A Medallion

Chapter 16

Tessa's POV:  

Shocked wasn't the right word to describe what I felt when I found out about Win's bridling problem, but it was when I found out they hadn't done anything about it.  Bridling was a very touchy issue with horses.  So far they were able to force Win into it, or I could coax him.  But soon that may not be the case.  

However, that seemed to be the only flaw Win had.  He was flashy, came from awesome bloodlines, and was intelligent.  I could not understand why Vanessa would want Challenger when she had him.

Challenger had waited patiently for me.  He raised his head as I slipped under the barrier made my his halter in the cross ties.  "Ready to go boy?"  

I slipped the reins over his head.  Lacy and my mother were in the indoor arena, they had gone ahead of us while I helped with Win.  

Challenger's shod hooves run out as we walked out in the aisle, following Vanessa and Win to the indoor.  As we did, we passed the stall Medallion was in.  

I was honestly looking forward to riding her.  I wanted to find out what made her so temperamental.  Was she like Challenger, just super sensitive?  Had she had bad training?  Or both?  

Challenger's head was high as we entered the indoor arena.  He looked this way and that, taking it all in and looking for invisible shadows.  I debated about walking him around the arena before mounting, but decided that would take way to long because of how big it was.  

Vanessa was lining Win up to the mounting platform now.  She mounted smoothly and adjusted her stirrups before nudging him forward.  

I tightened my girth, then let Challenger sniff the mounting platform before leading him up alongside it.  After his initial inspection he didn't seem to care much.  

I gathered the reins in my left hand, stuck my foot in the stirrup, and swung up.  The platform was higher than our mounting block at home.  

Challenger started to walk forward but I quickly corrected him.  Sometimes he did that in new places.  I was careful so that he didn't develop a bad habit.

He waited until I adjusted my foot in the other stirrup and shortened my reins to the right length.  As I squeeze slightly to send him off, I felt a thrill ring through me.  We were here, actually here, riding at Vantage Point!  

Challenger was tense and alert, but I could tell all he needed was something to focus his mind on.  So I left  the arena wall and went one of my favorite focusing exercises, a figure eight with a halt in the middle.  

The arena was so big we could each easily be doing our own thing without running into the others.  I basically claimed one half of a side with my figure 8 and the others glided by us.  

I lifted my inside rein up and out slightly, shifting my weight for a proper circle.  Challenger responded instantly, bending away from my inside leg and filling up my outside rein.  I slid my outside leg back to keep his hindquarters from popping out.  

We completed one circle before straightening out across the diagonal of the figure 8.  I aligned my stirrups so that it was as if we were going straight.  

Then I let my weight down and just resisted his motion with my lower back.  That alone was enough to stop him, as my rein stopped moving with him.  Then it was time for another circle.

I liked figure 8's because they required both horse and rider to think extensively.  Switching between directions constantly was not easy and required focus.  Plus, it ensured both sides were getting suppled equally.  

Challenger was tuning into my body now.    His head was coming down and he wasn't looking everywhere was much.  Now I could ask for him to engage his back if I wanted, and I did.  

We straightened out along the arena wall.  I lifted myself up, stretching tall, then squeeze his sides lightly to ask for more impulsion from behind.  At the same time, I took a firmer holding pressure on the reins. 

It did not take long for him to give to my hand, he had done this many times before.  As we walked along the wall, with me giving him more rein to stretch, Vanessa came trotting by.  In fact, pretty much everyone was trotting except me.  I liked a nice long walk warm up.  

Vanessa's POV:  

I was surprised at how Tessa seemed to take awhile to warm up Challenger.  I was trotting long before she was.  

But on the other hand, Challenger was calm, and he was working on the bit.  So, maybe it had merit, but it wasn't for Win and I.  

I came up to a corner and sat, moving my outside leg behind to cue Win to canter, then rose into my half-seat.  His canter was quite smooth and powerful.  

I cantered him a lap, then brought him to walk, changed the rein, and cantered for another lap.  That was my warm up.  Now, if I wanted to, I could get to work on harder things.  

Tessa was now trotting Challenger in a figure 8.  She really seemed to like those.  

As I  passed her I heard her clicking to Challenger.  "Up, boy, up," she murmured.  

He gave her what she wanted, although I couldn't have told you what that was, and she stopped clicking.  

I looked around to see what the others were doing.  Mrs. Wellen was doing some very rapid walk trot transitions with Shocker.  The gray mare seemed to handle them well.  

Lacy looked to be making a serpentine with Russo, so I moved out of her way.  I eyed the big chestnut with approval, I liked him.  

I gathered up my reins.  Might as well do something while waiting for Tessa to finish with Challenger.  Maybe I could try some figure 8's and figure out why she liked them so much.

I moved off the wall and picked a spot where I didn't think I would be in anyone's way, then cued Win into trot.  

We started in on the first circle of our figure 8, but I quickly got distracted.  I didn't feel that Win was bending enough.  So, I did another circle till he was.   

Then I remembered  I was doing figure 8's, and started to change the rein.  This threw Win off balance and made his trot choppy.  We got started on the next circle, only to find that after Win got straightened out it was time for another rein change.  Plus, I'd forgotten to change my diagonal but it was too late now.  

By the end of it I didn't know what Tessa saw in figure 8's, I didn't like them.  But Win was bending nicer now and I was remembering to change my diagonal.  

We came to the walk, and I looked to see what Tessa was doing.  She was sitting to Challenger's canter now and making a circle with him. 

Fighting impatience, I fidgeted with my rein buckle.  When would she be done?  

Just as the thought crossed my mind Challenger switched to trot and then to walk.  She let her rein out and he took it, engaging in a beautiful free walk.  That was the part I struggled with in the dressage test, Win just wouldn't stretch out his stride enough. 

Tessa looked up and across to me.

"Ready?"  I asked.  

She bit her lip, and I didn't know how to interpret the look on her face.  "I guess."