Flying Changes

1

"No, no. Lift him up with your inside leg, Eva!" my instructor yelled. "He's not a motorcycle and you know better!" I carefully pressed my leg into my horse's side, but nothing happened. I tried again, attempting to keep myself from thumping him in the side with my heel.

"Come on, Griffin," I muttered. He merely flicked an ear.

"Eva!" I groaned and pulled him to a walk before hurrying to the center of the ring where my instructor stood, hands on her hips.

"You've got these ridiculously long legs most of these girls would kill to have. Use them or lose them. You know he needs support from the inside, not whatever the heck you were doing. Now go and actually keep him from falling in!"

"Alright," I responded, already returning to the rail at a trot.

"Leg!" Kate yelled again. For someone that was barely five four she sure had a voice. I pressed Griffin's side again as we headed into the corner and we didn't fall over quite so much.
"Go ahead and walk for a minute, it's hot," Kate called. I slowed Griffin down and rode up near Casey. She was a year or two younger than me
but she was cool.

"It is bloody hot out," I announced. Her horse, Phunni, nickered to Griffin but kept plodding.

"What, are you British or something?" Casey asked, then groaned. "Wait- don't even tell me, you've been reading Harry Potter for the millionth time, right?" I just grinned- she knew she was right.

"Indeed I have, my fellow Gryffindor," I said, twitching Griffin's reins so he wouldn't run over poor Phunni.

"Meh, I'm not even in the mood right now to argue that point. Where's Mia?" I shrugged. Mia, our fellow lesson buddy, had just graduated high school and I had no clue where she'd gone, except that she'd had to leave Phunni, the horse she'd been leasing, behind. She'd only been riding for two or three years.

"Spread out, you two. Griffin gets first canter because he's in a mood," Kate announced, breaking my train of thought.

"No kidding!" I called back. He'd bitten me twice and bucked three times. All of it was most likely my fault, but still. I carefully rode him into a corner and applied the correct aids, breathing out a soft prayer that maybe I could actually get this right for once. Griffin burst forwards and I grinned when I felt him land the right lead. I played with my reins and he slowed to a decent pace as we cantered around the ring.

"Alright, bring him back down," I was instructed. "That was nice." Nice- high praise. I tried to hide my grin as I went to stand in the center and watched Casey take off easily, as usual, Phunni's long legs hurrying around. He was a cute horse but Griffin was nicer, not because of anything I'd done. He'd come from Canada and won a bunch of big shows in New York and Rhode Island before taking a bad fall and being sent here on a roundabout loop of owners. He tended to win whatever you put him in, as long as you didn't mess with him. I messed with him and I was lucky he hadn't dirty dumped me yet. I barely noticed when we were both called to the center to get our jump course.

"Diagonal, single, line, bending line," Kate told us. "But not as a course yet, one at a time with Griffin in front and don't you dare canter him, Eva." I nodded and took him to the rail, Casey following, and we headed to the diagonal line at a trot.
"Slower!" Kate yelled. I tugged gently. "Contact and lean back!" Griffin always wanted contact but he was a freight train before fences and you had to sit back or you'd be going over sans horse. He thundered towards the fence, the power in his Warmblood breeding coming out as he launched himself over it neatly. He tried to canter off but I pulled him back down. I received a nod as I passed Kate and circled towards the next fence, which was set to maybe two feet, shorter than normal, but Casey didn't like to ride Phunni over big fences. One, two, three, I counted out silently. We weren't cantering but I liked to count up to the fence. But this time I wasn't focusing and accidentally jerked Griffin's mouth.

"Come on, let him go over the fence, he knows his job!" Kate called. I nodded a reply and kept going, Griffin's even trot carrying us down the rail to the line, a six stride, if I was riding my old pony, Roxy, but four or five on the bigger Griffin. He tried to pull the reins out of my hands but I held on and we made it through without any cantering, then headed over the bending line, stopping in the center by Kate. Casey finished right after me.

"Good. Same course, canter it, but don't let Phunni do a simple change and don't let Griffin do any flying changes. Lee decided to do about fifty flying changes on him and now he wants to swap constantly." I groaned. Lee didn't own Griffin, but she liked to randomly hop on horses that she didn't own when she didn't feel like catching her horse, Pheonix. She wasn't that bad except for that.

"Go ahead, Eva," Kate prompted. I headed back to the rail and eased into a left lead canter and jumped the course, starting strong but clipping the bending line because I wasn't careful enough with my hands.

"Sorry," I told her when I returned. She just nodded and watched Casey go. Phunni was kind and got the striding right but slowed a hair too much before the single and hit the rail.

"Leg, Casey! Inside leg! Power leg! Come on!" Kate reminded. When Casey came back, she told us to go out and walk down the driveway and back to cool out the horses, opening the gate and letting us go out.

"I messed that one up," Casey said, dropping her stirrups as we tried to keep the horses from cropping grass.

"Hey, it wasn't that bad. Look at that stupid clip I tossed in on the line," I returned. Griffin snorted as if agreeing. We kept arguing about whose course was worse until we reached the bottom of the drive and turned back, reaching the barn a few minutes later. I slid off and ran up my stirrups, pulling Griffin's reins over his head and leading him into the cool, dark space. He stuck his head in his empty grain bucket as soon as I put him in his stall and pulled his saddle and pads off, hanging them on the door. Then I quickly sponged him down and let him munch hay for a while.

"Eva, are you showing this year?" Kate asked when I reached the center portion of the barn. The barn was a large 'T' shape with the top longer than the vertical piece. Everyone congregated in the vertical piece, which was open to the rest of the barn but was where the office, lounge, and tack room were. The area was filled with benches and chairs since no one led their horse out the front set of doors, only the sides, and that was where we hung out after lessons.

"Which show?" I asked, settling into a chair and patting my knee to let one of the Jack Russels, Stormy, to jump on my lap.

"It's one of the McKinley shows in Carin" she explained. "I'd take you all to the PG Center ones but only you two, Lee, and Hanna want to go."

"I thought Cloud was hurt?" Cloud was Hanna's mare. She shook her head.

"She is, but Hanna's riding Mickey," Kate told me. Hanna was an amazing rider and Mickey was a huge Warmblood, topping in at eighteen hands. He was also a brat, but Hanna could handle him. She rode racehorses every morning to make college money.

"Oh, then sure I'll show. It's this weekend, right?"

"Yeah, who do you want to ride?" Kate asked.

"Griffin," I said quickly. She marked something on the big whiteboard behind her.

"Alright, have your mom drop you off here around five AM Saturday, or she can take you. We'll have to wash and braid the night before," she reminded me. "And it's Thursday already so that'll be tomorrow." I was about to respond when I heard my mom pull up outside, so I hurried out the doors with my saddle and helmet, sliding into the front seat.

"How was your lesson, sweetie?" she asked as she pulled out.

"It was alright, I didn't kill myself or anyone else," I told her. She nodded.

"Did you actually use your legs this time?" I groaned- she was a dressage rider and always on me about my legs.

"Yeah," I mumbled, before returning to look at photos from the last show on my phone. "Oh, I have a show this weekend. We're braiding and stuff tomorrow and then heading to McKinley at five on Saturday."

"Eva, I'm going to be in California for work and I have to be on the plane at eight," Mom reminded me.

"Can't you drop me off? Please?" I begged.

"Okay, but don't do anything stupid and stay near Kate." I nodded in acquiescence. "Get your stuff ready tonight, then."