Hope Rears

Well Done! Jill congratulated the student who had just walked the pony, with much insistence, over the spooky-snowy ground.

First you make her walk the snow, the next thing you know you're riding over bridges and jumping into water! The shy student actually looked at her, surprised, and then smiled.

*
"I always think there is something wrong with a person if they don't like animals." Jill was admitting being smitten by a fella who DID seem interested in every new trick she'd taught a kitty... She thought for all his sports car/motorcycle/womanizing/late nite party/sci fi sides he was charming, thoughtful and sincerely sweet.

She wanted to take yoga together. And maybe even some western lessons or trail rides. She couldn't stop thinking about him!

*

She was looking forward to her next riding lesson, which would be video-taped. You could always learn so much more the second time around, watching what the teacher saw, while hearing the feedback...

*

"horse people are so hard. sometimes i think i might switch to hockey."

*
He suggested getting tattoos together! Not matching ones or anything that cheesey, but just going to get them as a duo...

He also said he could walk trot and canter "and all that" and would rustle up his old riding helmet so they could go for a hack. Yipeeeeeee!

She was surprised to find herself okay with the idea they were dating. Not yet a boyfriend and girlfriend status, just dating, and she liked it? He could be, afterall, on some kind of rebound. And, no doubt wanted to enjoy some freedom! Meanwhile, she was well known for her diehard, exclusive approach to all potential relationships...

But this one seemed different somehow.

Even if he had party plans that didn't include her, and she pictured him spending time with another or other women, she felt okay about it. There's no way any of 'em would take up as much room on the dancefloor as he did, and she did, ha.

He'd asked her to slowdance once and she'd been too shy. Imagine. So many exceptions to her norm. Her roommate found that hilarious. "You? Shy?"

Jill was also too timid to tell her parents in advance about her impending purple hair, and decided to just shock 'em with the truth after it was done. Her cousin thought it was a dumb idea but eventually conceded she should just do what she wanted "Afterall, its not a tattoo."
*

All these conversations swirled in her mind as she hacked up Kennedy road. She had the big bit in because he was so hard to hold lately, and had a good chuckle when her pat for bravery past the cows along the fence line made him flinch, and try and bolt. What a predictable chicken! The ground was too hard for more than walk for most of their trip to the Christmas Tree farm, but once there, they went for a nice long 400m/m gallop. So solid together, both of them.