Between us II

The arena is quiet, but my head is full of noise.

They stand along the fence. I feel their eyes on my back. Ride him forward. He's taking advantage of you. And a moment later, from the other side: Too harsh. Leave his mouth alone. Their voices become mine, and mine become theirs, until I lose track of which thoughts I started with.

Beneath me, he feels it. Of course he does. A horse reads tension the way we read words. My hands harden before I've decided anything, my body stiffens, and he answers with the honesty only an animal has: he braces against me.

Knowing what is right is the easy part. Doing it while everyone watches takes courage.

So I breathe. My shoulders drop, and my pride drops with them, down through my heels and into the sand. The voices at the fence can keep their opinions. They belong to them.

What I need is right here. A warm body. A slow breath. An ear turning back towards me.

He asks for one thing: that I show up as I am, open and honest. He has always been truthful with me, and he deserves the same in return.

And then it comes. His breath and mine find the same rhythm. My thought becomes his movement before I've finished thinking it. For a moment there is one body, one heartbeat, one intention.

It is small and quiet, a moment only the two of us can feel.

It lives between us.