Stillwater Equestrian Academy

Chapter 14

Day of the rodeo. But a few hours before the parade.

We jumped out of bed, quickly dressed, and headed downstairs to meet everyone else for breakfast. We went over to the breakfast bar got some cereal and milk. We all sat down to eat. But our stomachs were in knots. We picked at our food. Finally, we threw it away.

We headed outside and washed down our horses, polished their hooves and the tack. We went back upstairs and ironed our uniforms and polished out boots and belts. Then we ironed another uniform for the parade.

We finally made it back downstairs and met up with everyone. We loaded up the belt buckles and the lollipops and headed out.

We were in groups of two. Maddie and me were at a Walmart Supercenter at one door. Jessica and Stacey were at the other door. We set the tables up and put the signs up.

While Ms Campbell went inside to talk to the manager and let him know we were finally there. She came out and gave us two thumbs up. She was our supervisor at the store. Plus she was the runner for us. She also filled in if we had to go to the bathroom or eat lunch.

"Hi, I'm Stevie King from Stillwater Equestrian Academy, Stillwater Oklahoma." I said. "We have started the Stillwater Color Guard and we wanna raise awareness of this new curriculum at our school."

We handed out the brochures and sold the buckles at fourteen ninety eight each. Before we knew it, we were sold out. So Ms Campbell brought more. Before we knew it, we were sold out of those as well. So we packed up and went around picking up the others.

We counted the money and discovered we brought in over three thousand dollars.

We stopped at McDonald's and grabbed some lunch. We ate on our way back to the hotel. Once there, we had time off, so we went swimming in the inside pool for a couple of hours.

We finally took a shower, got dressed in our uniforms and headed out for some ice cream before the parade. But none of us were in the mood to eat. We went to the parade starting point, checked in, and got our numbers.

We unloaded our horses, tacked them, and climbed up into the saddles. They knew something was up, they just didn't know what it was. They too were nervous but excited. We could tell by their prancing, their ears, their tails, and the look in their eyes. Plus they smelled the excitement.

We pinned our numbers on each other's backs. We got into formation and was led to our spot. Right behind Stillwater Marching Band. We waited until it was time for the parade to begin. Before we knew it, it was already three in the afternoon. The Sherman High School Marching Band started marching. Followed by the Sherman Color Guard. Then some vehicles. Followed by us, Stillwater Color Guard. As soon as we saw the audience, we began our routine.

I stood up in the saddle and everyone else followed suit.

"Ready!" I said. "Go!"

I did a few arial cartwheels, a few arial backflips, some jumps, some somersaults, a lay back spin, a standing spin that went into a sit spin that went back into the standing spin. I did the flag, the mill, the scissors, the splits, the tail drag, the death drag, backflips, one handed handstand, and the one handed handspring. All the while I twirled the American flag. My team members did exactly as I did, without missing a beat.

Then we did it all over again and again and again, all the way to the stopping point. As the parade continued, people were taking pictures of us, cheering, screaming with delight, clapping their hands, and jumping. The media cameras were on us as we continued. With all the practice, we didn't tire like we thought we would. We still had plenty of energy.

We did some layouts with a twist, somersaults, spins, and etc, all the while we twirled the flags, twirled the knives, twirled the pistols, twirled the rifles, and twirled the ropes. Plus did some fire dancing and some light dancing.