A Summer to Remember

A Summer To Remember p. 5

A Summer to remember p. 5

Alec's POV

I have no idea how she calls that horse small. And what the heck is hands high? I don't even really like horses. It's my sister, Hannah, who likes them. She starts riding lessons today, so that's why I'm here. Ally leads Pepsi out of her stall and over to a little place where little ropes hold the horses while you put the saddle on. She then goes and gets what I guess is her moms saddle. Then she comes back with a truckload of stuff. From a box with brushes in it to a bridle to rubber bands.

"Do you think you can tack her up?" she asks. I shake my head no. I don't even have an idea what half this stuff is, No I can't tack her up.

Ally's POV

"Okay. Be right back." Dr. Pepper already has his bridle on, so I swing up onto his back and walk down to the ring. I hate myself right now. I don't want to ask Jennifer for a crop, much less ask her to help my friend tack up. I drop off Pepper's back and walk stiffly over to Jennifer. With each step, I hate my self even more.

"Jennifer." I make myself say nicely.

"Ally Lynn." she spits out, not trying to even disguise her anger towards me.

"Would you help my friend tack Pepsi up, please?" I ask.

"Why?" she asks.

"I need to tack Pepper up. I don't have time...Never mind." I have an idea. I swing back up on Peppers back, and trot away laughing at the awed looks of some newbie rider in the little ring. Just to make them stare more, I brake into a slow canter. I ride up to my mom who is sitting on a paddock gate as usual. It is her fav thinking place.

"Hey Mom? Would you come help my friend tack Pepsi up?" I ask.

"Sure honey. Can you take me up?" I nod and pat the spot behind me. She climbs up, and we take off for the barn.

Once we get there, we hop off, and I lead Dr. Pepper to the other set of cross ties. I run and get my saddle, put it on in record time, climb on and walk down to the ring. I glare at Jennifer as I pass. Nope, not going easy on her. As I stand there waiting for someone to get the hint to open the gate, Alec and my mom walk down. My mom opens the gate, and tells me to go in first. I walk in and start walking around in my 2-point. Even though I'm extremely mad at Jennifer, I still follow her rules for the sake of Dr. Pepper. I could seriously hurt him by trotting and cantering at first. Also I am in a lesson. Blek. I want to ride like Amy. She just rides. Jennifer tells me what to do. After a few minutes of going around, Jennifer tells me I can trot. Right before she tells me that, Natalie, Elizabeth, and Sarah Grace come in. Dr. Pepper sees Sammy and whinnies a playful 'Get over here slow-poke!'

Sammy whinnies 'I'm coming I'm coming! Hold your rider!' I at least think that's what they said. We all like to play a game to where you try to guess what the horses are thinking. Usually, when normally people would say hold your horses, we make them say hold your rider.

Elizabeth's POV

Usually Meg and Dr. Pepper don't especially like each other like Sammy, Midge, and him like each other. But as soon as I stepped into the ring, Meg was like Hullo! I'm here guyses!! And walks over to Dr. Pepper and Nuzzles him. Ally and I looked at Meg like she had 2 heads. 10 minutes after we started trotting, Jennifer told us to do our routine while she helps Alec learn to hold the reins. Amateur. Can't even hold the reins while we jump 3 feet. Ally goes first. She jumps the X perfectly. Then she moves on to the line while I jump the green 1-foot-high. Natalie jumps the X, Sarah Grace jumps the line with the flower box, I jump the regular line, then the X. Natalie jumps the 2-foot wall, I jump the 3- foot one, then Sarah Grace does 3 1/2. Ally goes after her, I jump 4 feet, Natalie jumps 3, then the line, I jump the flower box line, then the purple 3 feet high. We all jump the X again, and we are done.

"Beautiful!!" Jennifer exclaims. Alec is staring at us like we just jumped over the Empire State Building. I love doing our routine. It's so much fun. Ally trots over to Alec and says, "We have to go get our tack ready for camp. Do you want to trail ride later? With all of us?"

"Sure. That would he fun." he replies. We leave him in the care of Jennifer, while we go to work.