Free Another Kind of Cowboy by Susan Juby Page B

wanted to play the gracious host but it was hard from the end of a lunge line. He satisfied himself with nodding at his friends, but suspected the gesture was impossible to make out amid the head wobbling.
    Fergus ignored the new arrivals and kept talking to Alex.
    â€œWe have to work on your flexibility. You’ve got to let go in your hips. Even at the walk you need to feel that pelvis move!” he announced in a loud voice.
    Alex stared off into the distance like a sick dog. He knew what was coming next.
    â€œI want you to imagine you are making love to the saddle.”
    Fergus, standing in the middle of the ring, began to move his hips like a geriatric Chippendales dancer.
    Oh, please, oh, please, let him stop doing that , thought Alex. He snuck a glance at his friends. Sofia was definitely grinning.
    â€œIt’s about freedom and strength,” said Fergus, swinging his hips back and forth. “Freedom here!” Fergus put his hands on his hips like he was about to begin the “Time Warp” dance. “And strength here and here!” He vigorously slapped his belly and then his own rear end.
    Alex saw Sofia duck her head behind Chris to hide her laughter. This wasn’t what he’d had in mind at all. He felt a little better when he saw Chris smile encouragingly at him.
    â€œOkay. Once more to trot.”
    Screw it . The damage was done. He might as well finish his ride properly.
    Alex sat deep and tall, making sure there was a straight line from his hip to shoulder, and looked ahead through Princess’s ears as he urged her forward. He let his hips absorb the movement and Princess responded by rounding and softening her back. All at once Alex was floating.
    â€œThis is it!” cried Fergus. “You feel this? How she’s swinging through her back? Now you are really sitting! Okay, now you ask for the walk just by slowing your seat and tightening your stomach muscles.”
    Alex did as instructed and Princess slowed to a walk. It was the best moment he’d had so far in his dressage training. He smiled, his embarrassment forgotten.
    â€œRiding this way is not easy,” said Fergus, still speaking loudly, as though he intended his words to be overheard.
    â€œYour horse, he is trained in Western pleasure. Hetries to make you comfortable by moving as slowly as possible. In truth, he barely moves! A horse like Princess is something else again. You have to meet her halfway, or sitting on her is misery. But look at you. Two weeks and already you’re having some very nice moments.”
    Alex glanced over at his friends and saw that they, too, were smiling and he was no longer sorry that he invited them.
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    Twenty minutes later Alex had Princess in the cross ties. He’d finished hosing her down and scraping off the excess water.
    â€œSo this one’s yours?” Sofia hesitantly patted Turnip’s soft white nose, which poked out of his stall.
    â€œYeah,” Alex said. He felt tongue-tied around his friends in this unfamiliar environment.
    â€œI can tell he totally loves you.”
    Startled, Alex glanced at Sofia.
    â€œHe watches every move you make,” continued Sofia.
    â€œHe’s a really good horse,” said Alex. His throat felt too closed up for him to say more.
    â€œThis place is incredible,” said Chris, who’d taken off his headphones and was investigating every inchof the barn. Chris had an artist’s fascination with the physical world, and Alex surreptitiously watched as his friend trailed slender fingers over the wood and brick surfaces. Abruptly, Alex looked away. It was bad enough when straight people developed friend crushes. For a gay guy to get a crush on his straight friend was practically suicidal.
    Sofia came over to give Princess one of the carrots she’d brought.
    â€œI wish someone would do all this for me,” said Sofia as she watched Alex massage Princess’s neck.
    Alex, a careful