Star Pupil (Show Jumping Dreams ~ Book 4)

by Claire Svendsen

  CHAPTER THIRTEEN

  I was throwing my golden opportunity away. I knew it. Miguel knew it and I was pretty sure that Jess knew it too. She was looking pretty smug. Of course she knew that I’d never let her ride Bluebird in a million years. Finally she had her chance to make me look stupid.

  “I’m sorry Miguel,” I said. “Really sorry but there is no way that I will let Jess on the back of my pony.”

  “You think he’s too good for her?” he said, mocking me.

  “Yes,” I said. “But it’s not what you think.”

  “What is it then?” he asked.

  This was my chance. Should I out Jess to the whole group? Tell them that she abused him and then, when he couldn’t take it anymore and refused to do anything for her that she basically sent him off to slaughter? I wasn’t sure that ratting on Jess would win me any favors with Miguel. He seemed like the sort of guy who would frown on someone stabbing a fellow rider in the back.

  “It’s complicated,” I said.

  “Life is complicated,” he replied. “This is not. You switch horses or you get out of my clinic.”

  Tears welled up in my eyes but I blinked them back. Everyone was looking at me like I was crazy. That I was one of those riders who thought that her pony was too good for anyone else but it wasn’t like that at all. How could I make them understand?

  I got off Bluebird and led him over to where Miguel stood. Even when he was looking angry, he was cute. An angry, seriously handsome trainer who was my ticket to the big leagues if only I could get him on my side.

  “Jess used to own Bluebird,” I said quietly so that no one else could hear. “She didn’t treat him well and it’s taken a long time to get him back to the level he is at now. If I let her ride him, it will ruin his confidence. I’m sorry but I just can’t let that happen, even if it does mean that you’ll kick me out of the clinic and never give me a chance to ride on your team.”

  I stood there in front of him with a lump in my throat. Bluebird nudged my pocket, looking for treats. I was giving it all up for him and I’d do it again if I had to. There was no way I was going to let him be traumatized just for my own selfish gains.

  “I appreciate your candor,” he finally said quietly. “And instead of putting yourself first, you put your pony first instead.” He patted me on the back. “Good job.”

  The swell of relief washed over me like a giant wave. I’d risked everything to tell Miguel the truth and he hadn’t punished me for it. Instead I felt vindicated.

  “What did he say?” Becka asked.

  “Well I don’t think I have to leave and I don’t have to let Jess ride Bluebird,” I whispered back.

  “I wouldn’t have let her ride Topaz either,” she said.

  But I knew that it was only the extenuating circumstances that had saved Bluebird. Otherwise Jess would be on his back right now, riding him into the ground.

  “I will show you how it’s done,” Miguel said.

  He snatched Blue Midnight’s reins from Jess and hopped up on his back. The horse stood quietly while Miguel adjusted his stirrups and didn’t bat an eyelid when he asked him to go over every single jump in the ring. Blue Midnight cleared them all quietly and confidently and came back to the group looking even more smug than he had before.

  “So what is your problem?” he asked Jess.

  She just shrugged and looked down at her expensive boots.

  “Can anyone tell me what her problem is?” Miguel asked, swinging out of the saddle.

  “She’s crazy as bat shit,” Peter whispered and Becka giggled.

  I knew what her problem was but I felt like I’d already taken enough liberties today. I didn’t want to push my luck.

  “Come on people, speak up. Now is not the time to be shy,” Miguel said.

  “She uses too much leg,” someone called out.

  “She’s heavy handed,” said someone else.

  “No. She tries too hard,” Miguel said.

  I had a lot of ideas about Jess’s riding problems but I didn’t think that trying too hard was one of them. Jess smiled up at him, looking all sappy and stupid like he’d just handed her a compliment but then he continued.

  “She tries too hard to impress. It’s not about having the most expensive horse or the best of everything. That doesn’t make you a better rider. It’s hard work and sweat and tears.”

  The sappy look was gone. Now Jess had a scowl on her face.

  “Now time for lunch, don’t you think?” Miguel threw Blue Midnight’s reins back at Jess.

  No one was happier to be dismissed for lunch than me. I gave Bluebird an extra good brush after I untacked him and when he was cool, I tipped his grain into the fancy feed tub in the corner.

  “Don’t go getting used to this life of luxury,” I told him. “This is just temporary. You’ll be going back home soon.”

  I lay my head across his back as he ate, listening to his lips snuffling up the grain.

  “Awwww, you’re so cute,” Becka stuck her nose through the bars. “But come on, I’m starving!”

  Lunch was sandwiches in the barn lounge. There were comfy couches down one side facing a giant flat screen TV on the wall and tables and chairs set up on the other where we all ravenously ate our food. I sat at a table with Peter, Becka and a girl that Peter knew called Hadley. She had long blonde hair and a crooked smile. She seemed nice enough.

  “Which one is your horse?” I asked her, not quite remembering. The morning was a sea of faces partially obscured by helmets and feelings of joy and terror all mixed together.

  “Splash, the chestnut mare with the star and one white stocking,” she said.

  “Splash?” I said, not really remembering.

  “She has a splash of white under her belly. We had the first refusal at the bending line.”

  “Right,” I said, putting the pieces together. “She’s cute, your horse.”

  “Thanks, I’ve had her for almost a year and she’s really coming along nicely. She hadn’t really done much jumping before I got her.”

  “Thoroughbred?” Becka asked her.

  “Quarter Horse,” she grinned. “I know, she doesn’t look like one. What about your pony, what is he?”

  “Part gazelle, part giraffe,” I laughed. “But I don’t really know for sure. I rescued him,” I said, not ready to publicly divulge the awful truth about Jess yet.

  “You were lucky that Miguel didn’t make you switch horses after all,” Peter said. “I’d die if that crazy girl got to ride Rocket.”

  “I wouldn’t have minded riding hers though,” Becka said. “He’s amazing.”

  “He’s also familiar,” Hadley said. “Do you think he’s been around on the circuit or something?”

  “I don’t think so,” I said. “But I thought his name sounded familiar too. Knowing Jess, I’m sure she got him from one of the top riders overseas. He was in quarantine until right before the clinic.”

  We ate our sandwiches and divided up the remaining packets of chips, speculating over where Blue Midnight had come from and why Jess couldn’t ride him. It was like being at school, only a million times better, like a school where everyone wants to talk about the same things you do. Even though it was only the first day, I already felt kind of sad that the clinic was going to be over soon.

  After the plates and the mess had been cleared away, Miguel came in and dimmed the lights.

  “We don’t only learn by doing,” he said. “But also by watching.”

  He put in a DVD and we all settled onto the couches and cushions on the floor. A lot of the girls beckoned for Peter to go and join them on the couch but he just ignored them and settled into a pile with us in the corner.

  Up on the screen a giant Miguel came into focus on the back of a dapple gray horse. I felt a twinge of guilt. He reminded me of Harlow and if things had worked out differently then maybe I would have been here at the clinic with him instead of Bluebird.

  We all watched in silence as Miguel schoo
led over jumper courses and competed in shows on the back of many different horses. He rode with the ease of someone who had been doing it his whole life. Someone to whom riding was now second nature like walking or swimming but the video wasn’t all ribbons and smiles. There were several crashes, times where the horse had put in a dirty stop and Miguel was thrown over their head, left dangling by the bridle and unable to pull himself back up. It was tough to watch, especially the wrecks where the horse or Miguel came away limping. Seeing the other side of serious competition was sobering to say the least.

  The footage finished with Miguel winning the World Cup. There was everything I’d ever dreamed of, the ribbon, the big check, the crowd cheering as I took my victory gallop.

  “That would be so awesome,” Becka said.

  “That will be us one day,” I replied.

  And I felt like it would be because at that very moment the world lay at our feet and we could make our future anything we wanted it to be.

  “Okay, who’s ready to ride?” Miguel asked, flipping the lights back on.

  And from the cheer that went up, apparently we all were.

  CHAPTER FOURTEEN

  Bluebird looked at me like I was crazy when I brought the saddle back into his stall. He’d eaten his grain and all his hay and was taking a nap in the corner with his back leg cocked and eyes closed.

  “Sorry boy,” I told him. “You’re going to have to work really hard over the next few days but I’ll give you a whole week off when we get home, I promise.”

  “Don’t you pin your ears at me mister,” I heard Becka scold Topaz in the next stall.

  “He doesn’t want to go back to work either huh?” I called out to her.

  “This is not going to be fun,” she replied.

  It took ages for everyone to get their horses ready because no one was willing to fail inspection a second time but when we all finally got out to the ring, Miguel just took one look at us, nodded curtly and then led the way out to a set of colorful jumps in one of the grass fields.

  “All that grooming for nothing?” Becka moaned. “I should have known.”

  Better to be safe than sorry,” I said.

  “It’s all right for you,” Peter said. “He likes you.”

  I wasn’t sure that was exactly true. So far I’d just been lucky. Eventually I was going to screw up. It was just a matter of time.

  “Now, riding on grass is a lot different than in the ring,” Miguel said. “Can anyone tell me why?”

  “Because the horses are distracted by all the grass?” Hadley said, pulling Splash’s face out of a particularly juicy patch. It made me miss Mickey and Hampton. He would have been doing the very same thing.

  “Yes,” Miguel said. “Although your horse should be well trained enough to know not to snatch at the grass anytime she pleases. What else?”

  “The footing is different.”

  “There are lots of distractions.”

  “It’s a bigger, open space.”

  Everyone called out answers, keen to be praised by Miguel.

  “Yes. Yes. Yes,” he cried.

  “But can anyone tell me why jumping on grass is much more fun?”

  “Because it feels like you’re free,” I said.

  “Exactly,” Miguel grinned.

  “If I wanted to jump on the grass, I’d be riding cross country,” Jess groaned.

  “Many of the big show jumping competitions are on grass,” Miguel continued. “And if you want to win big money, you need to know how to ride on it. So let’s get on, shall we?”

  We warmed up on the flat in a big circle. Everyone’s horses were too tired to misbehave. Even Blue Midnight was obediently following Jess’s commands. Then we rode over the jumps, first separate lines and then, when Miguel was finally happy, we jumped the whole course. Bluebird was happy too. He always seemed to do better in the wide open spaces and we only had one rail down, a black and white vertical that was so flimsy it looked as though a small wind gust would knock it over. No one went clean. Everyone had rails or refusals and one girl fell off. Jess laughed at her which was ridiculous since she’d been the one who fell off that morning but Blue Midnight seemed extra tired. His head was low and his bottom lip hanging down as Jess leant out of the saddle and whispered something to the girl next to her.

  “What happened to him?” Becka said. “He looks like a totally different horse.”

  “Tired?” I said.

  “Or she drugged him,” Becka shook her head. “There is no way he is that tired just from this morning.”

  “I don’t think she would do that,” I said. “It’s wrong and it’s also kind of cheating.”

  But I knew Jess better than anyone else there and deep down I knew that was exactly the sort of thing she would do. She couldn’t afford another mess up like she’d had that morning and other than having the same jump down that I did, Blue Midnight had been the perfect horse.

  “She doesn’t seem like the kind of girl who would care about cheating her way to the top,” Becka said. “The only thing she cares about is getting there in the first place.”

  And I knew that Becka was right.

  That evening I rubbed a mild liniment gel on Bluebird’s legs and then put his standing wraps on. After taking care of Harlow, I was pretty much an expert and they came out looking great.

  “Is he okay?” Becka asked.

  “Fine. Just don’t want to take any chances,” I said. “He worked really hard today. I bet he has to be sore. I know I am.”

  I stood up and rubbed a spot on my back that was killing me.

  “Think this stuff is okay for humans?” I held up the bottle of liniment.

  “Want me to rub it on you and find out?” she grinned.

  “Better not,” I said. “I won’t get much riding done tomorrow if I break out in blisters or hives or something.”

  “True,” she said. “I ache in muscles I didn’t even know I had.”

  “Me too,” I said.

  I adjusted Bluebird’s sheet. There was a chill in the air tonight and another cold front was coming. I hoped that it would hold off until after the clinic was over. There was nothing worse than riding in the cold. Well, I suppose riding in the rain was actually worse. In fact I needed to stop thinking about bad weather scenarios all together. I didn’t want to jinx the rest of the clinic.

  “Hot chocolate?” I said.

  “Sounds good to me,” Becka grinned.

  Topaz was tucked in his stall next door wearing a royal blue sheet with monogrammed initials on his hip.

  “Fancy,” I said.

  “He hates it. That’s his third sheet this winter. He tries to rip it off with his teeth when no one is looking.”

  “Well, we’ll just have to keep an eye on him then,” I said, pointing to the window in the apartment that looked down into the barn.

  “Wouldn’t it be cool to live here all the time?” Becka said.

  “Yeah,” I agreed. “Totally.”

  Blue Midnight was standing in the corner of his stall dozing. Even though he had three or four different sheets and blankets hung on the outside of his stall, he wasn’t wearing any of them.

  “Do you think we should put one on him?” Becka asked.

  “And get yelled at because we touched him? No way,” I shook my head. If Jess thought that I’d been anywhere near her stall let alone actually inside it, she’d claim that somehow I sabotaged her in some way.

  “It’s too bad,” Becka said. “He really is a nice horse. I bet he cost a bundle.”

  “I’m sure he did,” I said. “And by the time Jess is finished with him, he won’t be worth anything at all.”

  Upstairs everyone seemed to have had the same idea that we came up with to combat the cool night air and our aching bones. There were marshmallows and chunks of chocolate strewn across the counter amidst a dusting of sugar.

  “I hope they saved some for us,” I said.

  We made our hot chocolate and went to our room. We
were so lucky that Becka had snagged us the room that had two beds in it. Being the only boy, Peter had a room all to himself and the rest of the girls were split between the remaining two rooms, one with two bunk beds and one with three single beds.

  “I feel bad for whoever is sharing with Jess,” I said, throwing myself down on the bed nearest the window. “She doesn’t share well with others.”

  “Good job I got here first then,” Becka smiled. “I bet if you were sharing with Jess, she would probably strangle you in your sleep or something.”

  “Probably,” I agreed.

  As Becka and I lay on our beds and talked horse, for a moment I forgot that she was Becka, a girl I’d only met at a show and talked to online. Instead she was someone who I had been friends with for a really long time. Someone who knew my greatest fears and desires. Someone I could trust.

  CHAPTER FIFTEEN

  That night I woke to rain battering the barn roof. The wind howled up under the eaves and then raced across the tiles like a demon. I got out of bed and pulled back the curtains, looking down into the barn where the horses slept. It was cool to be so high up and see them in their stalls. Some of them were sleeping, laying down in the deep shavings, their heads back and mouths open. Others stood in the corners, heads down and relaxed. I could see Bluebird, lying flat out like he was dead with only the occasional flick of his tail to tell otherwise.

  They all seemed too tired to care about the rain and the wind, except for Blue Midnight. He was pacing back and forth, his ears pinned back and every now and then he would strike the shavings with his hoof. Worried that he might be starting to colic, I watched for any signs of him biting his sides or starting to roll but he did neither. He just paced back and forth, occasionally letting out an ear piercing whinny.

  I wondered if I should go down and check on him. Wake one of the grooms or even Jess but the horse was upset and there was nothing that we could do about it. So I watched for a while until I couldn’t keep my eyes open any longer and then finally went back to bed.