Page 36 of Take a Chance (Blue Creek Ranch #1)

The bridge hung on strong as fuck ropes, maybe ten inches off the ground in the middle. It wasn’t high, but that wasn’t the point. Instead, it wobbled underneath the horse’s weight in a very realistic simulation of a rope bridge you might encounter in the wild.

Jaina ambled over to see what I wanted her to do.

“I thought you were going to ride her,” Hawk said quietly from the gate.

I grinned. “Nah, where’s the fun in that.”

Jaina wasn’t even wearing a halter; I’d taken that off as soon as we got inside the fence.

“Okay, like this,” I told Jaina, then walked across the bridge myself.

It wobbled a little, but not much. For a moment, she looked at the bridge, then me, before very carefully walking up the ramp and putting her left front foot on the wooden planks, testing it out.

“That’s it,” I said, smiling. “You’re a good girl.”

She considered the situation, then seemed to shrug and just moved forward a couple of steps, until she was fully on the bridge.

“There you go, brave girl!”

Jaina snorted softly, then moved a bit more until she reached the wobbliest middle part. Her knees shook for a moment, making the bridge rattle, but that didn’t do much to shake her confidence.

She walked the same steady pace across, until she was down the ramp and turned to me with a distinct “look Daddy, I did it!” expression.

“Wow, what a good girl!” I went to give her a hug and petted her for a moment. “I’m so proud of you!”

Suddenly there was clapping from the fence, and as I looked over, Hawk had been joined by Gemma, Crew, and Bodhi.

Snickering, I nudged Jaina with my elbow and then did a theatrical bow. She bowed with me, making the collected Harringtons laugh.

I gave her a few more pats, then told her to go explore the course. She ambled off, and I went to the humans.

“Your connection is spectacular,” Bodhi stated.

I shrugged. “It’s just that we’ve worked together a lot. She trusts me not to put her in harm’s way.”

“Aaand we both know it’s not quite that simple,” Hawk said, smiling.

Crew looked at me with such pride that it almost made me blush. He reached his hand out and I took it, squeezing his fingers.

“Look!” Gemma pointed, and we all turned to watch Jaina.

She was pushing around a heavy exercise ball, looking happy as ever.

I chuckled. “She had one of the lighter ones for ages back—back at the farm.”

“We should order a bunch more of those and the kind with handles, too. Might as well do more enrichment for everyone.” Crew smiled as Jaina pushed the ball in a fast walk.

“Yeah, the things we have for horses that need more to do indoors or while in quarantine is one thing, but you’re right.

” Gemma nodded, then added, “I’ve also been looking into water enrichment for the mares after Russ mentioned it the other day.

You know, people make all sorts of brews for their horses.

Like teas without actual tea. Chamomile, for example. ”

Crew’s brows raised. “I haven’t thought about that, but I think it’s a good idea. Not all the horses will be interested in any of this stuff, but some will, and that’s definitely something that will make their quality of life better.”

“Yeah. I think the times of waiting for a horse to clearly need more entertainment are over,” Hawk agreed.

I really liked these people a lot. They were my generation, of course, but it still wasn’t a given that they’d feel like this.

Jaina abandoned the ball and walked over to a big square we’d marked on the ground. She considered the closest pole, nudged it with her nose, and then looked up at us as if to say “what am I supposed to do with this?”

We cracked up.

I gave Crew’s hand a squeeze, then let go.

“Okay, lady. Let’s see how you do with weaving the traffic cones.”

“I might borrow her sometimes when I work anyone more nervous here,” Hawk said. “Her steady presence will help out a lot.”

“Oh, absolutely. We can coordinate. Not that I ride out on her often, but still. Have at it. I know how important it is for horses to have someone brave leading.”

I went back to concentrating on Jaina, and the Harringtons dispersed.

As I went through the course with her a couple of times, I thought about any date ideas I might have. Then it occurred to me that I had just the person I could ask; Payton.

When we’d talked about moving to Colorado, we’d looked up all sorts of things about the state. Since it was his first time living somewhere and even though we’d been close to Colorado all his life, we hadn’t crossed the state line much while he was little.

Giving him something to do that was positive about the new place had seemed like a good idea. We’d spent many nights with him on the iPad asking for me to google lists of places to visit. Then he’d go and click on links with the most interesting photos and we’d discuss them.

I was pretty sure there were many places he wanted to see left on his list. We’d done some things already, like take a nice hike on the Seven Bridges Trail, and gone to see a giant comic book store in Denver.

Yeah, Payton could definitely help me come up with ideas.

We would also need to figure out a day when we could go, not that I’d let our plans take us more than an hour or two from home anyway. Home. Huh.

Smiling, I watched as Jaina went across the wobbly bridge in a slow, steady gait, then went to put the harness back on her.

“Come on, girl. Let’s put you back with your friends. I have more work to do.” And then planning another family date.