Unbridled Beginnings

Chapter 21: Warm-Up

"Beep, beep, beep."

I stretch my hand out from under the covers, glance at the time which shows 7:00am, and then turn the alarm clock off. I begin to fall back to sleep, thinking that today is a normal Saturday morning and I should be allowed to sleep in. But then I suddenly remember that today is not ordinary, and my eyes flick wide open. I leap out of bed, the cover flinging up behind me and race to the shower.

Once I'm out I change into some shorts and a t-shirt so that Jack and Alison won't suspect anything. I grab my small suitcase filled with jodhpurs, t-shirts, a raincoat, my brown leather boots and chaps and carry it downstairs to the kitchen.

Jack is sitting at the table sipping his coffee when I greet him.

"Morning," I say.

"Morning," he replies, barely looking up from the newspaper.

Although when I begin to wheel the suitcase along the wooden floor he looks up.

"Do you want me to drop you at Hazel's house?" He asks.

"Um... Her place is just down the road so I'm sure I could walk," I lie.

"Okay if you're sure Hayley."

Jack then offers to make us all some bacon and eggs for breakfast and I agree, knowing that I will need a large breakfast to start the day.

Alison arrives into the kitchen just as Jack is serving the food so sits down with me immediately. As we are eating it soon becomes clear to me that that I'm lying to my foster parents once again, to go to a competition that could potentially save Mayfield Ranch.

I say farewell to Jack and Alison and tell them that I'll be home sometime tomorrow evening. Then I head out on foot trailing my small black suitcase down the road to Mayfield Ranch.

......

After a 45 minute walk I finally arrive at the ranch at nine o'clock. Janet and Damien are already there cleaning out the stalls so I go straight to Nova's paddock to get her. On my walk back with Nova I pat Sharki before going into the stable to tie her up.

I see Hazel getting out of her parents car at the top of the driveway so I wave for her to come down.

"Hazel! Hi!" I say excitedly.

"Hi!" she replies eagerly.

I quickly introduce Janet, Damien and Hazel to each other before gathering up all the tack and placing it inside the boot of Janet's truck. Next I take two slices of hay and put them into a hay bag inside the float that is attracted to the truck. When I arrive back to the shade of the stable and start to do up Nova's velcro travelling boots, Janet tells us the plan over today and tomorrow.

"Alright, so we need to get Nova into the float first which could take some time. But then once we get on the road and arrive at the show grounds you'll have plenty of time to look around and have a ride on Nova before you compete the next day." She explains.

I immediately untie Nova and lead her around to the float while Janet, Damien and Hazel prepare to lock up the ramp when she's in. Nova eyes the vehicle warily but I reassure her and continue towards the ramp. She puts her head down to sniff at the ramp and cautiously puts one foot down on it, so I reward her by a pat. I urge her on and pull gently at her lead as to not frighten her and reluctantly she walks slowly into the float and starts to hungrily munch at the hay.

Janet and Damien lock up the ramp while I tie her lead loosely onto the string beside the hay net.

"Please be good," I whisper to Nova, kissing her forehead.

I step out, close the float door behind me and jump into the car next to Hazel. Janet starts the trucks engine and soon we are finally on our way.

......

Throughout the car ride I am a bucketful of nerves. I don't speak unless someone asks me question. Otherwise we all sit in silence for one hour and thirty minutes until the show grounds finally comes into view.

We enter the gates of Bridgewater Showgrounds and join the busy crowd of floats, trucks, horses, ponies and people. Eventually we find a park next to four small olive trees on one side and a huge silver horse truck on the other. As soon as we stop I can hear Nova kicking at the walls of the float so we rush to let her out.

She sniffs the foreign air and looks around with her ears perked. A few distant horses neigh, greeting them and Nova neighs back excitedly. Once we have her tied up to the float I start to put Nova's tack on while Janet, Damien and Hazel make a small pen with pegs and tape around one side of the float. The pen includes the four small olive trees making the square around her about 4m x 5m. I'm guessing that the pen will be used for tonight when Nova need somewhere to stay outside.

Once I've tacked her up with a bright green saddle blanket and a clean brown saddle and bridle, I go back to the car to change into my jodhpurs and boots. I squat down in the back of the car to pull on my jodhpurs and then sit outside on the grass to fasten my boots and chaps in place.

I mount Nova off the side of the float and begin to walk towards the huge sand arena, being closely followed by Janet, Damien and Hazel. As we get nearer I realise what a cool place this is. The arena is nearly triple the size of Janet's arena at Mayfield and there is a huge hall with several judging stands outside. Many other riders enter the arena with me, mounted to their horses and ponies of all different shapes and sizes.

As we begin to walk around the edge of the sand arena and Janet, Damien and Hazel stay behind to stand by the gate, Nova gets excited. She starts to jog and bounce beneath me while I try to hold her back and circle to calm her. My heart starts to race I realise that Nova probably won't be perfect tomorrow and I'll have to work even harder than I have been to get her listening.

I warm Nova up in twenty-metre circles at the far of the arena, away from any other of the horses. I soon get Nova to calm down by continuing to ride in circles.

......

Later that evening once I've untacked Nova and put her in the temporary paddock, we are all called into the hall for dinner and a talk over of the rules for tomorrow.

While we sit on hay bales and our plastic knives and forks attempt to cut the ham stakes a lady appears. She talks over the rules multiple times making it clear to everyone before we leave and get to sleep.

But when we finally are allowed to get back to our floats everyone starts chatter, stands up and emerges out the doors. We make all of our beds in the float as the cushions on the side can fold up to make two more beds above the floor. Janet and Damien have their sleeping bags laid out on the bottom of the float and me and Hazel climb up to the top bunks.

Immediately we all fall asleep, exhausted by the long day and keen to get a good nights rest for tomorrow's competition.

A/N

Hey Guys!

Who's excited for the next chapter when Hayley and Nova face the judges?

What do you think will happen?