One Stride Away

Chapter 15: Training

"Working trot please!" Mr. Morales' voice rings through the inside arena. With only eleven riders, he can pay attention to more of us. The thought makes me nervous, so instead I focus on my position and making sure Olympia performs a nice and active trot.

"Good Sienna, very good." Mr. Morales says. Ugh. Use it as motivation, I tell myself, sitting up straighter and half halting.

"Alright make one twenty meter circle when you reach the letters E, B, C, and A... Leah, Daybreak, you should bend more in that circle."

I glance at the grey mare, Daybreak, as Leah corrects her mistake quickly. Bringing my full attention back to Olympia, I make sure that she bends properly, and trots evenly through a well shaped twenty-meter circle.

"Beautiful Alina. Very good work." Mr. Leonard nods. I smile at the compliment, finishing the circle perfectly and going back to the track.

"Good girl." I whisper to Olympia, giving her a quick pat on the shoulder. Dressage is our weak spot but we can't afford mistakes at the coming elimination. It will focus on dressage and show jumping. 

"Change the rein please." Mr. Morales calls from the centre. I cut across the diagonal, keeping Olympia straight using my legs and reins. She leans to the inside and I correct her quickly. I'm gentle with her mouth as she tends to get fussy if I pull on the bit too much. Throwing your head and swishing your tail does not scream dressage if you ask me.

"Canter." That command came quick, I slide my legs into position and give Olympia a firm squeeze, wanting my cue to seem effortless. With a small throw of the head, Olympia leaps into canter. I half halt and sit deep, squeezing every couple strides to keep her attention on me.

"Halt."

With a gentle tug on the reins I sit back and apply more pressure until she takes a couple steps of walk and then halts. I release the pressure once she does as told.

Mr. Morales looks around, his beady eyes focused on each of us.

"Canter."

Upward transitions aren't a problem with Olympia, so she takes off eagerly, but I manage to keep her under control.

"Okay trot down the centre line, following Dylan."

We do as told. My first line is a bit sloppy, only Sienna passes on the first time and I reprimand myself under my breath.

I turn in for the second time, following Storm, Hannah's hanoverian, a good distance behind. I make sure to sit in the middle of the saddle, and I stare down at C, the marker at the very end. My eyes are like daggers. I keep the reins even and gentle, my legs firm as I guide Olympia in a very straight line down the centre line.

"Much better, close to perfection." Mr. Morales nods, motioning for us to turn to the right rein. I take a deep breath. Phew. Now it's only Sienna, Cilia, Charlie, and I who have passed. We walk, giving our horses a break as the rest finish. Leah looks like she's about to cry as she trots down the centre line the fifth time, all alone. I feel a pang of sympathy for her and pray that she's allowed to continue now.

"Okay, good." Is all Mr. Morales says as Leah joins us. Sienna smirks and I glare at her.

"Free walk please." Mr. Morales snaps my attention back to him and I lengthen my reins, encouraging Olympia to stretch. Her ears flick and she reaches further down with her head.

"Charlie, lengthen your reins and sit up straight please. Dylan, allow your horse to relax and stretch." As Mr. Morales continues giving instructions, I listen to the comments he gives everyone else and make sure that i'm not making the same mistakes.

We work through a couple lead changes before the long lesson comes to an end.

I walk Olympia around for a bit, allowing us both to cool down before dismounting. As my legs hit the ground, I feel someone's eyes burning into me. Trying not to seem obvious, I glance around and lock eyes with Sienna's steel blue ones. Her dark hair is in a complex braid down her back. Without the sunlight the hair looks pitch black, not the normal dark brown. Her creamy skin is flawless as always, making her eyes stand out even more. 

I hold her gaze and her eyes linger on mine for a moment longer before flickering away. I still watch her, black shirt and sandy coloured breeches contrasting with Estelle's snow-white coat. They are so perfect together, but we can beat them.

"We can beat them, can't we girl?" I whisper, giving Olympia a pat and leading her out of the arena.

For chores, we are all on mucking out duty. All eleven of us. I finish twice as fast as half of the other riders. Mucking out is like walking or breathing for me. I've done it time after time again. Either for work, or caring for Olympia. I would never allow a groom to do it for me. It's my horse, it's my job. Since I have extra time, I give Olympia a massage, and stretch her legs as Audrey has taught me.

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On Tuesday we jump with Ms. Nicholson, working on bounces and turns instead of high jumps. The jumps are low, only 70-80 centimeters, and Olympia and I do amazing. By the end of the lesson my legs feel like falling off but I couldn't care less because Olympia was perfect. This time I beat Sienna. Yes, it was a lesson. But no lesson at Collins Equine Academy is just a lesson. There's always someone to beat. Today I was the one to beat.

The third and fourth day fly past with more dressage and jumping practices. The dressage moves increase in difficulty. Lead changes, leg yielding, turn on the fore hands... i'm struggling to keep up. The jumps rise, higher and higher and higher. The combinations and turns become so technical that the jumping lessons become extremely difficult as well. Hannah fell off her horse at one point, but she didn't get injured. I haven't jumped courses so hard before. I even drop a pole on the first lesson, but today, the second lesson, Olympia and I rode really well. Only Dylan beat our time. Tomorrow I will beat him. I have to beat all of them.

The pain from my bruise is gone, and so is my cough. But a new pain replaces the old one, my good old friend, muscle pain. The clatter of utensils fills the cafeteria. I shove mouthfuls of food into my mouth, listening absentmindedly to the chatter between Julie, Cilia, Alex, Allan, and Leah. My mind stays on the competition. I have to win.

I feel someone kick me and turn to Julie, the source, with annoyance.

"Wha—" But I am cut short when my eyes follow hers to Sienna. She stands next to our table, smiling sweetly. But sweet smiles don't suite her, at least not her personality.

"So, how are you Alina? Still coughing?" She asks, her eyes fixed on me. 

"No." I reply, forcing a smile. "I'm fine and you?" This psyching out stuff again, are you kidding me?

"Oh i'm good. Really good. It's a surprise you made it this far. Well... you were almost eliminated last competition—" 

"I noticed." I interrupt, making Julie snicker. She covers her mouth, turning on her serious expression but I know she's still laughing.

"Well, I didn't think you would make it through first eliminations." Sienna keeps talking and she flips her hair to one side, still smiling. I clench my teeth.

"Well I made it, if you haven't noticed... Good luck to you Sienna." I say, dismissing her, and shovelling more food into my mouth so she gets the point. She smiles, but her eyes glare at me. She's going to need that luck, because from the very first moment I got here, i've been here to win. But so has she. The question is how hard has she worked for this and how hard is she willing to work to win? I've already thrown everything away to go after my dream, to get Olympia, to be here. I'm ready to work even harder than that, if it means winning. Is she?