I finish tacking Bailey up and unclip him from the cross ties. I lead Bailey down the stable isle, and quickly head to the indoor arena. I could see the parking lot from the arena path, and I was now full of students and anxious horses from their long trips. "Good thing we got here yesterday boy," I give him a pat on the neck as I say this, and he just gives me a snort in response. We finally get to the indoor arena; I mount Bailey and start taking him around the arena at a walk. Tryouts were only a few days away and I had to work hard if I wanted to get me and Bailey ready. I circled him a twice around the arena, then took him to a trot and then a canter a few times as well. I could tell Bailey was getting bored, as he seemed to go slower and not listen to me as well, so I decided to change it up and practice a few jumps. I dismounted Bailey and set up a few low jumps. I remounted and circled Bailey once before going over the first jump. It was a low cross rail, and Bailey cleared it easily. We headed to the second jump, a vertical, a little higher than the cross rail. I counted my strides One...Two...Three...cleared just like the first jump. Bailey was doing great, but my technique could use some tweaking. On to the third and last jump. It was a vertical, but much higher. One...Two...Three...Four, we soared over the jump and landed on the other side in an instant. I looked back to see the top rail tumble to the ground. Baileys back legs much have grazed it.
"Nice, job." I turn my head to see a man standing in the doorway walking towards me and Bailey as I pull him to a halt. "You two have great chemistry, the only reason you tipped the rail on that final jump was because jumped to early." The man said as he patted Baileys neck.
"Thank you, sir," I said confused as to who this man was.
"Sorry, let me introduce myself, my name is Connor Roy, but you can call me Mr. Roy." He says as he shakes my hand. "I'm the head coach for the advanced team," He smiles at me and looks at Bailey. "And you two are?"
"I'm Sofia Myers, and this is Bailey," I say as I lean down to pat Bailey's neck.
"How bout you take the course one more time," he says this and makes a circle motion with his hand. I nodded my head and signaled for Bailey to turn back to the course. "make sure to take your time on the last jump, and don't take it to early." He says to me as I pull Bailey into a smooth canter towards the first jump. We soared over the first two jumps easily, we headed towards the final jump and I tensed as Mr. Roy's words rang in my head. I stiffened up on the reins, which made Bailey stiffen up to. He jumped over the third rail late, and I knew we had missed it. I turned back to see the trail move a little in the placing, but it stayed where it was. I pulled Bailey to a walk and stopped near Mr. Roy.
"That was very good, I look forwards to seeing you at tryouts Ms. Myers." He smiled at me as he said this, then he turned and walked out of the arena. I smiled to myself and leaned down to hug Bailey.
"You were awesome boy! How about we finish up here and treats after?" I patted him on the neck, and he nicked in joy as I mentioned treats after.
***********************************
We finished our training and I cleaned up the jumps I had used. I lead Bailey out of the arena and towards the stable. There were a lot of riders and their horses roaming around, finding their stalls and getting checked in. It made Bailey a little nervous with all these people walking around him. I finally got him untacked and settled in his stall. I gave him some extra water and hay, and I slipped in a few treats for his good work today. I tuned back to walk out the stable and noticed a girl struggling with carrying her things.
"Hey, can I help you?" I stopped and faced her. She looked up at me and looked confused.
"Thank you!" She handed me her tack box and I picked it up and followed her.
"I'm Sofia!" I said as we reached her cubby in the tack room.
"I'm Ashlynn, but you can call me ash." She gave me a smile as she placed her tack in her cubby. And pulls out a sheet from her back pocket. She looked down at her map and looked confused.
"need any help getting around?" She looked up at me and gave me a sad smile,
"yes, please! I'm looking for my dorm, I'm in the Orchard dorm building?" I give her a big smile.
"That's my dorm building! I was about to head back that way anyways, want to join me?" We start to walk out of the stables and down towards the parking lot.
"That would be great! I've already unloaded my horse; I just need to get the rest of my boxes up to my room." We walked to her car and I met her mom, as her dad was off with her brother. With the three of us, we took all her boxes up in one trip. Ashlynn's room was on the opposite hall of mine in U134. We took the elevator back downstairs and walked back to her car.
"Thank you so much for you help Sofia!" She gave me a huge hug and smile.
"Of course, I know how hard it was when I came the other day so I'm glad to help." I then hear a familiar voice and turn around as my name is called.
"Hey, Sofia fancy meeting you here." I turn to see Brandon's smiling face; he comes and stands next to Ashlynn.
"Hey," I replied confused. "What are you doing here?" He puts an arm around Ash and reply's
"Ash here is my little sis," He squeezes Ashlynn's shoulder as he says this and acts very playful with her. Ashlynn pushes his arm off he shoulder and turns back to me.
"He says, but i much more mature." I look back and forth from Brandon to Ashlynn,
I look back to the both of them, not seeing the resemblance. Ashlynn was around my height, with long dirty blond hair, and pale skin. While Brandon was tall, probably around six foot with dark brown hair, and tanner skin. The only similarity I could see was their eyes. They both had brown eyes, with a hint of hazel around the middle of their eyes.
"I don't really see how were related," Ash whispers to me then walks over to her parents and hugs them goodbye. Brandon and Ashlynn wave goodbye as their parents drive away, then they turn back to me.
"Well I was just going to head back to my dorm, unless yall need some other help?" I say, waiting for their response.
"Well, I have to finish unpacking my room then meet Mr. Roy for tomorrow's team tryouts." I look at him confused. Ashlynn sees my confusion and answers me as if reading my mind.
"Brandon's a sophmore, and made the advanced team last year, all advanced riders help Mr. Roy with the tryouts." Brandon smiles as if his self esteem just rose by ten percent. Ashlynn smiles at him and shakes her head.
"If you want, do you want to help me unpack my room," Ashlynn walks towards me and signals for me to turn around. I turn back to see Brandon standing there like and idot confused.
"Sure," I say smiling. Brandon finally snaps out of his confusion.
"Wait, you're just going to leave me?" He says starting to walk after us. Ashlynn smiles and puts her hand up waving bye to him.
"Yup, have fun with Mr. Roy, love ya bro." I couldn't help but smile as she said this and we both walk towards our dorm.
YOU ARE READING
High Meadows Riding Academy
Fanfiction[First book for the HMRA series] -{CONTINUED}-Editing in Process Sofia Myers gets accepted into the most prestigious riding school, which means she has to leave all her friends, family, and old barn mates back in her hometown of Boulder, CO. Sofia...
