YR Short Story:

Trail Riding Troubles

Carmen’s family loved to camp, and she’d always wanted to take her horse Bear along. Her parents always said no. Finally, she had the brilliant idea to ask for it for her birthday! They couldn’t say no to that. “OK,” her dad said. “We’ll go to Lake Whinny. I know they have a horse camping area there.” Carmen measured out the right amount of feed and packed all of Bear’s tack and extra buckets for the big weekend. They borrowed a friend’s trailer, and all the way to Lake Whinny, Carmen looked back to make sure everything was fine.

When they unloaded, Bear whinnied at some other horses in nearby corrals. The big bay looked extra beautiful with the lake in the background.

Carmen’s family didn’t ride, but her parents and her brother offered to hike along as Carmen rode some nearby trails. However, Bear walked much faster than the people, so Carmen kept having to circle back or stop to wait for them. Bear was antsy being in a new place and didn’t want to hold still.

The Long Ride

When they got back to the campground, two women who were camping with their horses came over to chat. It turned out Carmen’s dad knew one of them from work. Their names were Linda and Kate, and they offered to let Carmen ride with them the next day! They had two Arabians and

said they were endurance riders, which they explained meant they liked to compete in long-distance rides.

All night long, Carmen looked out to check on Bear. The next morning, she saddled up for her ride with Linda and Kate. They were going to make a loop around the lake. As soon as they hit the trail, Linda asked if Carmen was OK trotting. It was a thin trail and a bit rocky—not the type of trail she would normally trot on—but she figured they were experts and said OK.

The Arabians trotted quickly, and although Carmen was riding in a western saddle, she practiced her posting as she tried to keep up. Occasionally Bear had to break into a canter to catch up. On and on they trotted. Up hills, down hills, it didn’t matter—they kept trotting!

Every now and then, they’d look back and ask if she was all right. She said yes because she didn’t feel comfortable saying anything else to these new adults, but she wasn’t really all right. Carmen could see Bear was sweating a lot, and she was too. It was exhausting trying to keep up.

Even when they turned back toward the campground at the top of the lake, they kept trotting. Carmen had always been taught to walk home. She fought back tears, worried for Bear.

When they got back, she got off to walk Bear around the campsite to cool him down, but her legs felt like jello.

“What did you do to Bear?” her brother asked, pointing to the horse’s frothy sweat. Carmen was so upset she couldn’t talk, and walked Bear as her own legs shook.

Learning to Speak Out

Later, in the camper, she told her family about the ride.

“You should have said something,” her mother said.

“I’m sorry we sent you with them,” her father said. “They should realize you’re not an endurance rider, and Bear is not in shape for that.”

Her father wanted to say something to Linda, but Carmen begged him not to. Bear didn’t eat much of his dinner and lay down quietly. Carmen was worried. When they got home, she called her riding instructor, James, and asked him if he could look at Bear. Together they cold-hosed his legs and applied poultice and stable bandages for Bear to wear overnight.

“I know it’s hard to speak up when you don’t know people or they’re older than you,” James told her. “But it’s an important thing to learn as you grow up. You always have to put your horse first.”

Carmen nodded and started to cry again, feeling terrible for not saying something to Linda and Kate when they wouldn’t stop trotting.

“The best thing to do is just learn from it,” James said, offering her a pat on the back.

The next week Carmen saw Linda at her dad’s work barbeque.

“It was fun riding with you at Lake Whinny,” Linda said.

“It was nice of you to invite me,” Carmen said, “but all that trotting was way too much for Bear. I should have said something.”

Linda said that she was sorry and that she also should have noticed and slowed down for them.

Later, Carmen’s friend Jasmine invited her to a gymkhana that Sunday. Carmen smiled and said confidently, “Not this time. I need to get Bear in shape for that first!”

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