A Medallion

Chapter 33

This time I mounted Medallion instead of riding Challenger first.  I was more confident than last time, although there was still that pervading sense of anxiety.  But I reminded myself of what I was here for:  to learn to ride this horse.  That was my prize, and nothing, including anxiety, was going to keep me from it. 

I closed my eyes and found the right position, then opened them and took in where everyone else was in the arena, before squeezing Medallion's sides.  As she moved off, I picked up my right shoulder a little. 

Walking along the rail on a long rein, we started off the same way we had yesterday.  Medallion seemed happy, although she pinned her ears whenever another horse came up to pass us.  

"Looking good," called out Tessa as leg yielded across the arena on Challenger.  I nodded with a smile.  It not only looked good, it felt good.  

Tessa didn't want long, however, until she encouraged me to try something new.   "Try trotting.  Don't pick your reins up, just get her into trot.  Let her go as fast or as slow as she wants, if she breaks to canter just bring her back to trot."  

I bit my lip and tried to not let my anxiety spring up.  "Alright..."  I did want to jump, but I couldn't let that trump my reasoning.  

I resisted the urge to pick up my reins, checked my position, and squeezed.  

Medallion flicked an ear back before springing into the trot.  It felt a little fast, but I refused to give in to the temptation.  

I checked my diagonal, switched it, and then looked up to check where everyone was in the arena.  We were good for now.  In fact, everyone was kind and passed me and Medallion so we didn't have to worry about that.  

Despite the fact that it was fast, Medallion's trot remained at the same speed. I almost couldn't believe that I was trotting around on a loose rein on a horse that had so violently bolted and thrown me a little more than a week ago.

"Say, that's nice!" Commented Lacy. "She's a flashy mover."

I nodded. "It's her white stockings," I said with a wink.

"Ha," laughed Tessa. "That may be true. She looks calm Vanessa, if you feel up to it you might try some turns like you did in walk. But make sure you have the right diagonal, I think that's important to her."

I nodded again and checked my diagonal while picking up my right shoulder.

Looking up and ahead, I could see that I wouldn't be in anyone's way if I made a change of rein after this coming corner.

I took a deep breath. I knew that we could do this.

The corner was gone before I knew it. I sat and switched my diagonal before stepping down into my inside stirrup and turning my torso towards the opposite fence.

Like in the trot, it seemed to take a long time before Medallion responded, but she did respond. Slowly she turned and then, just like that, we were trotting across the middle of the arena.

I checked my diagonal again as we merged into the new direction. Lacy came trottin by, and made sure to keep a safe distance between the two horses. Medallion flattened her ears, but didn't try anything else.

Medallion and I kept experimenting with a few changes of direction like that, before coming to the walk. By then, the others had finished their warm-up and were ready to start jumping.

I found it ironic that I had the best riding gear and most expensive horses here, but was doing the most elementary things. Despite that, I never felt embarrassed by any of the others.

Hazal halted beside me while Tessa and Lacy took turns jumping the cross rails. "I never did catch your horse's name?" She asked, gesturing with her head to Medallion.

"Oh yeah. This is Medallion." I reached down and flipped a piece of mane over. "I never caught your horse's name either?"

"This is The Copper Kid, aka Copper. I don't own him, he's a lease horse." Hazal smiled affectionately down at Copper before glancing over at me. "Does Medallion have a show name?"

I shrugged. "I never decided on one."

Tessa interrupted our conversation as she trotted by on Challenger.  "Do you want to try jumping, Vanessa?"  

My hand clenched the tail end of my reins.  The truth of it was, I did want to jump Medallion, but I was afraid to potentially undo all we'd accomplished.  

"You could just start with a line of poles, or even just one pole" Hazal offered, seeing my dilemma.  

Medallion and I could do that, right?  

"Okay," I agreed.

Before I even got my feet out of the stirrups Hazal had dismounted.  "I'll help you set it up."

"Thanks." I slid off of Medallion.  

Five or ten minutes later we had one lone pole set and three others in a line.  This took up al the rest of the poles the Wellens' had.  Hazal also set two of the jumps up to verticals for the others.  

Medallion let me mount and I could feel that she wanted to set off right away, she was done with taking a break.  But she waited long enough for me to find my other stirrup.  

I shortened my reins a little more than I had before, but I wasn't touching her mouth.  

"Just go over it in walk first.  Use your body to steer and the reins as a last resort," instructed Tessa. 

I nodded.  How hard could walking over a pole be?  

I lifted my right shoulder and made sure I was straight.  We walked along the fence until we were nearly parallel with the pole.  

Stepping down into my inside stirrup, I turned my body.  I started to use the reins but remembered just in time not to.  Medallion turned slower than I thought, so we weren't exactly on center to the pole, but it was close enough. 

"Don't look at the pole!"  Called out Lacy.

Indeed, I was staring at it as if it could leap up and eat us whole.  I yanked my gaze up.   

Medallion hesitated for a moment, and lowered her head enough to where she touched the bit.  This caused her to stop completely and flick an ear back to me. 

Part of me was screaming "See!  This was a terrible idea Vanessa!"  But experience at shows had taught me not to listen to that.  

I tapped Medallion's sides, telling her that yes, she was supposed to go over it, and leaned forward slightly to help her.  One foot at at time, she stepped over it.

I let out a breath that I had been holding.  Medallion continued on happily, and I half felt like kicking myself.  What had I been so concerned about?

"Good," called Tessa.  "Do that a few more times, maybe try some two-point."  

After going over the pole several times, my confidence was built up.  I decided to try the line of poles next.  

And then, just maybe, the cross rails.  

AN:   I think I could add more to this chapter, but for now I'm going to call it complete.  Thank you for reading!