Camp Revenge Season 2
Chapter 21: "Horses"
Mitchie turned to me. "Tomorrows the wedding! I'm so excited and I'm not even getting married!"
I laughed. "I know. I'm excited too,"
"So what do you want to do today? I mean, we're at camp and all. We could go do camp stuff," Mitchie said.
I shrugged. "Jason and Nate went horseback riding yesterday. Would that be fun?"
She nodded. "Yeah! My dad is running the horseback thing so we can go!" She grabbed my hand and ran out of my cabin with me. We walked down the dirt path to the horse place and when I got a whiff of awful-smelling shit, I knew we had arrived.
Mitchie walked in the stable. "Hi Daddy, we want to ride some horses,"
Mitchie's dad nodded. "Ok," he turned to me. "Do you ride English or Western?"
I rubbed the back of my neck. "Do I do what now?"
He laughed a bit. "Have you ever ridden a horse before?"
I shook my head. "No,"
"Well I can teach you!" Mitchie exclaimed, grabbing my hand and bringing me over to the horses. She untied one of them and put a saddle on it. "This is Hightower, he's our tallest horse,"
I waved. "Hi, Hightower,"
Mitchie laughed and pointed to the saddle. "You put your right foot here and pull yourself up,"
I did as I was told, and with the help of Mitchie, I got on the horse. Mitchie got on her own horse and brought her around to me. "Your horse will just follow me," she said and kicked her horse. Her horse went off and so did mine. I got a little freaked out and grabbed onto the reins.
Mitchie looked back at me. "Are you doing ok?"
I nodded. "Yeah," I lied. I gulped and continued walking with her.
We went into some woodsy area and my horse just kept on walking with Mitchie's. We came to a stream crossing and Mitchie's horse ran through the river. My horse stopped and put his head down, causing me to let go of the reins and it started drinking from the river.
"Damn it, Hightower!" I yelled at the horse.
Mitchie backed her horse up and went over to the stream, dismounting. Her horse shook its head and Mitchie walked into the stream. She grabbed the reins and put them back on the horse. She handed the newly-wet reins to me and I hesitantly took them. "Eww… it's wet!" I exclaimed.
She let out a huff of laughter and got back on her horse. My horse started walking when Mitchie's walked away. We continued on the trail until we got to some flat land. Mitchie turned to me. "Ready to gallop?" she asked.
I nodded. "Sure," Whatever that is…
Mitchie kicked her horse and it started running really – and I mean really – fast. My horse did the same and I got so freaked out and grabbed the saddle horn, hanging on for dear life. I screamed. Mitchie stopped her horse, but mine kept on running. "HOW DO YOU STOP THIS THING?!" I screamed, holding on.
"Watch out for the fox holes!" she screamed.
I turned my head around. Mitchie was galloping after me, her horse going twice as fast as mine. Then, I felt the horse going down, and I was thrown off the thing and landed a couple feet away on the ground. Mitchie was screaming and the horse was whinnying.
I closed my eyes and laid down on the ground. My whole body ached. I let out a faint moan.
Mitchie came running over to me. "Shane!" she screamed, bending down next to me.
I moaned again. "Horses hurt," I replied.
She grabbed me and pulled me up so I was sitting up. "What happened?" I asked.
Mitchie looked back at the horse and so did I. The horse was laying on the ground.
"What the hell?" I asked.
Mitchie went over to the horse and then turned back to me. "Your horse tripped on one of these fox holes. I think he's hurt,"
"Well shit," I cursed.
She nodded. "I'll go get my dad. You stay here, ok?"
I sighed. "Ok. Don't take long, please,"
Mitchie mounted her horse and kicked it, galloping off back to camp. I stood up and went over to the horse, gently stroking its neck. "Hi little horsey," I said.
The horse looked at me. I sat down next to it. "Don't want to talk, eh?" I asked, looking at the horse. He snorted. "Great, I'm talking to a horse…" I muttered.
Then, I saw two people riding towards me – but it wasn't Mitchie and her dad, it was Jason and Nate.
Nate dismounted his horse. "Hi Shane. What's up? Where's Mitchie? Why is your horse laying on the ground?"
I stood up and shrugged. "The horse like killed itself. Mitchie went to go get her dad,"
"Oh," Nate said looking at the horse. "Is he all right?"
I shrugged. "How should I know?"
Jason went over to us. "Hi Shane. We were just out here practicing our jumps. Want to see?"
"Sure," I said.
He smiled and set off. There was a fence near by, so Jason gained enough speed and then his horse jumped over the fence. I laughed a bit. "That's pretty cool," I said to Nate.
Nate nodded. "I can do that too. I also learned how to back up and do all this cool stuff,"
"Cool," I replied.
Jason came back over to us, stopping so that a bit of dust flew at us. "You like?"
I laughed. "Yeah. You're pretty good at that,"
He beamed. "Thanks!"
Then, we saw Mitchie and her father come galloping towards us. Mitchie's dad dismounted and ran over to the horse. Mitchie came over to us. "Hi guys," she said. "I didn't know you were riding today,"
Nate got back on his horse. "We were just practicing our jumps,"
She smiled. "That's pretty cool. Hey, you know there's a rodeo next month, maybe you could be in it,"
Nate smiled so big, I swear his face was going to snap in two. "Seriously?! That'd be so much fun!"
Mitchie nodded. "Yeah. They do all sorts of team things with ranches and everything. You could be on our ranches team,"
"REALLY?!" Nate exclaimed. "You actually mean it?! That's always been my dream to compete in a rodeo, you know?"
I turned to him. "What? You told me your dream has always been to be famous,"
He nodded. "Now that I'm famous, my other dream is to compete in a rodeo,"
Mitchie laughed. "Ok. Well the rodeo is next week. I'll ask my dad and he'll probably let you compete with us,"
"Well Hightower's leg is broken," Mitchie's dad grimly informed us and we all turned to him.
"Aww, shit," I complained.
Mitchie looked upset. "Damn it,"
Mitchie's dad stood up. "You guys wait here and I'll go get the vet," he said and hopped back on his horse. He rode off, careful to avoid the fox holes, and about thirty minutes later, he returned with another man in a truck with a trailer attached, and the man – I'm guessing the vet – started wrapping the horse's leg up with bandages.
Nate, Jason, Mitchie, and I exchanged glances and then they all hopped on their horses. I pouted when I didn't have a horse and Mitchie dismounted her horse and walked back to camp with me.
There's one thing for sure – I won't be competing in the rodeo with Nate.