I grinned at that. I was probably one of those people, but maybe it was like garlic. If you and your partner ate something with garlic, the smell no longer offended the partakers?
“So, here’s what I propose,” Timothy continued. “We eat breakfast, and then, wearing jeans and comfortable shoes, we mosey over to the waterfall. The stable is near that. Do you have any boots? They’re required.”
I nodded. I’d seen a pair in my closet. Yay, Simone!
“Okay, a horseback ride through the hills, then we return for lunch, change clothes, and try out the cake decorating, and finally, return home for dinner.”
“That sounds like fun. Thank you, Timothy. This is a real treat.”
I was starting to feel cold. It wasn’t that the air was chilly, but a wet body always seems to attract the shivers.
“I’ll meet you downstairs for breakfast first,” he called out, and I waved a hand as I scampered off.
As days go, it was one of the best I’d had since . . . well, next to our zoo visit in San Francisco. The hike to the waterfall was fun. The falls were small but lovely. The horse stable was a big challenge. I think I would have chickened out, except Timothy had called ahead, and when we got there, Molly was all saddled and ready for me.
I patted her neck, and she seemed to feel my fear. She stood perfectly still while Timothy lifted me up onto her back. Even after I was sitting on her, Molly didn’t move an inch. She seemed to be waiting for me to decide that I was ready to have her walk. Timothy swung onto his horse, a beautiful, dappled-gray gelding.( He told me what the color was called and explained what a gelding was.) His gelding was prettier than mine, but I could see at a glance that his horse was nothing like Molly. It tossed its head and seemed eager to get a move on.
I received some instruction from Timothy with a couple of hints from the groom, then holding the reins in my hands, but afraid to hurt Molly by pulling on them, I said, “Let’s go, Molly,” and she did. Of course, that could have had something to do with the giant horse that Timothy was on. Perhaps Molly liked being next to him.
We walked forward slowly. The gray didn’t like that much. His head bobbing grew frantic, but Timothy seemed to know what he was doing, and the horse settled down after a bit. A while later, Timothy asked if I’d like to go faster.
“I don’t want to gallop,” I said.
He laughed. “No. No galloping for you today. I was thinking that we could just walk a little faster.”
I was okay with that, and Molly seemed to be comfortable matching the long legs of the gray. We walked back to the waterfall and then behind it where there were a whole bunch of trails for the horses. Timothy chose one, and Molly and I happily kept up, me not doing a thing to guide her. Although I’d been told I shouldn’t grab the horn, my hands remained tightly fastened around it.
We rode for about half an hour before Timothy turned us around and headed us back to the stable. Both horses perked up at that. I think Molly even did a trot a couple of times. I didn’t like the feel of that and said, “whoa” and she slowed back to a sedate walk.