Stone Valley Equestrian Center: #1

Chapter 6: Idiotic Boys

I woke up to the sound of my droning alarm the next morning. It was 9:00. Harper was still asleep, because she didn't have a lesson this morning. I tiptoed into the bathroom and changed into my tan breeches and purple Stone Valley riding polo. I completed the outfit with my favorite leather belt and pulled my hair into a ponytail. I snuck out of the dorm and walked on the sidewalk to the cafeteria. The sun was high in the sky already and the campus was mostly deserted.

"Hey," I said to Ivy as I took a seat next to her.

"Morning."

"Equitation lesson?"

"Yup, you?" Ivy asked.

"Yeah, as soon as I finish my waffle, I'm going to the stable," I explained.

"Me too!" Ivy said.

When we finished breakfast, Ivy and I walked side-by-side to the stables, chatting about classes and project horses and shows.

When I got to the stable, I decided to tack up Calypso. I had worked well with him yesterday and I felt ready to bring him to a lesson.

Jen was the equitation trainer. She had dark brown hair pulled into a loose braid and wore riding clothes. In fact, she looked like she had just gotten off of a horse. Ivy and I walked on the rail while Jen went off on a guy named Todd about coming in late. After the lecture, Todd slipped into a spot on the rail and walked behind Amber, who was also in the lesson. It seemed that it was the 4 of us in the lesson, and Jen started calling out directions for our flat warmup.  Ivy was on her project horse, too. His name was Cash, and he was a big, black Belgian. Ivy worked well with him, which I was surprised about because Merrylegs was a pony. Amber rode the same school horse as I saw her ride the last time, Jax. I guessed she didn't have a horse of her own, but maybe she was training him or something.

"Shorten your reins and collect the canter," Jen instructed.

I applied leg and squeezed Calypso's reins as I gently tugged on his face. But Calypso wouldn't collect. I looked around at the other horses, their heads tucked down with their noses neatly in frame and vertical to the ground. Calypso's head bobbed back and forth with each tug and he shook his mane and acted out.

"Shorten your reins even more and lower your hands! Tug with every stride and apply more leg than you think you need," Jen called out to me.

After another half of a lap, Calypso finally collected his canter and we worked along the rail like the other pairs.

We worked through our paces and collected our gaits and stood in our stirrups and worked at the seat. By the time we finished flatwork, Calypso was already foaming at the mouth. I pat his sweaty neck and gulped down some water.

"This lesson we will work on our equitation over fences. Next time, we will do some working equitation," Jen explained as she adjusted the rails on the fences in the arena. "I am going to evaluate you and your horse and then ride over to me and I'll tell you my thoughts. You will notice that I rarely talk to you while you are on course unless something goes very wrong or it is extremely crucial at the moment. I like to let you ride your course and then let you know my notes. This way, you can apply my critique when you ride the course a second time."

The course was pretty straightforward: single vertical, rollback to double bar, joker vertical, trot fence, keyhole loop turn to vertical, bending line to the joker vertical again, square turn to vertical, 5-stride line from vertical to oxer. Todd went first. He was a little choppy, but he cleared all of the fences with his bay Saddlebred, Cosmo. Amber took Jax over the course next, and the school horse was lazy and knocked one rail from the final oxer. Ivy and Cash cleared the course efficiently and quietly. When it was my turn, I applied the other rider's mistakes to my own ride. It was the good part of going last in the lineup.