”Ok Lisa, bring her back to the walk and let me explain something.” Lee Yeon said as she got off of her perch on the fence and came into the middle of the arena, just as I gradually brought Trudy back to a walk as she blew hard. I was glad that I was going to be lectured as I had been feeling guilty about keeping Trudy working at a high pace but did not want to disappoint Lee Yeon this early on in the program. So, bringing her down to a walk I gave her a pat on the shoulder and turned my attention to Lee Yeon.

“Great, relax the reins and give her her head back, good. Now I want you to pay attention to her rhythm.” I could tell that she was giving me time to really feel Trudy’s natural rhythm before she continued.

“When the horse is in walk, it naturally bobs its nose, and with the neck, ever so gently up and down. And so what you can try to do; is to get a little bit of contact, by following this motion, a little bit, with your hands!” I was pretty sure what she was talking about, but wanted to be sure that I had not misunderstood her and so I again looked to her for confirmation, and she did not need much more promting than that, as she quickly continued. “So follow the motion with your hands, forward and back. But always in the right rhythm.” I listened closely to what Lee Yeon said as I really tried to feel Trudy’s rhythm.

At first it was hard, but then suddenly… There it was! I could feel it one, two, one, two. And so I paid attention and tried to allow my hands to glide in tact to the movement, as if it was a song that I was dancing to. “There! Neh, correct! Can you feel it now?” she exclaimed triumphantly. That was one thing that I had come to learn about Lee Yeon, and that was that she was a strict woman, but if you did something right, she made sure that you knew it.

“Neh, I feel it.”

“Good keep it up. This is also one thing, to never, loose the contact! And it also helps to improve the walk. As you can imagine, if you keep the hands stationary, then every time the horse bobs forward, it receives a stop sign in the mouth. And tell me Lisa what do you think  Trudy would do then?” She asked me, and I knew that it was not a rhetorical question, that she was actually quizzing me.

“She would begin to stop.” I replied, still concentrating on keeping up with the rhythm.

“Not just stop, but she would actually begin to back up, and then you will end up with a problem horse, alright?”

“Neh.”

“Now look, look,” Yeon said, pointing vigorously at Trudy, who was now bobbing her head more than ever. “Look how she is now really trying to keep tact with you as well. She wants the contact and she wants to work with you.” It was such a beautiful feeling to feel this majestic animal begin to engage it an intricate dance with me that I could do nothing else but laugh at how amazing it was. Never had I experienced I to this level before. “Now you really have dance partner!”

“Ok, bring her back up into a trot, all the time keeping the same rhythm and maintain the contact to the mouth. Don’t pull down, drive her from behind.” At this I lightly poked Trudy with my spurs and brushed her with the whip that I had in my hand. Not hard enough to harm her, but hard enough to shock her into forward motion.

“Neh, but not only with the legs and whip,” Yeon called, catching me out on my mistake. “I want to see more drive from your seat Lisa. From the muscles in your stomach, come on girl work that body of yours, I know you got it!” I think I nearly fell off Trudy at hearing that, and I must of yanked her pretty hard in the mouth as she gave a grunt, and swish  the tale in protest. But I was far too busy giggling.

“Do not let yourself be distracted, these things will happen in the arena, but you must not let yourself be distracted.” But even as she scolded me she had a smile on her face.  The other girls who had been on the fence all along were practically rolling around on the floor from laughter.

“Neh, minhea.” By now I had settled for just a smile.

“Yes, correct, now bend a little to the left,” Following her instructions I pressed my inner leg to Trudy’s side and tightened the inner rein as I guided her into a bend. It was a bend that I was pleased with but Yeon had other ideas  as she sprang to scold me a little again, “Careful that she does not fall to the inside,keep her out on the line. Inner leg, more, more. Yes, there good!” I quickly reached down with one hand to give a quick pat on the neck once I felt Trudy side step onto the line again. “Keep forward motion… and bring her into a canter.” Trudy’s canter was one that I had fallen in love with early on. When she wanted to she was a little speed demon, but when she was relaxed, like now, it was like floating on air, and I quickly let myself relax into her rocking motion. Allowing my body to become one with her.

“Good and go!” I knew what that meant and quickly gave a sharp jab to her sides, letting  know that it was time to kick up the tempo. ”Yes, good, kick her again, sometimes it is better to give them one hard kick than kick them over and over again.” Yeon allowed me to keep her at the canter for a while pleased with the work on this gait, before she called for a trot again, “Be ready to catch her,” I tightened the reins in a signal to slow to a trot and was rewarded by a smooth transition.”Hands up and ride. Good, practice for another half  hour and then cool her off.”

“Neh, gamsahabnida.” I said, giving a salute from my perch on Trudy, as Lee Yeon began to exit the arena, but before she could completely leave she was intercepted by the girls.

“Lee Yoen,”

“Neh.”

“We were wondering if it would be ok if we took five guys on a hack tomorrow after training.” To say I was shocked by Alex’s direct approach would have been an understatement and the other girls must of thought so too, by the looks on their faces.

"And who would these five boys be?"

"The members of MBLAQ!" Semmi answered a bit too loudly, before she cringed thinking she would be scolded. Lee Yeon, however, was too shocked by what came out of to scold.

"Eh? are you telling me that MBLAQ would be coming here with you??"

"Yes Mam." I replied

"Yeah Lisa here has scored the cutie Mir." Alex offered, never missing the chance to tease me. Needless to say I was not impressed.

"For the millionth time, we are NOT dating."

"Yes you are! Or at least you should be!". But before we could go any further Lee Yeon interupted us. I was afraid that she was going to say no, but Alex must must have known what she was doing, because before we knew it Lee Yeon had consented.

"I will tell you what, if you can bring them here and INTRODUCE me to them, that is a must, then you may have five extra horses and take them on a hack, but you will take Sonny, Skyborne, Anziyan, Molina and Night Stallion. You deserve a break," she said with a smile before becoming stern again "but until then I expect you all to work hard”

“We will!” we all said in unison, and with that she left. As she left, we could hardly believe our luck as we let out girly squeals of delight as the plan began to form for tomorrow when we would get to spend t day with MBLAQ.

At the squeal Trudy stood completely motionless, which left me looking her with exasperation.”So a squeal is ok, but a phone is life threatening!? You really are a funny horse.” To which she of course just shook her head. “Yes, you are.  Do not shake your head at me.” I said with a pat, before guiding her out to the arena again for more work. “Come girl lets get back to work.”

A/N: I promise the boys will be in the next chapter, and then how will they do riding a horse? please comment and tell me what you think.