Lucky Forever - Cee Bowerman Page 0,15

from abuse and neglect when she came to me. It was a long road, but she’s doing great now, it just takes a bit for her to trust new people.

“Do they understand English?” I whispered.

“Never been around horses before?” Rowdy chuckled.

“No. I’ve never in my life been this close to a horse.”

“Well, there ya go. I’m already expanding your horizons.” Rowdy put his hand up between Marilyn’s eyes and scratched. She blew out a breath and stomped one of her hoofs. “Marilyn, sweetheart, do you understand me when I’m talking to you?”

The horse didn’t move at all, but her eyes were on his face.

“Can you say yes and then give me a sweet kiss?” The horse nodded her head twice and then put her lips up toward Rowdy’s head and nibbled on his ball cap. “That’s my girl.”

“That’s awesome,” I whispered. “What about the others?”

“Marilyn is kind of a drama queen, so they give her time for the first pat down or she’ll nip at them. I think she gets jealous.” Rowdy patted Marilyn’s neck and then pushed her to the side just a bit until she walked away.

The other five horses crowded together at the rail, pushing each other around so that they could get closer to Rowdy. He murmured to each one and gave them all rubs and scratches, in different places on each horse as if he knew their preferences.

Suddenly, Rowdy ducked through the metal rails and was on the other side, surrounded by the large beasts. I was terrified that he was going to get trampled, but he just nudged them out of his way as he spoke to them.

“Ready to take a ride?” Rowdy asked as he turned around to smile at me.

“Me?” I squeaked out. “Are you nuts?”

“It’s time to put the girls in for the night and I thought you and I could start our talk while I work. But to do that, you’ve got to join me in the barn.” He pointed his thumb over his shoulder toward the big building behind him. “You can drive my truck around or you can take a chance and trust me.”

It didn’t take me long to decide and before I knew what I was doing, I nodded my head and got closer to the fence.

“Come here, Pat,” Rowdy said to one of the brown horses and I noticed this one had a white stripe down her nose. He pushed her so that she was parallel with the rail and I saw that she had moved so that she was almost touching it, standing very still and patiently waiting for more instructions. Rowdy moved between her body and the fence and stepped on the lower rail with one foot so he could throw the other leg over the horse. I saw that she stayed still, waiting for his direction before she moved away. “This is Pat Benatar. She was a wild one with a bad reputation when she came to us, but she’s mellowed some in her old age. Climb up the outside of the fence and give me your hand.”

I did as Rowdy told me to do and before I knew what was happening, he had me sitting sideways across his lap on the back of the horse. I didn’t know what to do, so I threw my arms around his neck and held on tight.

“Relax, baby, I’ve got ya. Pat here is a sweetheart and she’ll take us home nice and slow.” Rowdy reached around me and grabbed a handful of the horse's mane and then made a clicking sound with his mouth at the same time I felt his legs move. Suddenly the horse was in motion and we were slowly walking toward the barn, leading the other animals home for the night.

“Relax, Sierra. She knows where she’s going,” Rowdy whispered close to my ear.

“We’re up so high!”

Rowdy chuckled and used his hands to pry my arms away from his neck. He maneuvered me so that one of my arms was sitting in my lap and the other one was wrapped around him at his waist.

“Just relax and roll with her motion. She knows what she’s doing and I won’t let anything happen to you.”

I smiled up at him and then peeked around him to see the other horses close behind us.

“Does Leia come out and ride with you?”

“She comes out with me at least twice every day to take care of the horses.” Rowdy told me. “We don’t always ride, but we