3
Learning The Ropes
At Sally’s insistence, my alarm was set for five in the morning. I was up and out of bed, dressed and on the yard by quarter past. “Isn’t this a bit early?” I’d innocently inquired, she’d huffed and told me, on show days we would have been up for many hours. This was in effect a ‘lie in’ so I should stop complaining. I let the subject drop and went on to feed the horses under her direction.
We had a few minutes while the horses digested their breakfast so we were able to retire to the tack room and put the kettle on. As it clicked, I poured out two mugs and we sat together on the bench seat.
“We’ll muck out four each. Now, I have very exacting standards.” I nodded; I was sure Sally would pick fault with my work. “Then we can start exercising. Hilary will want the horses to have at least been loosened up by the time she starts with them, so we can put a couple on the horse walker and take the others into the arena and give them some schooling. Now, Hilary likes to ensure her horses are all perfectly turned out for her, even for an exercise ride, so boots and bandages as required. Do you get it?” I nodded. “Okay, enough sitting around.”
We went onto the yard. Sally showed me the tool shed where the pitchforks, brooms and wheelbarrows were kept. It was an old brick shed, probably once having served as a coal bunker. Sally ducked inside and switched on the light, a single bulb in a glass dome on the ceiling.
“There, grab a fork and barrow.” She picked up tools and stepped outside. I did the same, selecting a pitchfork, broom and barrow and then going to leave. Being taller than Sally I missed the doorway’s height in the relative darkness and, while concentrating on pushing the barrow out walked straight into the door frame, hitting my head.
* * *
“It’s his first day. All I ask you is you don’t kill the working pupils on their first day…”
I groaned, trying to open my eyes. I couldn’t understand why I seemed to be lying on the ground. I tried to focus on the voices above me.
“I didn’t kill him… Look, he’s waking up. It’s not my fault he forgot to duck for the door! He’s clearly an idiot!”
“Adam?”
I looked up, both Hilary and Sally were staring down at me. Hilary looked somewhat concerned, Sally looked more frustrated that I’d delayed her work. I stood up carefully, rubbing my head, wincing at the painful lump on my forehead.
“See, he’s fine! I told you he would be.”
“Sally! He may have concussion…”
“No Hilary, she’s right, I’m fine… Let me get on with the work.” The two women looked at me. “I promise if I start to feel sick or if I suddenly collapse, I’ll tell you. Please, I feel stupid enough here…”
“Okay!” Hilary helped me to my feet, shaking her head. “Sally, I’ll leave you to it, but keep an eye on him please!”
I followed Sally who was muttering about my stupidity and we started the job of mucking out. I found this rather cathartic, the steady process of cleaning up the stables allowing my mind to wander, concentrating less on the thumping pain in my skull. I was sure to keep enough of my mind on the task in hand to ensure that I didn’t miss anything which Sally could comment on.
I’m a rapid worker, quickly scooping out droppings and wet patches of shavings, tidying the beds and topping up with clean and fresh wood shavings, before dumping the contents of my barrow on the muck heap. I’d learnt long ago if I wanted to have a ride before my school day started, I needed to be up early and muck out quickly and efficiently. When I’d finished my boxes, Sally was still on her third. She grumbled, looking at the quality of my work, unable to pick more than the most minor faults. I appeased her by starting her last stable and so we were both finished at about the same time. I swept down the concrete yards.
“Good… Okay, so you know what you’re doing… I thought you would. Right, let’s groom and get the horses ready for exercise. There’s a list in the tack room.”
The next two hours were spent grooming, tacking up and exercising the horses, ensuring they each had some time either on the horse walker or in the arena where we worked them evenly on each rein. By ten o’clock Hilary was ready to school her first horse and asked me to come in on one of her stallions with a stable name of Tom.
The feel of riding these powerful, ultra-fit horses was like driving a sports car after spending your time on a pushbike. A morning of riding the incredible horses was starting to change my riding. I found out pretty quickly and to howls of laughter from Sally that I’d to be considerably more subtle in pushing on a sports horse rather than one of our riding school horses. I’d owned pretty good horses before, but these were in another class and I’d almost jumped the arena fence getting the first horse to go.
Now, under the close attention of Hilary who was circling her lead horse, Moonlight Sonata, better known as Bob. She pulled up her horse and indicated I should keep circling.
“Okay, your riding position isn’t bad. We’ll need to work on that before we start any jumping. Show me a canter transition.”
I pushed Tom on and gained a good canter transition, Hilary then got me to work on various exercises around the arena before asking Sally to change horses. This happened three times with me repeating the exercises on other horses. At the end of another three hours, I was red in the face and exhausted.
Hilary smiled as I dismounted, having cooled down the horse I led it out of the arena, brushing and untacking him. Sally told me to clean the tack later before handing me a muck bucket and a rake and telling me to skip out the arena and rake it flat. I obeyed without question. Taking my leather riding boots off and sliding on my old wellies, ignoring the pounding in my head.
The arena was huge, however, I worked quickly and picked up the droppings before working around raking the sand flat, walking up and down with the tiny rake. It took over an hour to complete and, in the end, I could hardly move. However, before I could sit down Sally handed me a pitchfork and told me to throw back and square off the muck heap. Again, a truly herculean task, as the muck heap was a sprawling expanse of manure which had clearly not been attended to, possibly ever. After two hours of shovelling, it was looking square and raked into some form of order.
I was dead on my feet but I wasn’t going to complain or give in. I went into the tack room and started on eight sets of tack which needed to be sponged and polished before loading the washing machine with bandages. I’d just finished when Sally put her head around the door and sharply told me to fill hay-nets for all the horses.
* * *
I’d taken a moment to sit down while filling the nets. My feet ached and I was exhausted, my head thumping and my muscles cramped. I heard a movement beyond the door so leapt to my feet.
“It’s okay, it’s me. Look, I’ll get Sally to finish those. I think you’ve passed her test by now…” Hilary smiled.
“Test?”
“Adam, you need to understand, we have a tractor and harrow to rake the school and, as lovely as your well-groomed muck heap looks, I would rather have well-groomed horses. I’m not all old fashioned about stable management. It’s a muck heap after all for goodness sakes. Sally does this to everyone new, it’s just her way of making sure you are right for me. She only wants the best. Look, you go off, you look dead on your feet. And I bet she had you up at five as well… Naughty thing. Please, go and rest. You’ve more than proved yourself. We normally start at seven. Sally will be fine with you now. Most people would have left by lunchtime, one or two have tried to belt her, one succeeded. That was a hell of a catfight I had to break up. Very few people are good enough to meet her exacting standards so I would take this as a massive compliment, even if she says nothing to you. I’ll see you in the morning. And Adam, please mind the tool shed door tomorrow.”
I dragged myself to the caravan, fumbling with the lock. I just about managed to slide my boots off before flopping on the sofa, falling asleep. The next thing I knew my alarm was ringing.
* * *
>
“I’m sorry…” Sally looked anything other than apologetic as she stepped into the feed room. I’d made up most of the feed buckets according to the list written on a whiteboard on the feed shed wall.
“Did I pass your test? Do you think I’m going to be good enough for Hilary?”
“Yes… Most people give up, you just kept going. Honestly, I’m impressed.”
“Yeah, I’m pig-headed and hard-working, it’s a dangerous combination.”
“Nah… throw in attention to detail and you’ve got a good event groom. Look, I feel bad. Come to the cottage with me later, I’ll make you breakfast. I know you didn’t eat last night; you were fast asleep when I came to see you. In fact, I did worry that maybe I had killed you!”
“Thank you for your concern!”
“Well, I’d need to start training another working pupil… Just think of the effort on my part!” Sally giggled and hugged me warmly. “You’re okay…”
We mucked out and groomed the horses before Sally told me to finish up. Her cottage was small, however as she had said it was very cosy with the living room centred around a fireplace, a tidy kitchen with the bathroom beyond and upstairs her bedroom. We sat facing each other at her dining table after she had served up scrambled eggs on toast. I’d seen chickens pecking and scratching around but hadn’t thought of eggs. Sally promised me a box full to take back to my lodgings.
“Look, Adam. I’m sorry I treated you that way yesterday.”
“I know, you said. I totally understand. You’re protecting Hilary, it’s admirable. Anyway, I could have been some sort of chancer.”
“But you didn’t complain, you did what I told you without complaining, even though you must have been hurting and probably concussed.”
“Sally, you’re the boss… I bet you don’t get to stop when you are at a show, even if you are hurting.”
“Yeah… Good point. I just feel a bit bad about it. I should have trusted you.”
“Well, as long as you do now… That will do me fine.”
“I do.”
* * *
We soon fell into a routine. Sally showed me the techniques and tips used by professional grooms which would prove invaluable to me in our own yard. Whereas it was clear Hilary was not easy to impress, she was starting to make encouraging noises about my riding and I’d managed to make my aids more subtle on her horses so that they weren’t jumping out of their skin when I asked for transitions.
Hours of riding and yard work were exhausting and I was looking forward to Monday when I could have a day off and get home to see Kate. Hilary had allowed me to use an old Land Rover which she had in the yard and I was looking forward to the drive home to see how my wife was coping.
I was sweeping the yards down at the end of the evening, nothing more than a simple meal and a night of telly to look forward to. My mind was elsewhere and I missed Sally behind me, I jumped as she tapped me on the shoulder.
“You were miles away! Come on, before you completely wear the bristles out on that broom. I’ll make you something to eat.”
The smell of cooking hit me the moment I walked into Sally’s cottage; her slow cooker had been working all day to create something delicious. Another show groom trick she assured me, particularly when the weather was bad, it was great to have something warm to eat when you were finally able to stop. She ushered me to sit and served up the corned beef stew and warm bread, washed down with more bottles of German wine.
I’d not intended to drink as much as I did, however, my glass was so often topped up by Sally I wasn’t sure how much I’d consumed. I staggered to my feet as I saw it was frighteningly late.
“Oh, don’t go…” Sally leapt towards me, her arms around my neck. “Just have one more…”
“Sally, come on. I’ve got an early start-” My words were cut short as Sally grabbed my head pushing her lips towards me and kissing me hard. “Sally!” I pushed her back, only for her to shove me against the sofa, groping me.
“Come on… I’ve seen you looking at me…” She slurred; her body close to mine as she knelt above me.
“Sally… You’re a really lovely girl, but I’m a married man. A very happily married man. Thank you for a lovely meal.” I pushed her away and made a bolt for the door, not even leaving myself time to pick up my boots. I dashed across the yard, slopping through the mud to reach my front door.
I sat alone for a moment. I was a very happily married man… And Sally was a very beautiful woman. I was flattered to have her attention. We worked closely together, I couldn’t help but notice her taut body, her soft hair… I stopped myself. No… I pulled off my muddy breeches, stepping into the tiny bathroom I stared in the mirror. ‘Remember who you are Adam…’
4
Day’s Off
My room was still spinning as I woke and showered. I sighed at the sight of my muddy socks and breeches laying by the caravan door, however, I was confused to see my boots sitting beside them next to the sofa. I shook my head, stepping out onto the yard for another day’s hard work.
Sally ignored my greeting as I stepped into the feed shed, pushing past me as she took buckets out onto the yard. I caught up with her.
“Hello… Are you okay?” She snorted and turned away; I touched her shoulder.
“Don’t touch me…”
“Sally… I’m really sorry. I think you’re amazing, and, well if I didn’t have Kate…”
“But you do…” Despite the venom in her voice, her eyes were filled with tears.
“I do… Please, Sally, dry your eyes.” I handed her a tissue from my jacket pocket.
“I’m sorry, I was drunk. I feel really embarrassed…” She snorted, regaining her composure. “You led me on!”
“Sally. Don’t be silly! I had too much to drink, we both did. If you think I led you on I’m really sorry. Sally, to be honest, I don’t remember a thing… Now, can we still work together, I want us to at least be friends again?”
Sally rushed towards me, her hug almost knocking me off my feet. She finally stepped back, smiling faintly.
“Friends, yes. But I’m still the boss, bitch!”
“Yes miss, I’m still your stable bitch…” We laughed and got on with feeding.
“Thank you, Adam…” Sally looked coyly at me smiling.
* * *
Sally winked at me as she took the horse I was riding. I’d been in the arena for almost four hours and could hardly walk. Hilary came over to me.
“Come and have a coffee, we’ve hardly had a chance to catch up since you have been here.”
“Only because you spend every day trying to break me!”
She laughed, leading the way towards the farmhouse. “So, you’ve done a couple of weeks, how do you feel it’s going? Sally’s not working you too hard, is she?”
“Sally’s great…”
“There’s a ‘but’ there isn’t there? Look, she’s a hard-working groom, and very driven, but…”
“But?”
“I’m speaking out of turn here. She can come across as a bit forceful, you need to stand your ground. Don’t let her bully you. Oh, I can see I’m amusing you.”
“Not at all… She is a real star and yes, she is driven to say the least.”
“Some people just can’t get on with her, but she has a heart of gold.”
“Sally is rather forceful, you can certainly say that, in more ways than one…”
Hilary gasped watching me closely. “What are you saying, Adam? Oh goodness, she didn’t…”
Death Rider (The Rider Series Book 2) Page 3
