Today will be my day.

Chapter11

We arrived in the top paddock with Nath waiting there, clutching Rogues headcollar and lead rope, like he said he would.

"I'm so proud of you both." He beamed at us as we headed towards him. He slowly passed me the headcollar which I slipped easily onto Rogues head. "The bond between you two is incredible." Nath stepped forward to place his hand on my arm and Rogue snorted at him.

"Hey now." I cooed firmly at Rogue. "Nath is my friend, he can be yours too." I patted the horses neck and he visibly relaxed but still kept his aggressive gaze fixed on Nath.

"Nath, reach out to him." I told him but got a confused look in response.

"Lo, you're not the bloody Oracle! What do you mean?" I rolled my eyes.

"Stretch your hand towards him, idiot."

"Oh, okay..." Nath hesitated but I gave him an encouraging look as I moved slightly away from Rogue. Still holding the end of the lead rope I moved so that I was completely out of the way of the scared, protective and confused horse and equally as worried, protective and confused boy; both of which I feel like I am starting to develop strong feelings for. I gulped at my own thoughts and Rogues head snapped towards me as he sensed my discomfort through the length of rope. I smiled and cooed at him while instructing Nath to try and touch his neck.

"Well, why not his head?"

"Rogue is a bit head-shy. Probably all of the manhandling of his head in just a headcollar by Nick."

"Lola, you do realise that even though you say he has all of these problems he just lets you do whatever you want."

"Huh?" Nath rolled his eyes and grinned at my lack of understanding.

"You say that he's head-shy but when you went to put the headcollar on, he just stood there and let you slip it straight onto his head. A real head-shy horse would have thrown his head around and made that ten times harder. I'm sure Rogue would have done that for anyone else but not you, Lola this horse," he paused to look at Rogue, "trusts you more than you trust yourself." I nodded my head in understanding and looked at Rogue. He returned my gaze as if he knew I was looking at him and turned away from Nath to head towards me. Nath jumped away from the horses back end but I knew Rogue wasn't going to kick him; he just needed a little bit of encouragement from me, exactly as I needed it from him. I had an idea.

"Nath this I going to sound crazy but I need you to help me." His eyes lit up at the idea of a little crazy excitement as he nodded.

We attached a lead rope to each side of Rogues headcollar and tied the ends together over his neck, effectively creating a pair of reins, I look at the horse who stood completely still, anticipating my next move as I moved towards him.

"Ready?" Nath asked me and I nodded. I was really about to put my trust in Rogue and my riding skills to the test. Nath legged me up onto the horse's back. I held the knot in the lead ropes loosely and clicked at Rogue to walk on as I patted his neck with the other hand that wasn't holding the makeshift reins. I eased Rogue into a big circle in the middle of the paddock. I let the ropes drop and held my arms out either side of me. Rogue went to stop, sensing my lack of contact with my hands but I clicked him on and squeezed his bare sides with my legs. Using just my legs and my voice I eased Rogue into a smooth canter, still holding my arms out to the sides, and continued on the circle shape. After a couple of laps I slowed Rogue and picked up the ropes to turn him in the other direction before dropping the ropes and starting on the circle in the other direction. I walked with Rogue for a couple of laps before once again easing him into a canter with my arms out either side of me. Sitting on the bare back of the apparently 'unrideable' and 'uncontrollable' horse with no reins and my only form of controls being my voice and leg movements felt exhilarating and I had a sense of pride in the beautiful creature building inside of me. Sitting to Rogues canter was like sitting on a beautifully hand crafted antique rocking horse; he had three beautiful gaits and if he didn't make it as a jumper with some patience and footwork practice he would be more than capable of making it as a dressage horse. Combing his fluid movements and stunning appearance Rogue is the horse of any little girls dream but no one yet has given him the time he needs to flourish. Along with the pride, I also felt a slight sadness wash over me. As if he knew I needed comfort Rogue slowed slightly into an even more controlled canter making this experience feel even more wonderful than it already was.

I knew it had to end eventually so I slowed Rogue to a calm walk, letting him manoeuvre his own way around the field as I spoke to Nath.

"Lola, that was fucking incredible!" Nath beamed at me and it was then that I realised I had attracted a slight crowd.

"Nathaniel, mind your language please." Oh shit, that was Robin. I was not supposed to be doing this... "Lola, seeing as you were a no show for your demonstration this morning, I thought I would bring the audience up here to see you work with Rogue after I got Nath's text." I clicked at the slightly unnerved horse, giving him the encouragement he needed to carry on walking confidently. Robin carried on. "You see, ladies and gentlemen, instead of giving you a flatwork demonstration on a well schooled and respectable horse, Lola has just treated you to an amazing piece of flatwork proving that any horse will work fluidly and precisely as long as you have respect. The bond between Rogue and Lola is something beyond special. Before Lola started work with him, Rogue had been classified as a dangerous, uncontrollable horse and had been sent to us as a last bid attempt to keep him from the slaughter house. He has kicked and injured many people who have tried to get near to him, including the top groom at The Breen Brothers yard in Ireland. Rogue has been sent all around the Nation in attempt of someone fixing him. No one has ever believed in him before Lola. Everyone else who had tried to work with him only ever believed in his bloodlines, in the hope that if they could break his aggressive shell that his show jumping skills would shine through. Lola has proved to us all that you don't have to be oldest, wisest or most experienced horseman in the world to understand horses and to work with them beneath the aggression or fear that unfortunately some horses posses." Nath cut Robin off before he could carry on with his speech.

"What Robin is trying to say, is that Lola is freaking awesome!" The crowd whooped and hollered along with Nath, sending a shock of pride through me as I grinned. I leaned down wrapping my arms around Rogues neck and nuzzling my head into his mane, he turned so his head was resting on my leg. I heard a camera click as I looked up to see Nath grinning with his phone pointed in our direction.

I addressed the crowd and jumped off from Rogues back. Nath approached us slowly and helped to untie the two lead ropes. He encased me in a hug as I held onto the lead rope with one hand and I feel Rogues discomfort through the rope. I pulled away from Nath and spoke gently to Rogue before leading him back to stable and turning my focus to my other three horses.