Page 55

TWENTY-EIGHT

Raya

“I don’t knowwhy he won’t come with me! Come on, you silly horse! Move!” Bailey, my twelve-year-old client, was yanking at the lead on the horse I’d assigned her, but Gypsy had her feet planted. She wasn’t about to budge.

“Why do you think that is?” I asked, crossing my arms.

“I don’t know! I know how to work with horses, but some of them are just stubborn! Come on!” she gasped and yanked on the horse’s lead rope some more, but there was no budging the animal.

“You know she weighs nearly fifteen hundred pounds, right?” I asked. “There’s no way you’re going to get her to move unless she decides she wants to. And what I want you to do is take her into the corral and ride her around a few laps to make sure she gets some exercise.”

“Maybe she doesn’t want some exercise,” Bailey whined. “Maybe she just wants to be back in her stall.”

“Then it’s your job to convince her that it’s better for her to be out here. But, I don’t think that’s the problem. She loves being out here in the ring, and I imagine she wants to do it now.”

“Then why isn’t she coming with me?” Bailey gasped.

“Maybe because of the way you’re yanking on that rope?” a voice cut in.

Bailey and I both turned to see Cole walking toward us. I immediately noticed he had traded his full leg cast for a boot, and he seemed to be getting around easier that way. But, I also was sure I could see him wincing as he tried to walk. There had to be something wrong with his leg still, and I hoped it wasn’t too soon for him to be wearing a boot and not a cast.

I could only imagine after what my friend had told me about Cole in the ER what the conversation would have been like for him and the doctor he convinced to give him the boot. I wouldn’t want to be the one to deal with him, that was for sure. I had seen his stubbornness and his attitude, and I wasn’t going to argue with him about something he wanted or didn’t want when it came to his own body.

But, I didn’t bring it up. Bailey was already talking to him about the horse, and Cole was weighing in on why he thought the horse wasn’t moving.

“Seems to me, from what I saw over there, you’re just yanking this horse around. Telling her to go that way, or come this way, not really letting her have her head,” Cole observed.

“Well, she needs to listen to me,” Bailey replied. “I’m the boss.”

“And how is that working for you? Doesn’t seem you have it in you to move this horse very far on your own. You’re going to have to get her to work with you, not against you.”

“And how am I supposed to do that?” she gasped. “Raya told me to get her into the corral, but she’s put her foot down here and she’s not coming!”

“Well, you need to think about it,” Cole said. “Would you want to go with someone who was bossing you around? Wouldn’t it be nicer for both of you if you were friends? If you asked her if she would come along with you rather than fight with her over each step she takes?”

Bailey stopped yanking on the reins for a moment, then she sighed. “Yeah, I guess. But I don’t know how to do that. She’s already mad at me.”

“No, she’s not,” I now cut in. “That’s the negative your brain tells you, remember? You’re not going to let your brain do that to you anymore. Instead of telling yourself that she’s mad at you, why don’t you think about what might be going through her mind? Perhaps she’s afraid you’re mad at her, for example.”

“Why would she think that?”Bailey asked.

“I just know if someone came in and put me on the end of a rope, then started yanking me around and telling me what to do without giving me any real direction or praise for what I had already done, I wouldn’t be able to help but wonder what I was doing wrong that made them act that way toward me. Maybe that’s how Gypsy is feeling right now,” I suggested.

“I’m not mad at you,” Bailey said to the horse. She let the rope go slack and walked over to her, patting her on the neck before scratching her ears. “Come with me, and you’ll have some fun.”

The horse took a step forward, and Bailey lit up.

“See?” I asked. “She might be a little bit nervous herself, and she’s afraid you’re not happy with how she’s doing things. It makes her want to stop moving so she doesn’t do more things to make the situation more stressful.”

“So, what do I do?” Bailey asked.

“Think about it like I just said. If you weren’t sure you were doing the right thing, what is something that helps you keep going?” I asked.

“I guess when someone tells me I’m doing a good job.” Bailey shrugged.

“And you’re doing a good job right now,” Cole said. “You are stopping and listening to what we are saying. You are taking in advice and applying it to the situation, so you can work with Gypsy and have fun with her. This is good for both of you. You just have to make her agree with that.”

“Come on,” Bailey said, her tone a lot softer than it had been. “Come on, girl. That’s it. Come on, can you take a step for me? Good girl!”