Heartlines

Chapter 25

Chapter 25

The next morning came quickly as I knew it would. I was quickly getting used to it though, and was even happy about it. We dressed and were on our way to the barn in a blink of an eye, Jared throwing me a small pre-packaged pastry to eat on the way to the barn. I was done by the time we were there, and we got tacked up. The cross country courses ran early in the morning, while Stadium ran at the end of the day. This was so that the horses could have the biggest break possible in the middle, and gave us riders time to rest as well. Northgate looked best in his Cross gear. 5-star breastplate and close contact saddle, lined with a white fleece pad laid against a light green saddle blanket, with “Green Lantern Stables” embroidered in gold lettering in the corner of the pad. It was very sophisticated, and I thought about asking Trina if we could do it for our barn. Green SMB boots completed the look, which I knew would be replaced with leather open fronts in Stadium. Jared shut his tack trunk, hiding a green fly bonnet for later use. I smirked, “I’d like a nice ret fly bonnet like that!” I turned to stroke Kiro’s ears, “I think my boy would look mighty fine with a nice little red hat!”

He already had a matching suit of red, much like Jared’s green – red saddle pad and wolf boots for the Cross portion, and leather open fronts for Stadium. We were both dressed to the nines, and proud of our mounts. We hopped on, and began walking over to the Cross warm up area. It was a small field, sectioned off with some temporary fencing. A few small jumps were set up, a log and a Liverpool with poles. Kiro cleared both with ease, so I knew we would need little warm up. Northgate, on the other hand, was giving Jared problems with the Liverpool. He looked hard at the jump, and refused twice. He tried ducking out both times, but Jared was a strong enough rider to not allow such behavior. It was clear that it was really annoying Jared, though. “Anything I can do to help?” I came near to Jared and asked, hoping there was anything I could do to help the situation. He simply shook his head, before glancing at me and changing his mind. “Do you … do you need your spurs?” I quickly shook my head, and reached down to remove them. I didn’t use them for cross, only Dressage, and had forgotten to take them off my boots. “I won’t dig him too hard, but he does need a little something extra, and I forgot my crop at the trailer. Thank you, Kat.” I nodded a “you’re welcome,” and handed him the spurs.

That seemed to do the trick. The next trip around, a sharp jut to the side got NG over the tricky obstacle, and the team had no more issues. I smiled, glad we could continue without a hitch. Me and Jared had a strong standing to uphold, and though I knew winning wasn’t everything, it sure was nice. I had always been pretty competitive, and having Kiro come into my life only rekindled that type of fire that had been dulled for years from the accident. Thinking about it for the first time in a while, I was proud of how far I had come. I was finally jumping again, really riding again, and even competing! The tragedy was all but behind me completely, and I was happy to know I could overcome it.

I wasn’t far into my daydreaming when the announcer called my name. Jared smiled my way, “Good luck! I’ll be watching closely for you when you come around the bends!” I nodded thanks, and made my way to the start box, ready to start. We had gotten the chance to take a look at all the jumps before, and nothing really screamed out at me. Not even a single barrel in sight. Water didn’t faze Kiro, so the small, shallow pond we would have to gallop through should provide no problems. I glanced to the stewards in the small viewing area next to the start boxes, showing them I was ready. They nodded, and a bell rung. I was good to go. With a short nudge to the side, me and Kiro were galloping down the straight stretch before us, getting to the first jump in good time. The optimum time for this course was a bit shorter than I was really used to, so I knew we would have to keep a good pace the whole time. Even then, I did check my new watch when I had the chance. The beeping that it did at certain time intervals definitely helped though.