Addie's Courage(Linda McMann) Oh boy, my tummy’s jumbly, Addie thought as she swallowed the lump in her throat. Her horse walked with jerky movements towards the other horses waiting for the ride to begin.

But this is it! I’m finally eleven this summer and can go on the hour-long group ride.

She smiled nervously at the other beginning riders who looked to be about her age. She had seen them hanging out together at the stable and hoped they would include her in their group this summer.

“This your first ride on the beach?” the redheaded boy asked her.

“Yeah,” Addie replied. “I took a lesson yesterday, but we didn’t get to go on the beach. This your first?”

“Naw, my third,” he said, sitting taller in the saddle. “I got it down now.”

“That’s way cool,” she said. “I got some books from the library about horseback riding, but it’s totally different riding one.” She’d been saving her allowance and doing odd jobs all year long to pay for this special ride on her summer vacation. She’d been dreaming about it too.

“Smokey’s a pretty horse.” She’d picked him because she’d liked his unusual speckled gray color and dark gray mane and tail. “They said he’d be okay for a beginner, but he’s kinda frisky,” she said to the redhead, shifting uneasily in the saddle.

Her attention was quickly drawn back to Smokey, who was prancing away from the other riders heading out along the road.

“Bring him in line,” hollered Tyler, their teen-aged guide.

What had she learned? Oh yeah, guide him with the reins. “Good; good, that worked,” Addie said out loud, as Smokey settled back into line with the other horses.

When they got to the top of the large sand dune at the beach entrance, Addie was suddenly dropped down and thrown forward by Smokey’s movements. She grabbed the saddle horn and hung on for dear life.

“What are you doing? Oh no, don’t roll over!” she cried as Smokey began to roll in the soft sand. Her foot got caught in the stirrup and she yelled as Smokey’s weight pushed it into the sand.

“Oh no, oh no,” she whispered to herself, tugging her foot out from beneath him. She felt her face and neck get hot, and her stomach knotted in distress as she heard a snicker from one of the other riders who had stopped to watch.

Smokey scrambled up just as Tyler came back to make sure she was okay. He helped her to her feet and when she stepped down on her right foot, she grimaced in pain.

“It’s okay,” she told Tyler, trying not to cry. Her ankle looked red but was not swollen, and the more she walked on it, the better it felt.

“You should go back to the stable,” he said.

Addie flushed again and held back her tears. How did I ever think I could do this? she thought.

She grabbed Smokey’s reins and turned to lead him back to the stable, but only got a few yards before she stopped. She remembered how hard she had worked to save money and how much she had dreamed about this first ride on the beach.

Addie squared her shoulders, took a deep breath, and turned around. She shouted to the departing group, “No, I’m going with you!”

Tyler shrugged his shoulders, “Okay, it’s up to you; but you’ll have to keep up.”

Little did she know her challenge had just begun.

When they reached the ocean, Smokey kicked out his back legs and galloped, out of control, down the beach away from the group.

Not again, Addie thought in a panic. “What do I do? What do I do?” she yelled as she racked her brain to remember.

In an instant, it came to her and she pulled back solidly on the reins, bringing Smokey to a walk.

“There,” she said triumphantly. “I can do this!”

When she turned Smokey around to rejoin her group, they cheered and Tyler gave her a high-five as she got in line to continue. “Nice job, Addie,” he said. “You showed Smokey who was in charge.”

She grinned as she looked back at the ocean when they climbed the sand dune to return to the stable an hour later. It had turned out to be just as awesome as she had dreamed it would be.

“Hey,” the redheaded boy called. “You wanna go with us to get an ice-cream?”

“Okay,” she replied as she smoothed Smokey’s mane. Now she knew she was going to have lots to write in her diary this summer.

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