Horseback Riding

"Have you ever even ridden a horse before?" Kensi asked as they pulled up to the ranch just as the sun began to show its face above the trees.

"What? Of course I've ridden a horse before!" Deeks said, trying to hide the uncertainty in his voice as he pulled into a parking spot and shut off the truck.

"Oh really?" Kensi asked as she hopped out of the truck and closed the door. "What was the horse's name?"

"The horse's name? Uhhh... Brad," he said, saying the the first name he could think of.

"That's not a horse name," Kensi said as they walked up to the barn's office to check in.

"And I suppose you remember the names of every horse you've ridden?" Deeks asked sarcastically. Kensi stopped and turned around, crossing her arms over her chest.

"Devon, Amata, Daisy, Bari, Reckon, Buck, Maggie," she rattled off with a smirk, cocking her head. "To name a few." Deeks opened his mouth to say something, then shut it again.

"Well, okay, then," he said after a moment, looking away from Kensi's smug face.

"Come on, we're going to be late for our trail ride," Kensi said, trotting up the walk.

"Don't forget breakfast! They cook us breakfast at the end!" Deeks called, jogging after her.

"That's the only reason you scheduled this, isn't it?" Kensi asked as she opened the door to the ranch office and stepped inside.

"No...," Deeks murmured, following her inside.

"Hi, can I help you?" the woman at the desk asked, glancing up from her notepad.

"Uh, hi, yeah, we're booked for a ride. Two, under the name "Deeks?" Deeks asked, stepping forward.

"Oh, yep, there you are. Pre-paid and everything. You two can head out the back door, down that path to the hitching rails," the woman directed, pointing out the window at a dirt path that lead down a slight slope.

"Great, thank you," Kensi said, pushing open the door and heading outside, Deeks trailing behind her. "I'm so excited!" Kensi said, hopping a little as she trotted towards the hitching rails, where 10 or 12 horses stood tethered, lazily swishing their tails in the morning mist.

"Yeah," Deeks replied hesitantly, squinting at the horses. Kensi looked back at him.

"You nervous?" Kensi asked with a smirk. Deeks shoved his hands in his pockets.

"Pshh, no!" he replied, cocking an eyebrow. "Come on, this is gonna be great!"

"Hey guys! I'm Alisha, I'll be your guide today, if you'll follow me over here, we'll get you fitted for helmets and boots." A cheerful 20-something young lady came up to them, wearing fringed leather chaps and a cowboy hat.

"Sounds great!" Kensi glanced over at Deeks. "Come on, fraidy cat."

"I am not afraid!" Deeks objected as he followed the girls.

"First time?" Alisha asked as she rifled through a plastic bin of helmets.

"Ha, yeah!" Kensi replied, cocking a knee and glancing at Deeks. "And he's the one that set up the ride!"

"Hey, I'm all for trying new things. Good for you, Mr...?" Alisha trailed off, waiting for him to fill in his name.

"Deeks," Deeks answered. "Your website also said something about breakfast, if I recall correctly," he said, tilting his head to the side and closing an eye.

"Yes, at the end of the trail, breakfast will be waiting, Mr Deeks," Alisha said with a chuckle, passing him a white Troxel helmet. "Here, try this on," she said. Deeks unbuckled the chin strap and put the helmet on.

"Yeah, that fits," Deeks said, leaving the buckle undone.

"Great!" Alisha said, passing a blue Ovation helmet to Kensi. "Try that on." She glanced down at their boots. "Looks like you've got enough heel on those boots, you won't have to borrow any of ours. Consider yourselves lucky," she laughed, gesturing to the rack of beat-up leather cowboy boots behind them.

"Helmet fit, Miss...?"

"Blye," Kensi replied. "And yep, that fits." She buckled the chinstrap and tightened it.

"Great! I'll take you to your horses now, don't mount up until I say, okay? We're still waiting on a few others." Alisha gestured for them to follow her as she guided them to the double set of hitching rails. "Let's see, first time rider, I'm gonna put you on... hmm, Sierra," she decided after a moment, guiding Deeks to an elderly palomino mare with a white blaze. "This is Sierra. She'll take good care of you," Alisha said.

"And, Miss Blye, I'll put you on Skipper. He should be an easy ride, unless he's naughty today. He has his days," she said with a rueful laugh. She led Kensi to the bay quarter horse with a very faint white stripe running cockeyed down his face standing next to Sierra. She pressed some horse cookies into their hands. "Get to know them. We'll be off in a few minutes." Alisha ran off to help another few people who had arrived.

Kensi smiled, offering Skipper one of the treats Alisha had given them. He took it gently from her palm, then nosed her pockets for more. Deeks tentatively offered Sierra a cookie, who very gently lipped it off his palm. Deeks grinned.

"I think she likes me," Deeks said, glancing over at Kensi who was scratching under Skipper's forelock. Kensi glanced over and smiled at him.

"Okay, everyone, you may mount your horses. Place your foot in the stirrup, hold your reins and part of their mane in your hand and swing yourself up. Don't worry, grabbing their mane doesn't hurt them!" Alisha called, already mounted up on her horse. "Once you're up, someone will come around and unclip your horse and check your stirrups. We'll get going in a moment."

Kensi easily placed her left foot in Skip's stirrup and swung herself on fluidly, settling gracefully into her saddle. She glanced over at Deeks, who had his right foot in his stirrup. She cleared her throat. Deeks glanced over at her.

"You do know that you're going to mount backwards, right? Wrong foot."

"Oh, yeah, I knew that," Deeks replied with an embarrassed grin, quickly swapping feet and mounting up. He settled into his saddle, gathering up his reins in one hand how he saw Kensi do it. "Check this out. I'm on a horse." He looked nervous, though he was trying to hide it well.

"Don't fall off, pony boy," Kensi joked as an attendant came and unclipped the horses' lead ropes from their halters, and Alisha gave the call to follow her. She nudged Skip with her heels and he stepped forward. Sierra followed closely behind.

"Here we go. Breakfast here we come!" Deeks exclaimed with a grin a Sierra followed behind Skipper.

Kensi and Deeks took up the rear, the last behind maybe 8 horses. Kensi was at ease, relaxed in the saddle, heels down, shoulders back, fluidly moving with Skipper's stride.

Deeks was stiff, rather nervous. Patient Sierra plodded along behind Skipper, stopping every so often to grab a few mouthfuls of grass growing on the side of the trail.

"Keeeeennnnnsi!" Deeks cried as Sierra trotted to catch up with the group after falling behind for a snack. Kensi turned around in the saddle to glance at her crazy boyfriend. She couldn't help but laugh at his bouncing form jouncing around in the saddle, and also feel sympathy for Sierra to have to carry such an inexperienced rider, though the palomino didn't seem to mind, trotting relaxedly with her head low to the ground in a nice stretch.

"Deeks, just relax! You're not going to fall off!" she said, holding back her giggle. "Shorten your reins, don't let her have her head so much."

"I don't want to hurt her!" Deeks protested as Sierra slowed back to a walk, having caught back up. Kensi sighed, grinning ruefully.

"Deeks, she's a thousand pounds. You won't hurt her. When she puts her head down, pull up and cluck at her until she moves on." Kensi demonstrated the clicking sound with her mouth, before turning back around and turning her focus back to Skipper.

They rode for about 45 minutes in total, by the time they arrived at the end of the trail, Deeks was rather terrified, especially after a stint along a dirt road they moved along at a trot.

"Too fast! Too fast!" he had cried as he bounced around in his saddle. Sierra just trotted along, looking rather bored. Kensi had laughed as she easily sat Skipper's bouncy trot.

They had finally arrived at the end of the trail, where breakfast sat waiting.

"That was terrifying!" Deeks exclaimed after they had tied their horses to the high lines and collected a hearty "cowboy" breakfast of hotcakes, home fries, and scrambled eggs.

"That was fun!" Kensi countered as they took seats on a couple fallen logs-turned-benches and began to dig in to their meal.

Deeks raised an eyebrow at her. "Too fast," he said around a mouthful of eggs.

"Hey, pony boy, we've still gotta go back you know," Kensi said with a grin. Deeks choked on his sip of coffee, eyes widening.

"What?!" he squeaked.

...

I know, I rushed the ending. I wanted to get it done.

I'm sorry that it took so long for an update.

Anyway, I hope you enjoyed!