The Course That Started It All

Chapter 2

The next morning my alarm went off at exactly 3 am, which means I had an hour to get ready and get to the barn. I got up and quickly brushed my hair, got dressed, then got my mom up and went to the car. It was still dark on our way to the stables, but by the time we got to the stables, I could see that the sun was about to rise. My mom quickly dropped me off and I went in the stables and fed Opal and Infinity. I also fed Harmony and Waylon.

     Logan was the next one to get to the stables he thanked me for feeding Harmony and helped me load all of our tack and we also loaded two hay bales since we were driving so far away, and we didn't know how long the show would last. By the time Logan and I were finished putting the hay bales on top of the trailer Cassidy and Amber were there. Logan and I helped Cassidy get her tack loaded and then we went to check on all the horses. Since they were all done eating we pulled them out and tied them up to put standing wraps and a slinky on them. I pulled out Opal first, and since she was white I double-checked her for dirt spots but there was none. After I had her slinky on, and her legs wrapped. I took her closer to the front and clipped her to a tie there, then I went and got Infinity.

      When I came walking up through there with Infinity Logan and Cassidy asked me what I was doing. I said that Amber asked me yesterday if I wanted to show him and I said yes. They said that was cool and that I better hurry and get him ready it was almost time to go. So I quickly checked him over, but he was spotless. Once I checked him I put his slinky on and wrapped his legs. His slinky was mint green with his name on the back end of it. His standing wraps were also mint green. Almost as soon as I finished with the last standing wrap. Amber came out of her office and said it was time to load.

      She wanted to load Infinity first since he was the biggest, so she took Infinity and I got Opal. Once we got them loaded, we headed off to the show. All of us rode with Amber because we didn't really know where to go. I knew Canter Creek Equestrian Center was a really popular stable. It took about two hours to get there, but when we got there I was still amazed by the place. It was huge there were at least three barns and like four or five riding arenas. Amber said to unload the horses while she figured out where to put them. Opal was on the very end so I unloaded her first.

      Logan unloaded Harmony and Cassidy unloaded Waylen. Cassidy held Opal while I got Infinity. Once I had Infinity off the trailer I took Opal and we all waited for Amber to come back. It felt like forever until Amber got back but it was only five minutes. She said we were in barn three, stalls six thru ten. We started that way and it wasn't long before we entered a beautiful twenty stall barn. We found our stalls easy once they were in their stalls and their slinkies and standing wraps were off. We wrote their names on their stalls and headed to figure out what arena the show would be in before we got dressed and tacked up.

      We walked all around the stable grounds until finally, we found someone wearing a Canter Creek shirt. I told Logan and Cassidy that I would ask her where it was held while they took pictures of the courses. When I tried to talk to the girl she spun around and said really sarcastically, Did I speak to you? I said no and she said well then don't speak to me. I said but I need to know what arena the show was being held. She turned around with a glare on her face and said it was for her to know and me to find out. I gave up on trying and went back over to Logan and Cassidy.

      They asked how it went and where the show was at. I told them that she said not to speak to her unless she talked to me and she also said that the arena the show was in was for her to know and me to find out. Why would she say something like that to you? I don't know, but we still have to find out which arena the show is being held in. Excuse me someone said from behind us. When we turned around there was a girl standing behind us. She asked if we were looking for the show arena and before Cassidy or I could say anything Logan answered yes. She laughed a little but said arena number three.

     We said thank you and that we needed to go get ready. She told us you're welcome and if we needed anything else her name was Karley, and she was in barn number one. After she said that she turned around and left. We headed back to the barn where our horses were and got dressed. Logan tacked up Harmony and Cassidy tacked up Waylon, but I didn't know who to tack up and I didn't know where Amber was either so I decided just to text her. She texted back almost immediately to tack up Opal. I tacked her up and got on and headed to the warm-up ring. Once Opal was warmed up I found Amber and we waited for my name to be called.

It wasn't long after we got to the arena my name was called and I went in for my round. I completed the round with no mistakes along with my other two rounds and Opal was perfect. I placed first in all of my classes with Opal. Once I got done with Opal Amber told me to tack up Infinity get him warmed up then meet her at the show arena. So I did. I wanted to ask what class I was in but I knew Amber wouldn't tell me if I asked. So I went to the bar untacked Opal, then tacked Infinity and took him out to the warm-up ring.