A Medallion

Chapter 30

Medallion, thanks to Tessa's work with her, was calmer now.  I, on the other hand, was inwardly anxious.  It wasn't a feeling I was used to, and one I didn't like, for a reason I'd never had before:  I didn't want to do wrong by her.

I looked her in the eye as I waited for Tessa to mount Challenger.  "This time will be different, okay?"

She blinked at me.  I smiled and straightened her forelock over the brow band.  "Really, it will be."  

Tessa swung up on Challenger and I took a deep breath.  Now it was our turn.  

"If she moves off before you're ready, just do a one rein stop," Tessa instructed.  "Keep the same position you had on Challenger.  She's not as sensitive as him, but still, keep it tuned down."  

I nodded.  Well, it was time. 

I lined Medallion up beside the block, gathered the reins, stuck my foot in the stirrup, and mounted.  

Medallion didn't walk off on me, but let me find my other stirrup.  I started shortening my reins but I didn't get very far before Tessa said, "Alright, that's short enough. Now, find that position you had on Challenger."

I closed my eyes and referenced back to what I'd felt on Challenger. I was good at memorizing sensations, what something felt like. I tilted my pelvis forward and lifted my right side to find that first feeling.

"Good, that's it. Now keep that, and ask her to walk, but remember, keep it toned down."

I opened my eyes. Tessa was leg yielding across the arena, but she was watching me. I marveled at the ease she and Challenger moved.

Focus! I chided myself. Lifting my right shoulder a bit more, I tried out the leg aid that worked on Challenger.

Medallion flicked an ear back to me and sort of leaned forward, but didn't take a step. Okay, so she wasn't quite as sensitive as Challenger. I nudged her a bit harder to tell her that yes, I really did want to go.

She believed me and strode out in a fast walk. It was about as fast as Challenger's, but it felt faster to me. Challenger seemed to stride forward with balanced power and impulsion, Medallion was just putting her feet out as fast as she could.

Instinctively, I started to raise my hands to slow her down with the reins.

"Don't!" Tessa's rapped out. "She's fine, she's just unbalanced right now and tugging at the reins won't help."

I bit my lip in concentration and put my hand back down.

"Just walk along the rail for awhile. Don't let your right shoulder drop."

I lifted my right shoulder for the thousandth time. Ugh, how I hated it's droopiness! 

Walking along the rail could have been boring, would have been boring, that is, except it wasn't something that Medallion and I had successfully done before.  Always, our rides had started out with tussles about her dramatic switching between gears of walk, her disrespect to my commands, etc.  

But today was different.  Medallion was calm, something she'd never been under me.  While yes, her walk was unbalanced and unsettlingly fast, and I didn't feel I had any control over it with long reins, we were actually going somewhere.  We were just walking up along the rail.  

I took a deep breath of relief, and let the anxiety that I, or rather we, wouldn't be able to do this go.  My hips swung freely to her walk, and I couldn't remember a time I had done that on her.  

Subtly, she began to walk more like a banana.  Annoyed, I started to pick up on the reins to correct her.  

"Ah!  Don't.  Pick up your right shoulder, you let it drop again."