Horses and Fields [Open]

I feel the reins of the bridle easily slip through my fingers before I put them over Altai's head and rest them upon his neck. Altai looks at me and pins his ears back on his head, munching on the dried grasses he loves so much. He just wants to eat, but once he knows what we're doing for a ride today, he'll be glad he came along with my orders. "Hey, settle down." I say in a voice he's used to hearing when I need him to pay attention. Altai bows his head down again but I lightly tap the bottom of his jaw with the toe of my boot, he shoots his head up again and perks his ears at me, as if he was curious on what I was going to do with him today.I have put my arm through the bridle, I stand on Altai's left haunch. I hold his head back with my right hand and start slipping his bridle on, he gladly takes the bit and gums at it in his mouth to relax and position it comfortably. I smile and withdraw the reins back from his neck and I hold the reins in one hand. I open the stall door and lead him outside. He perks his ears and looks at all the other horses in the field a few yards away. He sees some mares and lets out his loud, ear piercing whinny. We get a couple neighs and whinnies back. But I click my tongue and he snaps back into reality. I lead him to the giant grassy field, no other horses are there to distract him, thank God.

I open the gate and let go of him. He casually walks inside and stops, waiting for me; like a gentlemen. I praise him for being calm and shut the gate. I put the reins back over his head and let them stay. I jog away a few feet, then tell him to stay still. He holds his head up high, then I run at his left side, I lunge forward and get about half my torso on, I squirm on until I can get my leg over. Altai snorts and paws his leg impatiently as I ready myself. "A'ight..I get it boy!" I giggle and pat his neck. "Walk on." I command as I give him a little kick. He walks forward, his head still up with exitment. After about 20 seconds of walking, I nudge him while saying, "Taaa-rot." He starts Trotting. He's got a pretty choppy trot, so it's a pretty bumpy one. I trot a full lap around the huge field, witch takes a few minutes, before asking him to canter. "Caaaan-ter!" I say in a sing-song voice. He then starts cantering. I've gotten used to his choppy canter as well, all our horses have more rocking horse canters. Their nice and easy.

I hear Altai snort. He's nice and relaxed. I smile, "You ready to go even faster?" I ask him. He then speeds up the canter, I laugh. "Okay then!" I look over to the wood fence. The wood posts are so low and un-even with the rest of the fence. I jump Altai over it all the time. It annoys our neighbor, but across that field is another large feild full of horses. Altai and I have snuck over there and run around crazily. Some of the young, playful yearlings like to follow. Let's see what adventure is in store today...


I turn Altai to the middle of the field. I let him trot to the middle, then I stop. He doesn't want to stay still. So I ask him for a canter. He jumps to a trot but quickly begins to Canter. I ask him for a gallop and he picks up speed. I straighting him out with the fence, aiming to fly over the middle of it like in those old books I would read from many years ago, when riders would compete for ribbons by jumping, doing a long distance run, then...dancing.

Altai Flies over the jump and lands perfectly. He keeps galloping across my neighbors field, looking like a jet black plane soaring through a green sky. He gallops straight through it, then jumps the low fence at the end. After galloping another small distance, I let him trot the rest of the way to the field of all the other horses. I pull on the reins and stop him at the fence and let him cool down. He pants a bit, but sees some horses and whinnies happily at them. I sit and pat his very warm neck. Altai perks his ears forward as we hear a shrill whistle. Altai shakes his head. He probably senses it's nothing bad. But I'm very curious. I trot my big, black stallion around the fence line, wondering where that sound came from.