Judy Christenberry - The Christmas Cowboy

They were laughing about some of the antics of previous guests when Hank entered the room and went directly to the coffeepot.

“You’d better eat a big breakfast or you’ll be starving by lunch!” he snapped.

Andrea had thought they’d prepared too much food, but she must’ve been inspired by the early hour, for she cleaned her plate. Hank did the same.

When Hank got up from the table, Andrea jumped up, too. She wasn’t going to be accused of dawdling.

Hank stared at her. “You ready?”

“Yes,” she said, putting on her new ski jacket and hat, and working on her gloves as she followed Hank.

As they walked to the horse barn, Andrea felt anticipation grow. Along with fear. She hoped she managed to do what her teacher asked without showing she was scared.

“Okay, first you need to know the equipment you’ll be using.” Hank began pointing out the parts that they used to saddle a horse. After he made her repeat the names of the parts, he introduced her to the horse she was going to ride. “This is Moonbeam.”

“Nice name.”

“She came with it. Dan Peters named her.”

Andrea stroked the horse several times under Hank’s supervision.

Then he brought out an apple and cut it in half. “Here, hold this flat in your hand and feed it to her.”

Andrea did as he said, refusing to ask if the horse would bite her. When the horse gently took the apple half and crunched it, Andrea stood amazed. Then she fed the mare the other half. When the animal nuzzled Andrea for more, Andrea looked at Hank. “Do you have more?”

“No. That’s enough. We don’t want to spoil her.”

Andrea stroked Moonbeam’s neck. But she watched Hank to see what came next.

“Now pick up the bridle. I’ll tell you how to put it on the horse.”

She did as she was told, her stomach fluttering. It took several tries to work the bit into the horse’s mouth, but she finally learned to trust Moonbeam. They moved on to the remaining equipment, and in no time she had Moonbeam saddled.

She felt so proud when Moonbeam stood before her, ready to ride.

“Now unsaddle her.”

She turned to Hank. “But…”

He gave her a steely stare.

“I thought I’d get to ride her, since she’s all saddled.”

“You’re not ready yet.”

She stared him down, but in the end she followed his instructions. He was, after all, the expert. She unsaddled the horse, and when she finished, she looked at Hank, a challenge in her eyes.

“Good,” he replied, without any expression. Then he said, “Now saddle her again.”

She waited for him to say what to put on the horse.

“Without my help,” he said.

She prayed she could remember the order of what she’d done only a few minutes before, and was pleased with herself when she got it right.

Hank offered no words of praise. Nor did he tell her to unsaddle Moonbeam again, as she’d expected.

“Now mount up.”

Feeling a rush of adrenaline, she stepped up to the side of Moonbeam, wondering how she was supposed to climb onto such a tall animal.

Hank’s sharp words stopped her.

“You’re on the wrong side of the horse. You need to be on her left side. That’s the way most horses are trained.”

“Oh, sorry, Moonbeam.” She started to walk behind her to the other side.

“Don’t go around the back of the horse. Go around the front so she can see you. Some horses kick when you go behind them.”

Nervous now, Andrea walked around the front of the mare and moved to the left stirrup. She paused, trying to figure out which foot went in first.

“Your left!” Hank barked.

She glared at him. Did he have to yell? And why didn’t he just explain all these rules before?

She put her left foot in the stirrup and using all her strength, swung her other leg over the horse. Much to her surprise, her body settled into the saddle as if it belonged there.

“Good job. Now dismount.”

She considered taking the right side to dismount, but Hank told her, “Left side!”

She slid off the horse on the left side. She figured he would tell her to mount up again and she wasn’t disappointed. She swung up into the saddle once more, a bit more smoothly this time, and hoped he’d let her stay there and begin teaching her to ride. But alas, no. He ordered her to dismount, then turned on his heel to leave.

“Unsaddle her and then you can amuse yourself till lunch.” With that he simply walked out of the barn.

Andrea rested her head against Moonbeam’s long neck and stifled a scream.

“HONESTLY, JESSICA, all I did was saddle and unsaddle Moonbeam. I thought he’d let me ride a little bit, at least. I was so frustrated!”

“I guess you were, but you have to know how to take care of your horse. You did say you wanted to learn to ride like a cowboy, didn’t you?”

“Yes, but I didn’t think Hank would be so…formal!”

The man himself stepped into the kitchen. “If you don’t like my teaching techniques, Miss Jacobs, we’ll be glad to refund you your money, except for the cost of the food and lodging we’ve provided so far, and you can go elsewhere.”

The kitchen was painfully silent for several moments.

Then Andrea spoke. “I didn’t mean to be so harsh, Mr. Ledbetter. I just thought I might be allowed to ride a little bit.”

“If you can manage to saddle your horse properly after lunch, you’ll be allowed to ride this afternoon.”

“Really? Why didn’t you tell me that this morning?”

“I don’t think it’s necessary to inform my students of every step when I’m teaching them.”

Jessica stepped between them. “But you could change your rules slightly, Hank. That wouldn’t be so hard, would it?”

“Fine! When’s lunch going to be ready?”

“I’m just getting ready to serve it. I’ll put it on the table if you’ll both be seated.”

“You can have Jim’s seat by Jess,” Hank said to Andrea. “He won’t be here.” After saying that, Hank sat down on his side of the table.

With a shrug, Andrea sat down beside Jessica.

Jessica put another casserole on the table with a salad and some baked beans.

Andrea now understood the remark Hank had made to her at The Prime Rib about eating everything in front of her. She was starving.

When Jessica uncovered the dish, Andrea drew a deep breath. Then she looked up straight into Hank’s eyes, noting the laughter there. At least he wasn’t frowning. “Yes, you were right,” she said with a chuckle.

“Good,” Jessica said. “It’s chicken pot pie. Be sure to fill your plate. And we have dessert, too.”

“Oh, my, I don’t know if I can eat that much.”

“You can,” Hank said.

She glared at him, but it was a wasted effort. He was already digging into his lunch. Which reminded her she was wasting time.

THE AFTERNOON LESSON went much better. After she successfully saddled Moonbeam, Hank told her to lead the mare out into the corral. She eagerly did so, waiting for the chance to ride for the first time ever. Hank didn’t bring out a horse for himself, and that surprised her. He was going to let her ride alone?

He sauntered out into the corral and climbed onto the split-rail fence. “Now, lead her around for a while.”

She thought about complaining, but she remembered what Jessica had told her about this morning’s lesson. She’d better hold back. Maybe he really was trying to teach her to ride the cowboy way.

After half an hour, he drawled, “Okay, bring her over here and mount up. Remember, left side, left foot. When you step up into the saddle, swing your right foot over and into the right stirrup.” While he was saying that, he got down from the fence and grabbed the horse’s reins.