Esther said that we could only ride Willow after she had verified that the mare was safe and wasn’t going to do anything stupid like try to kill us.
“Now?” she said.
“Mickey is here. I really want her to ride Willow. I think this would be good for her.”
“And what does Mickey think about that?” Esther asked, putting her pen down.
“She’s not convinced,” I sighed.
“No,” Esther said. “Somehow I didn’t think she would be. She’s not like you, you know?”
I wasn’t sure quite what that was supposed to mean but I didn’t like to ask. I just hung around in the doorway, hopping from one foot to the other and being generally annoying until Esther finally gave in.
“Oh all right,” she said. “Let’s get this over with then.”
I couldn’t understand why no one else was excited. Riding a new horse was like the best surprise. You never knew what you were going to find when you got up in the saddle. Of course you could find out that you were saddled with a horse that you couldn’t really ride, like Fury. But I knew that Willow wasn’t like that. She was sweet and kind and adorable. I just had to get Mickey to see that she was something special.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
Willow was easy to tack up. She didn’t fuss when we tightened the girth and she opened her mouth for the bit like a lady.
“See,” I told Esther. “She has been trained.”
“We’ll see how much,” was all Esther replied.
“Come on,” I grabbed Mickey’s arm. “Let’s see what she’s like.”
We followed the mare out to the ring. I was practically jumping out of my skin and it was starting to infect Mickey too. I saw a slight grin cross her face when Esther mounted and Willow stood perfectly still and she actually smiled as Esther asked the mare to walk on and she calmly did.
I wanted to point out all the wonderful things about Willow but I bit my tongue. It was better that Mickey see them for herself, rather than have me shove them in her face. Sometimes Mickey was just like a horse. You couldn’t force her into something. She had to figure it out for herself.
Esther took the mare around at a walk and then a floating trot. Her canter was slow and steady like a rocking horse. Esther even took her over a couple of the cross rails and her ears pricked up as she took them in stride. Esther came to a halt in front of us, patting Willow’s neck.
“What a super mare,” she said. “I wonder where the old lady got her from.”
“Can we ride her now?” I begged. “Please.”
“Mickey?” Esther said, jumping to the ground. “Want to take her for a spin?”
She nodded and slammed her helmet on her head resolutely. I felt a little jealous, after all I was the one who found the mare and saved her but I already had two ponies to ride. Willow was for Mickey. She always had been. I gave her an encouraging smile as Esther gave her a leg up.
It didn’t take long for Mickey to fall in love. I watched it happen right before my eyes. Willow was soft and kind and obedient. She didn’t have a stubborn streak like Hampton or a funny way of going like Bluebird. She didn’t even get excited like Fury. She did her job with beauty and grace. She truly was amazing.
Esther gave Mickey a lesson. It had been a while and I watched as Mickey struggled to remember some of the things she’d had difficulty with before her accident, like balance and leg position. But Willow was forgiving. She didn’t pin her ears or kick out when Mickey got it wrong. Instead she waited until Mickey got it right. They were a perfect match in every way, just like I knew they would be.
“That horse is going to be a real asset to the lesson program.” Esther came to lean on the fence as Mickey cooled Willow out on the rail.
“But Mickey can ride her, right? I mean she can ride in the hunter pace and take Willow to shows with us and stuff until she gets Hampton back?”
There was an awkward silence.
“Please,” I said. “She really needs this.”
“I know she does,” Esther said. But she didn’t commit one way or the other.
Mickey raved on and on about Willow. It was like a switch had been flipped and she just fell back in love with riding again. She thought Willow was the greatest horse she had ever ridden. I was glad that she was happy and that she had stopped asking to ride my ponies but it was like she’d forgotten all about Hampton. I was starting to wonder if she ever really wanted him back at all. I had a sneaking suspicion that she still blamed him for her accident and I didn’t know if she would ever be able to forgive him.
But now that she had a horse to ride, she was just as committed to the hunter pace as the rest of us were. We worked in every free minute we had and it was paying off. We got permission from everyone along our route. The course was all set. We’d just have to mark it out with flags the day before and a pace setter would have to ride it to get the optimum time. Entries were coming in at an alarming rate. It seemed that we weren’t the only ones who thought a hunter pace sounded like a fantastic change from galloping around the arena. Almost every local barn had entered, including Fox Run who had put together a team that included Jess on Hampton.
“When are you going to tell her?” Esther asked, pushing the entry form towards me.
“Um, like never?” I said. “I think you should tell her. Or we could not tell her at all.”
“And then what happens when she runs into them on the day?”
“Maybe she won’t,” I said.
Esther just looked at me like I was stupid.
“Okay,” I sighed. “But she’s doing really well on Willow and she’s so excited. I don’t want to ruin that for her.”
“I know,” Esther said. “It’s complicated.”
“You want to know what is more complicated?” I said, trying to change the subject. “Putting together a team for our barn.”
“Well that’s easy,” Esther said. “You, Mickey, Ethan and …” her face crumpled into a frown.
“Exactly,” I said. “There is only one spot left and a bunch of people who want it. Ruby said she wouldn’t mind riding Grace, Linda wants to ride Fly and I’ve even had Faith pestering me about riding Princess.”
“No,” Esther said. “Faith is too young and Princess too little. They’ll never be able to keep up.”
“That’s what I told her,” I said. “But she just yelled that I wasn’t the boss of her and that I was ruining her riding career and then she stormed off.”
“Remind you of anyone you know?” Esther laughed.
“Yes,” I sighed. “But I’m still stuck. I don’t think any of them will make a good fit for the team. Ruby and Grace are the best bet but Grace is not very happy out of the ring. I think she might give Ruby trouble.”
“I agree,” she said. “That mare is not the galloping over the field’s type and she’s a lease. Ruby has to be careful that the mare doesn’t get injured.”
“So we’re stuck then,” I said.
“Maybe not,” she said. “I have an idea. There is a girl who has been trailering in for a few lessons. Maybe she could join the Sand Hill team.”
“Maybe,” I said but I wasn’t too keen on letting some outsider ride with us and ruin everything.
CHAPTER TWELVE
I watched the girl canter her stocky gray around the ring. She rode in a businesslike fashion with heavy hands and thick heels that she clapped against her horse’s sides. Esther said they had been trailering in for lessons because Sarah kept her horse, Greystone, at home. I’d seen her at shows but never really been impressed. She placed in the ribbons some of the time but her horse was usually too slow. I didn’t like the way she had his head all clamped down. I liked to give the horses I rode their freedom, let them figure things out with as little interference as possible but Sarah never gave Greystone the chance. It was her way or the highway.
“Your horse is very cute,” I told her, trying to be polite.
“Thanks,” she said. “He gets the job done.”
“What do you think?” Esther asked as the trailer pulled away.
“For what?” I said sullenly.
“As your fourth member of the team?” she said.
“Maybe,” I said, turning away.
“Maybe? What do you mean maybe? She can ride at the same level as you guys. Her horse is confident out of the ring. She’d be perfect.”
“I don’t like her,” I said.
“You don’t even know her.”
“I know how she treats her horse. That’s all I need to know,” I said, walking away.
“Emily,” Esther said, putting her arm out to stop me. “Not everyone treats their horse as delicately as you do. Some horses need a bit more of an iron hand to control them.”
“No, they don’t,” I said.
Esther was adamant that Sarah join our team. Mickey said that it didn’t matter anyway since we couldn’t really win. I guessed she was right. We were putting on the event. It would look pretty bad if we won it as well. But secretly I knew that we would still get some satisfaction from completing the course in the optimum time. Although that didn’t stop me from drooling all over the cup.
“I wish we could win it,” I sighed.
The cup was huge and shiny. The kind that took two hands to hold above your head. Ethan had found it in his attic. A relic from his grandfather’s past. It turned out he used to ride back in the day and won the cup at a prestigious show in England. The year and the name of the show had long been worn away but that was just as well. It meant we could easily pass it off as the Sand Hill Hunter Pace cup and no one would be any the wiser.
“We can pretend that we won it,” Ethan said, holding the cup up.
The three of us spent the next thirty minutes giving fake acceptance speeches as we held the cup above our heads and dabbed at fake tears. I tried to imagine what it would be like to win the Olympics but that dream was about as far away as it could be. Right now all I could concentrate on was the hunter pace.
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
We schooled our horses over jumps in the field. Esther had set up one or two rustic looking fences and we lucked upon a guy who wanted to get rid of a bunch of old tires. We fashioned them into a small jump. That would be the starting point.
On weekends we rode over the course to make sure that it was still safe and nothing had happened, like a giant tree falling and blocking the way. But really it was just an excuse to have fun. Ethan and Wendell were really taking to riding through the woods and jumping the logs that we had flagged. Even Mickey was having a great time on Willow who floated over the jumps on air.
“This is the best fun I’ve ever had,” she gushed.
I smiled but I couldn’t help thinking about Hampton. I still hadn’t told Mickey that Jess would be riding him at the hunter pace but Esther was right, I would have to. I couldn’t wait until the day or she’d be likely to have a meltdown and blow our chances of getting a good round in. And even though we couldn’t win the cup, I still wanted us to be the best. To show all those other fancy barns that we were good riders.
On the last weekend before the hunter pace, Sarah showed up with Greystone to ride with us.
“I don’t know why she has to be on the team,” I grumbled.
“What’s the matter with her?” Ethan asked. “She seems all right.”
“I don’t know,” I shrugged. “I just have a feeling.”
And that was all it was. I couldn’t really pin point why Sarah made the hairs on the back of my neck stand up. Or why I didn’t want to be nice to her. Esther was right, riding differently wasn’t a reason to dislike someone. Sarah hadn’t beaten her horse or hurt him in anyway. But the dull look in his eye told me that he wasn’t happy and as his owner and rider, in my mind it was Sarah’s job to make sure he was happy. Otherwise how could she expect him to do his best?
“So how long does it take to ride over the course then?” Sarah asked as she saddled Greystone.
“The optimum time should come in around two hours,” I said. “Esther is going to ride it the day before and her time will be kept secret. No one will know the exact time until everyone finishes.”
“Two hours?” Sarah said. “That’s pretty long.”
“We want to make sure people get their monies worth,” I said. “And we are setting up a break point at the halfway mark where everyone will stop and get their horses checked over and grab a drink and stuff. Then back here we’re going to set up a sort of party at the finish line, since it’s supposed to be fun too.”
“It certainly sounds different,” Sarah said. “I hope we win.”
“Technically we can’t win,” I said. “We’ve ridden over the course and we’re hosting the thing. It wouldn’t be fair. But it will still be fun.”
“We can’t win?” Sarah said. “So what’s the point then?”
“She just told you,” Ethan said. “To have fun.”
Sarah made a little huffing noise. I could tell she wasn’t happy that we couldn’t win the hunter pace. Maybe that would mean she wouldn’t want to ride with us. Then again if she didn’t, we’d have to let Linda onto our team and she would be just as bad. In fact, she’d probably be worse. I decided to give Sarah the benefit of the doubt.
We cantered along the trail and then past Granny Mae’s house. I hadn’t heard any news about how she was doing and I was too afraid to text Sally and ask. I was afraid of the worst. That she had died. I’d rather just imagine her getting better, sitting up in her hospital bed eating Jell-O and bossing everyone around.
Willow looked over at the old barn where I found her as we rode past. I wondered if she missed Granny Mae too. The chicken was still there but other than that the place looked even more deserted and lonely than usual. I looked away, trying not to think about what would happen to the lovely old farmhouse if Granny Mae died.
We followed the course at a pretty good clip, allowing the horses to gallop in some of the open spots. Bluebird’s ears were pricked. He was really taking to a life outside of the ring but I told him that he’d better not get too used to it because this was just a minor interlude. After the hunter pace was over it would be back to the jumper ring. I wasn’t cut out to be an eventer. I’d seen the size of the jumps at Rolex. Giant logs that you leapt over, free falling into ponds below. I didn’t mind jumping a few small tree branches here and there but that was the extent of my bravery. I much preferred jumps that fell apart when you hit them.
Sarah and Greystone were doing well, keeping up with our pace and even getting ahead some of the time. It gave me more of a chance to watch her ride and she was okay. Maybe she wasn’t as bad as I’d thought the first time. I was just getting used to the idea of having her on the team when we arrived at the small creek and Greystone slammed on the brakes.
We’d been splashing through it for weeks now, the horses happy to get wet and cooled off as they cantered through. We hadn’t had much rain and it wasn’t very deep, more muddy than anything, sort of like riding through a big puddle. But Greystone seemed to think that it was a horse eating puddle and he wasn’t going to have anything to do with it. And that was when Sarah raised her crop.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
We were already on the other side of the bank when Greystone slid to a stop. I heard her yell at him and we all pulled up our horses to see what the matter was. Sarah was kicking the horse’s sides and tugging on the reins but the more she fought with him, the more Greystone resisted. It was when he started going backwards that she began to hit him.
“Wait,” I called out. “Let me come back across and then he can follow Bluebird. He’ll probably be alright if he has a horse to show him that it’s okay.”
“He doesn’t need a horse to show him that it is okay,” she said through gritted teeth. “He should tru
st me and do as I say.”
But the crop didn’t make Greystone believe that anything about crossing the creek was okay. In fact the more she got after him, the more worked up he got. Churning the wet ground and splashing mud up under his belly.
“Please,” I said, walking Bluebird back over. “Just give him a chance to see the water and test it out.”
“He’s seen water a million times before,” she said angrily. “This is unacceptable.”
“But you’re hurting him,” I said as she yanked at his mouth.
“Don’t be ridiculous,” she snapped.
I’d never felt so helpless before in all my life. Sitting out there in the middle of the countryside watching a girl beat her horse. But what was I supposed to do? She was bigger than I was by at least fifty pounds. I couldn’t exactly yank her out of the saddle and take her horse away from her, even though that was what I wanted more than anything.
“Why don’t you get off and lead him through?” Ethan said.
They were still on the other side of the creek, watching in horror as Sarah fought with Greystone.
“Get off and give in?” she cried.
“Not give in,” I said. “Teach him. Show him that it is safe. Then he’ll know and I’m sure he’ll be just fine.”
But Sarah wouldn’t have any of it and try as she might, she could not get the horse to cross the creek. By now he was so worked up that I knew he was never going to go through it. His eyes were wide with fear and his flanks speckled with sweat. There had been a time when he was only scared of the muddy water but now he was frightened of Sarah as well. Instead of giving him confidence, she’d just added to his fear like throwing logs on a fire. There was no way he was ever going to cross the water. At least not today anyway.
“That’s it,” she said. “I’m taking him home. He’s obviously not cut out for hunter paces.”
“Neither are you,” I mumbled under my breath.
She didn’t wait to see if we wanted to go back with her, just dug her spurs into Greystone’s sides and galloped off.
Hunter Pace (Show Jumping Dreams ~ Book 7) Page 4