Take the Heat

Chapter one

I rip my helmet off in frustration, slamming it into my trunk and taking my hairnet off. I was about ready to strangle my trainer. She had been on my ass for months and I was sick of it.

She was always shoving it into our faces that she used to compete against big name trainers like McClain Ward, but obviously she did something wrong or else she would still be riding with them.

It was the beginning of August, and it was particularly hot out. I grabbed Victor and walked him outside to the wash rack.

We left for Dorset the next day for the Vermont Summer Festival, so it wouldn't be a simple hose off today. He would get a full bath, and then I would have to pull his mane and clip his feathers.

Luckily his mane wasn't too long since we had done a couple shows already this summer, so it didn't take long to pull it. I clipped his feathers and whiskers before throwing him back in his stall to eat hay.

I stood at his door for a minute, admiring him. He was a big guy, a 18 hh (about 6'2" for non horse people) Zangersheide, and his not-so-classic dark bay dapples turned heads in the show ring, along with his exaggerated Roman nose. He was the kind of horse that cleared a 3' Swedish oxer like it was an 18" crossrail.

I was lucky to find him, and I never took him for granted.

I turned on my rainboot-clad heel, walking towards the tack room. I flipped the light on and put the saddle cover on my Butet saddle, placing the girth over it.

I grabbed his bridle and slung it over my shoulder before picking up my saddle and walking out to my truck. I opened the back seat and put my tack in, leaving the door open as I brought multiple trips of stuff for the show out.

I walk back into the barn and grab my tail bag off his door, walking into his stall. I tied up his tail and secured the bag, taking his halter off and giving him a kiss before closing his stall door and heading home for the night.

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I woke at 4:30 the next morning, turning the light on and throwing the covers off of my body. I stood, yawning, and shuffled into my en suite, turning he shower on.

I wrapped my dripping blonde hair in a towel, and my body in another. Stepping back into my room, I pull on my outfit for the day, Tailored Sportsman euroseat breaches and a Joules polo, along with an Adequan baseball cap that I would put on once I dried my hair.

Once I had dried my hair and put in my pearl earrings, I put my hair in a ponytail, placing the hat on my head and pulling the ponytail through the back. At this point it was already almost 5:30, so I grabbed my iPhone off the charger and headed downstairs.

I caught a glimpse of myself in the mirror as I passed my bathroom door, and a tall girl with slate gray eyes and platinum blonde hair stared back. I sighed at my plain reflection, continuing past the door and hopping down the stairs.

One of the advantages to living alone is that there's nobody to worry about waking up on early show mornings. I grabbed my keys off the hook in my kitchen and slipped on my Sperrys before turning the kitchen light off and heading out to my truck, locking the door behind me.

I hooked my truck up to my two-horse with relative ease, having done it countless times before. I pulled out of the driveway and headed down the deserted road towards the farm.

I stopped and went through the Starbucks drive-through (of course) and got my salted caramel mocha and a danish for breakfast. I left them in the truck as I backed in beside the other trailers that were being loaded up with horses and ponies headed to the show.