A Medallion

Chapter 21

Tessa's POV:  

"Go it Challenger!  Go it!"  I thrust my hands forward with my eyes trained on the next jump.  

Catching onto my excitement, Challenger stretched out his stride.  Back and forth, my hands moved with his mouth.  

A stride or two away I felt him beginning to back off a bit to gather himself.  I clucked to encourage him and pushed my hands into his neck.

He pushed himself off with all the power and strength that I'd felt when he jumped his first log.  Once he got over his nervousness, he was a cross country machine.  This was where the thoroughbred in him came out.      

Savoring every devouring stride, I let him gallop on for a few moments.  The wind was blowing through the vents in my helmet and whisking all the heat away. 

With a sigh I sit up a little and touch his mouth, asking for him to slow down and come back to me.  He shakes his head, he doesn't like it and could go for much longer. But true to his sensitive nature he listens and comes down to a trot for me.

I began to turn him back.  That was to be our last jump.  We had to go now, we were cutting it close as it was to get back in time to feed the horses.  Actually, we were probably going to be a wee bit late.  

Vanessa's POV:

Lacy and Tessa's parents were already headed back to the barn.  She and I had elected to take one last jump.  Together, we walked our horses back towards the barn side by side.  

I broke the silence.  "You... you said we would talk."  

Tessa nodded.  "I didn't realize how little time we had.  Now we don't have but a few minutes."  She shifted in her saddle a bit.  

"I just...  I just want you to know that I...  that I wasn't trying to show you up.  With Challenger, I mean.  Or Medallion."  

Before  I could tell her I'd realized that, she went on.

"Challenger wasn't easy for me at first either.  He's not easy for anyone.  He's just himself.  And you've got to learn to work with him, and that takes time.  If you could ride him, day in and day out, for three months, I think you and him would get along."  

I shrugged.  "Well...  maybe."  I wasn't quite convinced.

"No, really, I think you could.  It'd be frustrating, to be sure, but you could."  She hesitated, then went on.  "Look, Vanessa, it's none of my business.  But...  But I don't think you have to sell Medallion."  

I stiffened slightly.  "I've tried for five months.  Five months!  And I haven't made any progress.  I've got Win, I don't need her."  

She was silent for a moment.  "Do you want to ride her?  If you knew you could ride her, would you keep trying?"  

"Well yeah.  But I can't ride her.  I just can't-"  

"Stop!"  Tessa cut me off with a fierceness that surprised me.  "You could ride her.  You could.  But you've got to try Vanessa!  You've got to!"  

She stopped Challenger and faced me.  "That's the only difference between me and anyone else who rides Challenger, is that I tried to understand him.  That's it!"

"Medallion can be ridden.  But you must be willing to learn, and to try.  Are you going to try?"  

It took me a little awhile to find my voice.  "I'll, I'll think about it."      

Tessa relaxed slightly.  "I'm sorry, that was a little out of character for me," she said as we continued our walk to the barn.  

I smiled a bit.  "Yeah."  

As we crossed onto the pavement, I couldn't help but ask.  "What makes you so sure that I could ride Medallion?"  

She glanced over.  "I think you and her would really match up together, in terms of personality.  And...  I've got this gut feeling that it would work.  But you can't keep using the same methods."  

"Then what methods can I use?"  I asked tiredly.  "I've tried it all, Tessa.  Contact, no contact, strong aids, featherlight aids, patience, anger, everything!"  

"Have you tried the classical way?"  

I raised an eyebrow.  The only time I'd heard of the word 'classical' in terms of training horses was either with the Spanish Riding School or some online article titled "Classical vs. Modern Dresssage."  I'd shrugged it off and scrolled on.  Dressage was dressage, in my opinion, and further more, I was an eventer.  

"What's that?" 

"It's the traditional way, handed down from the masters."  Seeing my slightly blank face, she said, "You know, Spanish Riding School type stuff, they use it.  Guess you haven't tried it."  

I shook my head.  "No.  Is that what you use with Challenger?"  

"Oh yeah.  It's what's allowed me to work with him."  

I sighed.  "So what, you've just done a bunch of flatwork with him?  Sounds boring."  

She laughed and shook her head as we came up to the barn door.  "No, it's more than flatwork.  It applies to jumping to.  It's a systematic way of training a horse.  I wish I could show you it..."  She trailed off.  

Suddenly her face lit up.  "I've got it, why don't you come to Star Run sometime and spend a day with me?  You could bring Medallion and I could try to help you with her."  

I thought about this for a moment.  I did want to see where Tessa lived, and what this classical theory she was talking about was.  And maybe...  Just maybe she could show me what buttons to push on Medallion.  

"I'll talk to my mom about it, but I think I'd be able to come."  

She smiled, just before gathering her reins in one hand and swinging down from Challenger.  "Sounds good."  

What followed after that was a flurry of packing, loading horses into trailers, and hurried good byes.  

I stood back as Tessa took Challenger and led him up the ramp into their trailer.  That was a sight that I hadn't planned on seeing at the end of all this.  

A lot of things I hadn't planned on had happened in this visit.  It was definitely going to change me.  

For better or worse I couldn't say yet.  

AN:  Hey guys, shorter update here as I've got to go do some stuff and wanted to get this out before then, but here you go!  What do you think about Vanessa visiting Star Run?  

See you next Sunday!