I woke up Saturday morning, the sun shining through the curtain in my tiny bedroom. Kate was still asleep. I checked my phone, charging on the nightstand next to me. I had a text from my best friend Alicia, a like on Instagram, two comments on Facebook, a snapchat from Alicia, and a text from my uncle Mike. I decide to open that first. "Good Morning." "Morning. When do you want to get together?" I read Alicia's text, responded, then ignored everything else. It is 7:37, everyone was still asleep. I got out of bed and showered. It took only a half hour because I skipped shaving my whole legs, and only did my calves. When I got out, Jeff and Kathy were sitting in the kitchen drinking coffee. Kate was still sleeping when I went back to my room to get dressed. When I was done drying my hair, I put on my cowboy hat, along with an old torn pair of jeans and a flannel shirt with the sleeves rolled up. Before I went downstairs, my phone buzzed. "How about lunch around noon?" "I can do that, where are we meeting?" I unplug my phone and go downstairs.
"Good morning." I say way too enthusiastically when I walk in to the kitchen. My boots made a loud thunderous noise on the hardwood floor. "Mornin' cowgirl." Jeff says. Kathy just glances in my direction. I grab a donut and go out to the barn.
"Diesel baby!" I say shoving what's left of my donut in my mouth. I run to my horse and hug his warm sturdy neck. He was standing quietly in his stall with a mouth full of hay.
I took him out of his stall and groomed him until he was dirt-less. Then, I put his brand new saddle blanket on, one that looked like the American flag. Then I put his saddle on, a fancy tan saddle with tassels. Then his breastcollar, and then his headstall. He was finally all ready and I lead him outside, where I tied him to a post.
I ran inside to wake up Kate, but she was already up and dressed. Shocking. "I don't suppose you want to go to the arena with me?" I asked sarcastically. She smiled and shook her head, but she followed me out anyway. "What time do you think you'll be done?" She asked. "Probably around 10:00, maybe a little later." "Oh what the hell, I'll come." she said, and followed me to over to Diesel. I jumped on then I pulled her up behind me. We rode down to the arena a quarter mile away. Why it's so far away? Who knows. I had Diesel run barrels for a while, then I pulled Kate back on to the saddle and we rode back to the barn. While I took care of Diesel, Kate went to the pasture to watch the horses. I didn't bother to take off any of his tack though. Instead, I saddled up Jeff's horse, Annie Oakley, a 9 year-old Australian Stock Horse with a whole lot of power. Horsepower. Haha. I lead them both out of the barn to the post where I tied them up and went to get Jeff. He was just pulling on his boots when I got inside. "We're ready to move the horses now." I say just poking my head in the door. Kate came back from the pasture just as I got back from the house. "Kate I want you in charge of the gates. When we get the herd under control, open it. Then, when we get them all in the other pasture, close it." She nods in understanding. Jeff comes outside and mounts Annie, so I mount Diesel. I have a lasso and halter clipped on to my belt just in case a horse gets loose, and extra long reins on Diesel so I can swing them around to control the herd. And we're off. We gallop out to the pasture where the horses are now and circle them to get them closer to each other. I start whistling and yelling to get them going. There is tons of dust from all the horses running down a dirt path, and I can't see well, but I deal with it. Kate opens up the gate and the herd goes in, except for one colt, who runs the other way. "You keep them going, I'll get the little guy!" I yell to Jeff over all the noise of hoof beats. Jeff gets all the remaining horses in to the pasture successfully and I am racing to catch the colt. I unclip the rope from my belt and start swinging it. I throw and it's no good. Start over. I throw again, this time I get the rope around his neck and pull only hard enough to make him stop running. I jump off of Diesel before he even stops and grab the red nylon halter that was hanging on my belt and fasten it on to the colts tiny head. Now, with the foal tied to Diesel's saddle, I get back up on my horse and we ride back in to the pasture. Stopping near the herd, I get off and take the colts halter off. He runs on his awkwardly long legs back to his momma. "Nice work cowgirl." Jeff says riding up to me. "I can say the same for you." I say as I climb back in to the saddle. "I'm going to meet Mike for lunch around noon." "Okay. Where are you meeting him?" "We haven't decided yet." He makes some sort of noise that sounds like he agrees. I pull Kate on to my horse and we ride home. "Are you going to come with to lunch?" I ask her. "Probably not."
I run to my room to get ready for lunch. I put on a nicer pair of jeans, and a nicer flannel shirt- also with rolled up sleeves, and a nicer pair of cowboy boots. And just to make myself look presentable, I put on some makeup and jewelry. Feeling all ready, I go downstairs. It's 11:39. I make sure I have my phone and my pink Realtree purse, and j say goodbye to my uncle and Kate. Kathy was nowhere to be found.
