Copper View Ranch

Chapter Seven

Sophia was saddling Gambit the next morning when Ethan stopped by his pen to ask Sophia if she wanted to go with him and a few ranch hands down to Northern Run Ranch. She had been hesitant at first; it was the ranch Abby lived on and she wasn't sure if she wanted to go, knowing she'd end up with Abby hanging around her for the rest of the day. However, she was curious on seeing some of the other ranches round there, and it was a business trip for Ethan as they were looking at a couple of horses they were selling. She decided to try riding Gambit, despite the fact she hasn't ridden him yet. She didn't mind Abby most of the time, but she wasn't all that excited about planning a camping trip as Abby was and she was sure that's what Abby wanted to do.

Nearly half an hour later she found herself riding down the road on Gambit, following Ethan, Lucas and another ranch hand who she vaguely recognized as Jon. She rode behind them, keeping her horse at a walk as she spent some time getting used to him. He was fairly responsive to leg cues although she knew he was still quite young and green.

She cringed slightly as she shifted her weight in the saddle, letting her hand rest on the horn. She was incredibly saddle sore from the longer ride she took with Abby although she knew it would get better the more she rode. She was still sore from falling off the mare a few days ago, but it wasn't as bad as it had been. She didn't want to complain about how sore she felt, knowing everyone would just laugh at her.

It took around an hour to ride down to the Northern Run Ranch. They had cut off across the countryside on the trails which would be shorter than the road to save time. Sophia was just about to ask if they were almost there when she saw the sign next to the dirt road. She straightened up in the saddle, letting Gambit follow the other horses back onto the road as they turned through the open gates of the ranch.

Northern Run Ranch was surrounded by vast fields. There was a large two story farmhouse to the left of the driveway and a large barn and pens to the right. She could see a riding arena to the side of the barn. From what she gathered from listening to Ethan and the others talk, Abby's parents focused on breeding a small herd of Quarter Horses for ranch work, and they also did a lot of work in the rodeo. Abby's father used to be a bull rider, and was now helping train others do the same.

Sophia dismounted after her father did and tied Gambit to a hitching post next to Jon's horse. She was barely turning around when she saw Abby sprinting over from the farm house, her dark hair flying and a grin on her face.

"Hey!" she called over, waving her arm ecstatically. "My parents are at the arena, they were waiting for you," she added to Ethan. She turned back to Sophia. "Come on, I want to show you something. Lucas, you should come too!"

"I'm here to help Ethan out, maybe later Abby," Lucas said with a grin as he passed by. Sophia watched them disappear around the corner of the barn before raising an eyebrow at Abby slightly, wondering what she had to show her.

"C'mon." Abby grabbed Sophia's arm and pulled her into the barn. The barn had fewer stalls at Copper View but the aisle was much wider and she could see they had a larger tack room. Abby didn't give her much of a chance to look around as she pulled her down to the end of the barn to a larger stall. "Look!"

Sophia stepped up to the stall door, peering over the edge. She could see a dark bay mare standing nearby, her eyes half closed and her black tail swishing lazily at the flies. Her gaze was drawn to the foal laying in the straw at her side. It was quite dark but had a prominent white star on it's forehead.

"It's adorable," Sophia watched the foal's ears perk forwards as she spoke. It put out it's spindly looking legs in front of itself and began to attempt to heave itself to it's feet with what seemed like great difficulty.

"She was born a few days ago," Abby said as she joined her at the stall door. "She's not as strong as the other foals this year yet but my parents said I can train her myself." Abby spoke with obvious pride in her voice that her parents were allowing her to train the foal herself. Sophia couldn't help but feel slightly jealous as she watched the foal begin to suckle, wanting one of her own. She had been too busy around Copper View to pay much attention to the broodmare that was about to foal there, and she was already busy with three different horses to work with.

"I'm still thinking of a name for her," Abby said as she pulled away from the stall and finally heading outside.

"How many foals do you have here?" Sophia asked curiously as she followed her outside. She could see in the small grassy pasture two foals kicking up their hooves as they played.

"Four, not counting that filly," Abby explained. She began to head around the side of the barn to the arena. Sophia could see two horses in the arena standing near the gate, fully saddled although her attention was drawn to a barrel near the center of the ring. She could see, by the way it was built it was to practice for bull riding. Ethan was standing inside the arena by the gate, talking to Abby's parents while Lucas was leaning up against the fence casually, talking to Ben who was also in the arena.

Sophia leaned up against the rails as she watched Ethan swing up into the saddle of a solid looking cremello gelding. He began riding him around, taking him through his paces. Abby climbed up on the fence and sat on the rails, eagerly watching him as Ben wandered over, looking rather bored and uninterested in watching Ethan try out the horses.

"Hey," he greeted her, leaning up against the rails on the opposite side of the fence. She could feel his gaze on her and she blushed slightly when he spoke again. "What happened to your hand?"

"Nothing," Sophia replied, shoving her bandaged hand into her pocket and ducking her head slightly so the shadows from her cowboy hat would hide her embarrassment. "Accidentally cut myself, nothing huge."

"Abigail," Abby's mother called over, motioning for her to follow. "We're going to let a couple of cows in, want to give me a hand?"

Sophia smiled slightly as she heard Abby's audible complaints at the use of her full name as she jumped off the fence. She jogged across the arena, following her parents who were headed for the cattle chutes on the one end. She could now see the small cattle herd formed on the other side.

"So, do you go to rodeos?" Ben asked casually, watching Abby struggle with opening the chute. Sophia bit her lip, watching the younger girl who seemed unable to unlatch it to open it. Ben smirked slightly as his sister struggled with the gate before glancing back to Sophia for her answer.

"Yeah, well I did when I was younger," Sophia admitted. She didn't remember much from the rodeos she used to go to; she had been too young to remember much. Her attention then had always been on the horses, but she could remember being apart of the crowd and feeling the excitement when she watched.

"There's a Junior Rodeo next weekend not far from here, you should come," Ben said as they both watched Abby finally manage to yank the gate open and toppled over backwards in result. Sophia refrained from laughing at her friend as Abby quickly got to her feet and jumped out of the way as a few cows came into the arena. "Abby and I are both going to be in it, would be nice to have someone to cheer us on."

"I'll see if I can," Sophia couldn't help but feel excited at the thought of attending a rodeo. She hated being stuck at the ranch most of her time; she was used to being able to go out every day with her friends in the city. She turned her gaze back to Ethan on the cremello gelding as he began testing the horse by separating one of the cows by the herd.