Back in the Saddle

by Catherine Hapka

  Picking up her English book, she settled onto the bucket and got back to work.

  Haley couldn’t stop yawning as she crawled into bed that night. Still, she couldn’t resist checking in with the Pony Post before she went to sleep. She’d filled them in earlier not only on what her aunt and uncle had said, but also on the changes she was making to her training plans so she could still fit everything in and be prepared enough to win.

  She smiled when she saw that all three of her friends had left messages in response to hers.

  [NINA] Glad u can still do the event, H. But I hope u can relax a little after u finish the extra credit stuff. Don’t forget how crazy u got b4 that clinic, right?

  [BROOKE] Ya, Nina has a point, Haley. It’s just 1 event. U will have another one soon, so don’t make yourself sick over it or anything.

  [MADDIE] Don’t wanna pile on, but the girls are right. Chill, Hales! U and the Wingster are super-fit and ready; u don’t need to worry about it! Get ur school stuff done and then you can forget about it and have fun on Sat!!

  Haley frowned as she read over the posts again, which definitely weren’t the type of thing she’d been expecting to find when she’d logged on. What were her friends so worked up about? This wasn’t like back in the fall, when she’d been so desperate to earn enough money for that clinic that she really had pushed herself a little too hard. This wasn’t the same thing at all.

  I thought at least Maddie would understand, Haley thought. She’s an athlete too—she’s played soccer for as long as I’ve been riding, and she almost joined that traveling team, even.

  She blinked, one word echoing in her head—“almost.”

  Maybe Maddie couldn’t understand either. When she’d been offered the chance to try out for a prestigious traveling soccer team, she’d ended up turning it down, not wanting to take time away from other activities including riding. Haley could appreciate that, but still, she wondered if it meant Maddie didn’t have the same kind of killer edge Haley did, the determination and focus it took to win.

  “Whatever,” she muttered, closing the computer without bothering to respond to the posts.

  Crawling into bed, she pushed her friends’ comments out of her mind. Instead she reviewed her dressage test in her head until she fell asleep.

  CHAPTER

  9

  I DID IT, Haley thought as she began her cross-country course walk on Saturday. She glanced past Jan, Andrew, and Kyle, who were discussing the first jump, to take in the people dotting the course and the horse trailers, barns, and fluttering flags beyond. Somehow I did it. I can hardly believe I’m really here!

  The previous three days had been busy, busy, busy. Haley had spent every waking moment either in the saddle or at her desk—well, except when she’d been doing chores or in school or cleaning her tack or the zillion other things she’d managed to squeeze in.

  But it had all been worth it. Because here she was, about to show the world—or at least this little corner of Wisconsin—what she and her pony could really do.

  That weekend’s event was at a farm where Haley and Wings had competed before, though it had been a couple of years. It wasn’t as fancy as the site of the previous event, but the footing was usually decent, and the owners always brought in good judges, so the events were very popular.

  “Check it out,” Haley told Jan as they hiked up a slight hill after the first jump. “Looks like they redid the water complex.”

  Jan squinted off to the left at the small, square man-made pond, which had sandy footing leading down into one long side and several jumps arrayed around the other edges. “Yeah,” she said. “I’ve heard that the footing is much more consistent now and it rides pretty well.”

  “Good.” Kyle zipped his Windbreaker up a little higher. “Because it’s a little chilly today for a swim.”

  Haley laughed, pushing back a strand of hair that the wind had just whipped across her forehead. It was one of those early spring days when the sun shone so fiercely that it could make you think it was actually warm out, and yet a trace of winter’s chill enveloped you every time you got caught in the gusty breeze. That kind of weather tended to get Wings—and a lot of other horses—a little riled up and snorty. She would have to be extra careful to keep him calm and focused in dressage and stadium, but the extra energy would only help them out here on cross-country.

  “Look,” Andrew murmured, breaking into her thoughts. “There’s Riley.”

  Haley followed his gaze. The older girl was just ahead of them, frowning with concentration as she paced off the approach to a small log a few strides after the water.

  “Hey,” Haley said when she noticed the color of the flag on the log jump. “I wonder if Riley knows she’s looking at the BN log there. I thought she was doing novice this time.”

  Andrew shook his head. “I talked to her when I first got here,” he said. “She decided to stay at BN one more time after all. She wants to move up at a recognized event—says it’ll mean more that way, or something.”

  “Oh.” Haley bit her lip, a little dismayed. She hadn’t taken Riley into account when she’d been prepping for today. Athena had looked awfully good in dressage last time; if Riley fixed her steering issues, they’d be hard to beat.

  But then Haley shrugged. Hard, yes. Impossible? No way. She and Wings could do anything. And beating Riley and her fancy horse would make today’s victory even sweeter.

  After the course walk Haley and the others hurried back to check on the horses. Jan’s trailer was parked at the edge of a flat field adjoining the cow pasture next door. Most of the horses, including Wings, were tied to the trailer where they’d left them. But Jan’s assistant was there hand-grazing Cancun, who kept lifting his head every few seconds to stare around with wide, nervous eyes.

  “How’s he doing?” Jan asked, taking the big dapple-gray horse’s lead from the younger woman.

  The assistant shrugged. “Still kinda amped. But hey, that’ll make your dressage even more interesting, right?”

  Jan chuckled, giving Cancun a pat. “For sure.”

  Just then a cow in the neighboring pasture mooed, and the big gray leaped in place, spinning around and snorting. For a second Haley thought he might rip the lead out of Jan’s hand and take off.

  “Easy, boy,” the trainer said, giving a sharp tug on the line to get the horse’s attention back on her. “Don’t go all mental on me, okay? Those aren’t horse-eating cows, I promise. Look at Wings. He’s not paying any attention to them at all, and he’s, like, half your size!”

  Haley smiled. “He’d better not be afraid of cows,” she joked. “Otherwise we wouldn’t have much fun at team penning.”

  Her smile faded slightly when she thought back to that last penning. She was pretty sure now that it had to have been the culprit in their poor performance last time out, since the farrier hadn’t found anything wrong with Wings’s feet that could explain their jumping problems.

  Well, this time we shouldn’t have to worry, since we’ve been totally focused on eventing, Haley thought. No team penning, no distractions.

  As Haley went to check Wings’s hay net, she noticed a large, shiny three-horse trailer pulling carefully past over the rutted ground. She immediately recognized the girl in the passenger seat.

  “Look,” she told Kyle, who was passing by with more hay for Augie’s net. “I guess that girl Claire’s doing this one too.”

  He looked and nodded. “Figures,” he said. “She definitely wasn’t happy with her placing last time. Probably wants to redeem herself or something.”

  Claire’s trailer pulled into a free spot just across the way. Haley watched as a well-dressed man hopped out of the driver’s seat and hurried around to open the back. Claire got out too and stood watching as the man disappeared inside. He emerged a moment later leading a very tall dark bay gelding with a sculpted head and an elegantly arched neck.

  “I wonder whose horse that is,” Haley commented to Kyle. She waited for the man to
go back in to get Bella, but instead he handed Claire the lead rope and closed the trailer door.

  Meanwhile Claire spotted them and headed over, the big gelding trailing behind her. “Hi, you guys,” she called out. “I didn’t know you were coming to this event. That Riley girl told me about it at the last one.”

  “Us too.” Haley was watching the horse, who was surveying his surroundings with interest but no sign of nerves. “Who’s that?”

  Claire glanced over her shoulder. “My new horse,” she said. “His name’s Dragon. Isn’t he cute?”

  “Cute” wasn’t the word Haley would have chosen. Wings was cute. Augie was cute. Even Turbo and Cancun were cute in their own ways. Next to them Dragon looked like a lion among house cats. Good-looking and impressive, but maybe a little intimidating.

  “He used to event at the upper levels down in Illinois,” Claire went on without waiting for the others to respond. “Zina Charles even rode him once and said he was super-talented.”

  “Your new horse?” Haley echoed. She’d blinked at the mention of the rider who’d given that clinic in the fall, but she hadn’t really moved on past Claire’s first words. “But where’s Bella? Isn’t that her name—your nice bay mare?”

  Claire’s smug smile faded a little. “At my trainer’s barn waiting to get sold,” she snapped. “We just weren’t getting along, and that last event proved it. My stupid ugly brown ribbon finally convinced Daddy to get me something better.”

  Kyle stared up at Dragon, looking awed. “Congratulations,” he said. “He’s—big.”

  “Almost seventeen hands.” Claire’s pleased smile returned. “He definitely won’t have any trouble getting over those elementary jumps, right?”

  “Elementary?” Haley echoed. “Aren’t you doing BN again?”

  “Nope.” Claire reached up to stroke her horse’s glossy neck. “Dragon and I are still getting to know each other, so my trainer suggested we drop back this time. But I’m sure we’ll move up fast once we get used to each other.”

  The man strode over to them, cell phone in hand. “Your trainer just texted, Claire-bear,” he said. “He wants you to meet him for your cross-country course walk pronto.”

  “Thanks, Daddy.” Claire handed him Dragon’s lead. “See you guys later,” she called over her shoulder as she hurried off in the direction of the cross-country course.

  Haley watched Claire’s father lead the big bay horse back over toward their trailer. She could hardly believe they’d bought a horse like Dragon for Claire to compete at elementary level. But whatever—at least Haley wouldn’t have to worry about facing Dragon in her division. Let Kyle deal with competing against Claire’s new, even fancier horse!

  “Are you okay?” Haley brought Wings to a halt and looked back at Kyle. She’d just reached the gate of the warm-up ring, which was really only a large, mostly flat dirt paddock. At least a dozen horses and riders were already in there warming up for their dressage tests, and Haley and Kyle were about to join them. But Kyle had stopped his horse a few yards back and was fiddling with his reins.

  He glanced at Haley, then shot a look over his shoulder in the direction of the parking area. “I think I should’ve waited for Jan,” he said with a weak smile. “Augie feels kind of, I don’t know, different or something?”

  Haley glanced at the buckskin gelding, who looked as placid as ever. Then Augie lifted his head and pricked his ears as the distant sound of a moo drifted toward them on the wind.

  She laughed. “He’s okay. He’s just missing his new friends the cows,” she joked. She’d noticed that Augie, who had been tied closest to the cow pasture, had spent more time watching the spotted creatures than eating his hay. “Come on. You’ll be fine.”

  “I don’t know.” Kyle glanced back again. “Jan will probably be here soon. Maybe I’ll just get off and wait for her. You go ahead, though.”

  Haley swallowed a sigh, shooting a look toward the ring. Her dressage time was more than half an hour after Kyle’s, so she had plenty of time before she had to do her real pre-test warm-up. However, she really wanted to get Wings out there now to loosen up, since he’d been standing around all morning so far—first during the long trailer ride here and then by Jan’s trailer during the course walk. Besides, Kyle was right—Jan would be along soon. The trainer was just helping Andrew find a spare noseband in her tack box, since Turbo had managed to step on his bridle and break it.

  Then Haley looked at Kyle’s face, which was uncharacteristically anxious. “It’s okay, I’m in no hurry,” she told him. “Sure, he’s a little distracted. But you know what to do. You just need to get his attention on you, right? Put him to work, make him focus.”

  “You sound like Jan.” Kyle smiled at her, though it still looked a little forced.

  “That’s because she’s told us that a million times,” Haley said. “Come on. I’ll ride with you out here for a minute before we tackle the warm-up ring, okay?”

  She nudged Wings into a walk and rode him over to Augie. Kyle still looked anxious, but he started Augie walking too. They circled around the grassy area outside the warm-up for the next ten minutes. Every time Haley started to feel impatient, she reminded herself that lots of people had helped her through tough moments in the past—including Kyle himself when he’d run out and caught Wings after Haley had come off. That was one of the things she loved most about eventing. Riders were almost always ready to help someone, even the competition.

  “Thanks for doing this, Haley,” Kyle told her after a while, sounding a little more like his usual chipper self. He shot her a smile. “I don’t know what I’d do if you weren’t here. You’re the best.”

  “It’s cool.” She smiled back and nodded toward the warm-up ring. “Ready to go in there yet?”

  He hesitated. “Umm . . .”

  Luckily, at that moment Haley spotted Jan and Andrew riding toward them from the direction of the parking area. Good. She just hoped she hadn’t missed too much time out of her warm-up, because she was counting on a great dressage score to start their day off right.

  Later Haley sat on Wings near the dressage ring, watching a young elementary rider do his test. Her turn was still quite a while away, but the elementary section was almost over, and she wanted to watch the first few beginner novice riders perform the test, to make sure she had it down cold.

  Suddenly she heard voices calling her name. Twisting around in the saddle, she saw Tracey and Emma racing toward her. And they weren’t alone. Two boys were trailing along behind them, looking a little out of place in their cowboy boots and Western belt buckles.

  “Owen?” Haley blurted out as the little group reached her.

  “Hey,” Owen said, glancing out toward the ring. “So your friends talked Vance and me into coming to see what this fancy prancy English stuff is all about.”

  “Hi there, spotty pony,” Vance said, stepping forward to pat Wings. “You look pretty snazzy all dressed up in your fancy clothes.” He elbowed Owen. “Looks even less like a real horse than he did in a real saddle at the penning, huh?”

  Owen laughed, but Haley frowned. She looked at Tracey and Emma, wondering why in the world they’d brought the two boys. No, scratch that—she knew why. Her friends were boy crazy, that was why.

  “We didn’t miss anything yet, did we, Hales?” Tracey asked, letting Wings sniff her hand like a dog. “Sorry we’re a little late, but we decided to stop for sodas on the way.”

  “Heads up, coming through!” a rider on a stout gray horse hollered as he rode toward the gate.

  Emma scooted aside quickly. “Oops,” she said, sounding a little nervous. “Um, maybe we should go sit over there?” She gestured to a small set of bleachers along the long side of the ring, where spectators were watching the dressage riders perform.

  “That’s okay,” Tracey said. “We’re fine here.”

  “No, you should probably go sit down,” Haley said. “You don’t want to be in the way, right? And that way you’ll be able
to see my test in a little while.”

  “Sure, might as well sit,” Owen said. “That’ll make it less embarrassing when I fall asleep from boredom.” He and Vance laughed loudly, moving off toward the bleachers.

  “Doesn’t he look hot in those jeans?” Tracey hissed at Haley, jerking her head after the boys.

  Haley didn’t know which boy she meant, and she didn’t really care. For some reason seeing Owen here made her feel oddly jittery, and she definitely didn’t need any distractions right now.

  Fortunately, Tracey hurried after the others without waiting for a response. Haley took a few deep breaths and patted Wings, trying to forget about everything else except what she needed to do in a few minutes.

  Kyle was one of the last people riding in the elementary division. By the time he entered the ring a couple of riders later, Haley had forgotten about her friends and the boys. Well, almost. Since Owen was here, she was actually starting to look forward to showing him just how versatile her Chincoteague pony really was.

  Not only can we kick his behind in penning, but we can rock this event too! she thought, rubbing Wings’s withers with a small smile.

  She pushed that thought aside as Kyle began his test. He still looked a little nervous, but that was normal for him. Augie also looked normal—he seemed to have gotten over his fascination with the cows and was all business as he trotted up the center line.

  The test went pretty well, with no major mistakes. A transition or two happened a little late, and some of the circles weren’t exactly round, but Haley knew that Kyle had to be proud of himself and his horse. She cheered loudly as they left the ring.

  “Thanks,” Kyle said with a smile as he passed her. “But I was just the warm-up act. Here comes the main show.”

  Haley had no idea what he was talking about until she turned and saw Claire walking toward the gate atop her huge new horse. “Good luck, Claire!” Kyle called as she passed.

  She didn’t seem to hear him. Her expression was focused as she steered her horse through the gate. Haley watched with interest as Dragon swung into a big, ground-covering trot. His gaits seemed to be even fancier than those of Claire’s previous horse. An audible murmur went up from the spectators when he trotted up the center line the first time, and watching his free walk, Haley finally understood what that movement was really supposed to look like.