Red Oak Academy Book One: Mount Up

~Chapter Fourteen~

I groaned and rolled over. I looked at my clock and saw it was 9:30. I sat up and rubbed my eyes. I glanced at Tori's bed and saw it was made neatly.

I hopped out of bed and went to my closet where I grabbed some black breeches and a bright pink long-sleeved shirt because it was colder now that it was fall. I changed then did my hair and makeup. When I was done I grabbed my phone to text Tori.

Right when I opened our messages, the door handle turned and Tori stepped into the room with a paper bag and two cups. "Hey Tor!" I hopped off my bed. "What's in the bag," I asked suspiciously.

"Breakfast," she said cheerily. "I ran down to the SC while you were sleeping and grabbed some donuts and coffee."

"Have I ever told you how great of a best friend you are?"

She laughed,"Not often enough!"

I grabbed the cups from her and sat them down in the low coffee table sitting in front of the TV. I took one of the cups and took a huge sip. "Mmm this is sooo good," I sighed happily.

Tori and I sat in front of the table and ate the donuts and drank our coffees as we watched Sunday cartoons. After the coffee and donuts were gone, I stood up.

"Thanks so much for breakfast," I told Tori.

"No prob," she replied smiling. "I'm assuming you want to go ride?" She said motioning to my riding clothes.

"Yeah. I'll probably go for the next two and a halfish hours," I said.

She nodded,"Okay yeah, I'll get some of my homework finished and get stuff ready for tonight."

"Sounds good, I'll be back." I slid on my tall boots and headed out the door.

When I reached the barn, I tacked up Dandy and led him to the nearest indoor arena. I heard hoofbeats inside and when I looked to see who was in there, I got a glimpse of Cody and Kit Kat.

I shook my head and turned away. I couldn't face him yet. Not yet. I went to the next closest ring and mounted. I warmed up on the rail thenturned to the middle where a practice hunter course was set up.

The course consisted of 12 jumps of varying height between 3'6 and 4'9. I turned Dandy toward the first jump and he got excited. We picked up a good pace and we cleared the jump easily.

We cleared the next six jumps just as easily. The eighth jump was a brightly colored hogback with the middle rail at 4'6. I sped Dandy up a bit and we headed toward it.

I started counting down in my head. 5. 4. 3. 2. 1. Now! On now I crunched up into a two-point. We took off and cleared it. I let out the breath I was holding and focused on the next jump- an ascending oxer.

It was an optical illusion that required the horse to trust its rider. When we got close, Dandy started to waver back and forth. I used more leg and urged him on. He hesitated then lept over the jump awkwardly. I landed in a heap on his neck then righted myself and looked back to see the top rail rocking in its cups. I smiled when the rail settled down and stayed in the cups.

The next two jumps were simple verticals that were quite easy. The last jump was a rollback that was 4'6 at its highest point. These were the jumps that Dandy and I always messed up.

I took a deep breath then let it out. We headed toward it at a good pace then took off at the same time. After I did my ending circle, I looked back to see the rollback still in place. I patted Dandy's neck, happy with our ride.

I decided to do more flatwork after seeing that Dandy was hardly sweating. I guess having lessons twice a day six days a week whipped both of us in shape. I headed out to the rail and worked on transitions. After fifteen minutes, I heard hoofbeats approaching. I looked up to see Jenni in the doorway with her Trakehner mare, Jezzabelle.