Champions Until the End

Chapter One

Faith pictured on the top.

        I woke up to the Beep! Beep! of my alarm clock, and I blinked, wondering where I was. Then I remembered. The accident. Her dad. The stables. Lady. Kentucky. I groaned and flopped back down, laying there for a minute or two before getting up, checking my clock. 5:30 AM. I got up and got ready to go see my Welsh pony, Faith. The only bit of home I had left, really. I darted down to the kitchen, grabbing a piece of toast before running out the door, planning to walk to where Faith was now stabled.

        Pine Road Stables. That was where I rode now. After a good ten-minute walk, I saw the sign. Pine Road Stables. I couldn't stop repeating it in my head. I jogged up the long driveway, seeing three large outdoor arenas, a stable that would probably fit around thirteen horses, and several pastures. "Faith!" I called out into the crisp morning air. I heard a nicker from one of the pastures. "Faith!" I exclaimed. "Hi, girl!" I walked up to my horse, stroking her face. "Let's get you groomed."

        Soon, Faith was groomed, and had her bridle on. "Bareback today, girl" I murmured, leading Faith out of the crossties and to the driveway. I noticed a few bikes parked to the side. After a quick glance around, I spotted three girls getting horses. "C'mon, Faith" I tore my eyes away from the three girls, jumping up on my horse bareback. I nudged her with my heels, trotting her into one of the arenas.

        I warmed Faith up, walking, trotting and cantering around until she was going easily. Then I began to ease into the more difficult dressage moves. One-time flying changes, pirouettes, piaffes, and half-passes. I had Faith going well, until Faith decided she had had enough. The horse bucked violently, once, twice, three times. I was used to these bucking fits, but I was unprepared, and got unseated and got catapulted into the arena dirt.

        "Hey! You good?" someone called. Upon sitting up, I noticed it was one of the girls from earlier. "You okay?" the girl asked again. "Yeah, fine." I replied. "I just got caught off guard."

        "Good. That was a pretty nasty fall there." the girl commented.

        "I'm fine, it's happened a lot. Faith's still pretty green."

        "Is that your horse?" she asked. I nodded.

        I stood, walking over to Faith and jumping back on, making her redo the half-pass I'd been attempting when Faith bucked. After going through it successfully, I halted her and noticed the girl was still watching me, and there were the other two girls from earlier beside the fence. I hadn't realized they were there. "Oh-um, by the way, thanks for coming to check on me" I told the girl who had helped her. "I'm Kennedy."

        The girl smiled. "I'm Rachel. That's Jocelyn and Paige." she said, gesturing towards the two girls who were watching from the rail.

        "Hi," I said, not sure what to say exactly. I was itching to kick Faith into a gallop, jump over the rail, and take off to do some cross-country. But I couldn't do that now.

        "Hey," they chorused, each giving me a smile.

        "I'm going to, um, take Faith for a gallop. See you guys around." I said quickly, wheeling Faith around and cantering out of the arena, before nudging her up to a gallop, heading down the long driveway to the field beyond, not looking back.

        "All right, girl. Got it all out of your system?" I asked, smiling. Faith nickered. "Good. It'll be around nine by now. Let's go get you cooled down, and we can practice some stuff on the ground for a little before our first day at this pony club."

        It was eleven o'clock. My lesson was at twelve. One more hour. I took a deep breath, walking over to Faith, who was grazing nearby. "Almost ready, girl?" I asked softly. Faith raised her head, snuffling my palm. I giggled. "No treats right now, Faith. After the lesson." The horse, disappointed, dropped her head back down to the ground. "Now, don't get mad at me." I said teasingly, perfectly aware that I was talking to a horse. I jumped up onto Faith's back, leaned back, and rested my head on her hindquarters. I closed my eyes, enjoying the feeling of the gentle sunlight against my face.

        About a minute later, I opened my eyes to the sound of footsteps. Sitting up, I glanced around the pasture, noticing a girl, not Rachel, Paige, or Jocelyn, walking up to a dapple-gray Selle Francaiś mare who was grazing a little ways away. The girl ignored me, haltering the mare and leading her out. Strange. I thought, for there was no way she couldn't have seen me. I shrugged, deciding not to think more on the matter.

        At 11:30, I hopped off Faith, grabbing her halter from where I had set it down earlier, slipping it over her ears and leading her over to the barn. After a quick glance inside, I saw that all four crossties were being used, and so was the hitching post. I dropped Faith's lead rope, because I had trained her to ground tie. I hurriedly walked into the barn, grabbing her tack and slipping back out before the girls using the crossties noticed me. I tacked and mounted Faith, riding her to the outdoor arena that was used for lessons.

        11:45. I began walking Faith around, not really needing to warm her up too much, since I had already worked her earlier. The other riders came in as well, on various kinds of horses. I noticed Rachel on a chestnut mare, Paige on a bay mare, Jocelyn on a pinto gelding, the girl on the Selle Francaiś, and two boys, one on a bay gelding, the other on a dapple-gray mare. Six other people. All with a chance of recognizing me as Kennedy Hawkings, famous 15-year-old eventer. Riding Faith helped my cause, though. Faith had never been in a big eventing show, for I had only gotten her a few months ago. I always rode Lady to those. At 12:00 our coach came into the arena. Mike Blackwell.