Endeavor

Chapter 5

The next morning I woke up to Glory already in a pair of dark blue breeches and a gray t-shirt on her phone. Alys was perched on the edge of her seat at the table watching a YouTube video while eating breakfast. Glory looked over at me and waved with a smile. I pushed myself out of my makeshift bed and over to the kitchen where I grabbed a yogurt and a spoon from the fridge. 

"You might want to hurry up a little. We were planning on going to the barn around 10:00," Glory commented while pulling her long blonde hair back into a high ponytail. 

I glanced over at the clock to see that it was 9:45. I quickly ate the rest of my yogurt before grabbing a borrowed pair of Glory's light grey breeches and a navy t-shirt. When I finished brushing through my hair, it was time to go. The three of us grabbed our bags and shoes and piled into Glory's mom's car. 

All of the way to the barn, we talked about Alys's horse Adrian while listening to Cake By The Ocean. We found out that she has owned him for four months now and she is planning on competing him in the 1.20 meter jumpers. 

When we arrived at the barn, all three of us hopped out of the car, saying our goodbyes and thank yous to Glory's mom. Upon our feet touching the ground we all burst off running in a heated race to the stables. I made it to the barn first and dropped my bags on the ground in victory. 

"Wow Maya. No need to rub it in our faces." Alys said with a grin as she nudged my shoulder. 

I grinned as I walked to Adrian's stall with Glory and Alys. 

"Wow... He's gorgeous!" Glory said in awe. 

Adrian lifted his proud head up from his hay as we admired his heavily dappled coat. His muscles popped out all over his body. Adrian quickly grew bored with his visitors and dropped his head back down to enjoy his hay some more. 

"Do you guys want to ride together and maybe judge each other and give tips?" Alys asked with a smile. 

"Sure! I obviously won't ride Magen, but I do have other horses to ride today that I could hack with you guys," I suggested. If I rode Magen, we wouldn't get much done. I would prefer to work with her for a little bit in a ring by ourselves.

"Sounds like a great idea!" Glory enthused. 

We each went our separate ways to grab the horses we were going to be riding. Glory pulled her big flaxen chestnut gelding into the aisle as I grabbed a 17 hand black warmblood mare that went by the name of Tilly. Tilly is a half-sister of Isa. 

After brushing down her sleek hide, I grabbed a dark blue saddle pad, a half pad, and my saddle. I positioned them on her back before grabbing her girth and martingale. Tilly stood quietly as I tightened the girth and put on my helmet and gloves.

"Are you guys ready to get on?" I called while tightening the girth and picking her bridle up from a stall door next to me. 

"Yep!" I heard Glory and Alys holler back to me before offering the bit to Tilly.

I led Tilly out to the mounting block behind Alys and swung myself into the saddle. All three of us walked into the indoor arena together and did some basic things to warm up before asking someone to set out some poles for us. 

We worked on some serpentines and complex courses made up of poles. When we got off, our horses were covered in a light sweat. We all took our horses out to the wash stalls and rinsed our horses off, maybe having the occasional water fight, all while laughing. 

After putting away Tilly, I grabbed Magen and led her into the crossties. I took a hard brush and took it over her coat, flicking off all of the shavings. I ran a soft brush over her clean coat to finish it off. 

I ended up using the same tack as I used on Tilly on Magen. I decided that I was going to put Magen in a martingale and put some boots on her front legs to protect them for today. Hopefully today would go better than yesterday. 

I led Magen out to the arena and settled into the saddle. Already I could feel a difference in the horse I was riding. Today she felt calmer and more relaxed as I walked her into the ring on a loose rein. 

When I asked her for a trot, she quietly moved up into a trot that may have been a little fast, but it didn't matter. What mattered was that Magen was moving quietly and wasn't arguing with me. 

I faced Magen towards some poles and she pricked her ears forward, looking at them as if they were a foreign creature and arching her neck. She picked up her feet very high over the first pole and jumper over the last two. 

I reached down and gave her a long pet on the neck for going over the poles and not refusing them. We went around and over those same poles a few more times until she completed them semi-normally. I slowly added more onto the pole course until she was going through them without looking twice. 

I slowed Magen to a walk before reaching down and hugging her neck. Magen tossed her head happily as I let her walk around the ring a few times on a loose rein before getting off of her back. 

"She looked like she was doing good today." 

I looked over to see Kenyon leaning over the arena fence with his elbows on the rail. 

"She was incredible! It was a huge difference from yesterday. I hope she stays this way for the rest of the week." I grinned and gave Magen another long pet on the neck. 

I led her back into the barn and untacked her quickly. She followed me obediently outside to the grass next to one of the jumper arenas where Glory was having a lesson on her lease horse. I looked down at my mare and gave her a hug and continued to brush down her coat. 

Maybe I do have a chance with her and I can prove Alesia wrong. 

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Hi! Long time no post of this story, I know, I'm sorry. 

I'm going to start posting chapters every two days of Final Chance and this book! 

I kind of have an idea of how I'm going to work these books out and I hope that I'll be able to pull it off, but it will require A LOT of dedication. 

I'm planning on merging Final Chance and this book together somehow in a different book, so watch out for that when these two books end, because it will be started right after. 

The picture is of Alys's gelding Adrian! I really love his color a lot. I think it's gorgeous. 

Anyways, I hope you have an awesome day!