Back in the Saddle Read online

  CHAPTER

  3

  THE REST OF the week passed in the blink of an eye. At least that was how it felt to Haley as she emerged, yawning, from the cab of Uncle Mike’s truck into the cool morning air on Saturday. She stretched and looked around, her sleepiness evaporating instantly when she got a look at the scene before her.

  The event was taking place at a stable about forty minutes’ drive from her house. It was the same farm where she’d attended the clinic in the fall, and once again she was impressed by its immaculate twin barns, large riding rings, and acres of rolling hills, which managed to look lovely and manicured despite the dusting of snow that lingered in the shadier spots. Horses and riders were everywhere, some of the horses still dressed in stable blankets, some tacked up and ready to go, many somewhere in between.

  Haley had received her ride times a couple of days earlier. She checked her watch and saw that she had at least two hours until she needed to start warming up for her dressage test. Good. That would give Wings plenty of time to settle in.

  “Let’s get you unloaded.” Uncle Mike checked his watch too as he hurried toward the trailer. “I need to get back for my shift at the drugstore.”

  Haley nodded. “Thanks for bringing me,” she said. “Don’t worry about what time you get back here this afternoon. I don’t mind hanging out and watching if we’re finished before you come to get us.”

  “Okay.” The corners of Uncle Mike’s eyes crinkled as he smiled and gave her shoulder a squeeze. “Sorry I can’t stay and watch.”

  “It’s okay. Jan will be here.” Haley glanced around, wondering how she was ever going to find her trainer in this crowd.

  Jan Whipple was a successful local event rider who ran a busy lesson-and-training program out of her small farm a few miles from Haley’s home. Several of her other students were also competing in this event, and she’d assured Haley’s aunt and uncle that she’d look after Haley and Wings while they were there.

  Wings was on his toes as he jumped out of the trailer and got a look at his surroundings. “Good boy,” Haley said, tugging on the lead to remind him she was there. “Does this place look familiar?”

  The pony let out a snort, lowering his head to sniff at a patch of half-frozen mud. Meanwhile Uncle Mike was unloading Haley’s tack trunk, a big plastic box on wheels that held her jumping and dressage saddles along with everything else she was likely to need.

  “Let’s find Jan,” he said, pulling out his phone. He sent a quick text.

  The phone beeped a few seconds later. “Where is she?” Haley asked, keeping one eye on Wings, who was still on high alert.

  Uncle Mike rubbed his mustache and squinted off to the left. “Said to aim toward the grove of pines near the dressage ring,” he said. “Must be thataway. Come on. Let’s go.”

  Haley followed, leading Wings, as her uncle pulled the wheeled trunk along through the rutted parking area. When they passed the pine trees, Haley spotted Jan a dozen yards away brushing a tall, lanky bay horse tied to a trailer.

  “There she is,” Haley said, waving to the trainer.

  Jan waved back, and a moment later a teenage boy emerged from behind the horse and hurried toward Haley and her uncle. “You made it!” he said with a shy but sincere smile.

  “Yep,” Haley said. “Andrew, this is my uncle Mike. This is Andrew—he rides with me sometimes in my lessons at Jan’s.”

  Haley had first met Andrew at the clinic last fall. His horse was the one Jan was currently grooming, a talented but green young thoroughbred he’d bought at the racetrack. Andrew was on an even tighter budget than Haley was and had been doing most of Turbo’s training on his own, but when Haley had told him about Jan, he’d started taking lessons with her whenever he could afford it. Both he and his horse had responded beautifully to Jan’s training, which was why she’d encouraged them to enter this event.

  “Nice to meet you,” Andrew said with a bashful nod at Uncle Mike. “I can take that trunk the rest of the way if you want. Jan said you’re in a hurry.”

  “Thanks, son.” Uncle Mike consulted his watch again. “I should get going. Haley, you going to be okay?”

  “Sure,” Haley said. “Thanks. I’ll see you later.”

  Uncle Mike hurried off in the direction of the rig. Haley waved, feeling a tiny twinge of disappointment. It had been fun having family and friends around to share her win at the penning last weekend. But nobody from her family was able to come and watch the event today, and her friends were busy too—Emma with a family birthday celebration and Tracey with a trip to Chicago with her sister.

  But she didn’t dwell on that for long. There was too much to do!

  Half an hour later Haley was walking the cross-country course with Jan. While horses weren’t allowed to see the jumps before they competed, it was customary for riders to hike around the course on foot to plan out the best way to ride each obstacle. Haley always loved getting a close-up look at the jumps. For one thing, walking a course always gave her ideas for new jumps to build at home!

  Andrew was along for the course walk too. So was the other student who would be riding at their level, a boy Haley’s age named Kyle. Haley had ridden with him in a few group lessons over the past year or so, though she didn’t know him that well, since he went to school in a neighboring district. His horse, Augie, was an older buckskin gelding with a kind, quiet temperament—Jan called him “a good egg.” Augie struggled a bit with show jumping but was reliable and brave and always willing to try. He reminded Haley of the steady paint mare she’d ridden in lessons when she’d first been learning to jump at age seven or so. Kyle himself was just as cheerful and likable as his horse, with wavy reddish-brown hair that always seemed to be sticking up, and a broad, freckled face that always seemed to be smiling.

  “Wow, this is so exciting!” Kyle exclaimed as they approached the first fence, an inviting log surrounded by mulch. His eyes widened as he glanced from the log in front of them to a larger one immediately to its right, and then an even larger one beyond that. “Wait, which one is ours?”

  Jan chuckled. “The small one,” she told him. “Don’t panic. As I told you, there are several levels competing this weekend, but the three of you are doing beginner novice.”

  Haley nodded along with the others, though she couldn’t help glancing at the next biggest log, which she knew had to be for the novice-level competition. She’d already completed a couple of unrecognized events at that level, but Jan had convinced her to drop back to beginner novice for her first recognized event. Now that she saw the jumps, though, she almost wished she’d pushed harder to stay at novice.

  Wings and I could totally handle that log, she thought, barely listening as Jan talked to them about how to ride the obstacle. Her gaze wandered over to the biggest log. In fact, we’d be able to kill the training one too—easy peasy!

  She did her best to forget about that. It was too late to switch levels now. But if she and Wings won, Jan would have to let them move up next time, right? That was just one more reason to make sure they did their very best today.

  By the time Haley and the others had finished the course walk, the earliest riders in their division were already performing their dressage tests. “Should we watch a few?” Andrew asked as Jan hurried off to check on one of her higher-level adult riders. “None of us needs to get tacked up for a while, right?”

  “Sure.” Haley led the way over to the rail of the big dressage court. Inside, the organizers had set up a couple of dressage rings marked off by chains and a series of letters. There was enough space left over for a judge’s table at the end of each ring, plus an area around the outside of the chains where riders could warm up just before their tests. Like everything else about the dressage phase, the ring setup was very detailed and exact. Haley had measured out her own makeshift dressage ring often enough to know the dimensions and letter placement by heart. The ring was supposed to be exactly twenty meters by forty meters, and the seemingly random letters
set up around the outside followed a precise order—A, K, E, H, C, M, B, F. There were lots of mnemonic phrases people used to help them remember that order, but Haley had been eventing long enough that she didn’t need one anymore.

  When Haley and the boys arrived, a woman in her twenties was just finishing her test. As the young woman left the ring, a girl a couple of years older than Haley rode in on a tall, gorgeous liver chestnut mare with an arched neck and an elegant head.

  “Wow, nice horse!” Kyle commented to Haley and Andrew as the girl rode past at a brisk trot, looking totally focused on her riding.

  “Yeah.” Haley watched the horse start her warm-up, impressed by the way the mare moved—more like a fancy dressage horse than a lower-level eventer. The girl looked good too. She sat the mare’s big trot easily, her back straight and her legs never moving.

  Haley felt a quiver of nerves. This pair was in her division? Wow. She and Wings were really going to have to be at their best to beat a team like that!

  But we can do it, she told herself as a bell rang, signaling for the girl to begin her test. We can do anything!

  The team performed just as beautifully as they looked like they should, turning in a smooth test with prompt transitions and tidy circles. Their only bobble came on the turn up the center line at the end. Haley could see that the girl was anticipating the end of the test, and she cut the corner short and was a little crooked when she reached the middle of the ring. But she managed to correct within a stride or two, and their halt and salute were crisp and professional-looking.

  Haley clapped politely along with the other spectators. “Hey, nice job,” Kyle called to the girl as she rode out of the gate. “I like your horse.”

  “Thanks.” The girl halted outside the ring, looking down at Kyle and the others. “Athena’s a star.” She gave the mare a quick pat on the withers.

  “I’m Kyle, and this is Andrew and that’s Haley.” Kyle pointed to each of them. “We’re in this division too.”

  “Yeah. Looks like your score should be the one to beat,” Andrew added with a soft chuckle.

  The girl smiled briefly. “Thanks. My name’s Riley. Do you guys compete at this place a lot?” She shot a look around. “It’s pretty nice.”

  “First time competing here,” Haley spoke up. “What about you?”

  “Me too.” Riley loosened her reins, and her mare dropped her head and sniffed at Kyle’s shirt. “I live down in Iowa, but this event got good reviews, so I figured we’d give it a try.”

  “Iowa? Really?” Haley was surprised. The state line was hours away!

  “Yeah.” Riley shrugged. “I’ll travel anywhere in Area Four to compete, just about. We did our first beginner novice in Illinois, and I competed on my old horse as far away as North Dakota.”

  “Wow.” Kyle looked impressed. “You must be really experienced.”

  “I guess.” Riley shrugged again. “Athena and I will probably move up to novice next time out. We almost did it this time. If I’d known how easy the cross-country course was going to be, I would have.”

  “Cool,” Kyle said.

  Haley didn’t say anything. Riley hadn’t sounded as if she were bragging. Not really. But her comment still bothered Haley a little—as if the older girl already considered herself too good for the rest of the people in her division. As if she already assumed she was going to win.

  Not if I have anything to say about it, she won’t! Haley thought fiercely.

  “Look, next rider’s starting,” Andrew said, nodding toward the ring as the judge’s bell tinkled to signal the start of the next test.

  Haley turned to look. The rider entering the dressage ring was a nervous-looking middle-aged woman, and the horse a chunky draft cross. Haley winced as the pair almost turned the wrong way on their first turn, and then corrected awkwardly and almost bumped into the little chains marking the edge of the ring.

  “Whoa,” Kyle murmured. “That was close.”

  Haley nodded. Stepping out of the ring meant automatic elimination—not just from the dressage test but from the whole event. She held her breath as the pair veered crookedly through their twenty-meter trot circle.

  Haley had memorized the test so well that she barely had to think about what came next—left lead canter depart between K and A. At least that was what was supposed to happen. Haley could see the rider kicking frantically as her horse pounded at a rapid trot past the flag marking K, and then the one at A as well. They’d almost reached M on the next long side when the horse finally lumbered into a ponderous canter on the wrong lead—and plowed right through the chain at the end of the ring.

  “Oh no!” Kyle exclaimed with a groan.

  The buzzer went off as the woman, red-faced and embarrassed-looking, wrestled her horse around.

  “Sorry, sorry!” she exclaimed breathlessly as a man—her trainer, Haley guessed—hurried out to grab the horse’s bridle and lead the pair away.

  Haley averted her eyes as they passed, trying not to imagine how humiliated the woman must feel. “Poor thing,” Haley whispered to the boys once the woman had moved off. They watched as several volunteers rushed over to fix the chain the horse had knocked askew.

  “Yeah, bummer for her.” Kyle grinned. “But good for us, right? One less person we have to try to beat!”

  Andrew laughed, and Riley let out a snort. Haley had almost forgotten the older girl was still there behind them.

  “Whatever,” Riley said. “See you guys later. I’d better get Athena cooled out.”

  “Bye,” Kyle called, and Andrew added, “See you.”

  Haley didn’t say anything, watching as Riley rode off and disappeared into the crowd. Once again Haley found herself a little annoyed by the other girl. What had that snort meant? Had it been just a reaction to Kyle’s silly comment, or had it meant that Riley didn’t think the woman on the draft cross was any real competition for her, whether the woman was still in the competition or not? Either way, Haley knew it would be awfully satisfying to beat Riley and her big, fancy horse. . . .

  “Come on,” she said, glancing toward the trailer where Wings and the other horses were tied. “We should probably go start tacking up. It’ll be our turn soon.”

  CHAPTER

  4

  “GOOD BOY, WINGS.” Haley patted her pony. “We can do this.”

  They were outside the ring waiting for the rider before them to finish her dressage test. Haley took a few deep breaths, trying to quiet the butterflies fluttering around in her stomach. She rarely got nervous when she rode, but she was nervous now.

  Jan was standing beside her, watching the previous rider, but she looked up at Haley’s comment. “You can do this, Haley,” the trainer said, giving Wings a rub on the shoulder. “Just relax and remember to use all your space and don’t let Wings rush his transitions. You get that stuff down, you’ll do fine.”

  “Thanks.” Haley shot her a small smile. She wanted to do better than “fine,” but she didn’t bother to say so. Jan already knew that Haley always rode to win.

  As the previous rider snapped out her salute, Haley gathered up her reins. Wings had warmed up well, and he seemed to be completely over his travel jitters. She ran through the test in her head, reminding herself to ride into the corners and watch that final turn up the center line. Wings might not have as fancy a trot as Riley’s mare, but judges always seemed to like him. She and Wings could beat everyone if they did their best—even hotshot Riley from Iowa.

  The previous competitor rode out. She was a confident-looking woman in her fifties on a big Appaloosa gelding. “Good luck,” she called to Haley as she walked past on a loose rein. “Cute pony, by the way.”

  “Thanks.” Haley nudged Wings forward, rode through the gate, and aimed around the outside of the chain while she waited for the judge’s bell. She still felt a little jittery but tried to swallow it down.

  “Go, Haley!” Kyle called from the rail. He and Andrew were both sitting out there on their horses. Andr
ew had taken his turn in the ring right before the woman on the Appaloosa. Turbo had spooked at a leaf blowing outside the ring, messing up one of the trot circles, and both of his canter transitions had been a little early. Otherwise they’d done well, and Haley knew Andrew was proud of his horse.

  But he didn’t come into this expecting to win, she told herself. Wings and I can’t make any mistakes at all if we want to beat Riley.

  She shortened her reins another notch, pushing her pony forward into a working trot. As she rounded the far end of the dressage ring, she heard the tinkle of the bell.

  “Time to go,” she whispered to Wings, turning and heading for the entrance to the dressage ring.

  As they entered at A, Haley looked straight forward toward the judge’s table behind the letter C. Wings felt good beneath her, forward and focused.

  Here we go, she thought as they trotted up the center line for the first time. What’s that thing Nina always says? Aim for the stars?

  That made her think about the Pony Post. Had she remembered to check in with them that morning as she’d promised?

  As she tried to think back, she realized Wings was almost at the other end of the ring already. She quickly closed her leg and pulled on the right rein for the turn, then realized they were supposed to turn left at C, not right.

  Oops! she thought, quickly correcting. Wings tossed his head, a little surprised, but obediently veered to the left.

  Whew, that had been close. Haley felt her cheeks turn pink as she realized she’d almost made the same mistake as that nervous older woman earlier. That wasn’t the way to win.

  She didn’t make any more big mistakes after that, but her concentration had been blown by the near disaster, and even as she swept into her salute at the end, she knew it hadn’t been their best ride. She kept a smile on her face until they turned away from the judge, then blew out her breath in a whoosh, slumping in the saddle as she exited.

  “Nice ride,” Riley said as Haley passed.