December Poem Contest

Two foot six

by Sham_Slam and Faith  age  15

 

Every smooth, gracious stride was a momentary flight
We were together, working as one
I felt his pull on the bit, his rocking gait allowing me
To relax into the saddle.

My arms were dappled pink.
To the outside world, my skin was the cold of December snow.
Yet inside lay a fire
That grew with every
Stride.

I pulled gently on my left rein,
My fingers closed determinedly like a cat’s teeth on a mouse.
Blaze arched his muscled neck, ears flicking
I felt the soft, sensitive skin of the corners of his mouth through the leather.

As we turned and he got his first view of the imposing
Two foot six inch jump
I felt his stride quicken with unmanageable excitement
“Oh, boy, do we get to jump that?” He asks me with
The flick of his ears, the energy of his canter
I push him forward affirmatively- “here goes nothing.”

His muscled sides were as hard as stone enduring a wintertime dawn
The cold, horsey scent seeped through the corners of my mouth
Settling on my tongue,
And mixing with the sweet taste of hard work and determination.

As we flew towards the imposing obstacle
I caught the flight of the walls
Out of the corners of my moist eyelids-
Like the quick snap of a camera.

“Three, two, one,” I muttered unconsciously to myself as we neared the imposter.
A powerful thrust and we were suddenly a snowball soaring through the chill-
Powerfully thrown with a mission:
To tackle our opponent.

I stand slightly, just in time
Into a crouch slightly above my oiled, soft saddle
My ankles whine with withering pain-
Yet I ignore them- they are no more than ants nipping a leaf.

A quick moment later, Blaze thuds back down
And as I unresistably praise his sticky warm neck,
The weight of our accomplishment rises
Above any other emotion in my body- the pain, the exhaustion.

He leaves hoof prints in the frozen crispy sand as we gallop away-
The true memory of our achievement.