Heartlines

Chapter 18

Chapter 18

I awoke to the single most annoying sound I’ve ever heard in my life. The blatting of the alarm clock next to the bed was terrible, and my hand swept the area quickly to find the source and hush it. When my blind hand finally felt the button, I was relieved – until all the lights in the trailer were flipped on.

“Rise and shine sunshine!!” Jared’s overly enthusiastic call was the only thing that reminded me why I was up. I sat up slowly, rubbing the sleep from my eyes, “So this is why I stopped showing! What time is it??” I asked jokingly to Jared, who was already up and dressed, waiting for something that was in the small microwave. “Five bells, my dear Krista, prime time to get up! Your Dressage test starts at eight, mine at seven, we want to be more than ready by then!” He explained as the microwave went off and he pulled out a breakfast sandwich. “Breakfast is served, ready to be eaten as soon as you are ready for it. I’m going to head to the office and rent a golf cart, I totally forgot yesterday. I’ll be by to pick you up with it in about half an hour, try to be ready!” He head out the door, leaving me to get up. “Of course,” I thought aloud as I got ready, “I start off my new show career with the biggest morning person ever known to man."

It didn’t take too long for me to get ready, as I wasn’t the typical girl that took forever. Horse shows taught a girl how to be efficient. I ate my sandwich just before lacing up my boots, and getting all our show clothes together to take to the stables, all in their respective garment bags. After everything was together at the door, it wasn’t long before Jared pulled up in the puttering little golf cart, with two seats in the front and a small bed in the back, to put all of our stuff. “Alright, load ‘er up!” He called. I did just that, and we were on our way.

“This thing is adorable!” I noted, enjoying the ride on the little mini-car. Jared looked at me funny, “you mean you’ve never rented a golf-cart for shows before?” I shook my head, “Naw, Trina never saw it as necessary, and the rates were kind of ridiculous. Besides, we don’t have on-site camping and we only show in one arena all day. So we just never needed one.” Jared pondered that, then nodded side to side a bit. “Makes sense. You’ll become really friendly with this little guy while we’re together. I always get them at events. They are super useful. Don’t worry, I’ll let you drive,” he said with a sly smile. I laughed, “good! That’s really all I was asking for!"

The ride to the barn was fairly short, but we did get the chance for Jared to show me a lot of the grounds we were on along the way. Which lines to take to get to certain places, where the food courts were, etc. He gave me a few warnings about where I couldn’t drive the golf cart, then handed over the wheel for the last part of the drive. It was awesome! I never had the chance to ride on ATV’s or anything of the sort, so this was actually pretty new for me. I was almost disappointed when we finally made it to the barn. But the sight of Kiro brought back all the joy, and I was happy to leave the golf cart behind. Jared took the keys, and we were ready to go.

Kiro gave me a cute whinny as I came in, and NG offered Jared the same. I had noticed that the two were standing right next to each other, along their dividing wall. We saw this at the same time, looked at each other, and laughed out loud, “seems that they became just as good friends as we are!” I commented, while Jared agreed, “Yea! Those horses know who’s the bomb!” Shortly after our exchange, we went to grooming and tacking, as it was already 6:00. Jared stuck on his Dressage saddle, while I did the same. I had actually saved up enough money to buy one separate from my Close Contact saddle, since I thought that Dressage was all I would ever do. Thankfully, I had kept my CC in good condition still, and had been using it majorly for a while now. Kiro’s black bridle with white padding went on, and we were ready. “I must admit, Kiro, you look almost as good in black and white as you do in black and red,” I told my boy as we walked out of the stall. Northgate and Jared followed behind, and I noted the same color choices as us, which was obvious since it was standard for Dressage. I smiled teasingly and noted, “Yup, we look a lot better in our Dressage gear!” I said half-jokingly. He replied with, “you wish! We look amazing in everything, don’t we Northgate?” He said with a very proud, smug look on his face. I laughed and rolled my eyes, and we began the walk to the warm up arena.

Once we were on, we both immediately went to work. Kiro moved out perfectly, doing everything I asked with splendor. “That’s my boy!” I praised him with a pat on the neck several times during the warm up. We went through one practice test, then I decided to let him walk. He was ready. I watched Northgate while I walked.

In all honesty, it seemed NG was actually giving Jared some trouble. He had to work the bay to get him moving on the bit, and even more to get NG to extend and collect. When brought into a canter, Northgate was clearly pestered, occasionally throwing his head. Jared would respond with a kick, then would get him going again. I couldn’t tell if NG was just being arrogant … or … “Is everything alright?” I eventually mentioned. Jared pulled NG up to a halt. “I honestly don’t know, Krista. He’s not usually like this. Do you mind holding him for a second, I want to check him over.” Jared sounded really concerned, and I felt for him. I dismounted and walked Kiro over to the bay, and took the reins from Jared. Jared moved his hands over the big gelding, testing every muscle with patience, taking his time to make sure everything was examined. He opened his mouth to check for sores, and I noticed a clear drop in his shoulders and a sigh emit from his mouth. “Great. He’s got a wolf tooth back there. It’s probably bothering the crap out of him, and it’s right where the bit is.” Jared let the horse close his mouth and sighed, patting Northgate’s neck. “Well, I’m not going to ride him like that. Looks like you’re the only one showing, Krista,” he said sadly, taking NG’s reins back gently. I felt awful for him. I instantly turned to Kiro, looked him over. Not a drop of sweat, and we had done a good warm-up.

He had been getting fitter and fitter … “No, Jared, you will show.” I said. He turned to look at me with a puzzled look, explaining, “I can’t ride NG like…” I cut him off, “No, you can’t, and you won’t.” I stepped to the side, and pointed to Kiro, “You will ride him.”

Jared looked at me with stunned surprise. “But he’s your horse! I will tire him out, he won’t have his all for you! I won’t do it, that’s not fair to you.” I shook my head, “You have done everything for me thus far. Trained me, trailered me, stalled me, let me sleep in your bed, got the golf cart… I’m not going to let you do all that for nothing. I’m not asking, Jared, I’m telling. Get on Kiro. He likes you, you are literally the only person besides me that he will even let touch him. Ride him exactly like you did yesterday. We will preserve him, keep him nice and cool, and we will be fine. It’s not even hot outside, and you said yourself that the courses here are short and easy. He’s as fit as Northgate is now, and we did your course at home without breaking a sweat. He can do this easily. I wouldn’t risk his health and you know that, and I know I’m not.” I offered Kiro’s reins in Jared’s direction, “Ride.” He looked at me, then the horse, then to me before giving me a huge hug. “You are an amazing friend. I promise I will do nothing to harm him in any way.” He took the horse’s reins and mounted, gently and quietly, patting my black boy. I looked into Kiro’s eyes, watching for any sign of discomfort. There was none. “That’s my boy,” I whispered, rubbing his face and resting my forehead against his before speaking to Jared again,

“Just don’t let anyone touch him. I mean it. There is a red ribbon on his tail, I put it there this morning. If anyone even thinks about touching him, you tell them he bites, kicks, rears, whatever. Because it’s not a lie,” I warned Jared with seriousness. He took it honestly, and nodded. I checked my watch- 6:45. “Okay, you are going in in 15 minutes. Let’s walk up there. I’ll hold Northgate. I would take him back, but there’s no time, and I really want to watch.” Jared nodded, understanding, and we made our way to the arena, me on foot and Jared on Kiro.

“Dear god I hope this turns out okay …” I mumbled to myself just as the whistle blew and Kiro walked in to the center of the arena. It was show time.