Turf Wars (Show Jumping Dreams ~ Book 8)

by Claire Svendsen

  “I don’t know.”

  “Yes you do, come on now. We were just starting to get along so well.”

  I thought about telling him my dream and how stupid it would sound, a thirteen year old with gold medals in her eyes and her feet nowhere near the ground but all I had was my dreams and if I didn’t believe in them then who would?

  “I’m going to ride in the Olympics one day,” I said. “You trained Missy Ellison. I wanted you to think I was as good as her.”

  I expected him to laugh at me but he didn’t. How many of his students told him that they wanted to ride in the Olympics? All of them? He probably heard it every day. Kids with stars in their eyes and parents with the money to back it up and what did I have? An impossible dream, some raw talent and not much else.

  “I have to cool him off.” I walked Bluebird away.

  Frank just nodded and watched me go. His students were standing up at the barn watching me. They’d probably all seen me fall and had a good laugh about it. I blinked back the tears that were pricking in the back of my eyes and instead of taking Bluebird back to the barn, I turned him away and we walked into the shade of the trail.

  It shouldn’t have mattered. Everyone fell off sometimes, even Olympic riders. But I wasn’t used to having people laugh at me out at the barn. It was my safe place. My refuge. At school I was the butt of every joke. The poor kid with thrift store clothes but I took it because I knew that at the barn I was a star. I was the one people looked up to and wished they could be but now what was I? The girl who fell off in front of a big name trainer and all his rich students. I wrapped my arms around Bluebird’s neck and started to cry.

  CHAPTER ELEVEN

  In the days that followed, the group lesson morphed into individual lessons and Frank’s kids rotated in and out of the ring on their horses and ponies hourly. And when they weren’t in there, Melanie was lunging the ones that hadn’t been ridden that day. So much for schedules and sharing the time in the arena. I didn’t really mind riding in the field but it would have been nice to get in the ring every once in a while and I wasn’t the only one who was kind of mad about it. I’d heard Esther’s few remaining clients talking about leaving.

  “You know what Esther told me?” Ethan asked.

  We were sitting in the tack room, sharing a sandwich. Faith was out in the aisle, tacking up Princess even though Esther had disappeared again.

  “You actually talked to her?” I said. “In person? Because I keep hoping I’ll run into her but I never see her. She must be taking care of the horses in the middle of the night or something.”

  “She said that lessons were suspended.”

  “What?” I cried. “What’s that supposed to mean? Isn’t she going to teach us anymore?”

  “I guess not,” he said. “But she’s letting my parents lease Princess for the summer.”

  “I don’t get it.” I shook my head. “Do you think she’s afraid of looking stupid in front of Frank or something?”

  “I don’t know,” Ethan said. “But if she doesn’t get her act together soon, she’s going to lose the few people she has left. What’s the point of staying here if we can’t take lessons or go to shows?”

  Ethan threw his soda can towards the trash can and missed it completely. He didn’t bother and pick it up. I knew he was disappointed and so was I. We were both hoping that Esther would take us to the summer shows but if she wasn’t even teaching lessons then it was pretty unlikely that she’d bother to take us anywhere. I hated to admit it but Ethan was right. We weren’t bad riders but we still needed a trainer.

  “Maybe she’s just taking the summer off?” I said. “Letting Frank do his thing while she gets her finances back on track. I bet when he leaves then everything will go back to normal.”

  “Who says they are leaving?” Mickey said.

  She’d finally appeared but it was clear she wasn’t prepared to ride since she was wearing really short shorts and a sheer pink tank top. She had perfectly tanned legs, unlike my bleached white ones that hardly ever saw the sun. Obviously she was more interested in impressing Jake than I had realized.

  “I don’t know,” I said. “I thought it was just a summer thing.”

  “Jake says that they might stay.” She grinned.

  “Why on earth would they stay?” Ethan said. “There is nothing here. We are way out in the sticks. The only thing to do around here, other than ride, is go to the beach.”

  Ethan was right. There were some great shows in Florida but we weren’t exactly close to any of them. We were stuck somewhere in no man’s land in the middle.

  “If they stay, what happens to Esther?” I said.

  “I don’t know,” Mickey said. “But she doesn’t seem to care so why should we?”

  I looked around the tack room in dismay at all the empty spaces left by the boarders who had moved on when Esther leased out one half of the barn to Frank. I wasn’t sad to see some of them go, like Linda with Fly. She was one of the more high maintenance boarders and it was a relief not having to worry every time I saw her that she was going to criticize my stall cleaning or accuse me of not feeding her horse enough. But we’d lost some good people too like Ruby, the girl that used to help out, and the kids who rode in the group lessons. Some of them had probably gone to other barns, like Fox Run where Jess rode. Barns that were bigger and better than Sand Hill with trainers who actually wanted to take their students to shows.

  “We have to do something,” I said.

  “Like what?” Ethan said. “We can’t make Esther care about us.”

  Faith appeared in the doorway, a big grin on her face. I knew she was just happy to have Princess all to herself for the whole summer and I couldn’t exactly blame her.

  “You ready to ride with me?” she asked Ethan.

  “Yeah, I’m coming,” he said.

  She disappeared and I heard her telling Princess that if she was a good girl then she could have a carrot after her ride and maybe she’d even put some glitter on her hooves.

  “See what I have to put up with now?” Ethan groaned. “My parents say that if Esther isn’t here then I have to ride with her.”

  “Faith’s not that bad,” I told him. “We could take turns riding with her if you like?”

  “Whatever,” he said. “This place sucks.”

  He stomped out of the tack room and I knew that when the summer was over, if Esther didn’t get it together, then he’d leave. I’d tried so hard to make him stay by putting on the hunter pace so that he wouldn’t go to an eventing barn and now Esther was just ruining all my hard work. It was like she didn’t even care about the horses or Sand Hill or any of us.

  “What should we do?” I asked Mickey.

  “Do whatever you want,” she said. “I’m going to go and watch Jake ride and then we are going to go for ice cream.”

  “Really?” I said.

  “Why not? Might as well take advantage of the fact that I’m having a good hair day.”

  She spun around a couple of times, fluffing out her hair and then she was gone and I was left sitting there, the only one who seemed to care. Out in the barn Frank was telling Peyton that she’d done better than yesterday. Was it really too much to want a trainer that would be that invested in me? Who cared enough to show up and teach me? Or did that only happen to those people who could afford to pay for it. After all, lessons weren’t free and it was starting to become apparent that unless you could pay for it, you were never going to get undivided, special attention from a trainer. Even if you were talented.

  CHAPTER TWELVE

  I waited ages for Esther to show up but she didn’t. Then I thought about going to her house, only I didn’t know where she lived. I knew it was close. She was always at the barn within five minutes of calling her if anything was wrong. Once upon a time she’d even talked about building an apartment over the barn but I guess there had never been enough money for that.

  Jake was out in the ring on Viper. I could see her tryi
ng to rear as Jake fought with her. Bored, I wandered over to watch. Maybe if he fell off too then I wouldn’t feel so stupid.

  “More leg, less rein.” Frank had walked over ahead of me and was now yelling at him. “How do you expect her to go forward when you have such a stranglehold on her face?”

  “I’m trying,” Jake yelled back.

  I’d never heard a student yell at a trainer before, especially one who was a big deal like Frank was.

  “You’re not trying,” Frank said. “You’re not even listening to what I am saying. You think you know best? Fine. Have at it.”

  He left Jake fighting with the mare and came over to the rail where I was standing.

  “Nice horse,” I said.

  “She is.” Frank nodded, completely missing my sarcasm. “With someone who knows how to ride her.”

  The mare was spinning in circles, her eyes wide and mouth open. I couldn’t figure out why they didn’t have her in a flash or figure eight noseband because she was completely evading the bit. In fact she reminded me of Fury and how sometimes it was easier not to fight but just let her think I was doing things her way instead.

  “What happens now?” I said curiously.

  “Jake figures out that my way is better than his,” Frank said.

  “Can’t you just yell at him until he listens?” I asked.

  “That’s not the way I work. I can’t teach someone who won’t listen to me.”

  The way he said it made me think about what I overheard when the kids first arrived. How they thought they were being punished for something. Maybe they were right. They were being punished for not listening but I didn’t really know why Frank was bothering with them at all. They weren’t the most talented bunch. He could have just shuffled them off onto some assistant trainer like Melanie. The whole thing was really strange.

  I watched in horror as Jake worked the black mare up into an even worse sweat and when she was well and truly frazzled, he pointed her at one of the jumps. The mare galloped out of control, flying over the fence and knocking the top rail down. The oxer was four strides down the line but the mare made it in two, tried to take off from too far away and then changed her mind at the last minute and slid to a spectacular stop. Jake flew over her head just like I’d done out in the field on Bluebird and I suddenly felt horribly guilty that I’d even thought it, especially since he didn’t get up right away.

  Viper galloped around the ring while Frank walked calmly over to Jake just as he had done to me. I could see Jake starting to move so I knew he was okay. I pulled a mint out of my pocket and rustled the wrapper. Viper stopped and pricked her ears, then she came over, her sides heaving in and out. I pretended like I didn’t even see her. When she stuck her nose out to see what I had, I turned away from her until she was practically pushing her whole head into my arm. Then I gave her the mint and took hold of the reins.

  “That wasn’t very nice,” I told her. “When my pony dumped me off, at least it was my fault but you did that on purpose.”

  She licked my hand and I patted her slick neck. She didn’t seem like a bad horse but she certainly wasn’t a good match for Jake. They clashed like oil and water. I could see him now, his face red with rage as he came over to where I stood. I expected him to snatch up the reins and get back up but instead he completely ignored me and walked right by.

  “Is he okay?” I asked Frank.

  “Bruised ego.” He winked at me.

  “But he’s not going to get back on?” I said.

  “No.” Frank shook his head.

  I stood there awkwardly, wondering why. Esther always made us get back on unless we were hurt so bad that we had to go to the hospital and even then it was a toss-up as to whether or not you got back on first and then went to the hospital after. I wasn’t used to seeing people just end their lesson on such a bad note.

  “But now she’s learned what she can get away with,” I called after Frank who was already walking away.

  He turned and stopped, then put his hands in his pockets and came back. It was probably wrong of me to question his methods when I should have been worshipping the ground he walked on. After all, he trained winners. He knew what he was doing. What did I know? Other than how to spectacularly put my foot in my mouth.

  I expected him to take the mare’s reins away from me and tell me that little girls shouldn’t question his methods but instead he just looked at me quizzically.

  “Think you can do any better?” he asked.

  CHAPTER THIRTEEN

  Every fiber of my being wanted to spring onto the black mare, gather up the reins and fly over the jumps but after what had happened out in the field, I knew that it was probably a bad idea. If I rode her, it would be to impress Frank and everything would go all wrong again.

  “I shouldn’t,” I said.

  “Why not,” Frank asked.

  “I don’t want to make Jake mad,” I lied.

  “Make him mad? You don’t even know him. Do you think that Missy got to the Olympics without stepping on a few toes?”

  I hadn’t really thought about it but I guessed he was right. Either you were committed to riding one hundred percent or you weren’t. I was still trying to decide what to do when Frank shook his head and then practically threw me up into the saddle.

  Since Jake was taller than I was, the stirrups were too long. Frank helped me adjust them while I patted the mare on the neck. Her muscles were hard and tight. She felt like she was ready to explode.

  “What should I do?” I asked.

  “Take her around on the rail and feel her out. See what you think. No pressure. Okay?”

  “Okay.” I nodded.

  The mare was very responsive, just a touch of my leg and she was already moving off and I was right, just like Fury, she didn’t like having her mouth messed with at all. I let her go on a loose rein, working her at a trot until she felt more relaxed. When I asked her to canter, she didn’t try anything funny.

  “Good girl,” I told her. “See, everything is going to be just fine.”

  “Great,” Frank called out, startling me.

  I’d been so focused on Viper that I’d forgotten he was there, which was good because it meant that so far I hadn’t done anything stupid.

  “Ready to try some fences?”

  I couldn’t exactly say no now since I’d already settled the mare, so I just nodded while Frank pointed out which ones to take.

  “Don’t do anything stupid now,” I told her as we cantered towards the first fence.

  But as long as I left her alone, she was fine. I didn’t try and rate her or fuss about with the reins. I just found a nice, easy pace and stuck to it, letting her flow over the fences. And when we got to the line that Jake had fallen at, she didn’t even balk, just took it in stride. I pulled her to a walk while Frank clapped.

  “Very nice,” he said. “Very nice indeed.”

  “Thank you.” I jumped to the ground.

  “What was your name again?”

  “Emily,” I said. “Emily Dickenson.”

  His face got this weird look on it. “Any relation to Rob Dickenson?”

  “No,” I said. “I don’t think so.”

  “Well,” he said. “Where ever you get it from, you have talent, that’s for sure.”

  I felt my face turn red as we walked back to the barn. Frank Coppell thought I had talent. I could live off those words for weeks. It would probably be the highlight of my entire summer. Only Jake didn’t think I’d done such a good job. In fact, from the look he gave me as I walked into the barn, I was pretty sure he was furious that I’d made a fool out of him. I busied myself under the saddle flap, loosening the girth so that I wouldn’t have to look at him.

  “Melanie will do that,” Frank said.

  “But I don’t mind. I can take care of her.”

  “That’s Melanie’s job.” He shook his head.

  Reluctantly I gave her the reins. It felt wrong to just hand the horse over, like I hadn’t finis
hed something. I always thought that the after ride care was sort of my way of thanking the horse and if I didn’t do it myself then how would they know they had done a good job? But I didn’t exactly have a choice.

  I stood there awkwardly while Melanie took the horse away to the wash rack and Frank went outside to take a phone call. Jake was staring at me, all the cuteness that had been there before now gone. He looked really mad.

  “It wasn’t my fault,” I said before he had a chance to yell at me. “Frank made me.”

  “He made you?” Jake crossed his arms. “He forced you up into the saddle and made you take those jumps.”

  “Pretty much,” I replied.

  He stepped forward and I backed away, suddenly worried that maybe he was going to hit me or something. But surely he wouldn’t? Frank was just outside. All I had to do was yell. I willed him to turn around and look but he was pacing about while he talked on the phone, completely lost in the conversation and unaware of what was happening inside the barn.

  “Listen here you little snot,” he said. “You make a fool of me again and you’ll be sorry, really sorry. Got it?”

  My back was against the wall and his breath was hot on my face. I fought back the tears that were threatening to spill out. I couldn’t let him see me cry. I had to pretend that I wasn’t afraid of him, even though I really was.

  “Maybe if you rode better, I wouldn’t have to bail you out like that,” I said. “You made yourself look bad and if you lay a hand on me, I’ll scream. Got it?”

  He didn’t say anything, just looked out to where Frank was finishing up his phone call and stepped away from me. I went into the bathroom and burst into tears, running the water so that no one would hear me crying.

  Where was Esther when I needed her? If she’d been here giving me lessons then this never would have happened. And what was I supposed to do if Frank asked me to ride again? Say no and jeopardize my riding career? Or say yes and get beaten up by Jake who obviously didn’t feel that threatening girls was beneath him.