So as we were just walking around, cooling Billy down, Nova started talking. "So, you probably heard my conversation with Mr. Miller", she begun, looking a bit anxious to be talking to me.

She was fidgeting with her hands, and she wasn't making eye contact. My stomach churned, seeing her in this state. My maternal instinct kicked in, and I wanted nothing more than to hug and reassure her that everything was all right.

But I couldn't do that. I barely knew her and I knew that she didn't trust me.

"Umm... so we were basically talking about what we would be doing next time, if you want to come back here of course. I mean, you don't have to come back, now that I'm thinking about it, you probably don't-" she started rambling.

"Hey, Nova, of course I want to come back", I quickly assured her to stop her rambling. "Oh, okay... Well, as you obviously know, you trotted for the first time today, and you may have noticed that you didn't quite do it the same way as I did when you watched me ride."

"What you did today is called sitting trot, because you're obviously sitting down, but what you usually do while trotting is called posting trot of raising trot, that's when you stand up and sit down while trotting", she explained.

"Yeah, I saw you do that, and that's what Mary-Kate, my sister also does while trotting, so I know what you mean".

"Okay that's good, so posting trot is better for the horses back, and it's also easier for the rider. You just did sitting trot today because we wanted you to get a feel for trotting and to get to know Billy's movements."

"It takes a lot of practice to learn to post, you kind of have to find the right rhythm, so please don't get frustrated if you don't get it next time, it is difficult, but once you manage it, it just kind of clicks, there's not really much I or Mr. Miller can do to help, you just kind of have to find the rhythm by yourself", Nova explained.

"Okay, thank you so much for explaining, I'm a little bit less clueless now", I joked, which earned a little giggle from her. "Of course, that's my job", she smiled. "No but seriously, other people would just do the bare minimum, but you always take the time to explain and help me, so thank you so much for that", I thanked her.

"No problem, I know how it is being new to horses, it really helps to have everything explained to you", Nova said.

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Hi everyone! How are y'all doing?

I'm on Easter break now, and I have limited Wi-Fi so I don't know how many comments I'll be able to answer.
I hope you're doing well and that you're taking care of yourselves. Eat a little something, make sure you're hydrated and have a nice day <3

Love, Frida xx