by Karin Breuer

Created on: June 23, 2008

A SHORT AND ROCKY HORSE STORY

The church I attend partners young people between the ages of 7 and 12 with an adult in an informal mentorship arrangement. So it was that I was partnered with Danielle, age 8. For most of the year, because of work and other responsibilities, I had written her short letters and included stamps from around the world for her stamp collection. We had gone to see a movie and had been to an activity center but I felt that I had really spent very little time with her doing what she really enjoyed. Now summer holidays were upon us; I needed to act.

I knew Danielle's passion was horses and so, with the blessing of her parents, I arranged time to go horseback riding on July 1, Canada Day. I invited one of Danielle's friends and one of my friends along for the day.

I had not been on a horse since I was 13 years old and the prospect of riding was as thrilling to me as it was for Danielle who had been taking riding lessons all year and was decked out with riding boots, jodhpurs, and her riding hat when I picked her up. The rest of us wore jeans and hiking boots. The adrenaline was already flowing as we drove to the riding stables and marched up to the office to announce ourselves. There had been a mistake. The young man who had taken the information and given us our time had not entered the information into the book. We could join the party just mounting their horses in the corral for a two-hour ride, or wait and go on the planned hour ride later. Danielle's eyes shone with the prospect of two hours of trail riding. I'm a softie for kidswe would do the two hour trail ride.

We joined the others and mounted our steeds. Mine was a white and gray mixed horse that matched my age and activity level. He hardly looked up from the ground when I mounted. The guide gave us brief instructions on how to handle our horsesheels pressed into the flanks to go, reigns against the left side of the neck to turn right, and vice versa, reigns pulled back to stop. It seemed simple enough. I asked the guide for the name of my horse so that I could encourage himit was Rocky. That should have been hint enough about what might lie ahead. I patted Rocky's neck and told him that he knew a heck of a lot more about this undertaking than I did and that I would trust him to do his best to give an amateur an easy ride.

The guide gave the signal and the group started forward into the direction that she had gone. I dug my heels into Rocky's flanks and pulled the reigns tightly against

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