The whole time she was riding, I couldn’t believe how far she’d come from the girl who used to freak out over jumping a two foot fence. The one who I had to talk into riding time and time again. And the one who almost lost her horse altogether. Yet here she was. She’d taken back her horse and her riding life. Figured out what she wanted and gone after it. I was so very proud of her.
When she finished and halted with her horse square and head down as she gave her salute, I started to cheer. Other people did too, clapping politely because this was a dressage show after all and not some savage jumper round where spectators screamed and hollered and let out collective groans when you knocked a rail. Here it was silence until you finished and then you were congratulated, in a quiet sort of way.
Mickey had tears streaming down her face as she let her reins fall loose and gave Hampton great big claps on the neck. His ears were pricked. His face happy. He knew he’d done a good job.
As soon as she came out of the ring I shoveled sugar lumps into his mouth, happy that he’d given my best friend the ride of her life.
“You did it,” I cried. “You were awesome.”
“I can’t believe it,” she said, jumping to the ground and throwing her arms around Hampton’s neck. “He was so good. He was just perfect.”
“You totally nailed it.”
I hugged her tight and then we patted Hampton some more until Miss. Fontain pulled me away.
“You’re supposed to be in the ring,” she hissed.
“Right,” I said, taking Arion’s reins.
I’d forgotten that I was supposed to be riding too and now I was the one who completely blanked at the test. Where was I supposed to go after X? Was it circle right or left at the end of the ring? I was up in the saddle before I even had a chance to ask Mickey to call out my test for me. I’d been so sure that I knew it like the back of my hand but as I rode into the arena and saw the judge sitting down there in her little hut at the end of the ring, only her tiny face visible beneath a big wooly hat, I felt intimidated. In the jumpers no one was watching to see if my transitions were perfect or my horse was round. No one cared. The only thing that mattered was the rails and keeping them up. I realized my heart was pounding and my palms were sweaty and as the bell rang out I realized that I was miles away from getting my horse into the dressage ring and I panicked.
CHAPTER FORTY ONE
Panicking at the start of your dressage test does not help. I figured that out when I spun Arion around and kicked him into a canter. His head was up. His ears pricked. He was on high alert, calling out to Hampton and the others desperately like a crazy horse.
I got him into the ring before the forty five seconds were up but it didn’t matter. His mind was blown. Nothing was going to help now. Our test was a complete and utter failure, saved only by the fact that as we turned at the end of the ring, Arion suddenly decided that the dressage letters were horse eating monsters and the only way to free himself and me was to jump over them and out of the ring. They were only a foot off the ground but he cleared them like they were a four foot oxer and then he just stood there snorting. We were eliminated.
“I told you he was a jumper,” I told Miss. Fontain as we came out of the ring to a sympathy round of applause.
She was standing there with Mickey looking horrified, her mouth opening and closing but no words coming out. I was pretty sure she’d never offer to take me to a dressage show again but that was fine by me.
“I have never, in my whole life,” she said, her words trailing off as she shook her head, leaving me to only guess what she really meant to say.
“Come on,” I said to Mickey. “Let’s ride our horses around. This idiot is way too pumped up to go back in his stall just yet.”
So we rode our horses around the property, watching other people practice and complete their tests, waving to other riders from Fox Run as they grazed their horses or got ready to compete. We called out good luck to them and really, we meant it. I’d known all along that my silly Thoroughbred wasn’t ready for anything as dignified as a dressage show and Mickey had known that deep down she had what it took to succeed.
“There goes Ethan,” I said as he led Wendell by. “Want to go and watch?”
“All right.” She shrugged, pretending not to care.
Ethan did okay. Wendell was not as relaxed and calm as Hampton had been and looked like he was kind of hyped up. I thought for a moment that maybe he was going to jump over the dressage boards too but then Ethan got him reined back in and they managed to finish their test with respectable dignity.
“I should have brought Bluebird,” I said. “He wouldn’t have let me down.”
Arion was standing there calmly now, watching the other horses like he had finally figured out what was going on and what he was supposed to be doing. Too bad it was too late.
When Mickey got her scores, she was over the moon.
“A seventy two,” she said. “In my first test! I don’t believe it.”
“Congratulations,” I told her. “I knew you could do it.”
My own sheet had elimination stamped over it in red letters and the judge had scrawled at the bottom ‘this horse would be better suited to a career in jumping.’ To me that was better than any old dressage score and I folded it up, vowing to show it to my father and then frame it so that when Arion made it big, I could show everyone that I’d known all along that he would make it. And other than Arion, and me all the Fox Run riders and horses performed admirably. I was the only one who let the side down but then again, I was the only one who wasn’t supposed to have been there anyway.
Mickey won the class and got a big blue ribbon that she hung on the front of Hampton’s stall with pride. I couldn’t remember the last time she’d won anything so I was doubly proud of her. And even though it was cold, the sun was hot so we rolled up our sleeves and sat out on a warm patch of grass, sunbathing and eating the ice creams that I’d bought us as a treat to celebrate.
“Congratulations,” Ethan said, flopping down on the grass next to us.
“Why thank you,” I replied. “For our next trick I shall be jumping over the horse trailer.”
“I didn’t mean you,” he said, laughing. “I meant Mickey. Winning at your first dressage show? Is this a sign of things to come?”
“Maybe,” she said. “Where is Fern?”
“Over there.” He pointed to the stalls. “Locking lips with the guy who rode that black horse in your class.”
“The cute guy?” Mickey said.
“Fancy that.” I looked at her out of the corner of my eye.
It seemed that Fern and Mickey had exactly the same taste in boys so that didn’t bode well for either of them. I waited for her to give Ethan another piece of her mind but she didn’t.
“I don’t care.” She finally sighed. “It’s all about the horses today. And besides, I won so I’m going to be nice now.”
“Who are you and what have you done with my best friend?” I laughed.
She tossed what was left of her ice cream cone at me but missed. Instead it hit Ethan in the face leaving a trail of vanilla ice cream down his nose and we all ended up in a pile of giggles. This was so much better than who liked who and why. It was nice just to all be friends, even if it was only temporary because the ball was in two days and needing someone to go with so that you didn’t look like a pathetic loser would trump all of us just being friends. But for now I was content to lie back on the grass and look up at the blue sky and the puffy white clouds that were speeding along.
“So,” Ethan said. “Who are you going to the ball with Mickey?”
And so it began.
CHAPTER FORTY TWO
“Your horse jumped out of the dressage arena?” Dad said when we got back to the barn. “Actually jumped out?”
“Not out of the whole thing,” I said. “Just over the white boards. They were only this high.” I motioned about a foot off the ground. “But look at what the judge wrote.”
“I told you he wasn’t ready,” I said, taking the paper back before he decided to tear it up and throw it in the trash. “I told you I didn’t want to go and ride.”
“I know,” he said. “I guess maybe sometimes I should listen to you.”
“That’s right,” I said, giving him a quick hug. “But Mickey did great. She won her class. You’d be proud of her.”
“I am,” he said. “I’m proud of all the Fox Run students.” He looked at his watch. “Now you’ve got time to work one horse. Who will it be?”
“Bluebird,” I cried. “And can I ride him in the grass field please, please, please?”
“All right.” He sighed.
I ran to get my pony, the tiredness of the day melting away. I was a working riding student now and that meant my day didn’t end when the show did like it used to. My day ended when there was no more light left and you’d ridden under the artificial lights for hours. When every bone and muscle in your body hurt so bad that you could hardly sleep. When you took a shower at night and the dirt ran off your body as thick as mud. And I loved every second of it.
I tacked up Bluebird excitedly, thinking only about jumping, the disaster of the dressage show already behind me. Then I took him out to the field where my father was adjusting the jumps.
“You lowered them,” I said, feeling disappointed.
“Let’s not overwhelm him,” Dad said. “Jumping isn’t always about how high you know.”
“Isn’t it?” I said.
“You want to sour him? Scare him off?”
“No.” I shook my head.
What I wanted was to prove that Bluebird was the pony I should take to the Young Riders clinic. The packet had come in the mail. I’d seen it on the desk. There were registration forms to fill out and horse information sheets. I knew that taking Arion was out of the question but there was still Socks and what about Encore? He jumped like a machine. What if Dad wanted me to take him to the clinic instead? I patted my pony’s chestnut neck, feeling defensive. Just because I rode horses now too, that didn’t mean Bluebird wasn’t still my favorite. He was still my main guy. The one I loved the most. He knew me and I knew him. Together we were invincible.
“Come on,” I said, gathering up my reins. “Let’s show him what you’re made of.”
CHAPTER FORTY THREE
Even after Bluebird cleared all the jumps, Dad just made a sort of grunting noise. It was like he wanted my pony to fail and I didn’t get it. In the past he’d praised him, said that he was amazing and great and fabulous. That he was wrong to dismiss him as just a pony and that he saw the potential that I had seen in him all along.
“So?” I said as I cooled my pony off. “What do you think?”
“About what?” he said absentmindedly.
“About the clinic? Who I’m taking to ride?”
“Oh that.” He sighed. “I don’t know. We’ll talk about it later.”
“I’d rather talk about it now,” I said eagerly.
I thought it was better to discuss it while Bluebird’s amazing jumping skills were fresh in my father’s mind. How he’d stretched across the water jump and soared over the triple bar. But Dad just shook his head and walked back to the barn and I knew he had other things on his mind. Things like the suspension that could ruin his career and possibly even mine.
People didn’t like trainers who’d been suspended of a drugging infraction. They talked about them behind their backs. Whispered that maybe it wasn’t just an accident. Had they done it on purpose? Were they not trustworthy? In the horse world a good reputation was everything and a tarnished one almost certainly a good way to ruin your name and in turn your business. And to also ruin my name by association. I was his daughter now. This affected me too.
I thought I hadn’t wanted to know but now I knew that I was going to have to ask him about it again. I needed to know what had happened if I was going to able to hold my head high and defend him and I wanted to defend him. I wanted to believe him. But I had to know the truth. I’d ask him after dinner, where he wouldn’t be able to get away from me and avoid it any longer because even though he’d offered to tell me, I had the sneaking suspicion that he’d changed his mind.
Only when I got back to the house, Missy was in the kitchen and instead of food spread out on the table there was a blue dress and a sewing machine.
“What is that?” I said suspiciously.
“This was mine,” she said. “And I’m altering it for you.”
“What on earth for?” I asked.
“So that you have something nice to wear to the ball.”
“I can’t wear that,” I said.
“Why not?”
I was about to hurt her feelings. She was doing something nice for me and I was going to ruin it and I couldn’t do that when she was trying, which was more than Derek had ever done.
“It’s just so fancy,” I said, touching the satin. “Do you really think it will be okay?”
“Of course I do,” she said. “I’ve shortened the length and adjusted the shoulders. I only wore it once so it’s not like it’s really used or anything.”
“It’s fine,” I said. “Thank you.”
I figured that I’d already promised Mickey that I was going to go and I did need something to wear so it might as well be Missy’s dress and I might as well just get through it as best I could.
CHAPTER FORTY FOUR
“Well don’t you look like a fairy princess,” Henry said.
I’d gone down to the barn to wait for Mickey and her mom, who were picking me up and taking me to the ball. But I’d mainly come down to check on Arion. He hadn’t seemed himself since the dressage show. Dad said that he was probably just tired and I was hoping that maybe that was it but there was something else. I just couldn’t put my finger on it.
“I’d rather be wearing breeches,” I told Henry. “Or jeans. Or any kind of pants really.”
“It’s okay to be a girl for one night.” He smiled. “It won’t kill you.”
“It might,” I said.
I hung on the outside of Arion’s stall, watching him pick through his hay. He wasn’t stuffing it in faster than he could swallow like he usually did but there were two piles of manure in his stall. He was pooping and eating and I watched him go over to the waterer and take a drink. I’d taken his temperature earlier and it was normal. Dad said I was being paranoid but I couldn't help it. I knew my horse already and I knew that he was acting strange, even if no one else thought so.
“Maybe I should get the vet to check him over?” I said to Dad earlier that day.
“If it will make you feel better,” he replied, which was what he said when he thought I was over reacting.
But calling the vet cost money and calling the vet for nothing would also make me feel like an idiot. Still, I vowed that if he wasn’t back to his usual self in a few days, I’d call the vet out regardless. I couldn’t take the stress of knowing that maybe something was wrong and I wasn’t doing anything about it.
Two beams of light swung into the parking lot as Mickey’s mom pulled in.
“I’ll check on you when I get back,” I told Arion. “I promise.”
“Your dress is amazing,” Mickey cried when she saw me.
“It’s a handyman's special,” I said, getting into the car with a sigh. “Missy fixed it up for me. It used to belong to her.”
“Well she did a good job,” Mickey’s mom said. “You can’t tell.”
“Thanks,” I said.
Although I still felt like an ugly duckling next to Mickey. Her dress had come from the fancy store in town. Her mother had taken her there and made a big deal out of picking one of the most expensive dresses for her. It
had sequins and rhinestones that sparkled in the light. Mickey said she couldn’t have cared less but I knew that was a lie. She may have still liked horses and found her passion in the dressage ring but that didn’t mean she no longer liked boys or makeup or fashion because she did. And that was okay. She could like whatever she wanted just as long as she didn’t force me to like that stuff too.
I shifted uncomfortably in the high heeled shoes that Missy had lent me. The dress may have been adjusted to fit but the shoes were too tight. They pinched my toes and I couldn’t walk in them without falling on my face every few steps. Dancing was going to be out of the question, not that I’d have anyone to dance with anyway. I planned to spend the whole evening by the food table, researching Arion’s vague symptoms on my phone and counting the minutes until Mickey’s mom came to pick us up.
“So does Ethan think you are going with him tonight?” I whispered to Mickey.
“No, we are going together, remember? Two single girls out having a good time. We’ve got each other’s backs, right?”
“Of course,” I said.
But I couldn’t help grinning. I knew that as soon as Mickey got in there and was surrounded by hot boys wanting to dance with her, she’d forget all about our pact and leave me to my own devices and that was fine with me. I didn’t even want to go at all. She was the one who was making me. And Missy had encouraged it too, fixing the dress and telling me that it was good to get off the farm and do something that didn’t involve horses. I didn’t know why. Anything that didn’t involve horses was not something that I cared about at all but everyone said it would be good for me so in going, I was hoping that it would get them all off my back for another few months and life could go back to how it was, full of horsey goodness and nothing else.
Half Halt (Show Jumping Dreams ~ Book 15) Page 10