6:00am Wednesday July 9, 2011

I walked down to the back barn in search of Ty. I found him in Spindle's stall, without much searching.

"Hey," I greeted him cheerfully, leaning over the half door.

"Hey," he said back. Looking up at me he smiled. I smiled back. He propped the pitchfork that he was holding against the wall and gave me a quick kiss.

I smiled at him. "What else still needs to be done?" I asked, looking around the stables.

"Uh…the front barn stalls still need to be mucked out, the horses need exercising, Spindle, Sundance, Jake, and Jasmine need a bath," he said, ticking off the items on his fingers. He paused and thought for a moment, "And that's about it."

I nodded. "All right, I'll bathe those four, and exercise the horses in the back barn, if you muck out the front barn stalls and exercise the horses in the front barn?" I suggested.

He looked at me skeptically before replying, "Ok, but you do know that there are more horses in the back barn, right? I could easily do them if you wanted to do the front," he offered.

"Yeah, well you have to muck out eight stalls and exercise eight horses, while I have to bathe four and exercise twelve. All equals out to be sixteen each in the end," I said. Ty just shook his head while smiling that grin of his.

"Did you just figure that all out in your head?" He asked chuckling.

"Pretty much," I said smiling. "See? That college education does come in handy at times," I joked, taping my head with my finger.

"Beauty and brains," he chuckled. I winked at him, tossing my long hair over my shoulder. "Who would have thought it?" he added.

"Hey!" I tried to appear offended but laughed brightly instead.

Ty grinned that crooked grin. "Ok, let's do it your way then, Miss Scholar. Since Joni and Steve are away on vacation this leaves us to do everything else," he said, referring to our two hands, Joni and her boyfriend Steve.

I walked to the field that Ty had placed Spindle in earlier that morning. I called out his name and he came right to me, snuffling at my pockets for treats. I laughed and clipped the lead rope onto his halter. I walked out, leading him to the new ring that we had recently built just before our wedding. I led him in, clipped on the lunge line and un-clipped the lead rope.

I clucked to him.

"Walk," I commanded. He walked on my command but it was a sluggish walk. I clucked again. When that didn't work, I snapped part of the lunge line by his hooves. He got my message and started walking a steady, working walk. I continued that for five minutes before I clucked to him again.

"Trot," I commanded in a clear voice. He understood my command and started to trot. I let him trot for five minutes.

"Whoa," I commanded. He slowed down to a walk. I let him catch his breath before commanding him again.

I clucked.

"Canter," I called. Nothing. Spindle just walked at a leisurely pace, swishing his tail back and forth.

"Okay, let's try this a different way," I mumbled, sensing I would have to practice that while riding him. I clucked again.

"Trot," I commanded. He went into a trot without a problem.

I clucked for the final time.

"Canter," I commanded. He broke into a nice, steady canter. I let him canter for about five minutes until I could see him starting to tire.

"Whoa," I commanded. He broke into a trot and then down to a walk. I let him walk for seven more minutes to cool down before clipping his lead rope on and un-clipping the lunge line. I led him to the gate, opened it, and walked out. I led him up to the wash stall and clipped the cross ties to him. I turned on the hose and let the cool water cascade over his body, taking care to get all the sweaty places, especially his stomach and hindquarters. I used the sponge to clear off his face, wiping at the sweat around his ears. After I finished I grabbed the sweat scraper and began scraping the water off of him, he beat me two and gave a large shake, sending water flying at me.

"Spindle!" I laughed as I covered my head with my arms in an attempt to shield myself from some of the flying water. Spindle just craned his neck around to look at me.

I patted his still damp neck before clipping the lead rope back to his halter. I led him out to his pasture, opened the gate and brought him in. I gave him a quick kiss before un-clipping him and letting him free.

I headed back to the barn and did the same thing to the other horses.

7:00pm

I was mucking out the last of the stalls when Ty came up to the door. My back was killing me and I was so tired but I was determined to finish my work. It would be so much better when Joni and Steve were back again to help lessen the workload.

"Here," Ty said, letting himself into the stall. "I'll do it," he offered. "You look exhausted," he remarked upon looking at me.

"You sure?" I asked, wanting nothing more then to give it up but still feeling guilty dumping it all on Ty who had already mucked out this morning… but, then again, so did I.

"Yeah. Go relax," Ty said taking the pitchfork from my loose hands and starting on the work himself.

I scoffed. Relax? Yeah right.

Ty looked at me.

"When do I ever have time to relax?" I asked, voicing his unspoken question.

"Now. Go relax. We'll order take-out or something later," he said ushering me out of the stall.

"Did you-" I tried asking before I was cut off.

"Feed the horses?" he nodded and a small smile lifted my lips. "Yeah, now go," he ordered me.

"It sounds like you're ordering me from the stables," I laughed at him.

Ty eyed me; there was a mischievous glint in his emerald eyes. "I am," he stated simply. "And if you don't leave peacefully right at this very moment then I will have no choice but to forcefully remove you from the premises."

"Okay, okay. I'm going," I laughed, holding my hands up, palms facing forwards, in mock defeat. I walked out of the barn before Ty had the chance to 'forcefully remove me from the premises' and walked back up to the house.

Twenty minutes later Ty finally came in. I grabbed the phone while Ty was washing up, and dialed our favorite Chinese restaurant and ordered our usual to be delivered. I went to our bathroom and took a shower. After twenty minutes of showering and relaxing, I came out in a tank top and short shorts—maybe they weren't the most stylish thing out there but they were comfortable and, after all, Ty was the only one that was going to see me and we were married. It's about time he learned all my weird habits.

I found Ty sitting on the couch, freshly showered—his hair was still damp— and in a pair of boxers and a T -shirt. The food was in front of him on the coffee table. He was watching some sports game on the T.V as he waited for me to eat. I sat down on the couch next to him and he smiled at me.

I grabbed the remote from where it was placed next to Ty on the couch. He gave me a look but didn't argue, though he did make a face when I put on the Lifetime Channel. Then I grabbed my cartons of food and fork— since I could not eat with chopsticks, and neither could Ty— and cuddled up next to Ty and began to eat. We sat in silence, the only sound coming from the T.V and our chewing.

We didn't speak until there was a commercial in the program we were watching. It was actually Ty's voice that broke through the Flo-Naise commercial—you know the one with the bee with the weird accent—that was currently showing.

"Oh, and by the way," he began, glancing down at me, "nice shorts."

That earned him a smack to the back of the head.

"I could say the same for you," I countered and looked pointedly at his boxers.

"They're plaid," Ty reasoned. "There's nothing wrong with plaid."

All right that's the second chap. Steph and I have something planned for chapter 4. 5 should be up this week, maybe on Friday. Well, I'm off to work on chapter 5! Ha, ha, that's 3 chapters away. We are so prepared. So, review if you want more!