Chapter 10

2 0 0
                                    

                                                                                      A Hard Blow

I woke up the next morning to someone knocking on my door.

"Who is it?" I called from bed. A boy responded to me.

"It's me Bradley! Let me in!!" Bradley called from outside. I got out of bed and unlocked the door, Bradley opened it and walked inside. "Your mom is here for you. She's already loaded the horses and puppy into the float and car and has gotten their stuff. You better be packing." Bradley looked upset.

"What's wrong?" I asked as I grabbed my clothes.

"Why do you want to leave? You said you wanted to stay!" He wailed. I looked at me confusedly.

"Out now, Bradley," I demanded. Once he was out I got dressed. I marched downstairs and out of my room. I marched to moms' car and said, "I don't want to leave mom. Someone called you and said I did but I don't." Mom understood exactly what had happened and unloaded the horses into their stalls again and put my puppy in the puppy/dog pen. She put the horses' bags in front of their stalls and unpacked them. I grabbed Forest's bag and hugged mom. She drove off and I went up to my room again. I unpacked Forest's bag and put the bag away. I made my bed and went down for breakfast. I ate breakfast and then Emily Vine called us to the barn. I took FreeRein out of his stall and tethered him to the outside of the stall gate. I groomed him and tacked him up. Emily Vine had us warm up our horses. Me and Kelly rode side by side at a walk, trot, and finally a canter. Amber and Julie rode together. Kristy rode with the orange haired girl. The blondie and black haired girl rode side by side too. The brown haired girl was riding with Emily Vine. After warming up we trained in the big dirt arena. We were still training on the huge course. I went over the ground poles with Kel first, then the tiny jumps, and finally the set of 25 jumps. Emily Vine rode her horse over to me and said I was a great natural rider and seeing me ride was seeing a girl merge into her horse. After our training session we cooled our horses out and untacked them. Most of the girls just untacked and groomed their horses but me and Kel and Amber hosed down our horses and groomed them afterwards. I put FreeRein back in his stall after all of the tasks, he was sparkling when I put him away for lunch. Me and Kelly walked into the dining hall and had sandwiches again. We also had grape juice with them. I was happy to have these good sandwiches and grape juice! I loved this meal out of all of them, except maybe mac-n-cheese. After lunch Emily Vine said we could do whatever till dinner. After dinner we would have another training session. I went to my room and opened my laptop. I Emailed mom to let her know I was fine. I downloaded some music on my iPhone and put my iPhone in my back pocket. I went down to the dirt arena and bluetoothed my phone to the loudspeaker. I went to the barn and grabbed FreeRein's lead. I opened the stall door and attached the lead to his halter. I led him out and over to his station. I groomed him from head to hoof and then tacked him up again, thank goodness Bradley had cleaned my tack again. I led him by the reins to the warm up ring. I mounted up and warmed him up. I dismounted and pulled the reins over his head. I led Rein by the reins and unlatched the gate. I opened it and led him out and then left it open and unlocked. I led him into the dirt arena and latched the gate after we were in the arena, I mounted up and made Rein go into a trot around the whole course. He walked over the ground poles, trotted over the tiny jumps, and then cantered him over the set of 25 jumps. He didn't even knock one pole down! He was doing great. I saw Kelly coming out with Phoenix. She warmed up and I watched as she came into this arena. She did the same as me.

"Hey, Ruby." Kel said, she didn't look too happy.

"What's wrong, Kel?" I asked. I looked at her worriedly. I pulled FreeRein to a halt and stared at her. She looked at me sadly.

"Emily Vine said we're going to have a test." She said. I looked at her with dismay.

"Is that what you're worried about?!??" I asked. She looked more serious now.

"Whoever fails the test has to leave the academy," She said. I was shocked, "There are 30 girls here. The 15 girls that pass the test stay... the other 15 leave. What if I fail? What if Amber fails? What if you fail?" She asked, tears were now rolling down her cheek. If Amber failed I'd have to drop out because of her. Same with Kelly.

"If I fail, or Amber, or you. I will have to drop out. We have to practice. But..." I said, trailing off.

"But what?" Kel asked.

"But isn't it weird that Kristy isn't hanging out with us lately? I've noticed that she's hanging out with that orange haired girl more and more." I said. Kelly thought about it and nodded. We practiced until it was fifteen minutes till dinner. We cooled out our horses and then dismounted. I grabbed my phone from the arena and led FreeRein into the barn. I led him to the station and put his halter on and tethered him there. I untacked him and put the dirty tack on the tack stand. I groomed him again from head to hoof. I led him to his stall and put him in. I unclipped the lead rope and hung it back up. I shut the stall door tightly. I went back to the station and cleaned all the brushes, I put the brushes into the kit bag. I put the kit away and then cleaned the dirty tack so well I could see my reflection in it. I put a dust cover on the saddle and went to the dining hall. We were having burgers for dinner, along with some orange juice and soda. After dinner I went to my room and got ready for our next training session. It was our last for tonight and I had to make the cut. I had to stay, so did Amber and Kelly.

My Horsy LifeWhere stories live. Discover now