Andrew Todd

RIDING LESSONS By Andrew Todd Chapter 24 “Faster, Oxy!! Faster, Zaky!!” Max cried as Zak and Dusty cantered Onyx and Phoenix through the woods. Zak looked over to Dusty and the two grinned at each other enjoying the freedom of being on the trail and the joyful laughter coming from little Max. As they approached the opening in the trail, both boys slowed their horses to a walk. “Aww,” sighed Max. “Wanna go fast.” Zak held tight to Max and laughed. “We need to let Onyx and Phoenix have

Thanks. Hope you have a great Thanksgiving as well. looks like you finished just in time. Just posted Chapter 23.

RIDING LESSONS By Andrew Todd Chapter 23 “SURPRISE!!” Zak nearly jumped out of his skin as everyone popped out of their hiding places in the barn. “HAPPY BIRTHDAY, ZAK!!” they all hollered. Zak looked around the barn. Someone had obviously spent a lot of time preparing the barn today. The two horses that were usually in the stalls in this section had been moved and the whole area had been scrubbed and polished. All the stall doors were opened and two of them were set up with buffet tab

Mattie figures very heavily in the next part of the story (at least he does in the way I currently have it planned). He is my enigma and solving that puzzle will be a big piece of the next story...

RIDING LESSONS By Andrew Todd Chapter 22 Zak lay in bed dreaming. He grinned in his sleep. In his dream, Dusty entered his room. His tall, dark and beautiful boyfriend. Dusty stood by Zak’s bed and stripped slowly for Zak’s enjoyment. First he removed the band that he used to keep his long black hair in a ponytail. His thick pin-straight hair cascaded down onto his shoulder. Zak shivered. He loved when Dusty’s shiny hair was loose. Next, Dusty pulled his wife beater over his head reveal

RIDING LESSONS By Andrew Todd Chapter 21 Spin awoke in the middle of the night. Mattie was snuggled up against him fast asleep. He turned and looked at the clock on the night stand; it was just after 2 am. It was now or never. He slipped out of the bed. He grabbed a pair of shorts and a t-shirt and tiptoed into the bathroom. He quickly got dressed without turning on the light. He did not want to chance waking Mattie; he knew his cautious boyfriend would try to talk him out of this. He pa

***This chapter is dedicated to the real Nick and Noah, my little gay brothers, who make writing this story a labor of love*** RIDING LESSONS By Andrew Todd Chapter 20 Before they left the Bob Evans parking lot, Dusty programmed the address for the ranch into the GPS. He knew how to get to Lancaster, but was unfamiliar with the streets when he got there. His plan was to drive straight through, so he figured he should program the GPS now. As they drove down the highway, the boys conti

RIDING LESSONS By Andrew Todd Chapter 19 Zak, Spin and Mattie were all squished into the front seat of Dusty’s truck. The four boys were heading to Dusty’s house. Dusty had decided that they were going to have a cookout to celebrate the end of Zak’s driving lessons. It was Thursday night, two weeks before the end of summer and Zak’s birthday. All four boys were excited about Zak getting his license because then he would have a car and they wouldn’t have to pack into Dusty’s truck like sa

RIDING LESSONS By Andrew Todd Chapter 18 “What the fuck do you think you are doing!?!” “I think I’m saddling a horse.” “I told you to use this bridle.” “Look at that bridle; the cheek strap is fucking broken and it’s got the wrong bit on it!!” Dusty and Zak stood inside the barn doorway listening to what they had come to think of as Spin and Mattie’s mating dance. Since Mr. Jones had hired Mattie a week ago, the two younger boys had bickered, argued, screamed and fought constantly. N

RIDING LESSONS By Andrew Todd Chapter 17 Zak stood silently watching as Spin and Mattie just stood there staring at each other. He would swear he could see the lightning bolts actually moving between the two boys. Dusty came up behind Zak. “What’s going o…” he started to ask before Zak shushed him. Zak pulled Dusty down and whispered in his ear, “I think Spin just got shot in the ass by Cupid.” Dusty started shaking he was laughing so hard and trying not to make any noise. After watch

I still have a bit more to post to be caught up here, I've posted through 21 elsewhere and have written through 24. I keep a buffer in case I want to make changes.

RIDING LESSONS By Andrew Todd Chapter 16 Zak kissed at Onyx and the big horse headed down the trail. Zak was trying not to panic. He wanted to remain calm since he knew that Onyx had not been ridden in a while and did not want him to be nervous. He also wanted to be alert enough to pick up any trace of Dusty since he was not 100% sure which way he went. He decided to try the trail that he and Dusty went on the most, thinking that that would be Dusty’s first option. He kept Onyx at a walk

I'm done for tonight, but now that I don't have to wait for approval, I hope to get the rest posted tomorrow night...

RIDING LESSONS By Andrew Todd Chapter 15 The boys quickly settled into a routine at the ranch. Mr. Jones had insisted that they have at least one day a week off. The boys had agreed to take Mondays off, since the weekends were their busiest days and Zak had Driver’s Education classes every Monday morning. This way he could go to class and schedule his practical driving time for right after class. Dusty would spend Monday mornings running errands for his mother or working around the house

RIDING LESSONS By Andrew Todd Chapter 14 Zak and Dusty laughed as Spin excitedly bounced around the camp. “C’mon, you guys. I wanna go swimming.” Dusty looked at him. “Ok, ok. First take the bridle off of Marty. You don’t want that getting wet.” While Spin did as he was instructed, Zak and Dusty stood up and walked over to where he and Marty stood. Dusty put his thumb and forefinger to his lips and let out one of his ear piercing whistles. Phoenix came running with Bob close behind. S

RIDING LESSONS By Andrew Todd Chapter 13 Dusty had Zak stop Bob right before they reached the clearing at the lake. “Ok, I want you to shut your eyes and don’t open them until I tell you,” Dusty instructed. “And how am I supposed to know where we’re going?” “I’m going to take Bob’s reins and pony him alongside Phoenix,” Dusty answered. “Just close your eyes.” Zak smiled at Dusty and did as instructed. Dusty reached over and pulled Bob’s reins over his head and moved Phoenix into the c

RIDING LESSONS By Andrew Todd Chapter 12 Dusty came flying around the corner and slammed right into Spin, knocking the smaller boy over. “Hey!!” exclaimed Spin. “Watch out!!” Dusty stopped and reached down to give Spin a hand up. “Sorry, Spin. Did you see Zak come by here?” Spin scrambled to his feet. “Yes, he had me waiting here with Max and Marty cuz he wanted to ask you if he should leave Max saddled up for your ride to the lake. Then he came tearing out around the corner, just like

RIDING LESSONS By Andrew Todd Chapter 11 Dusty put the truck in gear and they pulled out of the school parking lot. “Ready for the summer?” Dusty asked. Zak grinned at him. “I’m more excited about this summer than any I can remember.” “I’ll remind you of that thought when you’ve been doing non-stop trail rides for five days straight,” Dusty teased. “I don’t care,” Zak laughed. “I feel so good about this summer and about working at the ranch. You, Spin, Debbie, Joe and Mr. Jones have b

RIDING LESSONS By Andrew Todd Chapter 10 Zak stood at his locker emptying the debris of another school year into a trashcan. It was the last day of school and he was so glad it was over. He was so excited. Dusty would be here in a few minutes to pick him up. It was Thursday and Mr. Jones had given them Friday and Saturday off as a ‘last chance at fun before the summer begins’ holiday. Dusty was going to take him on a trail ride and they were going to camp out at the lake. He didn’t know

RIDING LESSONS By Andrew Todd Chapter 9 Dusty dragged Zak into the office, where Mr. Jones was sitting at the desk doing paper work. “Hey, guys,” Mr. Jones said. “Zak, did Dusty bring you to show you…” “Shhh,” Dusty laughed. “I haven’t told him yet.” Mr. Jones grinned. “Oh, ok. So what can I help you boys with?” “Well, Zak has a name for the filly.” “Well, good, we can’t keep calling her ‘Hey, You’. What is it, Zak?” Zak had lost all his excitement. What if Mr. Jones didn’t like the

RIDING LESSONS By Andrew Todd Chapter 8 Zak looked at the mare lying in the stall. “You’re not serious?” he asked Dusty. “She’s not having a baby right now?” Dusty looked at Zak and grinned. “Oh, yes she is. Look, see all that fluid. She’s in labor. This foal is coming now.” “What do we do?” “Well, if everything goes right, we shouldn’t have to do much of anything. Horses have foals in the wild all the time. She’ll only need us if the foal is breech or if he’s not coming out. Why don’t

RIDING LESSONS By Andrew Todd Chapter 7 “Hey, where did you get this scar?” Zak asked as his fingers traced the small scar on Dusty’s stomach. Dusty’s hand stopped stroking Zak’s back. Zak looked up into Dusty’s eyes. He had a faraway look. Zak was suddenly scared that he had overstepped. He pushed himself up into a seated position. “Dusty, I’m sorry, I was just curious. If you don’t want to talk about it you don’t have to.” Dusty pulled Zak back to him so that Zak was snuggled up again

RIDING LESSONS By Andrew Todd Chapter 6 “Don’t even think about it.” Zak hadn’t seen Dusty come around the corner of the barn looking for him, nor had he heard him drive up. He was too distracted planning his clandestine ride. He was still standing on the second plank of the fence, with one hand balancing on the fence and the other resting on Onyx’s back. Hearing Dusty’s voice, Onyx stepped away from the fence. This caused Zak to lose his balance and he fell forward into the paddock. “O

Wow!! A blog... Never thought I'd be doing this, though if you had told me a month ago that I'd a written 24 chapters of a story that generated the kind of response that my first story "Riding Lessons' have I'd have just laughed it off. Before I get started, i do want to take a moment to thank all of the folks who have been so generous in their praise and forthcoming in their critism of my first writing effort. I thought maybe I'd get a few e-mails and then the story would end up being one of those stories that gets buried 5 pages in on Nifty. Now, here I am a little over a month after the first chapter posted and I'm still getting these wonderful e-mails for each chapter. The greatest surprise was getting e-mails from writers that I had been following and having them offer me praise and encouragement. It's like being a neophyte singer and having Barbra Streisand give you a complement. Shout outs to Ricky ('Blind Sensations'), reddirtwriter ('Maverick Cattle Company'), David Lee ('Tommy and Tanner'), Bobby Chester ('Jamie Lawrence') and Chris Johns ('Beautiful Fawns')...some of these awesome writer can be found here and some on Nifty...check them out... Also on Nifty in the 'Beginnings' section you can check out my other story "Ryan" written for and inspired by fellow writer, Ryan White (find his stories in the Prolific Authors Section...my personal favorite is 'Together for Christmas')...can't be published here cuz it's apparently got too much nookie and not enough 'story'... So what do I want to do with my blog? Hmm... Well, I'm a movie, music and book nut (all kinds of books, including comics)...so a large part of this blog will probably be me offering suggestions and review of new entertainment offerings. I'm also a political junkie...(please don't throw anything)...so I'm sure comments on the events of the day will creep in. And I love my sports...especially football...Go Pats!! So there will be some of that. And I'll probably answer some of the questions that seem to pop up in my e-mails from time to time (if you have any of your own... atodd867@gmail.com) Basically, it's what is says up there...a glimpse inside my twisted little mind... Just might be fun...

RIDING LESSONS By Andrew Todd Chapter 5 Dusty turned off the truck and got out. He went around back to lower the gate. He looked at his Great Dane, Herc, and shook his head at him. “I don’t know why I have to open this for you to get out; you manage to get in there on your own.” The dog trotted across the truck bed and leapt to the ground. He ran around to the side of the house. Dusty walked after him and as he rounded the corner he saw the dog relieving himself on his favorite tree in