Learning to Fly
Page 10
Diagonals gave Taylor more trouble than any other part of English riding. It was so difficult to tell which of the horse’s front legs was swinging forward without looking! She broke Monty down to a walk and moved toward the man, suddenly much tenser than she was before. “Hi, my name is Taylor,” she said when she was close to him. “Are you my instructor?”
“Keith Hobbes,” he responded, touching the brim of his cap in greeting. “Now, go pick up the correct diagonal. Do a warm-up lap.”
Taylor obeyed, guiding Monty over to the rail. She glanced down to Monty’s outside leg, rising up out of the saddle as it came forward. Wow, he doesn’t waste any time, Taylor thought as she tried to keep the up-down rhythm.
“Close your hip angle,” Keith called out. Taylor was glad that he didn’t seem as annoyed and hurried as Mercedes often did. “You’re a Western rider, aren’t you?” he observed.
“Does it still show?” she asked, chagrined. Taylor wanted to believe that she was moving back and forth between the two styles with grace. She had first learned Western style when she was around eight, but now that she wanted to jump, she had to learn English. There was no jumping in Western riding.
“Yep. It shows a little,” he replied. Taylor bent forward at her hip, trying to mask her Western riding background as best she could. Since Western riders generally learned to sit on their back pockets, she had to relearn and practice being more perched in the saddle.
“We’re going to work on your English riding form a bit today. Okay?” Keith’s voice rang through the ring, calm and instructional. “Now, I want you to bring your lower leg back and push more weight into your heels,” he said.
Taylor tried to do both, all the while keeping the posting trot. “Good. Much better!” Keith praised her.
Taylor smiled at his encouraging words. Mercedes almost never gave her any positive reinforcement. Mercedes wasn’t mean and Taylor was grateful for the instruction she was giving her, but the girl had a bossy, critical streak that could be hard to take. It was just nice to hear a compliment for a change.
“I want to see more bend in your arm. Now, ask for a canter,” Keith instructed, as Taylor sat down and nudged Monty into the quicker, three-beat gate. “Check your lead! Is it correct?” Keith stood with his arms folded and watched Taylor move around the ring.
She broke Monty back into the trot. “I guess not? Uh … sorry … but what’s a lead?” Taylor asked, feeling uninformed and embarrassed. He probably expected his rider would know these things already. Had she disappointed him on their very first lesson?
SUZANNE WEYN lives in the heart of horse country, in a valley in New York State—which is perfect for her daughter, an avid horse rider, riding instructor, and competitor. Suzanne’s many books for teens include Reincarnation and Distant Waves. For more information about Suzanne and her novels, visit her online at www.suzanneweynbooks.com.
Copyright © 2010 by Suzanne Weyn.
All rights reserved. Published by Scholastic Inc.
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First printing, July 2010
Cover photo by Michael Frost
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Cover design by Yaffa Jaskoll
e-ISBN 978-0-545-32766-4
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