Chasing Ribbons (Show Jumping Dreams ~ Book 19)

by Claire Svendsen

“Hey,” a couple of them said but the way their eyes glazed over me, I knew they were judging me.

  Next to them I looked like someone’s little sister. Someone who didn’t belong and after that all Jordan seemed to care about was goofing off with his friends. The guys rough housed, fake punching each other in the stomach and messing up their hair. None of them seemed to care that Jordan had his arm in a cast or that he was supposed to be careful until he got it off. One of the girls was fawning over him, holding his broken arm and then kissing it. Her red lips left a kiss mark behind on the cast and Jordan didn’t even seem to care. Mickey had been right about him all along. He did have friends who were older and daring and probably troublemakers. They all looked capable of smoking and drinking and driving recklessly. I trailed after them for a while until they all decided to go on the centrifuge.

  “Come on,” Jordan said, suddenly noticing me for the first time in at least ten minutes. “It will be fun.”

  “No thanks,” I said. “I’ll just stay here and wait.”

  He tried to convince me but not very hard because his friends were already in the line, calling out to him to hurry up.

  “I have to go with them or I’ll never hear the end of it,” he said. “Why don’t you go and get some more cotton candy?”

  “Right,” I said but he’d already gone.

  CHAPTER FOURTEEN

  I found myself standing in front of the woman with the armfuls of cotton candy without any appetite for it whatsoever. I couldn’t believe Jordan had done that to me. I wanted to go home but I was stuck at the fair. I couldn’t call my father and ask him to pick me up because then he’d know that he’d been right, I never should have gone out on a date. Also he would kill Jordan and technically he hadn’t done anything wrong. Wanting to hang out with his friends wasn’t a crime, I just wished that he wanted to hang out with me instead and I didn’t want to become one of those girls who forced their boyfriend to choose between their friends and me and he wasn’t even really my boyfriend anyway.

  I wandered through the fair grounds. Where before it had seemed exciting and alive, now it just seemed sad and tired, even when the truth was that the only thing that had changed was me. I could see how the stalls were ripped and held together with duct tape. The rust on the rides that was clearly some sort of code violation. And the people who ran the fair that earlier had seemed eccentric and cool, now just seemed creepy.

  At the back corner of the fair there was a roped off area where kids were lining up and suddenly the wonderful smell of horses filled the air. Immediately I felt better, until I pushed through the crowd and saw one fat, tubby miniature horse giving pony rides.

  The sign said that Bandit the wonder horse would take you for a ride but the poor tiny horse looked like he’d rather just stand there and take a nap. He was brown and white with a shaggy coat and a tangled tail. One of his brown patches went over his left eye, making it look like he was wearing an eye patch. There was a kid on his back, squealing in delight and drumming his heels against the tiny horse’s sides. His reins were two pieces of baling twine tied together and his saddle was too big.

  I wanted to rush in there and steal him away but I didn’t think the large man who was leading him around would appreciate that. Instead I stood off to the side, watching. After about the tenth kid, I stepped forward.

  “You want a ride?” he said, glaring at me.

  “What? Are you kidding? No, I was going to say that don’t you think he needs a break? A drink of water or something?”

  “Clear off,” he said, waving me away with an oiled stained hand. “We don’t need do-gooder types interfering around here.”

  “But…” I tried.

  “Beat it,” he yelled. “Scram.”

  People in the crowd turned around and looked at me. People who had no clue that the mini they were about to pay to have their child ride was exhausted. I blinked back tears and stepped away. The horse wasn’t in immediate danger. He wasn’t being beaten or starved. In fact he seemed far too fat for his own good.

  I stood there next to a half dead tree, watching kid after kid go round in a circle until the crowd finally dwindled and the horse was able to rest. His head hung down so low that it touched the ground but he didn’t try to eat any of the crushed grass. The guy just left him standing there and went to a cooler where he pulled out a beer and popped off the cap. It skittered over the grass but he didn’t bother and pick it up.

  Suddenly he noticed me standing there.

  “I thought I told you to beat it,” he said.

  “I know,” I said. “I was just wondering if you might like to sell the mini?”

  Being nice to the horrid man was taking every ounce of my strength. I wanted to yell at him for making the poor horse work for hours and hours without a break but I bit my tongue.

  “Why would I sell him to the likes of you?” He spat onto the grass.

  “I have money,” I said.

  “I bet you do. I bet your daddy pays for everything. I bet if you called him right now he’d come and buy this sad little monster for you but you know what darlin? That ain’t never going to happen. Not in a million years. Not for all the money in the world. Got it?”

  “Yes,” I said, my bottom lip quivering.

  “There you are.” Suddenly Jordan was by my side and I actually couldn’t have been happier to see him. “What are you doing?”

  “Nothing,” I said. “Let’s go.”

  “That’s right,” the man said. “Tell your boyfriend how I was a mean old man who wouldn’t sell you the little, tiny pony and ruined your whole life.”

  Jordan stiffened, then stepped closer to the guy. I thought he was going to punch him in the face.

  “Please,” I whispered. “Forget it. Let’s go.”

  “Go on tough guy,” the pony ride man said. “Punch me. Looks like someone already broke one of your arms. How about I break the other one?”

  For a moment I thought Jordan was actually going to flip out and punch the guy but eventually he just sighed and shook his head.

  “You know what? You’re not even worth it,” he said.

  We walked away, my heart hammering like it was going to jump right out of my chest.

  “I totally thought you were going to punch that guy,” I said.

  “For a moment so did I,” Jordan replied. “Why were you bothering him anyway?”

  “I just felt sorry for that poor mini,” I said. “He didn’t have any water and no breaks and he seemed like he was maybe drugged or something. You saw him. He was just standing there with his head down like he’d lost the will to live.”

  “And you thought you’d rescue him?” Jordan said.

  “I thought maybe he might sell him to me,” I said.

  “And what would you do with a tiny little horse like that?” Jordan said.

  “I don’t know.” I sighed. “I just wanted to save him.”

  “Well you were lucky that I came along and saved you,” Jordan said as we got back to his car. “Don’t you know what happens on the back side of fairs? That guy could have abducted you or something.”

  “I’m pretty sure I could have outrun him,” I said.

  Jordan laughed but I knew he was right. It had been dangerous, challenging that crazy beer drinking, spitting guy like that and if Jordan hadn’t come along, who knows what would have happened. All I did know was that the evening hadn’t exactly turned out the way I had hoped.

  CHAPTER FIFTEEN

  The next morning I was up early, out in the ring working my horses and trying to pretend that the previous night had never happened. When Jordan pulled into the drive and came to a stop I mumbled something about thanks for the cotton candy and then bolted from the car before he could say anything, or worse, try and kiss me. As far as I was concerned, the whole evening had been a complete disaster and I wasn’t keen to go on any so called dates for a really long time, if ever. Instead I’d vowed to throw myself into my work.

  In the
back of my mind I knew that I hadn’t been putting all the effort that I could have into Four’s training and it was just as well that the people who were going to come and look at him hadn’t shown up. That happened a lot. People got cold feet or found another horse and forgot to call and tell you but I was glad. Four was my summer project and the summer had only just started. I hadn’t even had a chance yet to see what he was really capable of though apparently today it wasn’t much.

  “Will you settle down?” I said as he spun around at the end of the ring.

  His head was up and he called to the horses back in the barn. He’d become attached to Arion and didn’t like to leave his side. If it carried on much longer, I was going to have to separate them. I couldn’t have herd bound horses screaming for each other when I was trying to school and what would happen if we went to a show? I didn’t need horsey meltdowns or any more drama than I already had.

  I pushed Four into a trot, using my legs to drive him on while my reins stayed loose. Coming from some questionable western training he was very mouth shy even after we’d had his teeth floated by the dentist. He resisted any kind of contact by trying to rear and even though he hadn’t gone completely vertical on me yet, I was just waiting for the day when he would.

  There were some poles on the ground left over from lessons the day before and I tried to get Four to trot over them. He didn’t think that was a very good idea. He balked and shied and ducked out at the last minute.

  “But it’s not even a jump,” I said, circling him. “They are literally just poles lying on the ground and I’ve walked you over them before.”

  Four seemed to think that maybe walking was okay but trotting was when the poles would come to life and eat his legs. In the end I gave up and let him walk but by now he was so worked up that even then he snorted at the boring white poles and then scuttled over them quickly like a crab. Pretty much the whole ride was taken up with getting him to go over the poles again and again until he finally realized that there was not actually any kind of danger involved at all.

  “Well you’ll never make an event horse, that’s for sure,” I said as I dismounted and ran up my stirrups. “You are certainly not fearless. Oh well, one down, three to go.”

  Arion was next and I used the pole exercise for him as well. He didn’t have a problem trotting over them and I figured they would help him realize that he didn’t have to rush and that not everything was a race. After he’d gone over them a few times I took him over a few low jumps, trying to keep him quiet. I trotted him in and then let him canter for a few paces after, then asked him to halt at the end of the ring. He tossed his head and tried to fight me, wanting to canter on and then gallop.

  “No,” I said. “Just stand here.”

  I patted his neck and made him wait until he was quiet and then we did it again from the other direction. Arion needed basics. He needed to know that he couldn’t just get all out of control when he jumped because what if I needed to make an adjustment on course and I couldn’t because he was too busy galloping on to the next fence to listen? A good jumper was elastic, pliable, listened to you when you needed them to. So far Arion only listened when he wanted to but he did a good job and by the time I was done with him, I felt that he’d actually learned something instead of just going out there and playing around.

  “Very nice,” Dad said as I led him back into the barn. “I like what I’m seeing.”

  “Thanks,” I said, unbuckling Arion’s bridle and slipping it off before putting on his halter. “I’m getting it done today. Two down, two to go.”

  “I see that,” Dad said, leaning against the wall and crossing his arms. “This wouldn’t have anything to do with last night, would it?”

  “No, why would you say that?”

  My face turned red and I buried it under my saddle flap as I unbuckled the girth so that he wouldn’t see.

  “You rushed in last night and went straight to bed,” Dad said. “And you’re up extra early this morning.”

  “I have a lot of horses to work and I want to get it all done before it gets too hot. They can’t work as long in the afternoon heat, you know that.”

  “Yes, I do,” Dad said. “I just haven’t seen this much determination in you in a while.”

  I didn’t know what to say so I just shrugged. I didn’t want to talk about the fair or Jordan and I especially didn’t want to talk about them with my father. That was what mothers were for. Only mine was in the hospital hundreds of miles away and we didn’t know how she was and I couldn’t let myself fall apart over it because otherwise I’d be no good at the Talent Scout show at all.

  “Can you give me a lesson on Bluebird later?” I asked. “You know, to get us ready for the show?”

  “Sure,” he said, still frowning.

  CHAPTER SIXTEEN

  I had a while to wait before Dad could squeeze me into the lesson schedule so I decided to take Hashtag out to the jump field and see if Jess had ruined him or if he was still as good as I remembered. He stood quietly in the cross ties as I brushed him and then tacked him up. He was taller than most of the other horses I rode and had a big, broad chest. I had to adjust the breastplate until it was on the last hole.

  “Have you grown?” I asked him.

  He blinked his eyes.

  “Blink once for yes, twice for no?” I tried but he didn’t answer.

  “Suit yourself,” I said.

  I took him to the mounting block where he stood quietly and then we walked out to the field. Dad was in the ring with a group of beginners and when he saw me walking past he smiled and gave me a thumbs up. I knew he was happy that Hashtag was back. He’d always had a soft spot for the horse and thought he was far too good for Jess. I’d always liked him too and I really couldn’t believe that he was here at Fox Run but I wouldn’t let myself believe that he was actually mine. Dad had paid for him and that meant that if someone came along and offered him a boatload of money, I knew he wouldn’t hesitate to sell the horse out from under me. Dad was like that. He believed that if you got a good offer you should take it because who knew if the next step your horse took would be a lame one? I wasn’t like that at all. I bonded. I got attached. I didn’t care if my horses got too old or too lame to jump anymore. I wanted to keep them all. Dad thought that was sentimental hogwash. It was one of the things that we didn’t see eye to eye on.

  I worked Hashtag back and forth on the flat. He was a little lazy, a little resistant. Certainly not as eager as my two youngsters had been. He almost felt like he was doing me a favor by completing the actions that I asked of him and would rather have been standing back in his stall.

  I trotted him over a couple of small jumps but he was so lazy that he had rails down on both of them.

  “What is the matter boy?” I asked him.

  I hadn’t done anything wrong. I’d ridden forward and encouraged him with my voice and legs. I knew that he knew how to jump. These tiny fences were nothing to him. Maybe he just needed more of a challenge? I circled him at the canter, trying to get his attention and then rode him at an oxer. It wasn’t huge but big enough to get him to wake up. Only Hashtag didn’t wake up. Instead he completely ignored my leg and ground to a halt, his nose ramming into the top pole and knocking it off. It clattered to the ground right in front of him and he didn’t even flinch.

  “I guess I should have worn my spurs or at least grabbed a crop,” I said.

  I hadn’t thought I would need them. Hashtag was always a pretty forward horse before but now it was like he’d just given up. If he didn’t want to jump anymore, did that mean my father had just bought a lemon because he wasn’t going to be very happy about that?

  Instead of trying to force Hashtag to jump, I just let him wander around the property. I knew my dad would say that I should have made him jump but I just didn’t feel like it was the right thing to do. He wasn’t being overly disobedient, he was just trying to tell me that he didn’t want to and nothing was worse than forcing a horse to do so
mething he didn’t want to do. Sometimes we had to, when it was for their own good but jumping wasn’t for their own good at all. It was supposed to be fun and well if Hashtag didn’t think it was fun anymore then I was just going to have to figure out a way to convince him that it was.

  “Did he jump okay?” Dad asked.

  “He wasn’t really into it so I took him for a little ride to settle in,” I said, hoping my father hadn’t seen Hashtag’s knock downs and refusal. The last thing I needed was for him to catch me in a lie.

  “Alright,” Dad said. “But don’t start babying him. The horse knows how to jump and that is what he is here to do. Treating him with kid gloves isn’t going to help the situation any. He needs to get back to work.”

  “I know,” I said.

  Hashtag hadn’t really broken a sweat so I just gave him a good brush down after I untacked him.

  “Did you hear that?” I whispered to him. “You are here to work so you’d better suck it up. If you start refusing in front of Dad then he is going to get really mad with you.”

  I put Hashtag in his stall and he looked so sad that I threw my arms around his neck and gave him a great big hug.

  “It’s okay,” I told him. “Jess isn’t here and you don’t have to do anything you don’t want to do. I promise.”

  I gave him a treat and kissed him on the nose and when I slid the stall door closed, I thought he looked a little happier, even though I was pretty sure he hadn’t understood a word I’d said.

  CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

  I had a successful lesson on Bluebird and Dad said that maybe I should take it easy on him from now until the show. Work on the flat. Do some trail rides. Let him enjoy being a pony. I wanted to tell him that Bluebird’s favorite thing in the whole world was jumping and he’d rather be doing that than anything else but I knew what he meant. He was talking about doing things outside the ring, low pressure fun things to keep him fresh and interested in life. It was what Hashtag needed only I was afraid to tell my father because I didn’t want him to send the horse back.