The camp bus pulled into the parking lot. I looked for green fields and rows of stables, but there was just an old red barn with plain wood showing at the bottom. There was one trail, heading up hill, and one of those circles they use for leading new riders like me.

When I saw the horses, I had to stop myself from jumping up and down. A blonde lady came over to me with a red-haired horse with blinders on. “Be calm,” she said, “or you’ll scare her.”

I took a deep breath. I’d never been near a real horse before and hadn’t known they were so big. “What’s her name?”

“Ginger.”

“Ginger,” I repeated. “Hi, Ginger.”

I took the reins from the lady, shoved one foot in the stirrup and let her help me get the other leg over. Just like mounting a Merry-Go-Round horse.

The lady led Ginger into the circle behind a gray. The horses kicked bits of gravel as they walked. The up and down of each step was less than on a Merry-Go–Round.

My campmates seemed more comfortable than me. I hoped to get used to it.

The Merry-Go-Round sped up. Ginger passed the gray. The lady was gone.

“Help!” I shouted against the wind as we circled on the fence line. Dizziness came. I bounced in the saddle. My left foot popped from the stirrup and I slipped. My elbow hit the pebbles. I pulled up from the scraping pain.

My right foot stuck. The stirrup dug into my sneaker. I twisted against Ginger, but I couldn’t get free.

No other horses. The fence passed. Stones scraped my elbow. Hold on! Pull up! I couldn’t yell anymore.

Then my foot came free, and I dropped to the ground. People ran to me.

“Are you all right?”

I pointed at my elbow. I couldn’t breathe enough to talk.

“Why didn’t you let go?”

“Foot… stuck.” I sobbed.

Someone helped me up, but I was still dizzy. She yelled for the first aid kit and took me to a sink in the barn. She washed my arm with bar soap.

The blonde lady came with a band-aid. “It’s all I could find,” she said.

“Okay, let’s go,” I answered.

I wanted to try again, but the bus was there. “Time to go back to camp.”

It was my last ride.