Chapter 10
Tom had the perfect way to get back at his little brother. He went into the tack room and found Keeta's saddle where it was being kept for the time being. Tom then found another saddle and he took the girth from it before going back to Keeta's saddle. He swapped the new girth for Keeta's saddle, smiling to himself as he thought of his genius prank.
Then Tom went and found his own saddle to his could saddle Charley. He had about twenty minutes before it was his time to ride so he needed to get ready. He quickly gave Charley another brush and then he started to saddle the horse. Tom looked at the shaven patch just on Charley's rump. It was so visible and it was so embarrassing.
Tom did remember that he told himself at home that it was not as embarrassing as he thought it was, but it actually was.
Then he had an idea.
He could do some quarter markings.
They would be extravagantly large quarter markings, but they would hopefully hide the shaven patch as well as they could.
And when Tom was finished with his work, he stood back and admired his horse's quarter markings. They actually looked pretty good, and they were hiding the shaven patch so it didn't look as obvious.
Good.
Tom was proud of himself.
Tom then went out to the cross-country course and mounted his horse. He could see his mother and father watching on with pride and Tom couldn't help noticing the look on his mother's face.
She clearly wanted to ride.
It was clear that she did, so Tom wondered why she wouldn't give in and just ride. Tom wanted his mother to remember how much she enjoyed riding and she was practically wasting away because she wasn't riding. Riding was in her blood, so Tom knew that she needed to start riding again.
Tom smiled at his mother when he noticed that she was wondering why he was standing there staring at her. He seriously wished that his mother would start riding again, but he needed to put it all out of his mind because it was his turn to ride. He kicked Charley into a canter and started the course. He was going to do well and he was going to show his mother that she should ride again.
Tom and Charley headed for the jumps and they were actually doing quite well. He was proud of himself, but it seemed that he was getting his hopes up because Charley refused the next jump.
Tom felt disappointed.
They were doing so well.
Tom turned Charley around and headed for the jump again.
They cleared it.
Now Tom hoped that there wouldn't be any more refusals.
He told himself to keep his focus and compete the course as best he could.
Tom was glad that he completed the course with no more refusals and he looked over to his parents when he finished. They were proud of him and they were both looking on with smiles on their faces. Once again, Tom could tell that his mother wanted to ride, and he wished she could. He walked his horse over to his parents.
"How was I, mum?" asked Tom.
"You are an amazing rider, sweetie," replied Nicole as she patted Charley on the nose.
"I wonder where I get it from."
Nicole smiled, but she lowered her eyes.
Tom didn't know what to say now.
