Love In The Wild West

“Very good indeed!” said Kurt, looking at Lila and smiling proudly. “Now, did y’all see what she did? She smiled when she got to the horse. A horse can not smile, but this does not mean that it doesn’t understand the value of a smile. A horse knows that when you are smiling at it you are trying to appear unthreatening to it and that is something it really appreciates. It gives it the impression that you are putting a lot of effort into your approach, and this means that you are worthy of its trust. If your horse starts to get nervous around you, just treat it the way you would treat a human. Smile at it, maybe even sing it a song. Animals love it when you put an effort into making them feel comfortable. They will certainly appreciate it if you guys put some effort into it as well. So go on, smile at your beasts, sing them a little song, treat them like a little baby that you are trying to calm down!”

All around her Lila heard a chorus of voices. They were singing a widely eclectic variety of songs, from old school pop to rock n roll, but all of it came together in a remarkably harmonious fashion. Lila was amazed at how these people were able to understand the fundamentals of what it meant to get an animal to trust you. She realized that there were two basic reason for this.

The first of these two reasons was that Kurt was a very good teacher. He knew just how to make people understand what he was trying to say without appearing condescending at all. He knew how to make people feel like what he was saying was important, and this ended up making everyone feel good about themselves because they felt like they were being honored by being made to listen to his words.

There was also something deeper about what Lila was seeing around her. The way these people were behaving around these animals was almost like a limbic response. There was something visceral in the way they looked the animals in the eye, something romantic about the way they sang to them. It was a relationship unlike any other, the relationship between a human being and its animal, and Lila realized that this was why animals were so important. They allowed people to look inside themselves and find a part of them that had not been corrupted by the world and its rules, there were parts of people that were still firmly attached to nature, parts that craved the natural environment and through it the most natural connection that a human can have: love for an animal.

“Now that y’all have earned the trust of your horses,” said Kurt, “you are ready to start trying to mount them. Be careful, you do not want to give your animal any pain. However, you also need to be as firm as possible while mounting your beast. You do not want your horse to think that you are a weakling, after all, you need to show it that you are the one in charge here, you are the master and you are going to make it obey your every command. Keep this in mind while you are mounting your horse. Keep in mind that you are the ones that are in control here, these horses are here to give you a ride. You are the ones that are going to be riding these beasts, and that means that these horses are yours to command. Do not be afraid to make your horses realize that. You do not have to be mean, you do not have to hurt your animals. You just need the strength of authority in your hands. Now, put your foot in the stirrups and swing your leg over the animal like this.”

Kurt put his heel into the stirrup of his own horses saddle and mounted it in a single, smooth motion. It was, quite possibly, the single sexiest thing that Lila had ever seen in her life. She had never wanted Kurt more than she wanted him in that moment, and she stared at him with barely concealed desire in her eyes.

“Be careful of one thing,” said Kurt, “once you put your heel into the stirrup, you need to mount immediately. Take as much time as you need before you put your heel in, do not worry about that. You can take your time and sing to your horse and pet it and get it more comfortable with you. But do not put your heel into the stirrup unless you are absolutely certain that you are going to be able to handle the mounting maneuver that I just showed you. It needs to be in a single motion, and it requires a lot of balance. Go ahead, give it a try.”

The results were widely varying. Some people put their heels in and tried to mount, only to fall backwards. Some people hesitated with their heel in the stirrup and the horses started to get antsy and Kurt had to canter up to them to calm them down. Some people took their time and managed to almost mount before falling back. Not a single person in that entire group of fifteen people managed to mount the horse immediately.

Lila had not tried yet. She was the only one left that had not tried and she knew that all eyes were on her right now. She did not pay any of these eyes any heed. She knew that if she noticed everyone looking at her, she would realize how much scrutiny she was under and this would not allow her to mount her horse successfully. No, she needed to be firm right now. She needed to be the one in control, and she needed to silence her mind in order to do so.

In this moment, nothing else existed for Lila. It was just her and her beautiful horse. She smiled at it again and she saw something shift in its eyes. It was a horse and it could not smile, but she felt like if it had been a human being it would be smiling back right now. It had that look in its eyes, the look of a beast that was comfortable. It had the look of something that trusted you completely, and Lila took that trust very seriously indeed. She was not about to let this beast feel like it was in danger.

She looked the beast in the eye and petted it. Kurt had said that they could take as much time as they needed to get to know their horses before putting their heels into the stirrups. Lila intended to take a lot of time because she knew that she was going to have to be swift after she put her heel in. She knew that once her heel was in, there was going to be no turning back. She would have to work hard to make sure that she got it in the first go. She was determined, more determined than she had ever been in her life. She was completely undaunted by the task that was before her. She was going to mount this horse. In this moment she knew that she was going to be able to do it. In that moment, nothing else mattered.