Lyneham Academy

~Chapter 10~

"EVIE! Wake up, wake up. Results are up today." Mae shook Evie as she woke up, slowly opening her eyes, adjusting to the light. The sun streamed through the large window opposite her bed. Groggily, she got out and quickly dressed as Mae hurried her. Mae pulled her towards Chapman's office, her face a mixture of excitement and nervousness – internally, Evie felt the same. As they arrived, students were pushing to get a look at the list.

"It's like a bloody war zone Mae, we could've come later when this will have died down." Evie groaned, not wanting to put up with the news this early in the morning after waking up at the crack of dawn the past few days.

"Hah, losers. I'm on the Elite team, beat that." Ava's voice sounded as she pushed her way back through the crowd towards Mae and Evie, "your little crap horse ain't gonna beat me, Cooke." Ava stopped in front of them, her brown eyes glaring menacingly at the two before she pushed her way out of the crowd. Evie and Mae pushed through the crowd a bit more, looking at the sheets.

"Eve, we're on the Elite team together. Best moment of my LIFE!" Mae shouted at Evie, ecstatic.

"Woopie. Can I go back to bed now?" Evie was struggling to keep her eyes open.

"No, you cannot young lady, we have a lesson at 10 and we need to be in Chapman's office at 9.30." Mae pulled Evie back out of the crowd and the two set off back towards the dormitories.

"Who else is on our team?" Evie asked Mae, she hadn't seen the sheet herself.

"Africa Richmond, Abraxas, Alfredo, Ava, Nicola, Elias Damon-Blather, and Quinn Vanderbilt. Let's go get changed into riding clothes and go to Tannenbay Hall, I need to tell Brooke the good news." Mae and Evie headed back to their dorms where they both got changed and headed to Brooke's dorm.

"BROOKE!" Mae shouted as she walked into Brooke's dorm.

"EVIE! MAE! How'd it go?"

"WEBOTHGOTONTOTHEELITETEAM!" Mae spurted out, unable to contain her excitement.

"Say what now?"

"What Mae's trying to tell you is that we made it onto the Elite team." At that, Brooke enveloped Mae and Evie in a bone-crushing hug.

"I feel like a proud mother." Brooke gave the two a large smile, "when's your first lesson?"

"At 10 but we need to go to Chapman's office at half nine."

"You'd better get going then, he won't be happy if you're late. I'm gonna have to come and watch your first lesson so I'll be down in a bit. Have fun my chidlings." Mae and Evie left Brooke and headed back to the stables and into Chapman's office at exactly 9.30. Chapman was sat behind a large oak desk and most of the others were stood up in the rest of the office except for Abraxas and Alfredo, who eventually walked in, smelling of nicotine.

"As you two have finally graced us with your presence, we'd best begin. I will be your instructor for the rest of the year so if you have any complaints about the behaviour of others on the team or yard complaints in general, come to me. You are to be wearing the team uniform when we have group lessons and at competitions." Chapman lifted a large box onto his desk, "when I call your name, I would like you to step forward and I will give you the uniform. Nicola... Ava... Quinn... Africa... Alfredo... Mae... Elias... Evie... and Abraxas. Now I would like you to all get changed into the casual clothing and meet me in arena 4 with your horses once you are ready. We will be doing some flatwork and jumping so use the appropriate saddle." The team left the office and went back to their respective dormitories, although most walked back to McCormick.

Evie quickly changed, throwing on her boots and went with Mae back to the barn to tack up their horses.

"Eeellliiee, heya beautiful." Evie placed the saddle on the stable door and walked in, giving Ellie a Polo as she threw the maroon and gold saddle pad on her back before grabbing the saddle and placing it on top. She quickly fastened the bridle around Ellie's face and tightened the girth a bit more. Mae was waiting outside Ellie's stable and the two walked to arena 4 where Abraxas, Alfredo, and Africa already were. They mounted and joined the other three.

"You looking forward to this you two? Chapman's gonna put us through our paces so prepare to be worn out." Africa said to Mae and Evie.

"I hope it goes well, is he usually quite tough?" Evie asked, even though she didn't show it she felt really nervous.

"Sometimes, as long as you aren't too mean to your horse, you'll be alright. Chapman likes us to bond with our horses rather than control them."

"Ah." Evie watched the two boys who were messing about in the corner of the arena as the rest of the team arrived.

"Abraxas! Alfredo! Please stop what you're doing and come over here, the lesson is about to begin." The two boys looked up at Chapman's voice and trotted towards the group, "I would like you all to set out at a walk on the left rein, Abraxas first then Africa, Ava, Nicola, Evie, Mae, Quinn, Alfredo, and Elias. Ride a 20m circle at A in walk and take up a medium trot at B." the group easily followed the instructions and continued to warm up the horses, "now, each of you when you reach B take up a canter and then change the rein H to F, performing a flying change at X."

This went on for a few minutes as Chapman called some grooms in to set up a course of jumps, Evie guessed they were at 1.4m, "right, Abraxas carry on round and everyone else halt at A." Chapman turned towards Abraxas who was on Jack, "I would like you to jump the blue oxer then the yellow vertical, before changing the rein over the red vertical combination and back over the red oxer and finally over the grey vertical."

Evie watched as Abraxas got Jack back into a nice canter, the horse's ears pricking up as he saw what he was doing. Abraxas easily got Jack through the course with not a single fault – although this was expected from a Badminton veteran.

"Africa, can you do the same please." Africa set off and rode flawlessly. Next up was Ava. Evie saw her collect her reins much tighter than needed and kicked Twi into a speedy canter. Over each jump she pulled on the bit, causing Twi to lose a stride towards the last jump so it fell. Nicola rode next, her horse knocking down two of the jumps due to extra strides which Nicola had not prepared for.

"Evie, your turn." Evie rode a halt to canter transition as she rode Ellie towards the first jump which Ellie easily cleared, the next jump was also cleared and Evie steered Ellie towards F, managing to get a flying change out of Ellie once she landed after the third jump in the combination. The next jump loomed, and Evie got Ellie over although she knocked the pole. Finally, the grey vertical. This was slightly taller than the rest, so Evie counted strides under her breath.

"One... two... three... four." Evie squeezed Ellie's sides and she managed to clear the jump. Evie got Ellie back into a walk and halted behind Nicola. The rest of the group went, Alfredo the only one who managed not to knock any poles down.

"Good job everyone, cool down your horses and halt in the middle for feedback." Evie and Mae walked their horses on a long rein next to each other, chatting easily. They didn't notice Ava ride up behind them, so Twi's face was in Ellie's tail.

"AVA! Stop that. Keep one horse's distance between Twi and the others please, behave yourself." Chapman shouted at Ava who slunk back to be with Nicola. Once all horses had been cooled down, the group lined up in the centre of the arena.

"Righty ho team, everyone's favourite time of the lesson, feedback time. Abraxas and Africa, I'm not going to say anything to you as neither of you made any mistakes, well ridden. Ava, you need to relax a bit, ride like you did last year and stop pulling on Twi's mouth. Nicola, start to count strides and prepare for the jump so Fox knows what you're asking him to do. Evie, practice more canter transitions to get Ellie's legs under her which will stop her from hitting poles. Mae, Quinn, and Elias you guys just need to get more impulsion when coming up to a jump to allow your horses to get over cleanly. Alfredo, maybe a bit more preparedness for the jumps next time but that was well ridden. You are all dismissed, I expect you to show me the next lesson you have been working on what I have told you." Everyone dismounted in unison and led the horses back to the yard.