Stillwater Equestrian Academy

Chapter 3

School was finally in session. It was the first day and I was at the rodeo arena bright and early. Boomer and I waited for our turn to go. There were five kids before me, so I walked Boomer so he would not have any cramps in his legs, hips, and shoulders. When it was our turn, I tapped his flanks and kissed him into action and we shot out of the gate like a bat outta hell. We cleared the barrel on the right perfectly. Then we cleared the second barrel on the left perfectly. Then we cleared the third barrel in the center perfectly. Finally we headed home. We passed through the gate and I walked him to cool him down.

"Stevie, that was perfect." Mr Scott said. "Thirteen point eight seconds. The fastest time I have ever seen."

"Thanks, Mr Scott."

"You're welcome. But now it's time to get down to business."

He blew his whistle to get everyone's attention. Once he had our attention, he spoke.

"Everyone, I want you all to meet, Stevie King. She's majoring in coaching. So, with my supervision and help, she's going to be coaching what she does when it comes to trick riding. Starting Monday morning."

Everyone clapped and cheered for me. I blushed. I decided to keep quiet.

"Those of you who want the training, sign up at the Student Union Office." Mr Scott said. "Dismissed."

I walked Boomer around for a few minutes more to let him cool off a bit more before we headed back to the stables. I hosed him down and thoroughly brushed him down until his coat shined and it was soft and silky smooth. I massaged his legs, his hips, and his shoulders with liniment until he almost fell asleep standing up. I hugged him, kissed his nose, and made sure he had plenty of water, food, and straw. He was so relaxed to where he lied down. Then I massaged his shoulders and hips until he went to sleep. I cleaned the tack and put it away in the cubby. I locked it up.

I went back to the dorm, I showered, and I changed into my sweat shorts and sleeveless sweat tank top. I put my sneakers on and headed to gymnastics class. Once there, I practiced my cat walk on the balance beam a few times. I then did an arial Cartwheel, arial splits, arial backflips, and etc. I dove off the beam, tucked, and rolled to the ground. I did a back jump with a twist before landing on my feet again. Then I decided to build my arm strength by vaulting on the gymnastics horse. Complete with ballet dance moves. By the time class was over, I was sweating again.

I headed back to my room and I showered again. By the time I made it down the stairs, it was lunch time. I was so grateful to be able to sit down and rest. I took my time eating. After lunch, I headed up to my room and took a two hour nap.
*****
My alarm blared in my ear and I turned it off. I jumped up and quickly changed into my jeans, a red with white stripes halter top that tied at the bottom in the front, my brown Tony Lamas, and my brown Stetson. I grabbed my backpack, put my laptop and phone inside, headed to my next class, Magic 101. I made it before the teacher did. Mr Jameson walked in and closed the door. He took a roll call and wrote his name on the blackboard. He turned around and faced us.

"Ok class, some of you are pretty good with magic." Mr Jameson said. "Some of you are just realizing you can do magic. And the rest of you have no clue whether you know magic or not.

"But that's ok. Because you will learn. I don't care how good you think you are. I don't care if you taught yourself. Scratch all that. You will be learning just like everyone else in this class. Do I make myself clear?"

"Yes Sir, Mr Jameson!" We all said.

"Good. Now I have an egg up here with me. All of you will be given the chance to come up here and hold the egg. The egg will change colors, letting me know what type of magic you have."