Grab the Reins

CHISHOLM TRAIL RIDES

15422 County Road 335, Quinlan. 214-584-8698; chisholmtrailrides.com

Sitting atop Champ, my horse for the day, I trot along the paths that wind across the pastures of the Chisholm Trail Rides ranch. My instructor, Ashley Yeager, leads us through the property in Quinlan, a sleepy town located beyond the eastern stretches of Dallas-Fort Worth. I have become a regular rider at the ranch, and up to that small journey across the pasture, my time there had trotted on without interruption. Then it happened—the unmistakable feeling of a spooked horse. Champ zoned in on a deer blind that seemed abandoned, but his reaction to rustling in the decrepit structure indicated something was off. Yeager grabbed her cellphone: “Kristin, can you come check something out?”