Horsemen Trials, A Fantasy Story about Horses

Chapter 15

Lillian was still not fully convinced that Mr. Blair's method was the way to go, but I couldn't blame her there. I hadn't been as convinced till recently, and I still held some reservations. She did agree however, to coming to his place once or twice a week for a lesson.

It was at one of those lessons that Mr. Blair introduced something unusual. Up till now we had mostly focused on our flatwork and dressage, but not today.

As Lillian and I walked up to Mr. Blair, I saw Norah. She and Mr. Blair were adjusting their stirrups.

"Good morning girls," Mr. Blair greeted us.

"Good morning," we responded in unison.

"Today we're going to be doing something a little different. Better dismount and shorten up your stirrups about three holes."

Lillian and I exchanged surprised plus excited looks. "What are we going to do?" I asked as I dismounted.

"We're going to do some jumping and a little bit of endurance practice."

I bit my lip, nervousness and excitement swelling. Don't get me wrong, I do like flatwork, it's really engaging, but variety is the spice of life.

I shortened my stirrups about three holes as Mr. Blair said. When it came time to mount, I was glad I had the tree stump to use, as mounting from the ground would be quite a challenge.

As I settled in the saddle I immediately noticed how short the stirrups felt. Having been riding in longer stirrups for flatwork for a month and half, it was a noticeable difference and I wasn't sure if I liked it.

Norah's brow was wrinkled as she fiddled with her stirrups, pushing her foot down into them.

"Feel too short?" I asked her.

She nodded. "I'm so used to them being longer."

"I know, I want to sit deeper but I don't think I can."

"It will help if you bend your knee," interjected Mr. Blair. He looked around. "Everyone ready to go?"

A chorus of yeses answered him.

"Alright then, follow me."

Mr. Blair rode out first, followed by Norah and then Lillian and I. None of the horses displayed buddy sour tendencies, for which I was very thankful.

Mr. Blair lead us down between the trees and out to the road. We plodded along quietly, the horses were fairly calm and relaxed, although probably wondering why we weren't staying home.

I didn't know where we were going, but I did know one thing: We were going to have some fun.

We went about a mile and a half down the road before reaching a large grassy field. We were not the only ones there, there were a few other people on their horses.

The large grassy field had several logs spread around it. There was a pond over to my left and a forest over to my right. I could feel my excitement rising.

Mr. Blair lifted a hand and we all stopped.

"Who wants to try a little jumping?"

We voiced our assent.

"Now, I know that Iris and Norah haven't done much jumping. Lillian, how much have you done?"

"I've jumped Checkmate up to two feet, over logs and down one or two banks."

"Oh, so you have a little bit more experience. Alright, let's warm up, and when you're ready to jump, meet back here. Remember that you must keep on a look out for others, so you don't have a collision. No jumping though. Understand?"