Silverstone: Perfection is Not Enough

Chapter 18

a/n: I was re-reading old chapters, and realised that I already made their dressage teacher: Mrs Knight. You know, that one from ages ago, who was the short black-haired woman who directed them into the main hall for Miss Hill's speech. So, um, sorry, Miss Betax, you don't exist any more. =)

"Please, Lucy, where are we going?" Tabitha whines, tapping her foot to the music on the radio. 

"I'm seriously regretting bringing you," Lucy laughs jokily, and makes a left turn down yet another windy countryside road. 

We've been driving for at least thirty minutes, and for the entire drive, Tabitha has been asking where we are going. And having someone sitting behind you whining for half an hour straight is a lot more irritating than a buzzing fly, I can tell you. And buzzing flies are extremely annoying. 

I turn round to peer through the back windscreen at the horse trailer at the sound of Arrow kicking the wall of his container.

"Jess, you've been looking behind us at every single little noise since we've left," Lucy says gently. "Relax. I've transported way more nervy horses before."

"I know," I sigh. "I'm just worried."

"Well, worry no more," Lucy suddenly announces, sounding a bit like a person on a bad TV advert. "Cause we're here!"

Tabitha cranes her neck to look at the wooden sign we've just sped past, as we turn down a private gravel road, and gasps. "Purple Lake Farm? As in, the Purple Lake Farm? Like, the one owned by Sydney Evans?!" 

"Maybe," Lucy raises her eyebrows. 

"Wait, who's Sydney Evans?" I ask, as Tabitha seemingly has a melt down. Finally, a bit of silence. 

"You've probably seen her on TV," Lucy informs me. "She's a natural horsemanship therapist. She works with horses that have been mistreated, she gives workshops and displays on horsemanship, and she does horse-and-rider classes."

"Oh wait" I rack my brains for a memory. "Is she the one who did that display at Olympia last year? On the Freestyle Dressage night?" Lucy nods. "Oh my gosh, she was amazing! She had all these horses, and she made them do all these things! It was so cool!" I frown. "How did you manage to get a class with her? I bet she's in demand."

"Sydney has a policy of only doing classes with people and horses who actually need it," Lucy explains. "The way she sees it, if things are already perfect between a horse and rider, why disturb it? But, as I said," she winks at us. "I have friends in high places. Me and her were classmates, actually. At Silverstone."

"Sydney Evans went to Silverstone?" Tabitha gapes, her mouth wide open. 

Lucy shrugs. "Miss Hill wasn't exaggerating, you know. Most of the people who attend Silverstone go on to become accomplished horsemen."

"Why didn't you?" I blurt out, before realising how rude that sounded. "I'm so sorry! I mean, why didn't you go onto the competing circuit?"

Lucy sighs. "I don't really know. Teaching just appealed to me more. I love the school so much, I think you'll get why, Jess."

I nod. Although these last two weeks have been the most stressful in my life, I am in live with Silverstone. It's where I can ride, properly, with other people who love horses just as much as I do.

We pull up in a large area, with a few trailers and horse lorries scattered around. On our left is the back of a long, one-storey building with a tiled roof, so I'm guessing it's a stable. On our right is a smart post-and-rail fence, and behind that, a huge, sloping field, with a couple of horses and ponies grazing peacefully.