Oak Valley Stables

Chapter thirteen

The bell rang; It was the end of lunch and was now the last lesson of the day. Gale picked up her bag and Victoria did the same. They went outside and down to the barn.

It was Monday and the barn was beginning to look a bit better after the storm on Saturday. The front few stall were still empty though, similarly with the tack room. The students had been asked to keep their tack in their rooms until it was completely dry. Gale had put her saddle on the dresser chair and Victoria had put her's on the window sill as it had gotten a bit wet. They had hung their bridles on the back of the door.

Everyone gathered outside of the barn where Carol and Headmistress Allen were waiting. The headmistress was trying to hush the students so that she could give her announcement.
"Okay, children!" She called. The class quietened down. "As you know, it is the start of November now and we're nearing the end of the Autumn term-" Gale hadn't realised that so much time has passed. "-That means that you will receive an end of term assignment. You will be given until the 16th of December to practice. On the 16th, the last day of term, you will be expected to complete the assignment in front of the rest of the class. You will be graded on how well you do. This grade, along with the other two assignments you are given during your first year at Oak Valley, will be combined to give you an end of year grade. This will go towards you final grade." Mrs Allen finished explaining. Carol passed her a pile of paper. "On these sheets are the tasks you have to complete. On the other side is a grading scale," Mrs Allen went to hand out the assignment papers. "All riders of the same event will have the same task to complete. If all jumpers could line up, I'll give you your page-" Mrs Allen waited until the riders lined up and handed out the sheets. Headmistress Allen read out the names of the riders as she went. "Victoria Bluewood, Triss McLeno, Gale Robins..."
She called the dressage riders forward and handed out sheets to Amber, Hannah and Ryan before giving out sheets to the racers. "Jake Drake, Courteny Miller and..." She turned to Jackson to give him the last sheet. "Our only barrel racer, Jackson Young." He took the last piece of paper before the headmistress walked back over to Carol.
"I'll give you about ten minutes to show each other your assignments," Carol smiled and left the students to talk for a while.
As Victoria was talking to Jake, Gale went over to Jackson.
"What've you got?" She asked. Jackson showed her the sheet.
"Just the average three barrel clover shaped course," Jackson turned the page over. He scanned over the grades. "The times are a little tight but I've done faster before. I'm not that nervous," He declared. Gale shook her head as she looked down at her sheet.
"What's wrong?" Jackson asked, sensing her uneasiness. "Is it hard?"
"No, it's not that hard. At least, it wouldn't be if I had Dmitry," Gale sighed. "It's just... I'm not sure if Vlad is ready for these jumps. The crossbars and single jumps should be easy enough but I haven't practiced any oxers with him yet and there are two of them on this course."
"Oxers are the ones with two bars next to each other, right?" Jackson asked. Gale nodded. "Well, during the storm, Vlad jumped over a fallen tree and it had a pretty thick trunk," Jackson smiled. "So an oxer shouldn't be too hard. You guys just need to practice. There was a point when Vlad wouldn't jump at all and you got over that!"
"I guess, you're right," Gale nodded. "Yeah, three singles, two oxers and two crossbars is easy. I just need to practice and make sure I wouldn't have any faults and that I can do it in a good time!"
"That's what I like to hear!" Jackson's smile widen as he went to brush Gale's hair out of her face.
"Urgh!" Someone made a disgusted sound. Gale looked up to see Amber standing in front of them, playing with her long platinum blonde hair. "If you don't might, I'd like to get through! I need to go and get my pedigree horse from the barn," Amber snorted "-not that we need any practice, unlike you and your horse," She pushed her way through Gale and Jackson before turning on her heels, swiftly. "You do realise that no matter how much you practice, I'll still beat you, don't you?" She snarled.
"You do realise that no matter how much you try to make me feel bad it won't work, don't you?" Gale growled back. Amber gasped, angrily, and stormed off. Gale and Jackson smiled at each other and laughed.