The Rider

Chapter 16

Breathing heavily, I crawled as fast as I could after Dylan.

"Dylan, what's going-"

"Shh!" he silenced. Sending me warning look as he dove behind a booth.

Looking behind me, I caught a glimpse of the gate opening and an officer stepping in. Then, Dylan's hand shot out from behind the booth and yanked me rather harshly behind the booth and onto him.

Wheezing, I opened my mouth to complain just as Dylan clamped his hand over my mouth, again.

He mouthed the words, "Stop talking," before hesitantly taking his hand away from my face. Shifting me gently off of him, he balanced on his knees and looked out from around the booth.

I held my breath as I attempted to listen to the officer's muffled speaking as he reported into his radio. Unfortunately, he was too far away and wasn't speaking loudly or clearly enough for me to make out his words.

"Ok, here's the plan," Dylan whispered, finally turning around again to face me, "I could make out some of what he was saying and I think he's about to go out to his car to get something. When he does, we could run over to the fence we came from and get out of here."

Nodding, I peaked out from behind the booth to see the officer turn around and walk towards his car.

"And here's our chance," Dylan informed, snatching my hand and almost pulling my arm out of socket as he ran full speed over the the fence. "Up you go," he commanded, giving me about two seconds to place my foot into his hand as he basically threw me over the fence.

As I was flying over the fence, I managed to catch the top of the fence and slow my decent. Lowering myself onto the ground, I barely had enough time to jump out of the way when Dylan catapulted himself over.

"Alright!" Dylan whisper-yelled, pumping his fist through the air at his success. He took my hand in his as he dragged me towards his car.

"I am never skipping school with you ever again," I growled, glaring at him as he sped down the road.

/|\

"Again!" my horse coach barked. After avoiding the cops, Dylan dropped me off at home since I had a lesson later in the day.

Taking a gulp of fresh air and wiping the generous amount of sweat off my forehead, I effortlessly pushed Caspian into a fast canter, being careful to keep control of it and not let him take off at full speed.

My eyes locked onto my target, a five foot wall jump, and I quickly estimated the amount of strides and pushed Caspian's speed up a notch so we would have a perfect distance. Caspian easily glided over it, picking up speed as he landed, becoming overly excited as he charged towards the next jump.

"Easy," I soothed, half-halting him and calming him down. He easily sailed over the 5'6 jump, clearing it by at least two inches, and pricked his ears backwards, waiting for my command.

Once we had finished our course, Melanie motioned for us to come to the center of the ring.

"That was good, but you have got to keep Caspian in check. I know he gets very excited when you two start doing courses, and that's great! I like that you both love this and love to learn but it's affecting your position as you go over the jumps. You're focusing too much on getting the right speed that when you go over the jump, you're position isn't as good. But don't get down on yourself because right now, I'm just picking on the tiny things. You've become so good at riding that now I get to pick on the small things so you can be even better! Go over the oxer and the three stride again and really focus on your position."