My Dream Pony

by Katrina Kahler

  We decided to put them in adjoining paddocks until we unpacked all of Cassie’s tack from the car. That way the two horses could get to know each other. They had seemed to get on well at pony club but being loose in the paddock together could be a different story.

  Instantly though, we could tell that they were not going to be a problem. They seemed to be getting on just as well as Cassie and I.

  “Best friends already!” Cassie smiled looking towards me.

  And I smiled back, “That’s exactly right!” I replied happily. And we hurried off to get ready to ride.

  As we were leaving the barn with our tack, my brother Matt walked past on his way to get his motor bike. He was heading off on a big trail ride with a friend and was dressed in all his protective riding gear. Normally he would pretty much just grunt at me; that was unless he wanted something. But he took one look at Cassie and decided to be friendly for a change.

  Knowing my brother so well, I rolled my eyes skyward as I introduced them. “Matt, this is my friend, Cassie,” I sighed. “Cassie, this is my brother, Matt!”

  “Hi, Cassie!” he said in his friendliest tone, extending his hand to shake hers. “OMG!” I thought to myself as I watched him in action. He was seriously getting worse and worse. The sight of any pretty girl and he was instantly Mr. Nice!

  We stood chatting for a few minutes before I could manage to interrupt and say that we needed to go and tack up the horses. Grinning in Cassie’s direction, Matt responded with, “Hope you have a great ride, girls. And see you again sometime, Cassie!”

  I rolled my eyes skyward once more as we headed over to the paddock with our saddles and bridles. “Don’t take any notice of my brother, Cassie. He’s seriously become more annoying than ever lately.”

  “He’s actually quite cute!” said Cassie, a huge grin on her face.

  I looked towards her in disbelief. “Matt?” I asked incredulously. “Are you serious?”

  “Yeah! He’s actually not too bad,” she said, laughing.

  I could not believe that she was talking about my brother. And I walked thoughtfully alongside her, thinking briefly about Blake Jansen who I had left behind at my old school.

  He was another person who I missed a lot. Not only was he very good looking, but he was also a great friend and I really missed the conversations we used to share.

  My mom still didn’t let me have Facebook, so I found it hard to keep in touch with my old friends. Except for an occasional email, we didn’t really hear much from each other.

  Blake’s handsome face flashed briefly in my head. Shaking myself out of the sudden reverie, I forced thoughts of boys to the back of my mind and concentrated on the horses and riding the trails with Cassie.

  Showing off, as always…

  As we trotted along in the shade of the overhanging trees, Cassie and I talked and talked and talked. She told me all about her first horse, a cute little Welsh Mountain Pony named Jontie that she had reluctantly been forced to sell when she’d outgrown him a few years back.

  She then recounted the problems she’d had with Jasper’s behavior in the beginning and how she had overcome most of them. Cassie also spoke about the trauma she’d experienced when Jasper had badly injured his front legs some time ago. Apparently a pile of barbed wire fencing had been left carelessly strewn in a friend’s paddock where she’d been keeping him at the time and he had become hopelessly tangled up in it. The aftermath had been endless visits from the vet who was unsure as to whether he’d be able to be ridden again. But with around the clock care and Cassie’s complete devotion, he had miraculously recovered.

  I then told her every detail of my accident with Bella and the nightmare weeks that followed, where I was uncertain as to whether I’d be able to keep her or not. Then I explained how lucky I was to have found Tomas whose natural ability to communicate with horses had taught me so much and was what eventually convinced Dad that Bella did belong with me.

  Cassie was very interested to hear about the technique of natural horsemanship and the manner in which it really develops trust between a horse and its rider. Then when I suggested that she should trial the process with Tomas, who I told her I had called a horse gentler, she eagerly agreed.

  As we headed back into the cleared paddocks, the open pastures ahead of us, we decided to break into a gallop, with Cassie taking the lead on Jasper. I reveled in the feeling of Bella’s smooth stride and her obvious enjoyment of racing Jasper down the hill towards home. Then, just as we had almost reached the grassy paddock at the bottom of the decline, a roaring sound burst through my senses.

  Looking around in surprise at the sudden loud noise which I could feel Bella reacting to as well, I realized that Matt and his friend were speeding down the hill right beside us on their trail bikes.

  “What are you doing?” I screamed out to Matt as he sped past, attempting a wheel stand right beside Cassie.

  “What an idiot!” I thought frantically as I watched him showing off on his bike. Then suddenly, with absolute horror, I saw Jasper rear up in front of me.

  Bella’s ears were pinned back with fear and I watched the scene ahead unfold as I tried to rein Bella to a halt and some semblance of calm.

  Matt’s bike came to a skidding slide on the ground just meters from where Cassie was desperately trying to control Jasper. She was obviously clinging to the saddle with every ounce of strength she had.

  The memory of my accident with Bella flashed into my mind and I looked on, helpless, praying that Cassie and Jasper would be ok.

  The seconds stood still and once again time seemed to stop as I watched in terror, until finally Cassie was able to pull on Jasper’s reins and violently turn him in the other direction, away from the skidding bike and towards safety.

  I jumped down from Bella’s back and raced towards Cassie who had miraculously managed to stay on Jasper and calm him down. “Are you alright?” I called worriedly. And then in the next breath, ran over to my brother who was still on the ground, his bike lying haphazardly on top of one leg.

  “What on earth were you trying to do?” I shouted at him, completely oblivious to the fact that he might be injured. “You’re such an idiot!” I exclaimed with no sympathy whatsoever. “You could have killed us!”

  He looked silently towards me as he tried to lift the bike off his leg. Reluctantly, I helped him to get it upright but when he tried to stand, he winced in pain.

  “If you’re hurt, you only have yourself to blame!” I scolded him furiously. “Honestly, Matt! You should know better!”

  “I’m really sorry,” he said, shamefully as he removed his helmet and looked towards Cassie. “I didn’t mean for that to happen!”

  I just shook my head at him in disgust and turned to Cassie to make sure that she and Jasper were in fact ok. When she reassured me that they were, I gave her Bella’s reins so she could lead both our horses back to the barn, while I helped my brother hobble down the hill.

  I would really have preferred to let him make his own way, but I could see that he could barely walk and needed some support. His friend, Jack was looking on with concern and unsure what to do. In the end, he rolled his bike towards the barn and waited for us there.

  I was so glad when later that afternoon, Dad banned Matt from riding for the entire next month. “You need to learn to be responsible on that thing, Matt!” he had exclaimed angrily. “It’s not a toy and horses are unpredictable animals. You could have killed someone!”

  Shaking his head in disgust, in exactly the same way I had, he left Matt lying in bed with a badly sprained ankle and possibly unable to walk for a few days.

  “I’m just glad that you and Cassie are ok!” Dad said to us as he entered my room where Cassie and I sat looking through horsey websites on my computer.

  “It’s ok, Mr. Jones,” Cassie had replied with a smile. “It was an accident and no one was hurt. I have an older brother as well. I know what boys are like, especially when it comes to motorbikes. I’m sure that M
att will have learnt a lesson.”

  “Well, I hope so!” sighed Dad as he quietly closed the door.

  “That was really scary today, Cassie,” I exclaimed, looking towards her. “But it’s amazing how quickly accidents can happen, isn’t it?”

  “I know!” she replied, looking at me thoughtfully. “You’re so right about that! One minute everything seems absolutely fine and the next, well…”

  She left her thoughts about what could have happened today, unspoken and I felt a small shiver run down my spine as a foreboding premonition seemed to take hold in my mind.

  Trying to shake it off, I focused my attention on the website we’d been looking through but the uneasy feeling still lingered inside me.

  My first jumping session…

  The next pony club meeting day finally arrived and thankfully, Sally was more than happy for me to borrow her trailer again. Dad had been looking around for a second hand one to buy, but it seemed that they’re pretty scarce because he hadn’t been able to find anything worthwhile.

  Meanwhile, however, we had the use of Sally’s whenever she wasn’t using it and as Dad and I drove through the pony club gates, I experienced the familiar thrill of being at my most favorite place in the world once more.

  With only slight hesitation from Bella this morning, we’d been able to load her onto the trailer, the mouth-watering hay net once again proving too irresistible for her to refuse. But as well as that, I knew that my soothing voice and calm manner was helping to ease her anxiety.

  The morning progressed smoothly with rider class, dressage and horsemanship skills being the program for the morning session.

  I was feeling very proud in my new pony club uniform which Dad had bought for me when we’d arrived and I had then quickly changed into. I was now officially a member and beamed with pride when I joined Cassie and Jasper to have our gear checked.

  “Now you’re one of us!” Cassie grinned as we high fived each other happily.

  “This is so cool!” I exclaimed, looking towards my dad with gratitude as he watched from the clubhouse where he was sitting with the other parents.

  I had decided earlier that I was going to give the jumping class a proper go. Last time, I had not felt confident enough to attempt anything very high. But I was excited at the prospect of improving my skills and confidence in this area and looked forward to the jumping class in the afternoon session.

  Finally, I found myself lining up to try some low jumps and the guest instructor named Jim, who was an ex-champion jumper himself, gave detailed and helpful instructions to each of us.

  “Keep your eyes up, look straight at the jump and squeeze your legs to encourage Bella towards it,” he explained. “Go into a slow canter and loosen your grip on the reins so she can stretch out through her neck and back.”

  I listened carefully as he described how I must keep my eyes straight ahead looking towards the direction I wanted to go in even as we cleared the jump. Following his instructions, I took a deep breath and encouraged her forwards. As we sailed over the jump, the thrill I felt was so intense that I couldn’t wait to re-join the line of riders so we could have another turn.

  After a couple more goes at that height, he raised the jump another two inches and we all proceeded to clear it smoothly and easily. My confidence level was increasing and Bella and I seemed to have developed a steady rhythm.

  Finally, when we were at about 2 foot and I was feeling more confident than ever, I turned Bella towards the jump once more. Urging her into a canter, I held my head high, eyes focused ahead and reins slightly loosened, the way I’d been taught. Then as I lifted myself up from the saddle in preparation for her to jump, I felt a sharp jerk. Within the blink of an eye, I was completely unseated, had lost hold of the reins and was flying through mid-air.

  In total shock and with my pulse racing, I felt my arm knock the pole off the jump. Then I seemed to fall awkwardly and land with a huge thump on the ground.

  Stunned and unsure as to what on earth had happened, I looked up dazed, then realized that several people were running towards me, my dad included.

  The look of concern in his eyes was obvious but all I felt was complete embarrassment at falling off my horse and being the center of attention.

  “Are you alright, Julia?”

  “Are you hurt?”

  “Can you stand up?”

  The faces peering towards me and making such a fuss, only caused my embarrassment to worsen and turning bright red, I hobbled to my feet with the help of various hands offering me support.

  “I’m fine!” I said, still slightly dazed, as I looked towards Bella who stood innocently by probably wondering what all the fuss was about.

  My arm and thigh had taken the brunt of the fall and I flinched at the sharp pain I felt as I tried to stand.

  Checking my arm carefully, the instructor declared that there seemed to be no broken bones but that I would definitely end up with some nasty bruises. He suggested I take Bella to the side and catch my breath, so I could decide whether I was up to continuing or not.

  Feeling quite overwhelmed, I stood with my dad watching the riders go on with the class, the height of the jumps gradually increasing.

  Cassie had asked if I was ok, and looked towards me with sympathy. I smiled briefly to indicate that I was alright then decided to go and untack Bella and hose her down.

  I’d had enough for one day and wanted to go home. The day certainly hadn’t ended as I’d expected and feeling rather disappointed and still quite embarrassed, I led her out of the arena.

  It wasn’t long afterwards that the class ended and pony club was over for the day. But when Jim, the jumping instructor approached me, I looked nervously towards him, not sure what he was going to say.

  “Julia, you are doing really well,” he assured me. “And so is Bella. But obviously she decided that she just didn’t want to go over that jump. I’ve been asked to instruct at the next club meeting day so I’ll be able to show you how to push her on so that she’s less likely to refuse,” he continued. “Basically you need to use your knees and encourage her over the jump, letting her know that you’re the boss, not her. But don’t worry, we’ll practice it next time,” he said smiling at me.

  “You did great for your very first jumping session and Bella is a beautiful horse. I think that you’ll do really well on her!” His parting words made me feel better and I was able to load her onto the trailer feeling more positive about the class and what had happened.

  Trying to push it from my mind, I exchanged a goodbye hug with Cassie after discussing arrangements for the rodeo the following weekend. Her parents had offered to take us and we were both really looking forward to it.

  I waved to her as we headed out the gates then sat thinking about what Jim had told me. All of a sudden an idea entered my head. I decided that after dinner, I would look for some YouTube videos on jumping so I could try to improve my technique. Unfortunately though, as we didn’t have any jumps at home, it was going to be impossible for me to practice before the next pony club session.

  Then, almost immediately and as if he had read my thoughts, Dad suggested that we might be able to put some jumps together using the barrels and logs that were stored in our barn. I’d felt sure he would be dead against me jumping after today’s performance. But I guessed that he could see how keen I was to master the technique and had finally accepted that horse riding and Bella were now part of my life. Also, it was obvious that practice was the only way I would get better.

  I squeezed his hand gratefully. Then, quickly becoming excited about the prospect of being able to practice at home, I pictured Bella and I sailing over a big jump. That vision was what I decided to aim for and smiling to myself, I settled thoughtfully into the front seat for the short ride home.

  The rodeo…

  With excitement, we raced towards the grandstand so we could secure a prime seat at the rodeo the following Saturday afternoon. I had never been to a rodeo before and th
e atmosphere was electric.

  There were people there in cowboy hats and cowboy boots. Some wore jackets and pants with fringing down the sides and I felt as though it were a world I had only seen in the movies.

  Eagerly we skimmed through the program to find that the camp drafting was the second event of the afternoon and we looked forward to watching Tom in action.

  In the meantime, the first event kept us totally entertained. It was the girls’ barrel race and we watched fascinated as girls and women of all ages raced around the barrels at breakneck speed. Some of them were going so fast that they overturned a barrel which gave them a 5 second penalty. This obviously affected their score as the idea was to be the quickest horse and rider to complete the course. But we were amazed at the agility of the horses and the manner in which they were able to be turned so quickly around each barrel. I wondered if I would ever be able to go anywhere near as fast on Bella. It was such a great event to watch.

  When the camp drafting started, we looked out for Tom and easily spotted him amongst the other riders. When it was his turn, we could see that he was aiming for one particular calf which seemed very fast but had become separated from the mob. So we guessed that was why he had chosen it. We watched him expertly turn the calf in different directions, 3 separate times. Then he moved it out of the yard via a course of pegs where he had to make right and left hand turns in a figure eight. At the end, he raced through the gate chasing the calf at top speed.

  It was quite obvious that Tom was really experienced at this event and although he was one of the oldest riders in the group, we could see that he definitely deserved to win.

  When he was later handed a trophy, we shouted loudly, “Yay! Go Tom!!” Then when he looked into the grandstand to see who was cheering him, we were sure that he had spotted us.

  Slightly embarrassed, we tried to hide in amongst the crowd, but after the awards were given out, we headed down in his direction so that we could congratulate him.