Summer Rider (Show Jumping Dreams ~ Book 31)

by Claire Svendsen

  “Well I did,” she said. “And Julio saw and now he’s going to tell Rae and she’ll call Esther.”

  “Well you wanted to go home,” I said. “Maybe now she’ll come and get you.”

  “I thought you were my friend,” she said.

  “I thought you were my friend too,” I said. “But you don’t leave your friend to do all the hard work and you don’t treat your friends like they suck just because you’re in a bad mood all the time. I’m here to work and learn and have fun. Why are you here?”

  “I don’t know,” she said. Then she stormed off. Again.

  CHAPTER FORTY EIGHT

  That evening I worked both Rags and Bluebird. I didn’t have a lot of time but I wanted to give them one final schooling before the show tomorrow.

  “Do you want to ride with me?” I asked Hanna, who was still sulking.

  She was laying on her bunk bed with her head buried in the pillow but I was still trying to be nice, though I wasn’t sure why. All I knew was that she wasn’t a bad person and I wanted us to be friends.

  “Do you want to ride Hemi with me?” I tried again.

  “I have a headache,” she said, her voice muffled.

  So I left her alone and had a pretty good schooling session with both horses. Rae even came out and gave me a few pointers, for which I thanked her very much. I knew that she didn’t really owe me anything and I was grateful for the opportunity to ride with her.

  “I won’t let you down tomorrow,” I told her.

  “Winning isn’t everything,” she said with a smile.

  “I know,” I replied. But it was good to hear those words from a trainer.

  CHAPTER FORTY NINE

  The next morning, I set my alarm extra early and snuck out of the room to braid my horses. I didn’t expect the braider to do Bluebird and I wanted to try and see if I could get Rags to co-operate, though I didn’t want to make him mad before the show so I wasn’t going to push it if he truly protested.

  I did Bluebird first, his braids quick and easy and then moved on to the big black horse. I stuffed some of the alfalfa into a hay net and hung it in his stall. No horse could resist the allure of that sort of hay and so I tied him up and spent a while just brushing his mane and playing with it. At first he tossed his head and tried to move away from me but I had him sort of trapped in the corner so he didn’t really have anywhere to go and in the end he got so engrossed in eating that he ignored me as I gently braided his mane, grateful that it wasn’t super thick and happy that I wasn’t having to do hunter braids.

  “You’re up extra early,” Shelby said with a yawn when she found me in the feed room later.

  “Just had some stuff I wanted to get done,” I replied, scooping grain into buckets along with the fifty million assorted supplements that the show horses got.

  “You’re nervous about riding the monster, aren’t you?” she said.

  “Not really,” I replied, pointing at his stall.

  She walked over and looked at Rags.

  “No way,” she said. “You braided him and he didn’t kill you? How did you do that?”

  “I bribed him with alfalfa,” I said.

  “You do know that’s just going to make him even crazier later,” she said.

  I shrugged. “It will be worth it.”

  Julio gave an approving nod when he saw the horse and Rae just smiled. One hurdle down, one to go.

  CHAPTER FIFTY

  Since my classes were in the morning, Rae excused me from helping the clients. I felt bad though because Shelby and Theresa were rushed off their feet.

  “Where is Hanna?” I asked.

  “She’s sick,” Shelby said with a shrug.

  I knew that she wasn’t really sick, she was sulking but I didn’t say anything. If she was the one who was riding in the show and I was the one stuck doing all the work, I’d probably be hiding in my bed too so I forgot about Hanna as I led both my horses over to the show grounds. Rae had said I could ride Bluebird and pony Rags but I didn’t want to take a chance that he would do something stupid and yank the reins out of my hands so I just hand walked them while Julio took my show jacket, helmet and supplies in the golf cart.

  “Good luck,” Shelby called out from one of the stalls as I left. “I’ll see you over there later.”

  “Thanks,” I replied.

  I’d looked in on Hanna before I left but she was a lump under the covers and I didn’t want to disturb her so I closed the door without saying anything. If she really was sick, I hoped she’d feel better soon.

  And I made it to the show in one piece. Neither horse pulled my arm out of its socket or stepped on my feet. When I got there Julio took both of them while I walked my first course, the pony jumper class.

  I felt weird about riding in it. Like it wasn’t fair on the other competitors but there were girls my age riding ponies of their own so it wasn’t like I was going to be stealing the blue ribbon from a little kid.

  “You got this?” Rae asked. “Any questions?”

  “No, I’ve got it,” I said, pulling on my coat even though it was already ninety degrees.

  Bluebird was hot, his neck slick with sweat.

  “I know you can do this,” I told him. “This is like a baby class for you.”

  We cantered around the less than technical course, Bluebird acting like he was out for a schooling session. I wished that I’d jumped him over the warm up fence but there was so many people in the ring, I couldn’t be bothered to fight for a turn at the jumps. Now, because it was hot, he was all lazy. I used my spurs to push him forward as he got flat over a jump and touched the rail. Luckily it didn’t fall but that was what I got for being over confident. After that I rode him like I wasn’t convinced we would win and we managed to get round clean but it was a bit of a wakeup call.

  There were ten of us in the jump off, most of the ponies completely crazy with wild eyes. It was all their riders could do to steer them into the ring. Some had to be led in. This was why I had been glad to get out of the pony jumpers. There were too many people who thought that all you needed was a pony who was crazy and fast and you’d win. But it turned out that the jump off course was a lot more technical than the first round and half the riders had rails.

  We went seventh and there had only been two clear rounds before us and both were slow. I knew Bluebird could do better. We galloped around the jumps, taking a turn in between jumps that none of the other riders had been able to do because they couldn’t control their speedy ponies but I could. Bluebird ducked and turned on a dime and we finished fast and clean. I knew that if no one else tried to make the turn we had, then we would win.

  “Very nice,” Rae said as we came out. “That was a bold move.”

  “Bluebird can be steered and go fast,” I said. “And he’s better than this class.”

  Rae looked at me and nodded. “Yes,” she said. “I see that I underestimated your pony.”

  That gave me a warm and fuzzy feeling inside, which only got better when we won the class. A couple of other riders had tried to make the same turn I had and wiped out a jump standard. One girl flew off and the other almost did. The rest just went the long way and no one could catch our time.

  Bluebird tossed his neck as they pinned the blue ribbon on his bridle and bucked as we did our victory lap.

  “Show off,” I told him as I patted his neck but I couldn’t have been prouder of him.

  CHAPTER FIFTY ONE

  It was one down and one to go and I barely had time to pee and grab a drink of water before Rae wanted me in the warm up ring with Rags. This time there was no skipping the warm up. She staked claim to a jump and made me go over it until she was satisfied.

  Like the pony jumper class, the speed class was in the low jumper division and not all that challenging. The challenge was that Rags was a difficult and temperamental horse so getting him to go fast and clean without freaking out would be my job. I just hoped that he’d stick to his end of the bargain and not ki
ll me. We’d had a talk about it while I was braiding him but I wasn’t sure he was listening since he had his face stuffed in the sweetest alfalfa in the world.

  “Good luck,” Shelby called out as I waited by the in gate for my turn. “Don’t die.”

  “Thanks,” I called back. “I’ll try not to.”

  She waved and then got back to helping the clients that she was responsible for. Julio was holding Bluebird for me and when my class was over I was to take both horses back to the barn and then it was back to working student mode, helping the clients for the rest of the afternoon. But right now all I could think about was showing Rae that she was right to place her faith in me. I couldn’t let her down. I wouldn't.

  I closed my legs around Rags’ sides and trotted into the ring.

  CHAPTER FIFTY TWO

  I’ll say one thing for Rags, he had a whole other gear of speed that I hadn’t even tapped into while I was schooling him and to be honest, the course was a blur. I kind of hung on for dear life and tried not to get in his way.

  He wasn't handy like my pony was so we couldn’t make any death defying turns without crashing and burning but he was fast enough to make up for it. There was one point on the course where there was a double oxer leading to a skinny plank fence. I knew I’d have to slow him a little to get him up off his forehand to jump clean and he fought me, throwing his head up in protest. I eased the reins a little and let him have some of his head back and then asked again. This time he listened and we cleared the plank fence and the rest of the course without having any rails down.

  “Nice job,” Rae said, clapping as I came out of the ring. “Very nice job indeed. Well done.”

  “We could have been faster,” I admitted as I jumped down, my knees buckling a little. “If I hadn’t had to take him back before that plank fence.”

  I hadn’t realized that I’d been hanging on for dear life. Rags was a big step up from the horses I usually rode and even though he was difficult, I liked him. I liked a challenge.

  “You were clean,” Rae said. “Better to be safe than sloppy.”

  And in the end we were second, beaten by a girl who was one second faster than we were but that was speed classes for you.

  Rags wouldn’t let the steward pin the red ribbon on his bridle. He tried to rear and bolt away and in the end I just took it from him and pinned it onto my boot.

  “You’re embarrassing yourself,” I told Rags but he didn’t care.

  We didn’t participate in the victory gallop. I really didn’t want to die after I’d completed the course safely and I was glad to get out of the ring and get my pony back from Julio, who was starting to look restless because he probably had a million and one things he should have been doing instead of holding my pony.

  “Change and come back quickly,” he told me.

  “I will,” I said.

  But I knew that I’d have two hot and sweaty horses to take care of when I got back to the barn and I was hoping that just maybe Hanna would help me with them.

  On the way back I rode Rags and ponied Bluebird. My legs were tired and I knew that both horses were also too tired to be silly. Plus, Bluebird wouldn’t try and get away from me. If anything I knew he would follow me back to the barn like a puppy dog. Still, I was glad when we finally made it back in one piece.

  I put Rags in the wash rack and Bluebird in his stall.

  “Hanna?” I called out. “Are you here? Would you mind helping me?”

  There was no reply, just the shuffling of the horses who had been left behind in their stalls and the whirring of the fans. I ran to our room and opened the door. Hanna was still huddled under the covers, a lump that hadn’t moved. Now I was worried. What if she was really sick?

  “Hanna?” I said softly.

  No reply.

  “Hanna, are you okay?” I said, this time louder.

  What if she was dead? I walked gingerly over to the bunk beds. I’d never seen a dead body before. Could healthy teenagers really die in their sleep? What if that stupid boy had given her drugs or something? I reached out to pull back the covers, my heart beating fast. For a moment I stood there with my hand in midair, my fist clenched. I thought about leaving her. Letting the others find out if she was okay when they got back but now that I had those horrible thoughts in my head, I had to look to get them out.

  I pulled back the covers, heart in my throat but I didn’t find a dead body. Instead there was a bunch of pillows, stuffed under the blankets to look like a person was sleeping there but there wasn’t a person at all. Hanna had gone.

  THE END

  COMING SOON

  SHOW JUMPING DREAMS #32 SHOW DAYS

  Summer is usually a time of heat exhaustion and riding at the crack of dawn in Florida but this year Emily is on the road with up and coming show jumper Rae Willingham. Going from show to show to win points on the summer circuit and trying to prove that she is ready to take her riding to the next level. And now that Hanna has gone, things are going to be a little less dramatic, at least that is what she hopes.

  But when a new girl arrives to replace Esther’s niece, Emily wishes that Hanna had never left because now she has some real competition. Someone who is just as dedicated and eager to get ahead as Emily is and as tensions rise between the two of them, the summer will become one long game to see who is the best.

  And when Emily runs into someone at a show who is a part of her troubled past, riding a horse that she loves, her resolve will be shaken. They will have to ride against each other and in this endless procession of show days, hope that the best rider will win.

  SHOW DAYS: CHAPTER ONE

  Being on the road as a working student with Rae Willingham was like a dream come true. Finding out that Hanna, Esther’s niece had disappeared, was not. I took care of my two horses, washing the sweat off one and then the other. Rubbing liniment on their legs and making sure that they didn’t have any cuts or scrapes. Bluebird liked the attention. Rags did not. Rae’s grumpy black horse just wanted to get back to his stall and eat his hay. I couldn’t blame him. He’d done well in our class and we placed second. I had felt pretty proud of myself, until I went looking for Hanna.

  We’d had our differences since we’d been on the road. It turned out that she’d expected to be a real student with Rae over the summer and not a working student and Esther had only made her work for it because that was what I was going to have to do. Hanna had resented me for it and now she was gone, leaving a bunch of pillows in her place. When I went back to the show grounds, I was going to have to tell the others. I didn’t want to do that. For a moment I thought about not saying anything but I knew that I couldn’t keep it a secret.

  I’d finished with the horses and was dragging my feet when Julio called me.

  “You coming back?” he said without even a hello.

  “Yes,” I said. “Just leaving now.”

  “Good, Rae wants you to bring Infanta over,” he said.

  “What, ride her over?” I said, not quite sure what he was asking.

  “Yes, ride her over and get a move on,” he said and then hung up.

  Infanta was one of Rae’s best horses, a big gray mare with a sweet disposition and a unique but effective way of jumping. I patted her as I tacked her up and she stuck out her neck when I found an itchy spot and scratched it. If Rae was letting me ride one of her best horses, that meant she really trusted me and now I was going to have to ruin the day with the news that Hanna had run off. I was worried about her but also mad at her too. Why did she have to make such a big drama out of everything?

  I rode Infanta back to the show with a sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach. Instead of feeling the joy that was riding Rae’s horse, I just felt impending doom and when I got to the show I quickly handed the big mare off to Julio.

  “Where is Rae?” I asked him.

  He pointed over to where some of the clients and their horses had staked out a place in the shade under a line of trees. Rae was talking with a student a
nd laughing. I didn’t want to ruin her good mood but I was about to.

  “Can I talk to you?” I asked her when I got over there.

  “Is everything okay?” she asked, looking worried. “Is Infanta alright?”

  “She’s fine, she’s with Julio,” I told her. “It’s not the horses, it’s Hanna. She’s gone.”

  I watched confusion flash across Rae’s face and felt a sick feeling of deja vu. Rae looked like my father had when I told him that my mother and Cat had gone. Like she didn’t believe me. I didn’t blame her. I hardly believed it myself but Hanna had most definitely gone and I had no idea where, although I had a sneaking suspicion that the kissing boy had a lot to do with her disappearance and that when they found her, Hanna was going to be in big trouble.

  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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