It was day three. If they were going to start traveling on day five, Valerie had to make this horse understand her.
“I don’t see why we have to practice!” Floyd started to sound like he was whining. It had already been a long day. “If you have something to say, just talk to me. A lot of people talk to horses. You wouldn’t be that weird.”
Valerie gave a gentle bump on the reins. Just to get his attention. But Floyd reacted by throwing his head up as though she’d cracked the whip.
“If you paid attention to how women have been treated, you would know that it’s very easy to be accused of witchcraft. Usually ends in drowning or burning, and that’s a tradition I can do without. No, the more silence the better.”
“But this thing…” Floyd tossed his head. “It’s barbaric! Can’t you just be one of those New Age horsewomen who go bitless?”
“You’ve been doing this less than a week. Give yourself a chance to get used to it. And I’m not hurting you, so you can stop acting like I’m torturing you.”
A talking horse was still very new to Valerie. She wondered how much horse training knowledge could translate to dealing with Floyd. They could talk, but if Floyd didn’t respect her, it would probably be just as dangerous as writing a tantruming horse.
“Go into a trot and explain why you traveled to the past.”
“There are blocks of time. Of 300 million years each.” Floyd stopped. “Everything inside them is changeable, but once the final line is crossed, those events become permanent fixtures for everything in the universe.”
“Trot.” Valerie tapped his sides with her feet. “Does the block move along with time, or is it a set date?”
Floyd huffed and did as she asked. His steps were jerky, and he wasn’t doing much bending of his legs. It created a choppy ride for Valerie. How to make him behave?
“None of that.” She said. She tapped his sides again. “Unless you plan on launching me?”
“Maybe you should just hold on tighter.” Floyd bent his head down and snorted before picking up his legs and making the ride a bit smoother.
“Maybe you should try to mess up my balance when you know I haven’t ridden for a couple years. Not since…” Valerie froze. She didn’t need to talk about that. Floyd knew what happened and she’d said her piece. Time to move on.
“A better use of our time would be piling up the plastic that’s littering your land before winter comes. It’s nearly impossible to graze in there right now.” Floyd stopped again, and played with the bit in his mouth. Valerie urged him forward.
“You’re the one that wants us to work together as a team. Think of this as a corporate retreat with trust falls and all that nonsense.” She tapped her heels against his side more insistently, and he walked forward. He was doing this on purpose.
“I don’t understand a thing you just said.” Floyd tossed his head as he walked.
“Clearly.” Valerie was getting frustrated. Too frustrated. She was a patient woman, but the discovery that working with an old talking horse didn’t do anything to make the process easier was kind of a let down. Plus, she didn’t think she’d have to train a horse from scratch this time.
Valerie had never worked with a horse this tall before. She stopped him, and dismounted. Her style of dismount was to do it safely. Keep your balance until you get both your feet free, and then drop down. She barely managed not to fall over when she hit the ground. At least she wasn’t spread eagle in the dirt this time.
“Why did you stop?” Floyd watched her walk up to his front. She had him bend down, and took off his bridle. She held out her hand and waited for him to drop the bit. Floyd kept his mouth shut.
“Really?” Valerie raised an eyebrow at him. She kept her hand under his mouth, waiting for the bit to drop. He opened his mouth slowly and popped the bit out with his tongue.
“We’re done.” Valerie said.
