The Eventers

Chapter 10- Mollie

Emily walked into the ring, and I could tell she didn't school for very long. She asked Bentley, and he responded, soaring into a huge canter. She gathered him up, and pointed him towards a huge fence. The large oxer made my sister look twice. She moved Bentley forward, and he took the jump with an amazing pace and distance. Down the line in five strides, and up over a vertical. Bentley switched leads, and Emily turned him in a smooth rollback. I patted Griff, making sure he was comfortable. Emily jumped a small rolltop, perching perfectly on his back. Bentley folded nicely over the top, and they landed in sync. Emily turned Bentley again, this time a sharp turn to the left to a triple combination. I had watched everyone else in her class go through this, and they crashed and burned. Bentley pricked his ears forward, and Emily pushed him over the first jump, a tough brush box.

Bentley landed, and Emily asked him up for an early distance of an oxer, wide enough to where it would be awkward no matter how you took it. He landed and they took two strides to get to the last jump, an angled triple bar. Emily threw the reins forward and let Bentley find his own distance. When he lifted up, my sister was there with him.

They landed and headed off to the last jumps, a bending line. Bentley took the first jump a bit wide, so when they landed, Emily adjusted him as she saw fit. They landed bent, and it was seven strides to a perfect distance and a near perfect course. Everybody clapped politely as she trotted out of the ring. All of the riders looked at her scornfully. I clapped when she came out.

"Yay! See? Already knocking 'em out of the park!" I exclaimed. She gave me a triumphant smile. Mrs. Morrison and her son, Matt came over.

"Both of you have done an exceptional job today! I am very proud of both of you! I can't wait to watch your dressage round both of you." She smiled proudly. "By the way..." She trailed off, looking at her watch. "Mollie? Dressage?" I looked at my sheet.

"Crap! I gotta go!" And I trotted Griff off to the dressage area. Emily followed to go get changed for her dressage round. I signed in with the area monitor and made sure I was ready, even running through my pattern before they called my name in.

I trotted Gryffindor to X, making him collect and then extend every few strides, which produced a beautiful rippling look. I halted Griff a little bit past X, then had him back up. You don't see it often, and if used right, the judges loved it. I saluted and waited for the ringing of the judge's bell before launching off into an extended left lead canter. He flowed into an easy pace. I turned him left across the diagonal, then into an off-center circle. We finished the circle, ending up near M. At M, I slowed him to a working trot. We did leg yields to A, then I asked him for a nice extended trot. The audience politely clapped at the smooth transition. I asked Gryffin to piaffe, and he immediately stepped into a smooth sequence of perfect piaffes. When we got to C, I asked him to halt, then do a turn on the haunches. We switched directions, and we bounced off in a very nicely collected canter. Turning down the center, I stopped him directly on X and saluted. The judges saluted and rang the bell again. I walked out, and was greeted by Emily and Mrs. Morrison.

"That was quite the display of excellent footwork young lady." Mrs. Morrison commented. I thanked her. Emily just had this silly grin on her face.

"What? And wipe that crazy smile off your face." She pointed back behind me, and I craned my head around to see the scoreboard. At the top of the list in novice and amateur was displayed in clear letters

AMATEUR
1. MOLLIE FORD
2. KENDALL KAYES

NOVICE
1. EMILY FORD
2. MATTHEW MORRISON

Both Emily and I were at the top of our divisions, at the first event.