Carry On (Book 1)

Chapter 9:

Ariels POV:

Waking up the next morning, my whole body protested against me while I was trying to roll out of bed.

I groaned as I slowly made my way over to my desk to gather my books into my bag. I was not going to be late for school this time. This time I was going to be early, even if it involved bringing my school bag into the barn and risking Storm chewing on it or stepping on it.

As I slipped on my boots, my laptop chime echoed through the empty room. My body ached as I slipped down into my desk chair.

The race yesterday had not gone as I had planned.

At first, Olivia and Gold had swept past Storm and me, but Storm caught up with a little encouragement. The gelding was competitive when he wanted to be. 

For most of the course, Gold and Storm jumped in tandem, each gelding not letting the other get more than a nose in front of them. Storm had almost thrown me off his back at one point when he launched himself over a log jump, but I had managed to hold onto his neck before settling myself back into a comfortable position, but Olivia had taken advantage and Gold galloped into the lead. Storm and I were forced to stay behind as we turned around and started heading back towards the starting line, or we would risk the horses' legs getting tangled with each other.

Then came the stream.

Madison had given me some advice before the race, telling me to slow Storm to a trot instead of having him canter through or risk him slipping or tripping in or on the bank of the stream. 

Olivia however, seemed to not have gotten the memo.

Gold rushed into the creek, and in a few seconds, Olivia was flying over his neck, landing in the cold water.

I had forgotten about the race at that moment, more concerned with Gold and his rider. The chestnut gelding took off at a gallop and Madison had chased after him on Koda. The compact gelding was fast, faster than I thought he would've been, and after a few seconds, Madison was ponying Gold back towards the creek.

But of course the action didn't end there, Storm wouldn't let that happen. Whether it was seeing Olivia getting out of the water, covered in mud and dripping wet, or a vibe he was getting off Gold, who pranced beside Koda, Storm decided that it would be a good time for me to go for a swim as well.

With one buck he had dumped me in the water. He didn't run off though, instead, he decided to graze like the rest of us didn't exist. As embarrassing as being dumped by my horse at a standstill was, it made me laugh now.

Olivia, on the other hand, didn't seem to share my sense of humor. She had spazzed the second she was out of the creek and snatched Golds reins from Madison's hands, before calling her posy to her side as they made their way back to the barn.

Madison had stayed behind to help me out and we trailed behind the older girls, back to the barn.

We were lucky Mr. Mallen hadn't caught us, or we would've all been far worse off.

Shaking those events from my mind, I logged into my email, seeing I had a new message.

I scanned over the short email quickly

From: JackAttackswithBullet

To: ArielWhitmanlovesaStorm

Subject: Help with my horse

Hey there

The grooms said you could probably help me out. I'm having trouble with my horse Bullet.