Her mother was over by the fence under a big frilly umbrella. She had on a pale pink sundress and diamonds that sparkled in the sun. I knew she’d gone out of her way to secure a horse that would win for her daughter and I bet she was pretty devastated that Tara hadn’t made it into the Talent Scout class so that probably meant there was added pressure for her to win. I wasn’t quite sure why her mother was dressed like she was at the Kentucky Derby though instead of a jumper show.
“Good luck,” I said to Tara as we bumped into each other leaving the ring.
“Drop dead,” she snarled back.
It was kind of nice to see that some things hadn’t changed after all.
CHAPTER FORTY TWO
Our class was being held in one ring while the pre-teen jumpers were being held in the ring across from us. It was kind of distracting because they were a lot louder and far more rowdy than we were and had parents that hung on the fence and screamed for their kids to kick on and gallop faster. Apparently when you were only ten it was acceptable for your parents to yell and shout. I would have died if my father had ever done that to me and Esther used to have a strict policy that if parents attended the shows then they were supposed to be seen and not heard.
I stood with Socks under the shade of a tree. It was late in the afternoon and I’d been worried about thunder storms but even though we’d heard a couple of rumbles, the storms had skirted around the horse park, which had kept us dry but also very hot. I’d almost hoped for a quick downpour to cool us off but it never came.
Tara was third to go. My heart fell when I saw Encore. She had him all worked up, which was hard to do since he was a pretty laid back horse. I wondered if they had him pumped up on sweet feed and supplements or something else. I didn’t think this show was big enough or important enough to do drug testing but if they had then I was almost convinced that they would find Encore high on something.
He spooked at fences that he wouldn’t have batted an eye at back when I had been riding him and when the bell rang, he thundered forward. Tara clung on for dear life as he careened around the course, sending poles flying. They may have been fast but they racked up twenty faults and came out of the ring to a mild consolatory round of applause. I snuck a look at her mother who was still sitting under her ridiculous umbrella, looking at her nails instead of her daughter like they were the most important things in the world. I wondered if we’d be getting a call from her after the show, demanding a refund.
“Did you see?” I asked Dad who had come to stand next to me. “Did you see what she did to him?”
“He’s not our horse Em,” Dad said. “He never was. We can’t do anything about it.”
“I know,” I said with a sigh. “It still sucks though.”
But my words were drowned out by a deafening round of applause and cheering from the pre-teen ring.
“What on earth is going on over there?” Dad said.
“I don’t know.” I shook my head. “But it sure sounds more exciting than our boring class.”
CHAPTER FORTY THREE
We wandered over to the other ring because I was second to last to go and there were still a bunch of people ahead of me in my own class. I didn’t need to see anyone else go to know what I needed to do, I already knew. Socks and I had it in the bag, unless someone else pulled out an amazing round and so far it wasn’t looking that way. In a speed class people were usually careless and you couldn’t just throw caution to the wind if you wanted to win. So far there had only been one clean round and they had been pretty slow.
“Look at that kid go,” I said, pointing to the kids ring.
They were already doing their jump off rounds and pony jumper kids were some of the most fearless creatures on the planet. The one who was in there now was on the back of a small dark bay pony. The kid was galloping around the course with the sort of precision that you usually didn’t see.
“I don’t know who that is but I want her at our barn,” Dad said as the kid executed a perfect rollback and ducked between two fences to steal the class.
The pony pranced her way out of the ring while the kid patted her neck with both hands, letting the reins fall loose. Then she jumped off and hugged a girl with her arm in a sling and gave the reins to her. I suddenly had a weird feeling that I knew who she was and when she pulled her helmet off and I saw that spikey haircut that was far too mature for her age, I knew.
“Faith!” I cried.
CHAPTER FORTY FOUR
Faith won the class on a pony she’d never ridden before for a girl who’d fallen off in the warm up ring and hurt her arm. Faith had been there to swoop in and offer her catch riding services like a pro. The kid was stealing my thunder and my clients and my idea but I couldn’t be mad at her because she’d done such an amazing job.
“I guess you don’t need to poach the kid, she’s already ours,” I told Dad as Faith rode the pony back in to the ring to get her blue ribbon. “And I guess you can’t be mad at her for running off now.”
“We’ll see about that,” Dad said but he clapped as Faith took her victory gallop and then came out of the ring.
Her smile fell when she saw us. She handed off the pony and came over, her head hanging low.
“How much trouble am I in?” she said.
“We’ll talk about it later,” Dad told her. “But nice ride. I like a kid with initiative.”
“Thanks, I think,” she said, perking up again.
After Faith’s little exhibition, I knew I had to nail my class.
“This is it,” I told Socks. “This is your thing. Let’s go in there and nail it.”
We walked into the ring and I patted his neck and showed him the scary yellow plank fence that a lot of the horses had backed off at. Socks snorted once and then got over it. He was a pro like that. Then the bell rung and I closed my legs around his sides. He took off like a rocket, galloping over the first fence. I knew just how much speed I could ask him for while still keeping the fences up and he didn’t disappoint me. His ears were pricked as he galloped and jumped his way around the course and as we came down to the final line I knew that the only thing I had to worry about was him bolting out of the ring. He hadn’t done it with me but he did it with Missy at the last show and I was concerned that maybe he’d rekindled his old habit but not concerned enough to slow him down.
We galloped over the blue oxer and down to the white vertical and Socks cleared it with room to spare. As soon as we were through the finish line I turned him away from the gate and dropped the reins, letting my legs go slack against his sides. He let out a huffing snort and broke into a ragged trot and then a walk.
“Good boy,” I cried, patting his neck. “Good boy.”
And we won the speed class. Not because Socks was the best horse there because there were many horses with better breeding and better training and to be honest better riders. It was just that we were hungry for it and we went out there and fought for it and when they pinned the blue ribbon on his bridle he snorted at it and rolled his eyes until they took it off and pinned it on his breastplate instead.
“What’s the matter boy?” I asked him. “Scared of ribbons now? You shouldn’t be scared of that one. It means you were the best today.”
As we took our victory lap I saw Tara’s mother’s beady eye watching us and wondered if Socks would be the next horse that she showed up demanding to buy. But I didn’t think Missy would ever sell Socks. At least I hoped not. Although I was starting to figure out that in this business horses were always for sale, if you opened your wallet wide enough.
CHAPTER FORTY FIVE
Faith paraded around the show grounds like she owned the place. It took every power of persuasion that I possessed to get her to sit down in front of our stalls and keep quiet because it looked like my father was going to blow a gasket if she bragged about her blue ribbon one more time. Because even though she didn’t get to keep it, the little girl with the sling did, she wouldn’t shut up about it.
�
��Do you think that I’ll be able to get more rides?” she said, her eyes big. “Because that girl gave me fifty bucks to ride her pony. Think of all the money that I could make if I rode lots of other girls ponies.”
I shook my head and sighed. Faith was doing what I’d planned to do before I ended up with too many horses and not enough time. Now I already had plenty of my own horses to show and a project horse at home that I was supposed to be working on as well. Who had time to catch ride when all that was going on? Apparently Faith did.
“Look, I’m really happy that you got to ride and that you won and everything worked out but I have to think about my own horses right now,” I said.
I was rinsing Socks off with a nice liniment bath. We’d won our class too and you didn’t hear us bragging. I liked Faith but it seemed like all of a sudden she’d got too big for her breeches. Someone needed to take her down a notch or two. I just wasn’t sure who. It was too bad that the Melanie girl she’d been all crazy to beat at the last show didn’t seem to have made it to this one.
“Why don’t you go and cheer Ethan on?” I said. “His class is soon.”
“Why?” she said, propping her feet up on a muck tub. “He won’t win. He doesn’t put enough effort into his riding.”
“Isn’t that for his trainer to say, not you?” A smartly dressed woman and man had appeared in front of our stalls. The woman looked down on Faith with a frown.
“Mom,” she cried, jumping to her feet. “What are you doing here?”
“We came to watch your brother just like you should be doing. Now come on. And why are you dressed to ride? Your pony isn’t even here.”
“I know,” Faith mumbled, walking after them with her head down.
“Just in the nick of time,” I told Socks as I used the sweat scraper to get all the water out of his coat.
I loved Faith like a little sister but sometimes she was just as annoying as a little sister too. Socks pinned his ears and tried to kick me when I ran the scraper under his belly.
“I know,” I said. “It tickles, I’m sorry. Here, have a treat.”
I gave him a cookie from the big tub that one of the other parents had brought for all the Fox Run horses. They were the good kind full of molasses and oats. Socks crunched it happily as I put him back in his stall.
“Thanks for being so awesome,” I told him. “I wish Missy could have been here to see how well you went for me today.”
I hoped that Missy would have been proud of me too and not jealous like she had been in the past because I only wanted the best for Socks and I really did love him like he was my own, even though he wasn’t.
CHAPTER FORTY SIX
We all stood by the fence and cheered Ethan on. Wendell was a good horse and a fantastic jumper and they had a clear first round but clipped an unlucky rail in the jump off and placed third.
“Not bad for an eventer,” Ethan said, patting his chestnut horse on the neck as he came out of the ring with a yellow ribbon.
“Not as good as first though,” Faith said.
“We know, you’re the best.” Ethan sighed.
“Faith,” her mother snapped. “Don’t be so conceited.”
“Sorry,” she said but she didn’t sound like she meant it.
At least someone was trying to keep her in line though. I wondered what her parents would say about her little catch riding enterprise.
The Talent Scout class wasn’t until later so we ate food in the shade of the trees and watched the sun set. It lit up the sky with oranges and pinks and then the first star appeared in the violet blanket of night and the mosquitos came out.
“This sucks,” Faith said, slapping her arm. “Why do they think I’m so tasty?”
“Because you are,” Ethan growled, swooping her up in his arms and spinning her around.
She let out a shriek and leapt away from him and soon they were chasing each other around. I watched and laughed but didn’t join in. I couldn’t help wondering if Summer and I would have been like that if she’d still been alive. If we would have hated and loved each other all at the same time. Sibling relationships were complicated and I couldn’t remember enough of ours to know if we’d really been friends or rivals.
Missy showed up later with Owen in tow. He was in the giant stroller that acted as a playpen, bed and diaper changing station all rolled into one. It pretty much did everything you could ever ask for, except make cups of coffee, which would have been awesome because I was starting to feel really tired.
“I didn’t know you were coming,” I said.
“I wouldn’t miss your big class,” she said.
“It’s not a big deal.” I shrugged.
“But it is,” she replied. “And how did my speedy boy do?”
Her eyes fell on the blue ribbon that I’d pinned to the stall and for a moment I thought I saw a flash of regret cross her face but then it was gone, replaced by a smile.
“You won!” she cried.
“He was awesome. He totally nailed it,” I said.
Owen giggled and reached out his chubby fingers for the fluttering blue satin and I took the ribbon off the stall and gave it to him.
“Look,” I said. “Your mommy’s horse won that.”
“He’ll spoil it,” Missy warned as Owen shoved the ribbon into his mouth.
“That’s okay,” I said. “It’s yours anyway.”
Because just like Faith hadn’t got to keep her ribbon, I knew that one really belonged to Missy because Socks was her horse and really I was only catch riding him for her after all.
CHAPTER FORTY SEVEN
It was under the lights that I first caught a glimpse of Jess riding her new horse. He was a big black Holsteiner with a white star on his face and three white socks. His coat shone and his neck was crested. His name was Valor and it looked like he was ready to ride into battle but Jess didn’t look out of place on his back. In fact she looked like she belonged there. She cantered the big horse easily around the warm up ring and he hopped over the warm up jump like it was a tiny pile of sticks instead of a three foot oxer. Jess had improved a lot since the last time I saw her ride. All of her sloppy bad habits had disappeared and instead had been replaced by a confident rider with a secure seat and quiet hands.
“We’re in big trouble,” I whispered to Bluebird.
Sitting there on my pony, I felt like I was a little kid crashing a teenager’s party. It was so blatantly clear that Bluebird was not in the same league as these horses. He was small and plucky and could gallop and make turns that the big horses couldn’t but they had power that he could only dream of. They could jump higher and stretch out over the jumps in a way that Bluebird never would be able to with his short legs. Just thinking about it made me feel sick. We’d made it this far so we obviously had some kind of talent but in the face of all this competition, I didn’t know if it was going to be enough.
“Hello stranger,” a boy said.
It was Andy, his freckled face grinning at me.
“You’re here,” I cried, hugging him tight.
“Of course,” he said. “We qualified, same as you, remember?”
“I’ve never been so happy to see anyone in my whole life,” I said.
His gray horse Mousse was standing there looking every bit a champion in a matching emerald green saddle pad and ear bonnet.
“What’s the matter?” he said. “Becka and Tara giving you a hard time?”
“Not really,” I said. “Well, we kicked Tara’s butt in the speed class and Becka isn’t even riding. I thought she was but apparently the rumor is that she’s in-between horses, whatever that means.”
Andy laughed. “It means she hasn’t found anything she can win on yet.”
“That’s who I’m really worried about.” I pointed to Jess and Valor who were still cantering around the ring.
“Wow,” he said with a whistle. “Nice horse.”
“I know. That’s Jess, the girl I told you about.”
“The mean
one?”
“Yes but now she’s all nice.”
“Real nice or fake nice?” he said.
“Good question.”
CHAPTER FORTY EIGHT
Everyone in the class had horses. I was the only one riding a pony. And as if I didn’t feel self-conscious enough, random strangers that I didn’t even know kept coming up to me and telling me how cute he was. Cute was fine but I’d have preferred it if people thought he was going to kick their butt instead of give little kids a pony ride.
I walked the course with Andy and my dad. The jumps were fancy and the course was technical. I nodded and made notes but when Andy went off to warm up, I pulled my father to one side.
“Do you think that Bluebird can really do this?” I asked him.
“You are asking me this now?” he said. “Right before one of the biggest classes of your career? Where is your confidence in your pony and yourself?”
“I don’t know,” I mumbled, looking at my boots. “Maybe Faith stole it.”
“Maybe Faith should ride in the class instead of you then,” Dad said. “Because if you go in there doubting then you definitely won’t win. Don’t you have faith in your pony?”
“Of course I do,” I said. “I know he’ll try his best. I’m just not sure that his best will be good enough against horses like that.”
I pointed to Valor who was standing there like the war lord of horses, ready to charge into battle and strike down everyone in his path.
Chasing Ribbons (Show Jumping Dreams ~ Book 19) Page 10