One warm and sunny morning, Mortin was doing his chores, when his brother, Will, came up. He asked if Mortin wanted to go for a horseback ride. About 10 minutes later that is just what they did.

Half way into the ride, Will realized that Mortin was holding the saddle horn. Not just that, Mortin was holding the reigns wrong also. This was causing a problem with Mortin’s control of the horse. He was going really far off the trail, then out of nowhere a big, wet, and scratchy tree branch came and slammed right into his face.

After the ride, Will felt that it would be best if he told his mom about the problems that his brother was having. So, Mortin’s mom went out to try to teach Mortin, she seemed to be explaining it in a way that he could not understand. Mortin tried to dismount as the horse started to walk. This scared him so bad that he avoided the horses for a week.

One day, while walking in the field Mortin observed one of the young strong horses being trained. It was on a long ling and was bucking up a storm. Its back legs were so high and its ears were back and snorting like it was mad at the world. Then the horse started to dart this way and that way, and it started rearing up and striking at the trainer with his front legs.

The sight of this, sent Mortin running for anywhere but there, he ended up at the edge of the lake. Sitting there he thought awhile and cleared his head. Walking back Mortin thought, about how he would feel at the end of a rope. With someone pulling and ordering, it would not make him feel very at home, unless someone would be more like a friend than a boss with a rope.

When Mortin got back to his house, he talked to Will. Will and Mortin went out to the barn and discussed what Mortin needed to understand better, like keeping his balance, holding the reigns, not holding the saddle horn, also making sure that the horse knows that you are the boss, without being mean of course.

For the next few days Will coached Mortin. There was a lot of laughing and several carrots involved in this class. The boys got a lot closer in those few days. Mortin got a lot more confidence and made friends with Easy. Mortin caught on quickly, and learned that it is mostly about trust and a little knowledge. When it comes too Horses and riding.

It was time for Mortin to show the rest of his family what he had learned. He walked around the field in a big figure eight, and then he started too trot, and after he did two figure eights he galloped around the barrel track and by that time his mom was almost to tears of joy. Then she hugged Will and told him thank you for his help. Will just said that it was a lot of fun teaching Mortin.

Finally, Mortin came ridding up to the gate with the biggest smile that his family had ever seen. When Mortin went to dismount Easy took a few steps. This didn’t scare Mortin anymore, his feet hit the ground just in time for his mom to pick him up. She asked him how he learned so much so fast. Mortin just smiled and said it is all about trust.