New Beginnings at Century Farms 2: The Rescue Horse Camp

Chapter 21

Mel's POV

Heather and I walked over to the camp's meeting spot. It was time for Heather to meet all of the campers. I also want to meet the new camper that came today. I think her name is Marie, and she's using Angel and Truffles. I'm so happy that Angel is getting used; she loves kids.

When we arrived, Holly, Riley, and Madison and the new camper, Marie, were the only ones there, except Mom. A few minutes later Cadee and Anna showed up, and not long after them Liv showed up. "Good, we are all here," Mom said. "Girls, I would like you all to meet Heather, one of Mel's friends and a helper for this camp, and Marie, a new camper here. She is working with Angel and Truffles. I know you all will be welcoming to her and make her feel at home," Mom said. "Marie, it is a 'tradition' that each camper says their name, age, any experience with horses that you have, your favorite tv show or movie, and anything else that you want to share," Mom said to Marie.

"Okay," she said. "Hey, I'm Marie, I'm 13 years old, I used to take riding lessons when I was younger, but I stopped a while ago. My favorite movies are all of the Disney movies, and I really like to draw and I'm a cheerleader," Marie said. I took a better look at her and thought that she is probably the flyer for all of her squad's stunts. The only reason I know anything about cheer is because I was on the squad for one year, but the next year I decided I was busy enough with the horses and that I didn't need to do cheer.

"Wow, that's fun! Since it is about noon, we are going to have lunch now, and after we will have free time, then our afternoon lesson, and then we are going to do an arts and crafts project. We will be making horse shoe frames, and then tomorrow we can take nice pictures of you and your horses to put in the frames. Everybody wash up and then head inside," Mom said.

While we were all eating sub sandwiches, I asked Heather if she wanted to do some jumping during free time. She said yes, and we are going to work over smaller jumps so I can train Pippa. I wish I could ride Cowboy, but it's going to be a while before I can do that. He comes home next week, and I'm going to hopefully ride him in the show if the vet says it's okay. She said Cowboy has been recovering faster than they had planned, and she would decide if I could ride him in the show. She said he should be good to jump 1 1/2 feet when he gets home, and to slowly build him back up to as high as he's been jumping.

Once Heather and I put our plates in the dishwasher, and the bell rang for free time, Heather and I raced out to the barn and grabbed Pippa and Cloud out of their fields. We tacked them up together and I told her about all of the campers.

"WHAT?!" Heather said after I told her that Cadee was able to gain Knight's trust and ride him.

"She did it. It's amazing. He only trusts her though. She has to be the one to lead him or feed him or anything with him. He doesn't trust anybody else. He sometimes tolerates me or Julie, but not Mom or any of the volunteers. Not even for all of the treats in the world. No way," I said. I had also told her about Anna and Fairy being reunited, and about Liv and Tye. She's excited to get to know Liv better since she's going to our school.

We finished tacking up the horses, then headed out to the outdoor arena. At one end of the arena, Julie was working with Zeke, and Mom was leading Fiona around. She only has a few more months until she has her foal! I can't wait to be there every second for her. The foal is going to be SO cute!!!

Heather and I set up the jumps to about 1 1/2 feet so I could do a little bit of training with Pippa. I mounted Pippa and warmed her up. I finally cantered her around the arena, then brought her to a walk. Next, I squeezed her into a trot and pointed her at the first small vertical. She hopped over it easily, and I trotted her to the next one, and as easily as she did the first one, she popped over it. We kept up the good work and when we came to the last one, Pippa soared over it. "Way to go girl!" I said, and gave Pippa a nice neck rub. She pranced over to Cloud and the two mares sniffed each other. "Your turn," I said to Heather.

"Alright," she said, and urged Cloud into a trot. I watched as Heather trotted Cloud in a circle before she directed her to the first jump.

They easily jumped the first jump and Cloud landed in a canter. Heather let her keep cantering, and the strong mare propelled over the next jump. Quickly yet steady, the two cleared all of the jumps with good time. "Nice round," I said.

"Thanks, Cloud really worked hard," Heather said.

"I can tell, you two looked great together. Cloud is getting a lot of muscle in her legs, too," I added.

"I've been working on getting her legs stronger for a while. Do you want to raise the jumps higher?" Heather asked.

I hesitated for a minute. Pippa is strong enough, she can go higher. She's ready for it. "Sure, let's raise it up to 2 feet," I said.

"I'm on it," Heather said, and she dismounted Cloud and raised the jumps up a few inches. Once the rails were at 2 feet, Heather mounted Cloud and said,"You go first."

"Alright," I said. Since the jumps were a bit higher than Pippa was used to, I will canter her over the course so she feels like she has enough power.

"Let's go girl," I whispered to Pippa. She snorted and shook her mane. I got her into a steady trot, then into a canter and cantered a circle. After our circle, I pointed her at the first jump. In strides we reached the first vertical, and Pippa hesitated before jumping. She knocked the rail off with her knees, but she landed cleanly. "It's okay girl," I said, but her confidence was fading. I was working to keep her going, but when we arrived at the next jump, Pippa slid to a stop.

She scrambled around the jump and then stopped and shook her mane. "It's alright girl, you can do this," I said to her, and squeezed her into a canter again. We headed for the same jump and I could feel her starting to slow down, I kept my leg pressure on her sides, and she had no other choice but to go over the jump. She jumped over the fence, even though it was an ugly jump, she still got over it, and when we cantered after the jump, she was filled with confidence.

We finished the rest of the course with out a problem, and when we trotted back to Heather and Cloud I was beaming. Even though we knocked the first rail and Pippa refused the second, I was proud that Pippa was able to get over the scary fence. "Nice job! Way to get her over the course," Heather said.

"Thanks, I wasn't sure if I would be able to keep her going after, but once she cleared the second jump she had no problem finishing the course. I'm so proud of her," I said.

"You should be, this is what you do!" Heather said. "Okay, time for the masters to go," she said playfully.

"Show me how it's done, wise teacher," I said jokingly. With that, Heather and Cloud cantered off to the first jump.

The two soared over all of the jumps as easily as they did before, and they had a clean round. "Nice," I said.

"Thanks, want to cook them out by walking around the cross country field" Heather asked.

"Sure, let's go!" I cheered, and we walked two tired mares out to the field, and we talked about our summers since fair while we cooled out Pippa and Cloud.

A/N: hi guys what's up? I tried to get this chapter up as soon as possible so I hope you like it! I'm so happy that The Rescue Horse Camp has gotten 700 views let's keep going all the way to 1k!! Please keep voting and commenting I really want to know what you guys think about TRHC. thanks bye!!