Gift Horse (Show Jumping Dreams ~ Book 14)
Page 11
“You won’t run away with me, will you boy?” I said.
His gray ears flicked back and forth as he listened to my voice and I told him what a good boy he was. He seemed curious about what we were doing but I must have taken him in the ring dozens of times by now so it was familiar territory. When I asked him to trot, he fell into it and it felt like his legs were going in a million different directions. He was strung out and uncoordinated but I didn’t love him any less.
“You’ve got your work cut out for you with that one,” Dad said as I circled around him.
I couldn’t stop grinning. In one short month, Arion had gone from a nameless horse that hated me to one who was happy to see me coming and was now letting me ride him. I didn’t think it would ever happen and part of me was worried he’d be dangerous like the horse that Tammy had told me about. And maybe there was a dangerous part inside him, a wild side that he had tapped into when he needed to defend himself from danger. But as Arion broke into a rocking horse canter, a grin spread across my face because even though I wasn’t jumping, I was cantering a horse that once was lost in a hurricane. And now he belonged to me.
THE END
COMING SOON
SHOW JUMPING DREAMS BOOK #15: HALF HALT
It’s February and love is in the air. With Valentine’s Day fast approaching, it suddenly seems more important than ever to hook up with someone. Mickey has to find the courage to tell Ethan how she really feels. Faith has a crush on the new boy in her lesson group. And all Emily can think about is how there must be something wrong with her because she couldn’t really care less about having a boyfriend.
But with the dressage show only weeks away, Emily must help her best friend try to concentrate on her riding instead of boys and she’s promised to be her groom at the show. So when her father encourages her to enter as well, best friends will suddenly become riding rivals. Can their friendship really survive the test?
And even though Jess has left Fox Run, her legacy lives on. Someone is pushing for Emily’s father to be investigated further in the horse drugging scandal that happened while he was in Europe and Emily knows that Jess and her father are behind it. She doesn’t want to believe that the allegations are true but does she really know her father well enough to be sure that he wouldn’t drug a horse to secure a win?
HALF HALT: CHAPTER ONE
“It’s working trot at C,” Miss. Fontain yelled. “Not lazy trot or maybe I’ll get some impulsion later trot but working trot.”
I was watching Mickey, sitting on the dead grass and half reading Retraining the Racehorse while watching her lesson. She had a look of concentration on her face as she pressed Hampton into a more forward trot but he didn’t like the amount of leg she applied and kicked out.
“What kind of score do you think you’ll get if he kicks out like that during your test?” Miss. Fontain screamed.
Mickey shrugged. It was better not to talk when Miss. Fontain was teaching. Your answer was never going to be the right one so it was easier to just keep your mouth shut. It didn’t help that Miss. Fontain actually was a really great dressage trainer, despite her rather prickly personality, and Mickey and Hampton had both improved loads since they started riding with her.
“Down the center line, halt, salute. Can you remember that at least?” Miss. Fontain sighed.
Hampton trotted lazily down the middle of the dressage ring and ground to a halt where his feet were nothing like square.
“I give up.” Miss. Fontain threw her hands up in the air and walked out of the ring.
Mickey walked Hampton over and slid to the ground.
“I suck,” she said, letting her horse eat the grass even though he had his bridle on. “And she hates me.”
“She doesn’t hate you,” I said. “She just wants you to be the best you can possibly be.”
“What, did you hear that on a commercial or something because that is the cheesiest thing I’ve ever heard?”
“Maybe,” I said. “I don’t remember.”
“Well I’m nothing like the best I can be and the show is only two weeks away.”
“It’s just pre show nerves,” I said. “It’s your very first dressage show, give yourself a break. It’s cool that you are even doing this. Nobody gets a blue ribbon at their first show.”
“You did,” she said, poking the ground with her dressage crop. “And my mom expects me to. She says she didn’t spend all that money on sparkly browbands for me to fail at something else.”
“She did not,” I said. “Your mom would never say that.”
“She thought it,” Mickey said. “I know she did.”
“Look, Hampton is just bored going round and round in circles all the time. Let’s go out on the trail for a bit. Blow off steam. I can have Ari tacked up in like two minutes.”
Arion was the horse I had rescued from the hurricane and now he was finally mine. We’d had a bumpy start but things had finally started to click between us. He was just really green and out of shape so I had him on a strict riding schedule. He only got one day off a week and so did I. My days were filled with riding both of my own horses, Bluebird and Arion, Missy’s horse Socks and whatever other horses my dad wanted me to work.
Now that I’d quit school my days were my own. I had a white board in the barn office where Dad marked out my days with lessons and rides. It was a million times better than going to school and I could already tell I was getting stronger every day. I had muscles in my legs that I didn’t even know existed.
My evenings were spent on the computer because even though I quit real school, I still had to get an education. I did my work online attending virtual school instead of a real one. It was awesome. I got to work at my own pace and pick my own courses. If I was lucky, I’d even graduate early. Plus it meant I didn’t have to sit in a classroom and have things thrown at my head.
“Wait here,” I told Mickey, taking her silence for agreement. “I’ll be right back.”
I ran into the barn, a spring in my step. Now that Jess had left for good it was like I could breathe again. The dark cloud that had been hovering over my head for far too long had been blown away by the wind that was my father’s outrage at the fact that his own daughter was being bullied right under his nose. I’d never had anyone stand up for me like that before and I was starting to love him more than I thought was possible.
I stuck my head into the office where he was sitting behind the desk, which was unusual for him because he rarely had time to sit there.
“I’m taking Ari out on the trail with Mickey,” I said. “Is that okay?”
He didn’t answer.
“Dad?” I said, stepping into the room.
He had something in his hands. An official looking letter. From the look on his face, it wasn’t the good kind.
“Dad?” I said. “What’s wrong?”
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Claire Svendsen fell in love with horses at age two when she got her first pony. The only trouble was that it wasn’t a real horse, it was a rocking horse. From that day on she begged, pleaded and bribed for lessons, riding clothes and a horse of her own. She had to wait and work really hard to finally get her first real horse but when she did, it was a dream come true. Over the years she has trained horses, given lessons and even run her own stable.
No longer able to ride due to injury, Claire lives vicariously through the characters in her books. When she’s not busy writing, you’ll find her hanging out at the barn with her retired Thoroughbred Merlin who loves carrots, apples and bowing on command.
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COLLECT THEM ALL
Other books in the Show Jumping Series by Claire Svendsen
#1 Secret Rider
#2 Pony Jumpers
#3 Winter Blues
#4 Star Pupil
#5 Sale Horse
#6 Last Chance
#7 Hunter Pace
#8 Turf Wars
#9 Beach Ride
#10 White Horses
#11 Trick Pony
#12 Off Course
#13 Winter Wonderland
#14 Gift Horse
(COMING SOON) #15 Half Halt
Table of Contents
CHAPTER ONE
CHAPTER TWO
CHAPTER THREE
CHAPTER FOUR
CHAPTER FIVE
CHAPTER SIX
CHAPTER SEVEN
CHAPTER EIGHT
CHAPTER NINE
CHAPTER TEN
CHAPTER ELEVEN
CHAPTER TWELVE
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
CHAPTER NINETEEN
CHAPTER TWENTY
CHAPTER TWENTY ONE
CHAPTER TWENTY TWO
CHAPTER TWENTY THREE
CHAPTER TWENTY FOUR
CHAPTER TWENTY FIVE
CHAPTER TWENTY SIX
CHAPTER TWENTY SEVEN
CHAPTER TWENTY EIGHT
CHAPTER TWENTY NINE
CHAPTER THIRTY
CHAPTER THIRTY ONE
CHAPTER THIRTY TWO
CHAPTER THIRTY THREE
CHAPTER THIRTY FOUR
CHAPTER THIRTY FIVE
CHAPTER THIRTY SIX
CHAPTER THIRTY SEVEN
CHAPTER THIRTY EIGHT
CHAPTER THIRTY NINE
CHAPTER FORTY
CHAPTER FORTY ONE
CHAPTER FORTY TWO
CHAPTER FORTY THREE
CHAPTER FORTY FOUR
CHAPTER FORTY FIVE
CHAPTER FORTY SIX
CHAPTER FORTY SEVEN
COMING SOON
HALF HALT: CHAPTER ONE
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
STAY CONNECTED & WIN A FREE BOOK
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