Love In The Wild West

Chapter 6

“That is… a lot of people,” said Lila, looking out at the crowd that had gathered in the courtyard type area that was in the very center of the ranch.

“This is brilliant!” said Kurt. “There must be about thirty people here! I had no idea that this idea would become so popular.”

“How many people were you guys expecting?” asked Louise.

“A dozen,” said Lila, “that too if we were lucky.”

“Well,” said Louise, “there are a lot more than a dozen people here, so congratulations. Your idea is a hit.”

“I can not wait to start,” said Kurt, his eyes wide and his mouth a perpetual grin. Lila loved watching him be this way. She loved it because she felt like he had not been able to feel this way for quite some time. She had started to feel like he was trapped in this world that he had entered, that he was a businessman that yearned for the freedom of being a cowboy, a businessman that yearned for the freedom of his roots.

“We are not going to be able to accommodate everyone,” said Lila. “I wish we hadn’t spread so many flyers!’

“It’s alright,” said Kurt. “Instead of a single hour long session we will make it two half hour long sessions of about fifteen people each. This will work out better in the end. I was starting to wonder if an hour long session would be a good idea anyway. These people are not used to riding, they might not be able to keep up. It requires a lot of stamina to ride, after all, and everyone here is going to be a first timer from what I can see.”

“That works,” said Lila. “Shall we announce it to everyone here?”

“Yes,” said Kurt. He stepped forward and said, “Howdy, y’all!”

There was a murmur of greeting that made Kurt smile. He said, “Welcome to the first ever horse riding session offered at the Dennison Ranch and Hotel! We are so happy to have you here. Now, there are more people here than we thought were going to come so we might not be able to account for everyone right now. However, if the ones that are really interested in riding would be willing to wait just half an hour, I am sure that we would be able to accommodate them. We are going to offer a half hour long session starting now, and at seven thirty we are going to have the next session. Now, who wants to go first?”

There was a clamor of people, out of which Kurt selected fifteen.

“Now if you have not been selected yet, do not worry,” he said. “We are going to give every single person here a ride. Just watch us for about half an hour and then we will be ready to give you a ride as well! Now, the fifteen people that have just been selected if you could just step forward and stand beside a horse.”

Fifteen people stood beside fifteen horses. Lila had already selected her horse as did Louise who was going to get the first ride since she was Lila’s friend.

“The first thing that you need to do is mount, of course,” said Kurt, striding in front of everyone. He really knew how to be the center of attention, and Lila had to admit that she was really attracted to him in that moment as she watched him command the attention of every single person standing there.

“This may sound easy,” Kurt continued, “but trust me when I say that it is most certainly not. Mounting a horse takes a lot of balance and mental fortitude, and most commonly, people think that it is too easy which makes them end up on their asses. What you need to keep in mind at all times is that the horse knows how you feel. You need to be confident while mounting your beast, otherwise it is not going to trust you. Trust is one of the most important aspects of riding a horse, so the very first thing that we are going to do right now is help y’all earn the trust of your animals.”

Kurt went up to his own beast, a fine animal the color of chestnut with a long and proud mane and powerful muscles underneath its beautiful coat. He rubbed the animals snout and said, “I have already spent some time getting my animal to know me. This is why it is so easy for me to approach it. The rest of you, however, are going to have to put some more effort into it. Approach your beast slowly from the front. Do not hold your arms out as this can be perceived as threatening by the animals.”

The group of fifteen people stood in front of the horses and slowly approached.

“If your horse hesitates while watching you approach, do not stop,” said Kurt. “If you stop the horse will think that you have something to hide, or that you mean it harm. Step back a few steps and then proceed to move forward again. When you are an arms length away from the horse, gently rub its snout the way you saw me doing. This is going to calm the animal down and portray you as someone that it can trust.”

Everyone slowly approached their horses including Lila. She had not had the time to get her own horse acquainted with her so she was very careful. She already knew everything Kurt was telling the group as she had read about it in a number of books. However, doing it in real life was very different from reading about it in a book and Lila was very well aware of this fact. She did not want to embarrass herself in front of Kurt, especially with so many people present, so she focused on the task at hand and looked at her beautiful roan animal in the eye.

The horses eyes were deep and wise. Lila knew that this was no dumb beast, rather it was the kind of animal that had a deep understanding of the world around it. It might not know what was being discussed because it did not know the language of humans, but it certainly knew that Lila was going to approach it and try to mount it. It was looking at her and trying to determine if she was a threat or not, and Lila was smart enough not to appear threatening to it.

The horse hesitated a little and shied away from her. She took a couple of steps back and then started to move forward again. She gently patted the beast on its snout and it exhaled heavily through its nose. She smiled. She had a feeling that the beast would appreciate it, and based on its reaction it certainly did enjoy it. She saw something shift in its eyes and she knew, in that moment, that she had won its trust. It was a great feeling. It was a lot like when you realize that you have won the trust of a fellow human being, but at the same time it meant a lot more. It meant more because human beings are sometimes not as smart as animals. They can be tricked into trusting someone that does not deserve their trust, and they can be evil to those around them. An animal is a much more intuitive being, it has a deeper understanding of the world around it. If you can get an animal to trust you, you can be fairly certain that you are a good person because animals have a way of getting to the core of a person and discovering what truly lies in their hearts. If you are an evil person, it is highly unlikely that an animal would ever trust you. However, if you are a good person then the vast majority of animals would end up liking you a great deal because they would see the purity in your soul and feel comfortable letting you close to them and allowing you to touch them.