Red Mare By Courtney Lane
Red Mare II Suspicious of affection, she’s no child’s pony reveling in colored ribbons. World wise, world weary, disdainful of kiss or pat, quick to pin her ears Or let fly her heels. As a queen, she accepts tribute as her due. We have an odd agreement: I make her work and she will…eventually and on her terms. Old Ironsides, old battleaxe, she gives nothing away for free. But sometimes our desires coincide, and her step under me is light and swinging, Her whole body lifted and rounded, flirting me a look out of the corner of her eye. If she wants, she can do anything. It’s all in the way I ask.
Red Mare III Mosaic by Jody Jaffe
Red Mare I She’s a big mare, well boned, a Teutonic queen: blue blooded, red headed. And after this fickle season of ice and thaw, what we both need is a gallop— The kind we take in the summer, in the late day, when the dark roof of night Hovers well off from our snowglobe world; The kind of gallop, unheeding anything but hooves and pulses bounding, That I know if something spooked her and I fell…my bones crush easy… But in those moments I don’t care, think there’s no better way to go Like a warrior beneath the hooves of his destrier. That’s the kind of run we need, she and I, in this sodden, early darkening season. But first— We need a dry place to set our feet
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When I get to work on Mondays, my fingers stumble awkwardly over the keys, Drop the phone to the floor, scatter papers, Because my hands remember the feel of the reins. When I get to work on Mondays, I blunder in my nice shoes, Used to crossing show grounds in tall boots dusted with sand, Or tennis shoes damp with dumped water buckets, itchy with shavings. When I get to work on Mondays, my skirt shows off my legs Bruised here and there by knocking into my tack trunk, or Pinched by stirrup leathers twisted wrong. When I get to work on Mondays, my office chair Seems a poor substitute for the rich leather of my saddles And the burnished coat of my horse.
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Courtney Lane lives on her family's farm in Fitzpatrick, Ala., where her father taught her to ride. She has competed in USEA eventing competitions at Novice and Training levels, including the American Eventing Championships. Courtney can often be found curled up with a book or at the barn spoiling her two retired Thoroughbreds, Griff and Royal, and current mount, Mark, the son of the Red Mare, Godiva. 55
