Emily and Steve Part 5

Okay, that made me feel like a complete heel for mumbling in the shower and calling horseback riding stupid. I remembered how important this was to Emily. My libido could wait. "Alright," I said, "let's get on the trail."

After a big breakfast, we headed out to the barn and John brought out our horses. John handed us the reins, "Emily, you'll be riding Denali. Steve, you'll be riding Daisy."

"Daisy? Doesn't sound very manly," I said.

"She's a good horse, especially for a beginner," John said. "And between you and me, I think Daisy has a thing for Denali, so she'll stick close to the ass of Emily's horse. That way, you won't get lost." John and Emily laughed. I was starting to feel like a big loser.

Emily hoisted herself up on Denali. "Don't listen to John, he just likes teasing beginner riders. It's kind of like an initiation ritual."

John nodded. "Sure, that's it," he said, smirking.

As I tried to get myself up onto Daisy, under my breath I kept reminding myself, "Remember, this is for Emily. She really likes this. You're doing this for her." I couldn't figure out how to get onto the horse, but John put his hands on my ass and pushed me up. I nearly fell off the other side of the horse, and about 5 times in the next 5 minutes nearly toppled over. Eventually I seemed to get my balance, and we were ready to go.

John pointed off in the distance and started giving Emily directions, "just head out to the east gate, that'll put you in the national park and onto the Valley Trail. From there, you can ride up to the Marsh trail. Take a right, and about 2 miles you'll see the Mountain trail on the left. Once you get to the second clearing, you'll see a very small trail off to the south. That'll take you to that secluded lunch spot I told you about. Have a great ride." With that, John slapped Denali on the butt, and the horse started riding away. Just as John had predicted, my horse Daisy, followed Denali diligently.