Both Jed and Jenny were surprised at how fast she caught on to sitting a trot. Whereas the day before she had kept a tight hold on the reins during the long walk up the mountain, now Jed took the bridle off Big, and led her mount by a long halter rope from Pokey. She was instructed to forget about control; to concentrate instead on sitting/standing with her weight forward, heels down, to overcome the shock of an uncollected trot. Without the worry of her horse running away, Jenny soon overcame the need to hang on. Jed had her thrust out her arms, as if flying. Then Jed told her to close her eyes and pretend she was a giant eagle floating in the breeze.

She laughed at his description, tried it anyhow, and was amazed -after a moment's panic had passed- to find herself dancing through a dream. The more confident she felt, the more confident she became. "What an amazing man," Jenny thought to herself.

After a mile or two at a trot, Jed commanded, "Up," and the horses broke into an easy, ground-covering lope. Here, Jenny found the sensation was that of sitting in a comfortable rocking chair. Occasionally she stiffened for a moment, which transmitted a fear of falling throughout her body, but after she realized that her mountain horse negotiated sharp corners on the trail with the grace of a ballet dancer weaving in and out of a blur of shapes representing the danger of trees and huge boulders, almost without command, Jenny asked that the umbilical cord be cut. When the bridle was returned she understood what Jed had been talking about the day before. By using the reins as a form of communication, she and Big became one in a harmony of motion.

Jed let the two of them take the lead, flying free through the green of mountain meadow and scrub Alpine Pine forest, and sending great plumes of rock dust skyward when crossing a finger of glacier moraine. A couple of times he cautioned Jenny to slow down to a walk to cross a creek, or to use care in negotiating the passage through a lava field that had cooled into a maze of caves, caverns, and arches. But, his commands here had been as gentle as the ones he used to direct his own, voice trained, mount. So, it came as a complete shock when Jed thundered up beside Jenny and tersely demanded, "Stop!"

"What," she complied, nearly being thrown forward out of the saddle as Big slid to a standstill.

"Get off. Quick!"

"Why?"