“I guess,” I said.
I didn’t want to admit that he was right but I knew that he was. It had been a really scary thing to live through and I knew how lucky I was that Bluebird hadn’t been seriously injured and neither had I.
The vet came and popped the pellet out of Bluebird’s butt, leaving him with some ointment and antibiotics.
“But he’s going to be okay, right?” I asked him.
“Should be fine,” the vet said. “Might be sore for a few days but I wouldn’t worry too much. Just give him a few days off and watch for any unusual swelling.”
“I will, thank you,” I said.
I was digging in my backpack for my emergency stash of cash to pay the bill when my dad appeared with his check book.
“I’ve got it,” I said, rummaging harder.
“Don’t be ridiculous,” he said.
And he’d written off a check and given it to the vet before I could even protest further and part of me was grateful and the other part of me was mad because I could take care of my own pony and I didn’t need him to do it for me.
It was embarrassing, being the girl who galloped onto the show grounds and made a scene. People were already staring and talking about it and coming up to me and asking me what had happened, which was getting to be stressful because every time it was like I was reliving the whole thing all over again. Eventually Dad shooed everyone away but then the police came. They took statements and photos, including taking the picture from Dad’s phone that he’d taken of the bullet lodged in Bluebird’s rump. I gave descriptions of the two boys but I wasn’t sure how accurate they were since we were galloping for our lives when I stole the glances over my shoulder and to be honest they just looked like normal teenage boys, like a million other teenage boys. But the four wheeler was rather more distinctive. It had been blue but I’d caught sight of a dragon decal breathing fire down one side when I saw them stuck in the muck.
“I think I have a good idea who did this,” the sheriff said. “And to be honest, you’re lucky that it ended as well as it did.”
“I want those boys prosecuted to the full extent of the law,” Dad said, his arms crossed.
“Of course,” the sheriff replied, and then looked at me. “You sure you want to press charges?”
“I guess.” I shrugged.
I didn’t really know what it meant. Would they end up in prison? Or someplace where they kept teenage delinquents? And when they got out would they hunt me down and make me pay for putting them away?
“She does,” Dad said firmly, as though his word was final.
I didn’t have the strength left to tell him that he hardly had the right to make decisions for me and that he hadn’t done so since I was five and really those weren’t hard decisions at all since they were things like should I be allowed candy as a snack and could I go play with my friend down the street? And my mother had made most of those decisions anyway. Mom. Oh no. What was going to happen when she found out? She’d be back on the whole horses are evil bandwagon and I’d never be allowed to ride again.
“Do you think that maybe we could not tell Mom about this?” I said.
Dad was standing there reading his copy of the police report, which was really my copy but he had sort of snatched it up. He looked at me and shrugged.
“She doesn’t want to talk to me so I don’t know how I would be able to tell her anyway and if you don’t want to well then that’s your choice.”
“Thanks,” I said, not really sure if he was doing me a favor or just trying to save his own skin.
I went into Bluebird’s stall and hugged him tight.
“I’m so glad you’re okay and I’m sorry that you won’t get to show today.”
Dad looked at us. “He can’t show but you can if you like. I have a horse here that needs a rider.”
CHAPTER TWENTY ONE
My father didn’t really feel like a father. After all, I didn’t have much of a connection with the man I hadn’t seen in nine years. However, he did feel like a horse trainer who knew I’d just had a horrible fright on the back of a horse and the best thing for me would be to get back on and pretend like it had never happened. My mother would never have understood and she would have been absolutely livid about it but all I could think about was what horse was it I was going to get to ride.
“Really?” I said.
“Sure.” Dad looked at me and actually grinned for the first time, probably glad that I had a back bone and wasn’t some chicken daughter who was going to embarrass him.
I followed him to a stall where there was a beautiful bay gelding with a blaze and four white socks. His coat was a light liver color thanks to the fact that he’d recently been clipped.
“This is Socks,” Dad said.
“Socks?” I laughed. “That’s not very original.”
“Well his show name is Soliloquist Deity.” Dad shrugged. “You can call him that if you like but it’s a bit of a mouthful.”
“Wait a minute,” I said, the wheels turning in my head as the name triggered something. “Isn’t this…?”
“Missy’s horse?” Dad said. “Yes.”
“Then I can’t.”
I backed away from the stall. Socks wasn’t Missy’s top horse by a long stretch but he was one of the up and coming youngsters in her string. I knew she’d been bringing him up through the ranks and I knew that the last thing I wanted was to mess the horse up. I also wasn’t even sure that I wanted to ride any horse that had anything to do with Missy since I now considered her to be a horrible traitor and an awful person. Even though I knew that was completely irrational.
“He’s a fair ride,” Dad said, missing the point altogether. “You won’t have any trouble with him.”
I looked at the beautiful horse standing there, waiting for me to stop being stupid and ride him.
“What’s he entered in?” I asked.
“The speed class,” Dad said. “He likes to go fast.”
“So do I,” I whispered.
And just as I was about to say no, I saw Jess out of the corner of my eye.
“Jess isn’t entered in that class by any chance, is she?” I asked.
“Yes,” Dad said.
“Then I’m in.”
CHAPTER TWENTY TWO
Dad had gone to sort things out with the show secretary and I was in Socks stall getting to know him when Jess stormed over.
“What are you doing?” she snapped.
“What does it look like?” I said. “I’m talking to the horse.”
“Yes but why?”
She was already dressed in her show clothes, her hair braided and sparkly helmet in her hands. Obviously she’d been oblivious to all the commotion that I had caused or else she just ignored the fact that something was going on because it didn’t involve her.
“Because I’m going to ride him, that’s why,” I said, patting Socks on the neck.
Jess laughed. “That’s a good one. Like Missy would let you ride him. In your dreams.”
“I am riding him,” I said.
“Rob, she’s not going to ride Socks, is she?” Jess said as my Dad came over.
Rob? That was what he was going by now? I raised an eyebrow but my Dad ignored it.
“Yes she is,” he said.
“But you can’t let her. She’s awful. She’ll ruin him.”
I felt a warm glow of satisfaction as I realized that Jess didn’t know this was my father. She’d been riding with him and she had no idea. I just smiled sweetly at her, not ready to give away the secret just yet.
“She’s riding,” Dad said. “Let it go.”
“Fine but it’s not fair.” Jess stormed off.
“I can’t believe that you are actually teaching her,” I said.
“I’m not really. She doesn’t listen. Now look, you need to get up in the saddle and get warmed up. Socks is a fair ride but he’s not an easy ride. He likes to get to know the person on his back before he goes well for them.”
“That’s okay,” I said. “I’m used to quirky horses.”
“Good.” Dad said but he didn’t look convinced.
I wondered how much of a leap of faith he was taking by putting me up on Missy’s horse and whether or not she actually knew considering it didn’t look like she at the show.
Socks’ tack was made of rich, supple leather that looked like it cost a fortune. The saddle pad was sheepskin and brand new. I ran a soft brush over his already spotless coat and tacked him up. He pinned his ears when I did up the girth and then tried to bite me.
“Sorry boy,” I said. “I get it, you’re sensitive. I’ll just keep it loose for now and do it tighter later, is that okay with you?”
He stopped pinning his ears and trying to bite me so I guessed that it was.
“You good to go?” Dad said as I put on my helmet.
“Yes,” I said.
“Okay, I’ll meet you in the warm up.”
I took Socks out of his stall and gently did the girth up tighter. My father had left without even so much as an offer of a leg up and Socks was tall and lanky. I was hopping about trying to get up into the saddle when Jess rode by on Hashtag.
“He’s setting you up to fail. You know that, right? You’re going to make a big, fat fool of yourself and everyone is going to laugh at you when you fall off,” she said.
I didn’t answer because I hoped that she was wrong but I also didn’t really know my father well enough to know that he wasn’t setting me up to fail because after all, he didn’t really know me either.
CHAPTER TWENTY THREE
I finally managed to get up in the saddle after a lot of hopping and bouncing about. It wasn’t my fault. Socks was really tall and lanky and I was kind of short. I looked around, glad that other than Jess, no one had seen me making a fool of myself. But would I be making a fool of myself in the ring? I hoped not.
We walked over to the warm up area. Socks looked around, his big ears pricked. Riding him was like riding a giraffe compared to Bluebird. He strode over the grass like a runway model, daring people to admire him and I had to admit, he had quite a presence and people did stop and look. Only they weren’t looking at Socks. They were looking at me and wondering why I was up on his back.
In the warm up area Jess was careening wildly over a plain white vertical. Hashtag was bracing against the bit and tossing his head. I didn’t know what had happened. It had all been going so well for them and I knew that she liked the horse more than any of the others her father had ever bought her. Then it hit me. That was why it was all falling apart. At the last show she had retired from the class to stick it to her Dad and he in turn had threatened to take Hashtag away from her. Now she was messing it all up so that if he really did take him away then she wouldn’t care so much. Or maybe she was just being an idiot for the sake of it but I wanted to believe that underneath all that hatred, there was a real person with real feelings and an actual beating heart.
“I think you should walk now,” Dad told Jess.
“He needs to go a few more times,” Jess said breathlessly as she cantered by.
“Walk. Now.”
This time Dad yelled at her, his voice bellowing across the show grounds. Jess pulled Hashtag to a walk and left the ring with a look of thunder on her face. I was glad. I didn’t want her sticking around and watching me in case I messed up and couldn’t ride Socks at all.
“He doesn’t do well if he has time to think about things,” Dad said, moving my leg and checking the girth. He gave a nod and pushed my leg back into place so I guessed I had it at the correct tightness. “Take him around at the trot a couple of times, then canter over the jump both ways. That should be good enough for him. The class starts in a few minutes and you are going first.”
“What?” I cried.
“Is that a problem?” Dad said, his hands on his hips.
“Um, no,” I mumbled.
“Good. Get out there then.”
It was completely bizarre, taking riding instructions from my own father but I tried to pretend that he was just another trainer. Like when I rode with Miguel or Frank. I gathered up the reins and nudged Socks into a trot.
He pranced around the ring, all flashy and bright. He was really responsive and didn’t need much leg at all, unlike some of the other horses I’d ridden whose sides were so dull that you needed spurs to motivate them to move at all. I also figured out pretty quickly that he didn’t like a lot of contact on his mouth. We cantered about a bit and then I circled him in front of the fence. I waited for my father to give me some instructions. Shorten your reins. Look up. The usual things that trainers yelled out but he didn’t give me anything to go on at all. Instead he stood there watching me and I felt more nervous than I’d ever been at a show before.
But as Socks pricked his ears before the jump and then cantered happily over it, the nervousness just melted away. It didn’t matter where I was or who was watching me, when I was on the back of a horse I was home and even though I would have given anything to have been riding Bluebird and showing my father how great my own pony was, this was kind of the next best thing.
We circled back and took the fence again. This time Socks got a little fast. I could tell he was starting to get excited.
“That’s enough,” Dad called out. “We don’t want him losing his marbles before he gets in the ring.”
And I grinned because I used to remember him saying that to my sister, Summer. Telling her that her pony would lose his marbles if she made him take one more practice jump because Summer was a perfectionist and she wouldn’t go into the ring until she’d had at least one perfect jump in the warm up. But the smile soon faded because it was weird. My dad was here just trying to pick things up where we had left off when I was five. We hadn’t talked about things and I wanted to. I wanted to know what had happened and where he had gone but I also knew that now wasn’t the time.
“Here is the course.” Dad shoved a piece of paper into my hands. “You’d better go and walk it.”
“Aren’t you going to come with me?” I asked.
“I’ll hold the horse.” He snatched the reins from me. “Besides, you don’t need someone to hold your hand, do you?”
“No,” I said. “Of course not.”
I felt too embarrassed and belittled to tell my father that I’d never ridden in a speed class before and that it wouldn’t have hurt to have him there in his trainer capacity, telling me where Socks might need extra support. After all I didn’t really need him to be a dad but it would have been nice for him to be a trainer.
Only it seemed like he was being a trainer, just not to me because he wasn’t holding Socks at all. He’d handed him off to another girl who stood there holding him with a bored look on her face while Dad or Rob or whoever he was, was walking the course with Jess.
CHAPTER TWENTY FOUR
The show grounds were better than I remembered. The rings had been redone and the footing was good. It was soft and springy beneath my feet. There seemed to be a lot of girls walking the course but I tried to ignore them and I especially tried to ignore Jess and my father, going over distances like he was supposed to be doing with me. But then again I guessed that Jess’s father was actually paying mine whereas I wasn’t paying him anything. Was I supposed to pay my own father? Since I hadn’t had one before, I wasn’t really sure. Still, he had given me an awesome horse to ride. I just wasn’t sure why he wasn’t really going to help me. I figured that it had to be a test of some kind.
In a speed class the object was to go fast and clean. There were no second chances and there wasn’t a jump off. The fastest clean round won the class and since I was going first, I was in the worst position. I wouldn’t know what time I had to beat or where it was easy to shave seconds off the clock. How easy it would be to cut between fences or how many strides you could leave out of the distances. If I’d been on Bluebird it wouldn’t have mattered. If there was anything my pony was good at, it was speed and he could cut bet
ween fences that the bigger horses would never be able to. If I was on him, I’d have a good chance of winning but I didn’t know Socks. All I knew was that he was tall with long legs and a lanky stride. My father said he was fast but that didn’t mean he was handy and it didn’t mean that he had a hope of winning. In fact, we’d be lucky if we placed at all.
I left the ring with a plan of action. I didn’t have a choice. I’d go as fast as I could and keep my turns tight and clean. If Socks did his job and left the fences up then, we’d have done the best we could and if we put in a half decent clear round it would be up to the others to chase down our time. Putting the pressure on them to make mistakes was all we could do.
I took back the reins from the bored looking girl.
“Good luck,” she said. “You’ll need it.”
“Why?”
I checked the girth and sprung back into the saddle with a little more grace than I’d done before.
“He freaked out at his last three shows,” she said. “Why do you think he’s here at a little local show like this instead of at some big rated show?”
“When you say freak out, what do you mean?” I asked, feeling a little ill.
“He’s a speed freak,” the girl said. “He gets carried away. He bolted out of the ring the last three times he jumped without even finishing the course.”
“Great,” I said.
I leant forward and looked at his bridle and bit. It looked like a regular loose ring snaffle. If I was lucky then there was some kind of twist going on in his mouth but knowing my father, there probably wasn’t. He was all about quiet hands and soft mouths and the least amount of bit possible. I, on the other hand, would have felt a little bit better if I knew I had some kind of brakes that actually worked, like the elevator bit that I used to ride Harlow in. Was that why my father hadn’t wanted me to jump the warm up jump too much? He didn’t want me to know what Socks was really like? I turned him away from the girl and the people still walking the course. If Socks was going to get headstrong on me, I at least wanted to know what I was in for and how I was going to handle it.
Off Course (Show Jumping Dreams ~ Book 12) Page 6