Chasing the Stars

Shows

"-And THEN I won CHAMPION of the walk/trot short stirrup division!" One of the mares in paddock eight, who's name I don't care to remember, brags.

"I remember when I won the under 2 welsh breed class when I was a filly!" Another adds.

"Well, I -" another starts, wrinkling her grey nose when I interrupt.

"Will you quit it?" I snap, having had enough of their silly one-upping. "If you continue with your stupid brag-fest your heads will be to big to fit a bridle over!"

They stare at me in astonishment.

I suppose nobody's ever told them to shut up before.

I storm away in a bad mood. They day is too hot and I'm sweating, and I've had enough of these stupid mares and their stupid gossiping.

"Cleooooo." Calia calls from the paddock gate. She has a halter. "NOoooo it's tooo hoooot." I complain, turning away from her.

"Cleo, I will come and get you." she warns.

"It's too hooooot!" I repeat.

"Alright." she walks into the pasture.

I start walking away from her but she's caught up in no time.

"Hmph." I mumble my annoyance to her as she leads me into the barn and starts to tack me up.

"Mimi and I are planning to get you to a show next weekend! Don't worry, nothing big or special. Just a local one, and just the walk-trots." She rambles to me as she grooms and tacks me up.

"Mhm."

"And we're gonna take Apples and Nina and Apier."

"Okay."

"And it's gonna be awesome and you'll love it I promise."

                                                                                              ***

A week flies by, and before I know it, it's the weekend of the show.

Everyone's excited and loading things into the truck and trailer, and fiddling and finessing with saddles and bridles and bits.

"I've ... never been to a show. What's it like?" Apier admits to me while we're being loaded onto the trailer.

"Loud and busy." I sum it up for him. "And there's a lot of prissy horses and riders there. Some are okay."

"Hm. What are the classes like?"

"A judge stands in the middle of the ring and yells at you and you walk and trot and canter in circles endlessly. And then you stand still for five minutes and then they yell at you again and give you colored pieces of paper."

"Sounds ... human."

"It is." I agree.

We start chatting about various different things, like how weird humans are, and Apples joins in eventually, giving up on ignoring us.

We quickly arrive at the showgrounds, and the load us into the stalls. Calia checks her watch. "6:00. Brilliant. The showing starts at 9:00, so we have time to school." She gives me a moment to look at my surroundings while she gets the tack.

I'm in a small stall in a large barn with horses I've never met screaming at each other all at once.

Yep, this is definitely a show.