As she stood there with Stormy,
she started thinking back to
when she first got him. What a
surprise he’d been. She’d been
complaining forever it seemed
that she needed her own horse.
She didn’t want a family horse.
She wanted her very own;
nobody’s but mine, horse. She
came home from school the day
she turned 16, went to the stables
to do chores and there he was.
A big, beautiful, two-year-old
chestnut horse with a huge bow
around him and a banner above
that read “Happy Sweet 16.”
She screamed, cried, and then
laughed. Her mom had arranged it
all including convincing dad that
she needed her own horse. From
that time on it was all Stormy, all
the time. That was six years ago.
I GUESS HE DID
KNOW WHAT
HE WAS DOING
BY ENTERING
ME IN THE
COMPETITION,
SHE THOUGHT. IT
WAS DONE NOW,
AND THERE WAS
NO UNDOING IT
wasn’t even the horse’s fault; it
was something that just happened.
Sara looked at Stormy again.
She knew he was ready, but was
she? Figuring there was only
one way to find out, she saddled
him. With nervous anticipation,
she mounted Stormy and said a
silent prayer. She rode around
the corral a couple of times,
gaining confidence and feeling a
weight lift. It was time to leave
the corral. She’d start training for
the competition later. This was
different. This ride was for her
mom, for Stormy and for her.
I guess he did know what he
was doing by entering me in the
competition, she thought. It was
done now, and there was no
undoing it. Sara realized she was
no longer angry with him for
doing it. It was time to move on. It
was time to choose life. She couldn’t change what
happened, but she could start moving forward. She
looked back at the house, knowing he was watching
her. Then she rode, with her long hair flying in the
wind, and she did something else she hadn’t done
for a long time. She laughed.
Everything was different now.
She hadn’t ridden Stormy for
five months now. Not since the day her mom died.
It was a senseless accident really. Her mom was
riding a new horse that got spooked and bucked up.
It should have been an easy thing for her to handle,
but the horse tripped in a gopher hole, and they
both fell to the ground. Her mom hit her head on a
rock. That was all it took. There was nothing Sara
could do to help her. She simply never woke up. It
7
DOZ Magazine | April 2019