Mr. Conner hurried over.
“Are his legs okay?” My hands shook as I spoke.
Mr. Conner unwrapped Charm’s boots and checked each leg from hoof to knee. “He’s fine. You’re lucky the arena dirt was so soft. Cool him out and we’ll check them again.”
“Oh, Charm,” I breathed. I wrapped my arms around Charm. The scoreboard behind him flashed.
1. Sasha Silver/Charm
OMG! “We’re number one! Great job, boy!”
“Excellent,” Mr. Conner said excitedly. “Well done.”
Charm huffed into my ear and I led him off to walk while we waited for the rest of the riders to go. I couldn’t even watch. I was too nervous. Julia stood by the rail and called out their scores to me, even though I could hear the announcer. “Eighth rider has eight faults,” she said. Then five minutes later, “Ninth rider—disqualified.” Either she was trying to help or she was attempting to give me a heart attack each time she oohed and aahed over someone’s scores.
I held my breath and waited for the final rider. I buried my face in Charm’s mane, unable to look at the arena.
“Last rider …, ” Julia started. She paced back and forth in the dirt.
“The final rider, Amanda Miller, has a score of eight faults.”
“Well, you won,” Julia said. She didn’t smile. “At least we beat Jasmine.”
I turned away from her and looked at Charm.
“Charm!” I said. “We did it!” I hugged him hard. He lifted his head at the applause and let out a throaty nicker.
“You did great, too,” I said to Julia. “Third is amazing!”
“Yeah, third.” Julia’s shrugged. “Wow.”
Julia wasn’t used to coming in third—especially not to me.
Charm’s tail swished proudly as we collected our blue ribbon.
“Nice ride,” the judge said, smiling. He patted Charm’s shoulder.
The ribbon fluttered on Charm’s bridle. I wondered if he’d get mad when I took it off—he could be very possessive about his ribbons. Jasmine tugged a ribbonless Phoenix out of the arena.
The judge pinned the yellow on Trix. Julia smiled at him and shook his hand. Together, we rode out of the ring and up to Mr. Conner. He held up a palm to each of us. We rode by and gave him high-fives.
“Wonderful job, girls,” he said. “Callie and Heather both won their dressage classes and Alison picked up fourth in hers.”
“All right!” I cheered. I’d forgotten that Heather had decided to show at a higher-level dressage class than Callie this time—it was amazing that they’d both won!
I couldn’t wait to see Callie—or Mom and Dad! Canterwood was stealing the show.
“C’mon,” Mr. Conner said. “We need to give the horses a break before you two have your last class. And I’ve got to get to the hunter hack ring.”
I touched Charm’s ribbon with my finger. We both tried not to prance out of the arena, but I couldn’t stop Charm. His tail swished from side to side and, as we reached the door, he let out a triumphant neigh.
AN OFFER THEY CAN’T REFUSE.
BEFORE LUNCH, I WALKED THE CROSS-COUNTRY course with Heather and Mr. Conner. Pacing cross-country was superimportant. I had to know the course to get Charm safely over the jumps. It had also given us a chance to estimate our time and figure out where we could shave off seconds. Unlike show jumping, nicking a jump didn’t equal a penalty. But refusing, taking a jump out of order, going in the wrong direction, or falling were all chances for penalties or elimination. If you rode over the time limit, that also meant faults.
Afterward, Callie and I grabbed lunch and brought it back to the stable to eat. I was starving—and I hadn’t even had a chance to talk to Mom and Dad until now.
“Way to go, honey!” Mom said, handing me a pink blanket from her oversize bag to sit on.
“Thanks, Mom,” I said, taking the blanket and spreading it in the empty (and clean!) stall. I looked up at her over the stall door and wondered if this was what Charm felt like when he was in his stall. It felt cozy and private and the walls kept us away from the madness going on in the stable.
“I heard you did great too, Callie,” Mom said.
Callie beamed. “Thank you!”
I devoured my turkey sub and then started on my chips.
“Where’s your mom?” Dad asked Callie, peering into the stall. A hunter green Canterwood Crest sweater peeked out from Dad’s leather jacket.
“She’s on the phone outside the stable, telling my dad about the show.”
Callie had been a little quiet since we’d started eating, but she looked relaxed now.
“We took so many pictures,” Dad said, brandishing his camera. “These’ll look great in the Silver family newsletter!”
“Da-ad.” I shook my head, but Callie laughed and I couldn’t help smiling.
“We’re going to get lunch with the other parents,” Mom said. “But we’ll see you out on the cross-country course.”
Dad popped his head farther over the door and took a final picture of us.
“Dad!”
“Going, going,” he said.
I turned to Callie, who was finishing her plain hot dog. She hated all condiments.
“Can you believe we both won?” I asked.
Callie snorted. “Actually? Yeah. We practiced really hard. When’s your next class?”
I checked my watch. “An hour. I’ve got to tack up and get over there soon. You?”
“Thirty-five minutes. It’s hunter hack—with Alison.”
I redid my bun and winced when the bobby pins poked into my scalp. “I’m with Heather this time.”
“Isn’t Jasmine in that class, too?”
My nose wrinkled at the sound of her name. “I
think so.”
If I lost to Jasmine, Heather would kill me.
I balled up my sandwich bag and frowned. “She’s probably ticked that we’re doing so well.”
“I hope so!” Callie wiggled her eyebrows up and down and we giggled. Finally, she took a deep breath and stood up. “I’m going to head over. Good luck.”
“You too.” I stretched out on the blanket while I finished my drink. The soda bubbles helped to soothe my stomach.
I decided that this was just what I needed—a moment to myself. I’d been running around since four this morning from grooming, calming Charm and helping Mr. Conner. I just needed to shut my eyes for a second. …
“Sasha! Sasha!” Mike stood over me. “Wake up! You start cross-country in twenty-five minutes!”
“What? Oh, my God! I fell asleep!” Charm wasn’t even tacked up—now I’d be late and miss my class! I’d blown it!
Who falls asleep in a STALL?!
“Take it easy,” Mike said. He offered me a hand and pulled me up. “Charm’s ready, but you need to go grab Heather and take your horses to the warm-up ring. Mr. Conner will meet you over there in a few minutes.”
“Thanks, Mike!” I left him and found Doug holding Charm at the end of the stable. Doug handed me my protective vest and I buckled it on.
Charm and I hurried to Aristocrat’s stall. I looked over the red stall guard and saw Aristocrat was untacked.
“What are you—” I started. Then I saw it. Something was wrong with Aristocrat’s coat.
Greasy liquid dripped off Aristocrat’s coat and fell to the ground. Clumps of sawdust were rubbed into his coat. He looked like an oil slick!
“Oh, my God,” I said. “What happened?”
Heather whipped around and the dripping cloth she clutched splattered oil onto the stall wall. “Jasmine happened!”
“No way,” I said.
“I know it was her—this is totally her M.O.,” Heather said.
I stuck a tacked up Charm in the empty stall next door and came back to Heather.
“She did this because of me,” I said. “You stood up for me and she oiled Aristocrat. I’m so sorry.”
Aristocrat had his head down. He flicked an ea
r dejectedly at the sound of my voice.
“Poor guy,” I said. I rubbed his cheek—the only part of him that wasn’t oily. He squeezed his eyes shut and let me pet him.
Heather shoved a handful of towels in my direction. “Help me get this off! I can’t wash him—it’s too cold. If I don’t get to cross-country, I’m out. I’m NOT going to lose because of Jasmine King!”
I started sopping up the oil from Aristocrat’s coat. If I’d been like Heather, I would have laughed and headed for cross-country, leaving her to deal with her mess. After what she’d done with Jacob, she deserved it. But I couldn’t. She was still my teammate and I couldn’t bail on her like that.
For ten minutes, we used dozens of towels and mopped the oil off Aristocrat’s darkened coat. Soon, we had a pile of dirty towels at our feet and Aristocrat didn’t look so slippery.
“We’ve got to go,” I said, looking at my watch. “Can we tack him up?”
Heather took one last swipe over his barrel and nodded. “We have to try.”
She tossed an absorbent saddle pad over his back. Together, we lifted the English saddle and set it down on top of him.
“The girth won’t slip, will it?” I asked.
Heather shrugged. Oil speckled our arms and we had sticky sawdust on our sleeves. At least the judges wouldn’t be able to see that on the cross-country course.
Heather tightened the girth and reached up to tug on the pommel of the saddle. The saddle didn’t slip.
“I think we’re okay,” Heather said. The color started to return to her face. She slipped the bridle over Aristocrat’s head and I grabbed Charm from his stall. We shoved on our helmets and tightened the straps on our cross-country protective vests.
We led them out of the stable and mounted. The horses moved into a trot and we hurried toward the warm-up arena.
Heather looked over at me. “Thanks,” she said.
“Sure,” I said, surprised.
When we reached Mr. Conner, he put his hands on his hips and stood between our horses.
“Where were you?” he questioned.
“I’m so sorry. I fell asleep and—” I started
“Well, Aristocrat got dirty—” Heather said at the same time.
He shook his head and put up a hand to stop both of us. “Never mind. Let’s go or you’ll both be late. Remember what we talked about? Absolutely no rushing. These jumps are solid. I’d rather have a safe round with a slower time than have you be reckless. Got it?”
Heather and I nodded. Mr. Conner was right—risking an injury to win wasn’t worth it.
“Head over there and I’ll meet you in a few minutes,” Mr. Conner said.
Heather and Aristocrat trotted forward, leaving me behind.
“I can’t believe we made it,” I said. Charm’s ears flicked back at my voice.
“Silver, be quiet,” Heather said. “I’m trying to concentrate on visualizing the course.”
“Sorry.”
The cross-country area had been roped off so spectators wouldn’t wander into the riders’ paths. Judges were stationed around the course, usually out of the rider’s eyesight. Half of the battle of cross-country was staying seated. The other half was enduring the grueling jumps and making good time.
Charm and I would go before Heather and Aristocrat. I rode Charm in serpentines while we waited for Mr. Conner. While Charm moved, I tried to visualize the course. What did I do about the bank jump? Did we canter fast or slow up to it? I looked for Mr. Conner, but he wasn’t here yet. What if he didn’t make it before I went? Something could have come up at the stable. I started to ask Heather, but she was deep in concentration, tracing the course in the air.
Charm was sensitive to my moods. If I got upset, it would make him jittery. Over the hill, I saw Mr. Conner’s head. I flopped onto Charm’s neck with relief.
I trotted Charm over to Mr. Conner.
“You okay?” he asked.
“The bank jump,” I squeaked. “I’m really nervous about it. Slow or fast canter?”
“Sasha, you know Charm,” Mr. Conner said. He blinked against the strengthening sunlight that peeked from behind a cloud. “Trust him. Don’t start second-guessing yourself.”
“So, a slow canter? Or fast?” I grinned when he laughed.
“Try a slow canter and if you feel short on time, fast will be okay.”
“Number 56, you’re on deck,” called the announcer. That was us!
“Okay,” Mr. Conner said. “You’re on. Good luck, take your time.”
I mounted Charm and nodded to Mr. Conner. “Thank you.”
Charm trotted calmly into the starting box. The crowd stirred behind the ropes, but I pushed them out of my head and listened to Charm breathe. I put a bit of pressure on the reins and leaned forward slightly. My knees tightened on the saddle. “You can do this, Charm,” I whispered. “Let’s go get ’em.”
Booong!
The deep-toned bell sounded. I pulled the reins to the right and dug my right heel into Charm’s side. With moves worthy of a barrel horse, he whirled around and cantered forward. We always had to start backward or Charm would bolt forward like a racehorse. We went through the yellow ropes that held back the crowd and headed for the first jump—a stone wall. Charm cantered strongly toward the three-foot high wall and leaped over the gray stones. The red flag was on our right, so I knew we’d at least taken the first jump in the right direction.
Charm snorted, tugging at the reins, and picked up his speed as we cantered over several yards of grass before approaching a brush fence. He hopped the fence and we entered the woods.
“Easy,” I said. I slowed his pace a fraction so I could peek at my watch. Right on time. We swept down a winding trail littered with acorns and flashed by a judge. Sunlight cast strange shadows in the woods—I’d have to make sure none of the shadows spooked Charm.
We thundered over a log jump and soared over an old park bench with peeling red paint. Charm cantered on flat ground out of the woods. His breathing quickened and his coat started to darken with sweat. I checked his stride and slowed him as we cantered up and down several rolling hills designed to test his endurance.
We hit flat ground again and cleared a picnic table. Charm was doing amazing! He was sweating and blowing a bit, but he didn’t hesitate before any jump.
“We’re almost there, big guy!”
The bank was next. Charm dug deep and found an extra burst of speed. I leaned back in the saddle as we cantered down the embankment and the creek rushed at us. The fast-moving water foamed as it rushed around rocks and surged around a bend. Three, two, and over! I squeezed with my knees and Charm lifted over the water and scrambled up the other side, which was torn up and muddy from horses who had stepped in the water.
We turned and cantered in a half circle. I lifted slightly out of the saddle to take pressure off Charm’s back and to give him a break. The final three jumps popped into view. “Just a little more, boy,” I said, glancing down at my watch. We’d lost a couple of seconds in the woods and needed to get over these fences and gallop to the finish line. “Ready to finish this?”
Charm stretched his neck and his legs struck the ground faster. “Let’s go!” We cantered over a metal gate, a water jump and were strides away from the trakehner. The trakehner required the horse to trust the rider. This jump had two rustic rails in front of a wooden ditch that looked like a coffin. A ditch was one jump that usually caused the most run-outs or refusals, so Charm had to believe I wasn’t going to let him fall into the scary box.
Charm’s rhythmic strides pounded the grass. I shoved my heels down into the stirrups to help my balance. The reins rubbed against the sweat breaking out Charm’s neck despite the cold. The rubber grips on my gloves kept my hands steady on the reins. We had seconds left on the clock, but I wasn’t going to push him. He’d done too much for me to force him to rush to the last fence when he was exhausted.
Charm’s body didn’t even tense before the trakehner. He tucked hi
s knees and arched over the rails and the ditch. “Good, boy!” I leaned forward and kneaded my hands along his neck. Charm’s mane whipped in my face as he flattened into a ground-eating gallop and powered over the finish line.
Charm was giving his all for me. I thought of the sound his heart had made when I’d listened to it with the stethoscope. My horse had the biggest heart here.
Our time flashed on the board. We were two seconds off the maximum time, so that meant we’d racked up .8 of a penalty. Not bad for our first go at regional-level cross-country.
Heather trotted Aristocrat over to us. I hopped off Charm and loosened his saddle. “Nice job,” she said. She gave me a half-smile. “That’s a great score.”
“Thanks,” I said, leading Charm forward and away from the course. “You up soon?”
“Three riders to go and then me,” Heather said. “You should come back and watch.”
I turned back and nodded. “Maybe I will.”
Charm nickered tiredly as we walked away from the noise. White foam had formed around his saddle pad and the corners of his mouth were flecked with froth. His chest was darkened with sweat. He kept his head low.
“You were amazing, boy. You did everything I asked.”
“Sasha!” Dad called as he and Mom caught up with us. “We were in the crowd by the picnic table. That was amazing, sweetie!”
“I was watching with my eyes half closed,” Mom added. “That was a big jump!”
“Charm did all of the work,” I said. “He deserves a long rest.” Mom rubbed Charm’s neck and took his reins so I could lean into Dad. My legs were wobbly. I couldn’t even imagine how tired Charm felt. I knew our time hadn’t been fast enough to earn a ribbon, so I’d leave Charm at the stable when I went back to watch Heather ride.
“Excellent ride,” Mr. Conner said, stepping beside me. He had a light blanket folded over his arm. He shook it out and put it over Charm’s back. “Get him untacked, cooled, and check his legs for heat. I’m going to Alison’s class, but call me if you need to. Make sure you take Charm to the vet box.”
The Canterwood Crest Stable of Books Page 27
