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For the rest of the day, Ben had hung out with Cash, mostly just sitting in his enclosure. He talked to him, hummed a little, and sketched in the notebook he always kept in his back pocket. He wasn't good at drawing, but was trying to get better. He drew Cash's face, but the proportions were all wrong. Ben showed the colt the horrible drawing, and he agreed that it was horrible by blowing snot all over it. Ben had laughed and saved the drawing to remember how bad he had been at drawing. Hopefully he would get better soon. When Ben walked in to eat dinner, he saw that Emma was in the same mood as before, if not worse. He almost jumped up to help her carry the food, but remembered Jeremy's warning and resisted the urge. He didn't look at Emma the whole rest of the meal; seeing her in such a bad mood and not knowing how to help was the worst feeling. Instead, he picked at his food and waited until everyone was finished so he could get out of there. |
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Emma noticed Ben hadn't eaten very much and was confused. "You okay, Ben?" She asked quietly |
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(Sorry for hardly responding today, this week is busy) . Ben looked up, a little startled to hear her voice. "Huh? Oh, yeah. All good." He finished off the food and pushed his chair back from the table, and standing to leave the house and go out to check on the mares again. |
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same) Emma looked after him silently, slightly sad he left so hastily |
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Ben breathed a sigh of relief once he was out of the building. It was so tense in there that he had almost felt the air tingling. He shook it off and headed to the barn. He made sure all the mares had hay and water and checked on Cash one last time. It was only 7:00, and he wasn't sure what to do before he turned in. So he hung out outside Cash's pen, blankly watching the young horse eat his alfalfa. |
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Emma did the dishes and some chores around the house before heading out to find Ben. When she did, she smiled. "Help me bring the cows to the fresh pasture." She said, waving for him to follow |
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"Coming!" Ben followed her, happy to have something to do. |
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Emma led him to the mare barn and got out a bay and a grullo before placing them both in cross ties, facing each other. "This girl is yours. Her name is Ghost." She said, gesturing to the grullo. She walked over to her horse, River, and began grooming before tacking her mare up |
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Ben smiled and looked the mare over. Then he brushed her, picked her hooves, and tacked her up. He had brought his own tack from home, which hadn't been used in a few months. But he had cleaned and conditioned them easily enough, and the feeling of the rough leather made him happy. He tightened the cinch of his all-around saddle and asked Ghost to take the bit. The headstall was a dark brown leather with turquoise flowers on the browband. Ben liked using curb bits because they were gentle on the horse and good for one-handed riding, but he also used snaffles and hackamores. He led Ghost out of the barn and mounted, sinking into the soft leather of the saddle, like he had done hundreds of times. He waited for Emma to mount, then clicked to Ghost to follow Emma and River to the pastures. |
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Emma took off at a canter toward the first pasture, stopping soon enough to unlock and open the empty pasture's gate as well as unlock and open the one that contained over 100 cattle. She didn't look at Ben, didn't smile, didn't speak. She simply rode into the pasture with cattle, expecting Ben to follow, and began ushering the cattle to the next pasture |
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Afternoon Storms, then Clearing
