J.O.P. Stable: The Twin Saga (Book 1: The Summer Finale)

Chapter 23:

Sky's POV:

" Whoa! "

Onyx slammed on the brakes, knocking down the 4 foot Oxer rails and standards he had been about to jump for our warmup. I landed on his neck as Onyx backed up and cantered away from the jump.

I knew it was bound to happen soon, I had just hoped it had been during the Dressage round. Onyx was turning back to his crazy self, the Arabian horse that hated 2 out of the three Eventing events.

" Onyx come on, stop being a brat " I scolded as I regained my balance and circled Onyx at a canter again. I took him around the practise jump, letting him look at it and see the other side before taking him around the other jumps, a liverpool, open water, vertical, triple bar and wall, all the jump types we would find during our class, which was starting in a few minutes. Onyx had been cooperative during the first half of our warm-up, but then he slowly started to refuse or run out on jumps and I was getting worried. If he refuse enough times, we would be out and J.O.P.S would move even lower in the rankings.

I saw Carol wave at me and slowed Onyx to a walk, moving out of the way of 3 riders. We had a total of  30 riders in our class, with the beginner class having 20 and the advanced class having 10. Why so many people would willingly choose the intermediate over the advanced and miss the title of best jumper for both rider and horse was beyond me, unlike some of them, I had no choice, Carol made me go into intermediate.

Although the way Onyx was acting right now, we might as well be in the beginner class.

" What's going on with him? " I asked Carol once I stopped at the fence line, because right now I didn't even know.

" I'm not entirely sure, let me see you take that low vertical? " Carol explained, pointing to the jump behind us. Carols version of a ' low ' vertical was actually 4'2''.

I sighed and nodded as I let Onyx canter along the fence line before turning him towards the vertical. Onyx cantered lazily and I dug my heels into his sides, trying to get him to go faster. Right as I moved into a two point, Onyx took a sharp left turn, throwing me off balance. I flew over the saddle and landed on my side in the dirt.

I sat up, a bit dizzy, but falling was nothing new. I heard hoofbeats beside me and looked up.

Marlo and Payton, who I had momentarily forgotten were in this class with me, dismounted and kneeled down beside me. Carol was by my other side in seconds.

" Does anything hurt? " Carol asked.

I shook my head. " Nothing but my pride... " I chuckled.

" Are you sure? Nothing feels broken or sprained? " Carol asked again.

I smiled at her, moving my arms and legs. " See, everything's good to go " I replied, before looking around the arena. " Where's Onyx? "

Carol and Payton helped me stand as well looked around.

" ...There! " Marlo suddenly yelled, pointing to my hyper boy who was so losing brownie points for making me fall.

" Whats he doing? " Payton asked as she remounted Jazz.

Riders had halted their horses while a few grooms tried to catch Onyx. He was cantering in a circle.

I started walking towards him but he suddenly came out of the circle and canter straight towards the fence, almost knocking down a groom. He pushed off the ground and leapt the fence line.

" Onyx! " I screamed.

Luckily he landed cleanly on the other side. He galloped with his tail held high and non horse people, mainly parents and younger children who had come to watch and pick up some tips, screamed as they moved out of his way.