Maplewood Equestrian Center: Saddle Up

Chapter Two: Meet The Team

          I brought Foxy back down to a trot, and I wiped the sweat off my forehead. I pat her neck and bring her down to a walk. It feels like it's eighty degrees out, but realistically, it's probably more like seventy. We had just finished our first practice at Maplewood, and it had gone really well. We had cleared a course of three foot verticals, and I was feeling ready for our tryout tomorrow. Ally walks up to me on Ginger and hands me a water bottle. The two mares sniff each other and decide they're friends.

"I brought these out and set them on the fence, thought we might need them," smiles Ally. I thank her, and practically drain the bottle. I pour the last bit on Foxy's neck and wipe off the extra with my hand so it doesn't hold her body heat in. Foxy nickers happily.

"You guys are gonna rock the tryouts tomorrow!" cheers Ally.

"Thanks, I sure hope so!" I laugh. Foxy snorts and tosses her forelock.

"Of course, I know you will be amazing," I assure her. Foxy lifts her head higher as if to say duh, I always am. I giggle.

"Any tips for tryouts?" I ask Ally.

"Try not to stress," she answers. "If you ride like you did today, you're for sure on the team. Just focus on your ride."

"Okay, thanks, I'll try to keep calm, but I can't promise anything," I giggle.

I practise my deep, calming, breaths. Slowly, iiiiinnnnn, and ooouuuttt...

"You'll do great, I'm sure of it," says Ally, patting Ginger's neck. Her chestnut coat is shiny with sweat, and she looks like a newly-buffed copper statue.

"Oh! By the way, forgot to tell you, the team is coming out today to practice, you can meet your soon-to-be teammates!" says Ally, excitedly.

"Yay! I can't wait! Oh, except for one, Charlotte, I already met her," I say. "Is she usually that snotty?" I ask.

"Oh, well, Char is a special case, she is snotty, but steps up when it counts, she won't let her team down," says Ally.

Well, at least I can respect one aspect of her. Everyone likes a team player.

"Ah, I see," I say.

"You will love Ava and Lily, they are super nice, Ava is literally, like, the sweetest person you will ever meet, and Lily takes competition super seriously, but she is a really fun person to be around, and the boys, Alex and Connor, also super nice, I always felt bad for them, being so outnumbered," rambles Ally.

"Cool! I can't wait to meet them all!" I say. Just then, Ally gets a text. She reads it and smiles with this look on her face that only means one thing.

"So... boyfriend?" I ask. Ally blushes.

"Yeah, his name is Asher, he's a junior at the highschool about a half hour away from here," she smiles.

"Cool, does he ride?" I ask.

"No, but he respects my sport, but he doesn't really like horses. But he comes to the shows I'm in, which is super nice of him considering he does not like being around horses," smiles Ally, with a goofy, dreamy look on her face.

"Aww, that's sweet!" I say.

"Anyway, wanna untack? I think they're cooled enough," says Ally. it's just then that I realize we have been walking them out for quite a few laps now.

"Yeah, sure," I say.

"Ooh! We have to get ice cream afterwards!" says Ally, dismounting.

"I'm all for ice cream, but where would we get any? The nearest store is quite a ways away, and it's a saddle shop," I say, sliding off of Foxy's back.

"Ah, then it's time for you to learn of The Secret Stash," says Ally, wiggling her eyebrows mysteriously, making us giggle.

"But really, what is The Secret Stash?" I ask.

"Well, at first, Katie bought ice cream and hid it in the recesses of the horse supplement fridge/freezer in the lounge kitchen, but we found it, and so now she just stocks up and we all enjoy it during the summer," explains Ally.

"Aw, cool!" I say. "No pun intended, but I'll take it," I add, laughing. Ally giggles too, and we lead the horses back to the stable.

*

Half an hour later, Ally and I have finished out S'mores (mine) and strawberry (Ally's) ice cream. We walk out of the kitchen and into the barn aisle, where there are six horses, one being Max, a dark bay belgian/thoroughbred cross that Ally is riding in the lesson, as she already worked Ginger today. The other five horses are Russian, Charlotte's black thoroughbred gelding, Ava's chestnut overo pinto gelding, Legend, Lily's petite buckskin quarter horse mare, Kestrel, Alex's grey Anglo-Arabian mare, Sky, and Connor's tall palomino dutch warmblood gelding, Apollo.

I stand awkwardly in the aisle, not sure what to do. But I do notice Alex. Wow. he has black hair and tan skin, and an absolutely gorgeous smile. I'm now wishing I had changed out of my grimy tan breeches and white polo. I touch my wavy golden hair. Still in a messy bun, not falling out, good.

"Oh, um, everybody, this is Leah, she is trying out for the team tomorrow," introduces Ally. A lot of "Hi"s and "Hey"s go around. I follow Ally to Max, who is between Kestrel and Legend.

"Welcome to the team! Hopefully anyway, I'm sure you'll do great, I mean, you wouldn't be here if you didn't think you could make the team, right?" bubbles Ava. Ava's strawberry blonde hair is in a loose braid, and she is wearing a hunter green polo, tan breeches, and brown riding boots. And of course, a Samshield. I guess when you do higher level shows, you wanna look nice.

"Yeah, we could do with another good rider. And a nice one," adds Lily, glancing pointedly at Charlotte. Lily's black hair is pulled back into a low ponytail, and she has on white breeches, black boots, a light blue polo, and an IRH helmet.

"Oh, well, she's not that bad, she is just very... competitive, there's nothing wrong with competitive," says Ava.

"There is when it's Char," says Lily under her breath. I guess I'm not the only one Charlotte was rude to.

"Your horses are gorgeous," I say, trying to break the awkward silence.

"Thanks!" they both answer in unison.

"Kestrel is a quarter horse, and Legend in a paint, not your typical jumpers I guess, but they both would jump the moon for us," says Lily, proudly.

"If they made it onto this team, I'm sure they're good," I smile. Ava smiles back, and they unclip their horses from the cross ties and bridle them. Lily starts to walk forward, but so does Charlotte.

"Move, Wang," says Charlotte.

"Whatever," says Lily, giving her a sugar-sweet smile, and making a gesture of "go ahead." We all walk into the arena, followed by Katie a moment later. For the rest of the lesson I sit and think about what it would be like if I were on this team.