Jack's Last Summer

Part 14

Matilda twisted her fingers through the scraggly brown mane of her assigned horse and let herself be boosted into the saddle by Ruby, a short freckly girl standing below. The girl had a surprising amount of strength for her young age and small, weedy body. In fact Matilda highly doubted she was qualified for work.

“What now?” Jack laughed. He was sitting in the saddle of a quiet white pony with the rather fitting name of Henry, having already been helped up by Seth.

“Just wait there while the others mount.” Ruby gave him a shy metallic smile with her brace clad teeth.

They were in a dusty round yard of some kind of horse farm. The general aesthetic here weren’t exactly top notch like the fancy race horse studs around Matilda’s home town, with areas of broken fence and weeds and mud in the walkways between paddocks. Despite this it had a friendly sort of feeling, and the horses all appeared well kept and happy.

Seth grunted and pulled himself into the dull saddle of a bored looking tall horse with a misshapen nose and long fluffy hair sprouting from above his hooves. Garland was already riding a coal black horse around the yard at a trot, smiling at the reluctant Kyle with a smug satisfaction that showed just how remorseful she was for forcing him into this; that is, not at all.

Awkwardly Matilda fumbled at the reins and picked them up in a way that mimicked how Garland was holding them; inside the fists, thumbs on top. The horse’s ears flicked around as the movement caught his attention. He had patches of extra fur on the tips like a caracal.

“What’s this feller’s name?” She asked Ruby and rubbed the horse’s neck, taking both of the reins into her right hand.

Ruby looked over her shoulder from where she was tightening a buckle on Skylar’s girth.

“That’s Frankie,” She gave the girth one last testing wiggle and walked over to her own horse, a long legged dapple grey that looked infinitely fancier than all of the teenagers’ horses put together. “Are you all ready to go?” Ruby asked the group and received a general thumbs up in consensus.

She rode her horse to the gate and opened it, holding it ajar while the train of inexperienced teenagers struggled to direct their mounts into the open space of a field.

“The horses will follow each other on the track for the most part, but once we get to the beach you’ll have to know how to ride. It’s really quite simple. Keep the reins short and apply pressure on both to stop and alternate sides to turn the head. Give a little squeeze on their belly to go quicker. Sometimes they’ll break into a trot. Don’t panic. Just don’t let the horse decide what to do.” Ruby chattered as she expertly manoeuvred her fancy steed around puddles and debris.

“Are you even old enough to do this?” Kyle asked her as he struggled to gather the reins into his hands. His horse was a sour tempered beast that seemed determined to have his neck jutting out as far as possible. Matilda struggled to contain a smile. The sight of Kyle not being good at something was highly amusing. He kicked his horse’s ribs in an attempt to get to the front of the line that was already forming, to no avail.

“It’s a family business. I have insurance.” Ruby smiled self-assuredly. Unconvinced, Kyle nodded and went back to fighting a silent war with his horse.

Slowly the group formed itself into a line of pairs, with Garland now up in the lead with Ruby. Matilda found herself almost in perfect stride with Seth behind the two, and Jack and Skylar close behind. Kyle was at the back, sulking.

“Doesn’t this hurt your, um … Boy parts?” Matilda asked curiously as the natural motion of the horse swayed her hips back and forth in a comforting rhythm.