“Where is my horse?” I cried as Henry brought Encore into the barn.
But Henry just looked downcast as he shook his head.
“He’s gone,” he said.
THE END
COMING SOON
SHOW JUMPING DREAMS #17: SHOW TIME
Emily Dickenson couldn’t be in two places at the same time. She left her injured pony and her rescue horse behind and went to the Young Riders clinic where she was able to impress Hunter Preston and win a coveted spot in the Talent Scout series. But things at Fox Run aren’t going so well. Missy is back in the saddle and the woman Emily took for an older sister has now taken on a rather more biting role, that of her biggest competition. She’s reclaimed the ride on her own horses and is trying to shove Emily back into pony land where she thinks she belongs.
So when Missy tries to send her beloved rescue horse Arion away without even consulting her, Emily must take a stand. She’s been bullied by a step-parent before and she won’t let anyone do that to her again and she’s going to enlist her father’s help only he has his own problems. He must clear his name if he wants to keep his job at Fox Run and if he can’t, it will affect them all.
And the Tipperton Cup is only weeks away. It’s the big Easter show that everyone can’t stop talking about. There is big money to be won. Money that Emily needs to pay her mounting vet bills but with Missy trying to keep her out of the big money classes, will she be able to afford Arion’s ulcer treatment? And with the sale of Encore now pending, this may be their last show together but Emily isn’t sure she’s ready to let him go yet and she’s certainly not ready to let him go to the person who wants him for their own.
SHOW TIME: CHAPTER ONE
“Where is my horse,” I screamed.
I’d just come back from the Young Riders clinic to find Arion gone. He wasn’t in his stall and he wasn’t in the paddocks. The fields were empty. The horse that I’d rescued, nursed back to health and finally got to love me had disappeared.
Henry put Encore in his stall and took off his shipping boots and halter. He wouldn’t look at me.
“Please,” I begged him. “Tell me where he is.”
I was biting back tears now, too afraid to even mouth the words because there was only one reason that Arion would be gone and that was because he was dead.
“You should talk to your father,” Henry said.
I ran down the barn aisle to the office but it was empty. Looked out in the ring but no one was riding or giving lessons. I sprinted down the path to the house, my heart hammering a million miles a minute. This was why my father wouldn’t return my texts. Not because his hearing had gone badly but because my beloved Arion was dead and he didn’t want to tell me while I was away. He was waiting for me to get back so that he could break the news to me gently. I stopped at the door, hand on the handle. If I went inside I’d know the truth. If I stood out there in the morning sun then I could imagine for a little while longer that he wasn’t dead at all.
I backed away from the door, the house and the people inside. I couldn’t go in there. I just couldn’t. I knew I was imagining the worst but I couldn’t help it. What other explanation could there be? I’d left him with his ulcers and now they had killed him. I knew I should have paid for the scope and the expensive treatment. Arion was worth it. He was going to be a great show jumper and now he would never have that chance.
I ran to the tack room and grabbed Bluebird’s bridle. His legs looked fine. He’d never actually been lame. And I needed him. I needed him more than anything else. No one could help me cope better than Bluebird.
I put his bridle on and used his feed tub to propel myself onto his back. Riding was forbidden in the barn. It was against the rules. I didn’t even have my helmet but I didn’t care. I closed my legs around my pony’s sides and rode him out of the stall and down the aisle, past Henry, who had his mouth open and a girl I didn’t know who looked positively horrified but I couldn’t have cared less.
Out on the grass we trotted. Bluebird tossed his head. He was fresh and most definitely not lame and riding him bareback like this after a week of hand grazing was probably the dumbest thing I could have done and I knew that but I didn’t care.
We reached the fields and I pressed him into a canter. He threw out a couple of bucks and I grabbed a handful of mane but I didn’t need it. My legs were stronger than ever after a week of riding with Hunter Preston, his fondness for making us ride without stirrups helping instead of hurting my riding.
We headed across the field with the cross country jumps and into the woods, through the trees and out the other side. Tears were streaming down my face now. I didn’t bother and stop them. I let the wind whip them away as my heart broke into a million pieces. Arion wasn’t Bluebird. He wasn’t my heart pony but there was a place in my heart for him and I’d loved him just as much and now he was gone forever and I never even got to say goodbye.
Bluebird tried to surge forward into a gallop but I slowed him to a walk. As much as I wanted to ride like a demon, my pony had just come off stall rest. A quick trot and canter was one thing. A blazing gallop was something else entirely and I wasn’t that stupid.
I leaned forward on his neck as I let him pick his own way across the leaves and twigs. They snapped beneath his feet and I watched the world upside down and backwards and just as confusing as it was inside my head. Then Bluebird stopped and let out a soft nicker and I heard one in reply. I snapped back upright to see a gray horse standing in a tiny makeshift paddock in the shade of the trees.
“Arion!” I cried. “What are you doing here?”
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
#15 Half Halt
#16 Young Riders
(COMING SOON) #17 Show Time
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
COMING SOON
SHOW TIME: CHAPTER ONE
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
STAY CONNECTED & WIN A FREE BOOK
COLLECT THEM ALL
Young Riders (Show Jumping Dreams ~ Book 16) Page 11