of our stable hands. They are talking to the Ferrier, as they look over one our show horse’s hooves.
“Hey there Corrine.” Sam yells over to me. “It’s good to see you out, you want me to saddle Windy?”
“No I have it. I will be out by the woods if anyone is looking for me.” I yell back across the barn. He nods with a grin and goes back to his work with the other men.
I find Windy’s stall, she comes over to me nuzzling my arm as I lead her out to saddle her. I quickly get the saddle on her adjusting the straps and saddle pad. The saddle is hand-tooled leather with my name on the side. A gift from Dad for my fifteenth birthday. I lead her out to the paddock. I can smell someone burning leaves as a brisk wind picks up. I smile thinking, what a perfect day to ride. The leaves crunch under my feet as a cold breeze blows. It’s stirring up dust in the area outside the barn.
The fall colors are brilliant now. The trees are decked out in red, orange, and gold. I jump up into the saddle and guide Windy to the thick tree line along a well-worn trail. I start thinking about school. I know I need to get back. Weeks have passed since the first semester started. The school counselor had called checking on me to see if I was going to be back this session. I hadn’t called her back yet. I needed to get things back on track, or as close as I could to any kind of track, if that was possible for me.
Windy walks along at an easy pace. I let my mind wander, and before I know it, we are edging the river. I quickly pull back on the reins and stop her, remembering Gran’s warning. I know I had promised her to stay away from this area. The colors of the leaves are brighter next to the riverbank so I decide to just take part of the lower trail, go back up the bank, and head home. I wouldn’t really be breaking my promise if I stayed away from the water.
I carefully guide Windy to the lower trail; it runs next to the river, but not to close. I can see it’s muddy so I try to keep her on the path. I stop for a while and look at the leaves and their colors. I listen to the bubbling sound of the river and all the birds singing. It seems almost un real here, and I really don’t want to go. I take a deep breath of cool fall air, the kind of crisp air that makes you glad to be alive. I sigh since a thought like that hasn’t crossed my mind in months it makes me smile.
I sit in the silence and take another deep breath and a gut wrenching pain suddenly rips through my head. I grab the saddle, curling over onto Windy’s shoulder. I feel her shift uneasily sensing I’m in pain, she’s tossing her head. “Windy… oh God.” I gasp, tears stream down my cheeks.
I try to see to get down out of the saddle; afraid she will spook and throw me off. I get tunnel vision; blackness is closing in on me. My ears are ringing. I break out into a sweat. I try to breathe. “It’s okay, it’s okay.” I say to myself. “God help me.” I gasp. Then I feel another pain so intense I collapse sliding off the horse and landing with a thud next to the rocky river bank.
I lay there unable to move, barely able to see. I hear the birds still and the water…was I dead? I didn’t know. I could still hear so I figured I was alive. I could hear Windy near me munching grass and the wind blowing in the trees. The wind was getting stronger, and then I remembered Gran’s warning about snow or a storm. I tried to take a deep breath…but my side hurt too much.
I could also hear another horse approaching me. I started to panic who could be out here? I struggled to see. My vision was cloudy. I pulled myself up on one elbow, but the pain in the back of my head hurt too bad. I dropped back down, trying to push the hair out of my eyes. I look at my hand after touching the back of my head.