Tylo and I walked slowly up the dirt road that lead to the arena above, a long ellipse shaped space surrounded by an electric fence and filled with a thick layer of tan sand, and a round pen down to the far end of the arena. It had a great view, on the top of its own plateau. To the east was Bishops grey house a lone fortress on a hill of perfectly manicured lawn. I never personally met the man, all I knew was his was incredibly wealthy and extremely sad. He personally had no interest in horses, his ex-wife did. He had built the arena, the spacious barn and paddocks all for her carving out the hills next to his house to suit her purpose. The marriage had not lasted, she had left him taking her horses with her, leaving him in a large empty house with a shrill chattering Cockatoo.
The house must of caused him pain, because he was trying to sell it. Personally I hoped it never would because if Bishop moved then Gretchen would have to relocate as well, she even admitted that she was to the dregs of her horse stable resources.
To the west was the city of Boise which stretched across the horizon, a sea of deep green tress with pools of light emerald and small specks of fall oranges and reds, in the center the skyscrapers stood tall and barren, like square blocks of sand stone, to the north west were the mountains rolling like waves, growing higher and more blue the farther away they stretched.
Of course in order to see this diverse view I had to get Tylo and myself to the top of the dirt road. It was not easy, Tylo did not like traveling away from the herd of horses she had grown so familiar with, especial with Mateo pacing along the green metal fence at a gallop in their paddock whinnying shrilly to her. She would stop ever few steps and refuse to move, I would coax her gently tugging the reins and reprimanding her for not trusting me. I would walk back to her give her a reassuring pat on her shoulder then tap her with the flat of my hand to encourage her to move. Progress was slow, but eventually we made it to the top, the sound of her hooves changing from the gravely crackle to the hollow echoing of cement. I lead her into the arena and down the middle to the round pen holding the reins loosely in my hand so she could keep her head up and swivel her ears and face to investigate the new space.
We walked into the round pen, Gretchen told me to walker her around the enclosed space and let her become accustomed to it. Circling and changing direction till she relaxed. I stopped her near the fence and let her sniff the sun flowers surrounding the pen, their stems were so long that their flower head bent and bowed over into the round pen. I knew Adam was very fond of sunflowers, he loved to snack on them during our riding lessons. Tylo was not interested. Gretchen told me we were ready to ride after a few minutes. She brought in the mounting block and told me to test her reaction to being directed by the reins. From the ground I gently pulled the reins left and right, Tylo let her head follow the reins, but her eyes were on me. Slowly, deliberately I leaned into her side and raised my leg into the stirrup, Tylo turned her head to watch curious. Then I swung up and settled into the saddle.
The seconds between lasted ages, waiting for a reaction. But Tylo just sat there, I gently tapped her with my legs and clucked and she moved on at a slow walk. The methods we went through were very mundane, circles and moving in a straight line across the circle, and finally a quick posting trot. It was wonderfully uneventful, she responded quickly to my requests, by the end we were both fairly exhausted. Tylo and I made a wonderful pair, two sweaty girls, lanky and curious about everything.
I took off her amber English leather saddle, and removed her bridle. I was incredibly surprised when as I turned to drape her bridle over the fence, she rubbed her head up my back. This was the first time she had made physical contact with me of her own choice. I wheeled around in surprise, and Tylo did not move away, instead she rubbed her sweaty face against my torso, knocking me back a few steps. I reached out my hands and gently scratched her face, she leaned into it bobbing her head, yes, that feels wonderful keep scratching.
I looked at Gretchen as she and I marveled at the sudden change. I've never seen a horse act that way, she said. As it turned out Tylo just wanted to get back down to the barn and was trying to encourage me to put the bridle back on so we could go. Regardless Tylo had proven herself to be intelligent, but she still lacked the spark of a character I wanted to see.
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