Winter-Creek Riding Academy

.:Two:.

We drove silently to the barn, which I heard was really big. We pulled into a long dirt driveway, a pasture on the left and right. There was a few horses, but they all looked the same. We came to a stop and mom got out. I'm really nervous. What if the riders here don't like me? What if I don't get in? What if I cant find the perfect horse? "Chase, we have to go in." Mom said. I unbuckled slowly and got out. I walked behind mom a little bit.

We walked through the big barn doors, which were already open. "Honey, why don't you go look at the horses or something while I sign you up." mom said, walking off and leaving me alone. I looked around the long barn; it went straight ahead in which is probably 20 stalls, and then went off right and left, with more stalls.

I started walking slowly along the side of the barn. The horses were all so beautiful! "Hi!" Someone shouted. I looked up and saw a girl with long brown hair, she looked around my age, maybe older. "Um, hi." I said quietly. "I'm Margaret. What's your name?" I smiled slightly. "I'm Chase." We talked for a while and she told me about her horse. His name is Echo.

"Chase! Come here, Hun!" I spun around to see my mom with a man. "That's Mr. Parkinson, the owner of the barn." Maggie whispered. I glanced at Maggie nervously, the walked over to Mr. Parkinson and mom. Mom put her hand on my shoulder and smiled at the man.

"This is Chase. Chase, meet Mr. Parkinson." I smiled and shook his hand. Mom excused herself and he motioned me to follow him. We walked past Maggie, who was looking at me. "So, I hear you've done some riding before." I nodded. "I've been doing trail rides at a ranch every summer for about a week, and I've had a little tiny bit of English before." I said quickly.

"Well, do you know what you'd like to do?" I looked up at him, and then around the stalls. "I really wanted to learn jumping, it's my favorite." He shoved his hands in his jean pockets and nodded. "So you've jumped before?" I looked at my shoes.

"No, not yet. But when I would watch those girls jump with their horses, it amazed me." He smiled and looked down at me. He led me to the end of the barn, and looked through the last stall. I looked at him nervously. I'm not afraid at all, but I almost fell off last time I rode and it scared me a little bit.

"Come on, dont be shy. This is Spade. He's our best jumping horse, do you think you can handle him?" I stepped forward and peered through the metal bars. "Is he a Dutch Warm blood?" I asked. "Yes, she is. He's about 16.2, so he might be a little big." Spade came to the bars.  "I can deal with it." I smiled.

He told me some things about him, like how he can be jumpy. I shrugged it off, it wont be a problem, right? I hope it isn't. He helped me tack him up and brought me to the outdoor practice arena. I got onto Spade and gently clicked his sides.

"I want you to go around twice walking, and then twice trotting, and twice cantering." I slowed him to a walk and went around the sidelines twice. "Good boy," I whispered. I kicked him lightly and moved him to a trot. We went around again, and we were done. I was nervous about cantering, I'd only ever done it once.

I moved to a canter and went around the arena twice, stopping in the middle. "Great! So, do you want to start lessons tomorrow at 7:00?" I got off Spade and walked him over to Mr. Parkinson. "Of course. I'll go put Spade back."

After putting Spade back and cleaning all of the tack and cleaning up, I headed out front to see mom waiting for me in the car. I got in and we drove silently home. When we went inside the house, I screamed "I got in!!" and was engulfed in a big hug.

> Spade on the side >