Summer awoke.
Had it all really been a dream?
Her mind flashed back to the dream; Summer had a human on her back, and they were galloping around a track…
"Is that possible?" She muttered to herself, rising to her feet.
Summer trotted to the hill and looked down. There was the human girl that had been in her dream-and the roan mare!
'Maybe it was an omen?' Summer thought.
She whinnied loudly, and the girl turned around and saw Summer on the top of the hill.
The roan mare with the girl whinnied in reply.
"Hey girl! Come on!" The girl called to Summer, clicking her tongue.
Summer approached slowly, then stopped at the gate.
"Come on girl. I'm not going to hurt you." The human girl spoke quietly to Summer.
Summer blinked. Should she go in?
The roan mare whickered at Summer.
"I'm Sherbert. Who are you?" The roan mare asked.
So it was an omen! Summer's eyes widened, and she managed to stammer: "I-I-I'm Summer…"
Sherbert smiled. "What career do you have Summer? Showjumping? Dressage? Western…?"
She asked.
"Oh, I don't have a career. I'm a wild horse. I'd love to be a racehorse though!" Summer replied, looking embarrassed.
"You've come to the right place! We train horses to do anything. Only english riding though, my mistresses come from England. This is Morgan." Sherbert answered, introducing her human owner.
Morgan couldn't understand the horses of course, but she could tell that Summer longed to be a racer, as the dun-skewbald horse stared up the track.
Within a minute, Morgan had run to the tack room, and returned with a spare saddle and bridle. Summer sniffed both of them, and laid back her ears.
"It's okay mustang. I'm not going to hurt you. Easy does it." Morgan said softly to Summer, slipping the bridle over Summer's head, and placing the bit in her mouth.
Summer tried to spit the bit out in disgust, but she couldn't-it was attatched to the bridle and reins!
Morgan placed the english saddle on Summer's back, accompanied by a numnah.
Summer flinched as the blonde-haired girl fastened the girth and ran down the stirrups.
Carefully, Morgan hoisted herself up in to the saddle.
Summer threw her head in the air and snorted loudly in disapproval.
"Summer! Morgan won't hurt you. She knows what she's doing. Just respond to the leg aids and the rein length, and you'll be fine!" Sherbert told Summer.
"But how do I respond? I don't know about leg aids!" Summer replied, panicking.
Sherbert smiled kindly.
"It's easy really." She explained, "if the human presses their heels against your flanks, that's a leg aid, it's a sign that they want you to move faster. If they shorten their reins and use their leg aids, they want you to move up in to the next gait. You know what gaits are, surely?"
Summer nodded.
"Sure. There are four gaits; Walk, trot, canter and gallop. There would be five if you counted full gallop!" Summer answered.
"You're ready Summer. Let the human do all the work. She knows what she's doing!" Sherbert finished.
Summer stared up the track again… It was so simple now!