Hope

Chapter 2 - 'Physco' Horse

"We're here. We're finally here!" Thought Lia as she glazed out of the car window. It was everything she imagined. It was a dream come true. "Excited love?" Called Mum from the passenger seat. "Oh Mum. Words cannot explain how excited I am!". Mum and Dad laughed. "What about Pandora Lia?" Said Lia's Sister Wendy. "What about her?" Replied Lia confusingly. "Well.. Uh.. She." Lia stared at Wendy. "What she is trying to say is that Pandora is going to be great and fly over those jumps. As the good horse she is." Mum said while winking at Wendy. "But she said...". "Mark!" Interrupted mum. I looked at both of my siblings. They obviously thought Pandora was not capable of jumping the course after her rearing this morning. Wendy looked at me, then turned back to look at the window.

"Ok Lia, do you want to go get Pandora and bring her into the stables? I'll come with you." Mum said. I opened the door and jumped out of the car. I had butterfly's in my tummy, and I got a shiver from my spine to my neck. All I could think of was that in 3 hours I would be jumping a 1m 20 course in a arena, full of people watching, and competing against 40 others riders. I opened the trailer door. There Pandora was. She looked perfect. "Hey girlie" I said quietly. I got into the trailer and petted her. I got her lead rope and clipped it to her Halter. While I was pulling her out of the trailer, I was imagining our course. What if we put in a extra stride and that could mess everything up? What if Pandora rears like she did this morning, or worse? All these negative thoughts were coming into my head. Like it was a warning. But why? Today was the day that I have waited for 6 and a half years. This was meant to be a happy and magical day, that I would remember forever. "Lia? Why are you just standing there?" Giggled Wendy. I stopped thinking about all those thoughts just as Wendy spoke to me. "Uh.. Daydreaming. You know me, I'm always away with the fairies." I replied. She smiled. I lead Pandora to the stable she was staying in for the day. Mum and dad carried her tack, and my siblings generously held my bags. I brought her into the stable '24'. My lucky number. It was a wooden stable with silver bars. On the door said the number '24' in rose gold.

"You go get changed Lia. I can tack Pandora for you" smiled Wendy. "Awh thank you so much Sis, that will take some pressure off my hands" I giggled. I walked over and gave her a hug, than picked up my show gear bag as well as my Tredstep bag and went to get changed in the changing area.
As I was getting changed I heard a scream, then crying. There was silence. All of sudden I heard footsteps running. I quickly buttoned up my show jacket, grabbed my bags and ran out the door. Wendy was crying, while Pandora was half tacked. She only had her saddle on but no bridle. Mum and dad were surrounding Wendy, and Mark was just standing there. "What happened" I shrieked while looking at Wendy. "Pandora bit me! She bit me Lia!" Shouted Wendy. My face dropped. Pandora biting? That had never happened before. What was going on with her? Then, all the negative thoughts came into my head like one big rush. Mum and Dad were staring at me like it was my fault. "What were you doing to her Wendy? Horses don't randomly bite people!" I beamed. "Physco ones do!" Said Wendy while she was crying. That's it. Pandora was now been called psycho. From the loving family horse, to the psycho horse. I tried to hide the anger, but it was impossible to put on a fake act. How dare my own sister call my horse a psycho when she was probably annoying and messing with her when she shouldn't have done. "Can you all just leave Pandora and I? Please" I asked. "Lia don't you think...". "Please. Just leave me be with her. Alone" I snapped. My parents respected my wish and walked away with Wendy and Mark. I didn't want to sound rude, but I wanted time on my own with Pandora. First she rears. Now she's biting. My head just couldn't think of why she could be like this. Was it that Wendy annoyed her? Or was it that Pandora is acting up. While I kept thinking over and over again why this was happening, I put on Pandora's Bridle.

It was nearly 2 o'clock. The Show jumping was going to start soon. I knew where to go with Pandora to the warm up arena. But I had no clue where my parents were. Before I could try look for them, over the intercom came a voice saying "All Show jumpers 15 to 18 please come to the warm up arena. That's all riders competing in the Show jumping age 15 to 18 come to the warm up arena". That was me. Even though I didn't know where my parents were, there was nothing I could do. I would miss my warm up session. I lead Pandora out of her stable and brought her along to the warmup arena.

By the time I got to the warm up arena, it just went 2 o'clock. I tightened Pandora's girth, pulled down my stirrups and waited for the block as it was going around in order. Still no sign of my family. Maybe they were looking for me? No that's not right. They knew at 2 o'clock I would be in the warm up arena. I told them... "Are you using this block?" Asked a voice. I turned to see who it was. It was a girl around my age, with blonde hair and green eyes. Next to her was her horse. A bay mare who looked around 15.2hh. "Yes. But you can have it have it after me, I'll only be one second" she glared at me like I was being an evil wicked cow for using a block to get up onto my horse? Just as I got up onto Pandora, she took the block straight away.

As I was up on Pandora, all ready to warm up. I could see everyone surrounding the arena. Some taking photos, some smiling, and others just watching. "Lia!" I spun my head to see who was calling me. "Gwen!" I shouted with Joy. It was Gwen, my best friend I had known for my whole life. She used to horse ride with me in a riding school, but then just 2 years ago when I bought Pandora and moved stables, she stopped horse riding. She never told me why. But every now and then she would come to the yard with me and ride Pandora for awhile. I gave Pandora a little nudge to walk over to the fence. "Loving the Numnah!" Shrieked Gwen. I laughed. She would always put a smile on my face or make me laugh until I couldn't take it no more and not be able to breath. "Aha thanks. Mum and Dad got it for me for the show" I replied. "How cute! Where are you parents actually? I haven't seen them around" asked Gwen. I looked around the arena, and then looked at the audience. Trying to spot my family. None of them were to be seen. "I don't know. Maybe Wendy and Mark wanted to see the miniatures? You know how we used to love see them when we were 10" I said. Gwen nodded, while laughing. "Can all the riders please get into order. We will be starting to warm the horses up with walk, trot and canter. Then we will put up a few jumps for you" called the intercom. "Anddddddd that's your cue to go" giggled Gwen. I nudged Pandora on to get in the order. We started a nice forward walk, then after a few minutes we got into a nice collective trot. First we did a controlled canter one by one. After all of us had our one lap of a canter, we started up a group canter. Some of the horses were calm and then the others were out of control. The horse in lead started to nearly gallop, causing the two other horses to get excited. After the three riders pulling as hard as they could, the group got a nice controlled canter again.