“Hey,” I said. “Can we borrow your flash for the class?”
“No,” she said.
“Why not?”
“Just because,” she said.
“Please?”
I wasn’t above begging. Why wouldn’t anyone help me? But Tulip just rode past with her nose up completely ignoring me and I knew why. It was because I didn’t have the money to back me up or the fancy, expensive horses and I could still beat them with my eyes closed. They had to steal my tack because the only way they stood a chance of winning was to knock me down a peg or two. That was cheating and it wasn’t fair but I was used to life not being fair. I patted Socks on the neck.
“Come on boy,” I told him. “We’ll work this out one way or another.”
And after the second rider was eliminated, we walked into the ring with our heads held high because no matter what they did, I wasn’t going to let Jess get the best of me.
CHAPTER FORTY SIX
Show jumping was an adrenaline rush. Your heart beat out of your chest as you flew around the course at breakneck speeds but I tried to stay calm for Socks. It was the only way we were going to get round in one piece. I imagined we were riding in the woods. Just the two of us. No crowds. No fake snow. Just the sound of his hoof beats and my breathing. It was like trying to be Zen in the middle of Times Square on New Year’s Eve. But it worked.
We cantered around the course like it was a schooling exercise and for the most part I left his mouth alone. He didn’t need me telling him what to do anyway. He was Missy’s horse. He already knew more than I did and now that he knew he was actually working, he didn’t care about the snow or the decorations. We cantered down the final line and as I circled him and patted his neck, I stole a look at the clock. We’d just made it inside the time allowed.
As we came out of the ring to applause because we were the first clear, Jess rode by on Hashtag. She glared at me but I just smiled because even if she beat me in the end, she still hadn’t won. I’d ridden Socks anyway, despite her act of sabotage and I was proud of myself.
“Good job,” Dad said.
“But what about the jump off?” I said. “I can’t keep him calm in the jump off and still win.”
“Don’t worry,” he said and didn’t expand any further on why exactly I shouldn’t worry because Jess was already careening wildly around the ring.
Hashtag was fresh and full of himself but somehow Jess managed to pull off a clear round. So did Rachel and another girl and then it was Bluebird’s turn.
It felt comfortable to be on the back on my pony, even though the jumps looked a lot bigger than they had when I was riding Socks who was both tall and lanky. Bluebird was short and stocky and it felt like he was cantering double time as we circled before the first jump but I had more faith in him that I did in any other horse I’d ever ridden and so I wasn’t surprised when we came out of the ring having put in a clear round.
“Fantastic,” Mickey cried.
“It’s not over yet,” I said but I couldn’t help grinning.
CHAPTER FORTY SEVEN
There were seven of us in the jump off including Becka, who of course had gone clear on her big horse Bastille. I was going second on Socks and second to last on Bluebird. Becka was last. I wasn’t worried. It was weird but after riding Socks, the whole Zen thing had kind of stuck. I didn’t feel nervous as I watched the first girl go. She had an early rail to the crowd’s disappointment and I stopped watching after that. Then Dad appeared with a flash noseband.
“Where did you get it?” I said.
“Don’t ask.” He winked.
I thought he’d been completely oblivious to the whole Jess thing but perhaps he’d been more aware than I realized.
“Clean and clear,” he said as he slapped Socks on the rump and we trotted into the ring.
This time I was the one in control. I was able to gallop Socks around the course of seven jumps like our lives depended on it. He twisted over the snowman vertical and turned in midair to leap across the iceberg liverpool. And we raced through the finish line clean and clear and fast, even though Dad hadn’t said anything about going fast. But it was a jump off. It was sort of an unwritten rule. I handed Socks off to Henry, one of the Fox Run grooms, giving the horse a sugar lump out of my pocket.
“Thanks boy,” I told him. “You were awesome.”
I stood there with Bluebird, watching Jess go into the ring. She was all in Hashtag’s face, kicking him on and then seesawing on his mouth when he did what she asked. Dad shook his head as they flew over the first jump and she nearly fell off. After that they were out of control but by some weird sort of miracle she not only managed to steer him over the correct jumps but he also managed to keep them up. They had a clear round but they were two seconds slower than I had been on Socks. I pulled Bluebird out of the way when she came out of the ring so I wouldn’t have to look her in the eye.
CHAPTER FORTY EIGHT
“This is it boy,” I told Bluebird. “Your chance to prove you belong here.”
He was the only pony in the class but that didn’t stop him from playing with the big boys. He was nimble and handy and I’d already ridden the course so I knew where I could cut corners and save time. Bluebird’s legs may have been shorter but his turns were tighter and we were able to cut inside the Santa Claus where everyone else had gone around it. Our time was the fastest.
“Nice ride,” Becka said as she came into the ring and we left.
“Good luck,” I said and I meant it. Both my rides had been clean. I couldn’t ask for any more than that.
I stood there watching Becka thunder around the course on Bastille. The horse was nice. Really nice. On a less twisty course, he would have beat us but he wasn’t nimble or particularly quick and Becka took the safe ride, going clean and clear and sort of slow.
“You won!” Mickey cried. “You won on Bluebird.”
“You didn’t just win, you came in first and second,” Dad said, slapping me on the back.
And it was the best feeling in the whole world.
CHAPTER FORTY NINE
It was Christmas Eve and I was still riding on cloud nine from the show as Dad and I slipped through the barn and put carrots and apples in the horses stockings. The fairy lights were twinkling and Bluebird’s and Socks’ ribbons were hung on their stalls because when we got back from the show, Dad found room for my pony in the barn in an empty stall that had been used for storage.
“Thanks for letting him in the barn,” I said. “It makes me feel a lot better.”
“He’s earned it,” Dad came and stood beside me. “And so have you.” He put his arm around me and for the first time it didn’t feel weird.
“He’ll have to share though,” he said.
“That’s okay,” I said. “He still prefers being outside.”
I pointed through the dark to where I could just see a flash of white socks as my pony rolled, scrubbing himself into the sand.
“Wait, who is he going to have to share with?”
“Why don’t you go and see?” Dad pointed to the dark stall.
I stepped forward, expecting to see another boarder or a lesson horse that had been trailered in but instead a soft, gray nose pushed against the bars and I knew that somehow my hurricane horse had come home.
THE END
COMING SOON
SHOW JUMPING DREAMS BOOK #14: GIFT HORSE
They say you shouldn’t look a gift horse in the mouth. That’s because you don’t know what you might find. That horse you were just given could be a hundred years old. There could be something wrong with it. And Emily thought she wanted the hurricane horse. She wanted him more than anything. Until her father gave him to her.
Only now that she’s got him, she can’t do anything with him. The bond she thought she had with him has been broken and she doesn't know if she can get it back. So what is she supposed to do with a horse that she can’t even ride? How can she admit that she is a failure and that she has
made a mistake? And if she doesn’t rehabilitate the hurricane horse then what will happen to him?
But with the winter jumper circuit in full swing, Emily is competing both Bluebird and Socks so there is hardly time to do anything but ride. Since her win at the Winter Wonderland show she’s been getting a lot of attention. Attention that makes all the other Fox Run girls jealous. Emily thought the barn was her safe place. She thought no one could hurt her there but bullying can happen in the safest of places and it’s hard to stand up for yourself when you feel like you are all alone.
GIFT HORSE: CHAPTER ONE
Missy and the baby came home the day after Christmas and I had to admit that he was kind of cute. A big fat bundle of joy they had named Owen, which Dad told me was after his great grandfather. Only when he wasn’t in the room, Missy told me that she’d wanted to name him that after the actor Owen Wilson. Poor kid. He was going to grow up so confused having those two as parents. And I liked him more than I thought was possible, though I would have liked him a lot more if he didn’t cry all the time.
“Here,” Missy said. “Do you want to hold him?”
She held out the baby whose face turned red. He started to wail and I took a step back.
“Maybe later,” I said. “I think he’s hungry.”
“He can’t be.” Missy sighed. “I’m out of milk.”
She’d been breastfeeding but Owen seemed to want milk faster than she could produce it.
“Maybe you should give him a bottle of formula?” I said.
“But I want to do everything naturally,” Missy said, starting to look upset.
Owen wasn’t the only one who’d been full of tears since they got home. Missy seemed to cry at the drop of a hat. I’d started to feel like I was living in an insane asylum. Dad said it was just her hormones and that everything would go back to normal eventually but I didn’t know how much longer I could take it.
“I think I’m going to go and check on the horses,” I said.
“Are you sure?” Missy said. “You could stay here with me.”
“You’ll be fine,” I said as I opened the door.
Missy also seemed afraid to be left alone with the baby, which was kind of dumb. After all, it was her baby and he didn’t really need that much attention anyway. He ate and pooped and slept. That was about the extent of his daily activities.
I stepped outside and breathed in the cold air, listening to the sound of the baby’s muffled crying. I pulled out my phone and googled how long babies cried for. The answer was not helpful. They cried for months. Possibly even a year. Maybe even until he started talking and then the crying just turned into tantrums. Maybe I could talk my father into letting me sleep in the barn.
I walked past Bluebird’s field and he stuck his head over the fence. I gave him a carrot and rubbed his face. Then I went into the barn. My father had given me the hurricane horse for Christmas. I hadn’t even known that he knew about him and yet there he was on Christmas Eve standing in a stall waiting for me. It was the best gift I’d ever been given.
I stood there looking at him. He had lifted his head up at my approaching footsteps but unlike Bluebird, he hadn’t nickered because he was happy to see me. Instead he snorted and backed into the corner of his stall.
“It’s okay boy,” I said softly. “I won’t hurt you.”
But his eyes bugged out of his head as I slid open the door and held out a carrot. He snorted louder and then stomped his foot. Then he charged at me with his ears pinned. I managed to close the stall door just before he bit me.
I stood there with tears streaming down my face. This wasn’t how it was supposed to be. This wasn’t what was supposed to happen. I saved him. I loved him. It was supposed to be awesome. But the cold hard fact of the matter was that my new horse hated me.
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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COLLECT THEM ALL
Other books in the Show Jumping Series by Claire Svendsen
#1 Secret Rider
#2 Pony Jumpers
#3 Winter Blues
#4 Star Pupil
#5 Sale Horse
#6 Last Chance
#7 Hunter Pace
#8 Turf Wars
#9 Beach Ride
#10 White Horses
#11 Trick Pony
#12 Off Course
#13 Winter Wonderland
(COMING SOON) #14 Gift Horse
Table of Contents
CHAPTER ONE
CHAPTER TWO
CHAPTER THREE
CHAPTER FOUR
CHAPTER FIVE
CHAPTER SIX
CHAPTER SEVEN
CHAPTER EIGHT
CHAPTER NINE
CHAPTER TEN
CHAPTER ELEVEN
CHAPTER TWELVE
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
CHAPTER NINETEEN
CHAPTER TWENTY
CHAPTER TWENTY ONE
CHAPTER TWENTY TWO
CHAPTER TWENTY THREE
CHAPTER TWENTY FOUR
CHAPTER TWENTY FIVE
CHAPTER TWENTY SIX
CHAPTER TWENTY SEVEN
CHAPTER TWENTY EIGHT
CHAPTER TWENTY NINE
CHAPTER THIRTY
CHAPTER THIRTY ONE
CHAPTER THIRTY TWO
CHAPTER THIRTY THREE
CHAPTER THIRTY FOUR
CHAPTER THIRTY FIVE
CHAPTER THIRTY SIX
CHAPTER THIRTY SEVEN
CHAPTER THIRTY EIGHT
CHAPTER THIRTY NINE
CHAPTER FORTY
CHAPTER FORTY ONE
CHAPTER FORTY TWO
CHAPTER FORTY THREE
CHAPTER FORTY FOUR
CHAPTER FORTY FIVE
CHAPTER FORTY SIX
CHAPTER FORTY SEVEN
CHAPTER FORTY EIGHT
CHAPTER FORTY NINE
COMING SOON
GIFT HORSE: CHAPTER ONE
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
STAY CONNECTED & WIN A FREE BOOK
COLLECT THEM ALL
Winter Wonderland (Show Jumping Dreams ~ Book 13) Page 12
