Saddle Up Again

{ Chapter One }

"An now we have senior, Kayla Myers, riding Wild Fire! She is just breaking through to Three Star Eventing as a seventeen year old so give her a hand!"

The crowd clapped and roared. I paid them no attention after giving a tentative wave. After reaching down to check my girth, I patted Wild Fire.

"We can do this Wild Fire," I told her, not even believing myself. Our last event had gone so bad that I leased Fire out and didn't ride for over a month. But, of course, Sydney convinced me to start back up and here I was.

I was taking this 'small' barn show seriously since it was my first in months. I didn't care what place I got, only that Fire did good. She needed the conditioning after being a pasture pony and getting one ride a week for a bit to long. She was almost as conditioned as everyone else's horse but needed to get a some more extra muscle.

The crowd quieted and I waited for the buzzer. This round was tough because of the many oxer-to-vertical bounces. I went over the course in my head before turning Fire toward the first jump. She was bursting will energy and was ready to jump up and gallop forward. 

Within seconds, the buzzer sounded and we lept off from our starting place. I could feel Wild Fire's muscles moving powerfully beneath me as we galloped towards the first 85 centimeter gate. I half halted her because she would have over jumped the gate and not been able to collect her forelegs for the post-and-rail that was four strides away from the gate.

She responded quickly and slowed, just a little, to a fast and collected canter. We leapt gracefully over the gate then pounded towards the post-and-rail. I counted strides as we approached. 3, 2, 1, Jump. Together, Wild fire and I leapt gracefully and with great power over the meter sized post-and-rail. The crowd was quiet but you could tell that they were intent on seeing how our round would go after such time off. The next fence, a descending oxer was a sharp left then 2 strides to a vertical then circle back to a wall. All of these jumps were in complicated positions and would take a lot of guidance to get through. I counted my strided aloud as we approached the oxer. 3, 2, 1 Jump!

We jumped the oxer with exquisite and  supple form. The vertical loomed ahead. I shuddered at the thought of jumping it. Wild Fire felt me tense up and she got ready to slide to a stop. I gave her shoulder a tap with my crop and we jumped the blue and white vertical awkwardly but got over it. We circled back to the 60 centimeter wall and jumped surprisingly smoothly.

The next jump was a green and whiter triple bar. I hesitated again. This was the highest and most complicated jump in the course. I tried to let go of my fears but there was a little voice in the back of my mind telling me that it was stupid to enter this show and start riding again. I pushed the voice out and counted my strides. 3, 2, 1, Jump! Wild Fire took the height and length surprisingly easy and landed softly. I let out the breath I hadn't even known I was holding and straightened up. The last two new jumps were to the far right. I made a large circle and headed Fire towards them. They were different from the others but shorter. All we had to do was jump these then go back through jump 3 & 4 before ending.

I held my breath as we approached the water jump. Wild Fire took it easily. I let my breath go and got ready for the next jump, a square oxer. I shortened my mares strides so she would be ready to collect herself, jump, then turn back towards jump numbers three and four. Wild fire and I jumped the square with impeccable form and headed around to the descending oxer. I asked for a gallop and Fire responded with a sudden burst of power. We were five strides away from the oxer when Wild Fire faltered. I asked her carefully to try to regain herself. She new she had to finish.

After picking her gallop back up, Wild Fire plunged on toward the oxer. We flew over it and headed towards the blue and white vertical. The vertical made our round look flawless. It may have made both Wild Fire and I a bit nervous, but nevertheless, we made it over with the form, speed, and intelligence of champions.

"And that was Kayla Myers riding her gorgeous Welsh Thoroughbred cross mare Wild Fire! They had an impeccable round with a time of 35.78 and no penalties. Give them a huge hand for this amazing round with a first place time!"

First place time?! That's incredible! Our first show in months and a first place time. I reached down and patted and hugged Wild Fire while she walked towards the exit. My trainer waked out along with my parents. They all hugged and congratulated me. I thanked them without really hearing. First place time still rang through my ears.

We walked towards the barn to get Wild Fire untacked when I heard a familiar sneer. Ugh why did Shela have to show up at the happiest and most inconvenient times?! I excused myself from my small entourage and headed Shelas way. She kept sneering as I approached. She reseley her fancy Thoroughbred gelding into an antsy halt before speaking.

"First place time huh? Well, don't take too much pride because I will beat your fancy girl ass. I really don't care that you just came back but I'm just making it known to you, OK. I will beat you no matter what. Bye bitch."

She dug her spurs into Luna's Blue Moon, aka Luna,'s sides and made it into the ring just as her name was called. She flipped me off over her shoulder and then started her round. I sat there, watching in horror as she yanked Luna around the course. Their jumps were awarded and angled wrong and rushed. I cringed when Shela smacked Luna with her crop when they knocked a rail down.

Dear lord please help that horse, I prayed.