Silver Opportunity

Chapter Thirty-One

Once we got Leo in the saddle, it was hard to get him out. He fell in love with Titan, not just because he got to ride him, but because he was patient and understanding. Leo's first ride back, he was stiff, nervous, and rode choppily. But Titan just happily continued on, doing his job and doing it well. The first ride was just walking with a little bit of trotting, but a few days later, they did more trotting. Every ride they did a little bit more, and Leo was soon ready to start working on dressage.

"The only thing I'm struggling with is finding the letters," Leo admitted after one ride in particular. This sparked an idea, and I got Hannah involved again. We came up with modified dressage letters with different light intensities and sounds. That way Leo could hear ringing coming from the letters, each one unique, while at the same time being able to slightly see the light emitting. It wasn't perfect, but it worked, and soon enough Molly got him doing simple walk, trot, canter dressage tests.

After a few months of dressage lessons, Leo was good, really good. He said being forced to feel the horse instead of seeing everything allowed him to work on the mechanics and basics of dressage.

Today was special though. Leo had the chance to train under the instruction of Don Coates, a renown para instructor in Kentucky. He heard about Leo's story in the news and was interested in seeing him ride. If all went well, Leo would be able to do at least one lesson a week with him and would be able to go to para rider shows, if he so pleased.

"Are you nervous?" I asked Leo as he sat atop his horse. Me, Kendall, Molly, Hannah, and Leo were all waiting for Don's arrival.

"Yeah," he said, reaching down and patting T's neck.

"Don't be," I said. "You'll do great. Now come here."

Leo leaned down and I gave him a good luck kiss. I kept talking to him as an attempt to keep him calm until Don's black truck pulled up to the ring. The kind looking young man hopped out and greeting all of us before addressing Leo.

"So, you must be Leo," he said. "How are you doing today?"

"I'm doing well, thank you," Leo replied politely.

"I'm looking forward to watching you ride," Don smiled. "Now, go start your warm up and go about your usual routine. I'll just be here by the fence."

"Thank you, sir," Leo said as he gathered up his reins and had T walk on. Molly headed to the center of the ring where she'd be out of his way but there to give him instructions if needed.

Don began talking to us, asking us various questions about Leo and Titan.

"So, whose horse is that?" he asked.

"Oh, that's Titan, he's my horse," I said. Don looked at me and nodded, having me continue. "He's a showjumper, but after Leo's accident, Molly, his sister, and I decided to retrain him so he could ride him. We thought Titan would be perfect because he's so sensitive and responsive. Turns out he was perfect for the job, and I couldn't be happier."

"Oh, you two trained him yourselves?" he asked. "Explain that process to me."

I discussed everything Molly and I did to get Titan to this point. As I did, we watched as Leo began his first dressage test. Honestly, you would have never guessed Leo was blind by watching him ride.

"Have either of them gone back to jumping?" Don asked.

"I have been able to bring Titan through a fair number of courses blind," I explained. "He's a very seat oriented horse and responds well to it, but the hardest part was locating jumps. Leo, on the other hand, has kept it flat. I'm not sure if he even wants to jump after what happened, but that's up to him."

"So, let me try and get this straight. Molly's his sister, correct?"

"Yes, his twin."

"Oooh, a twin," Don smiled, earning a laugh from me. "You're just... a friend?"

"Girlfriend, actually," I grinned.

"Well, Miss Emily, you deserve a girlfriend of the year award, because you have created something beautiful from a bad situation."