Horsewoman Book 1: Best Of Equitation

Chapter 4

"Nice job, Ell!" Ella and Opal had just finished leaping over the three-foot cavaletti pole, not exactly gracefully, but they made it. I noticed Mom striding over to us. "Hey, Mom!" I yelled to her. That made Opal shy, and she sidestepped quickly. "Whoa, girl," I soothed her. Mom caught up with us and said, "I need you to ride down to the tack store. Somehow Buck's halter broke, and I can't fix it. He's a cob-plus size." She handed me money and I took Melody's saddle off. I rode bareback, one mile to the tack store. When I glimpsed the small brick building, I slowed Melody to a trot. I hopped off of her sleek back and tied her to the old-fashioned tiepost. I step into the store and inhaled the sweet leather smell. Mr. Andrews, the owner, was at the counter. "Hello, Cristal," he said with a friendly smile. "Could I help you find anything?" I grinned. "Buck broke his halter," I replied. Mr. Andrew's brown eyes lit up. Buck has always been his favorite horse. "He needs a cob-plus," I added. Mr. Andrews bent down and took a red nylon halter from the display case. "Red brings out his buckskin color well, doesn't it?" He looked up at me. "Yeah, it does!" I said. "He had a white one last-kind of blended in." Mr. Andrews scanned the tag. "That'll be $35.76," he said. "Do you want a leadrope with that?" I handed him the money. "No, thanks." Soon I was galloping back home, toting a white plastic bag with a cellophane-wrapped halter. When I reached our big ranch-style, grayish-pink, three story house, I jumped off of Melody's back. I waved the bag at Mom, who was exercising Greta. I noticed Greta's mane was freshly clipped, showing off the black stripe in her mane. Mom posted over to me. "I got the halter!" I said. Mom gave me a thumbs-up and mouthed Thank you. I grinned and ran to the barn to put the halter away.

I laid the saddle pad on Skye's back. She looked at me, confused. "It's okay, girl," I chuckled. Just then, Troy crashed the scene and came in riding Western on Tutu. Tutu has a rare Cremello coat, which makes her one of my favorites. "Yeee-hawww!" Troy gave a cowboy-style whoop, making Skye sidestep nervously. I glared at Troy. "We had a good training session going! Why'd you hafta do that?" Troy grinned. "Why'd you hafta do that?" He mimicked in a high voice. "Arggghhhh!" I growled and rushed over to push him halfway off the saddle. We both laughed. Then I remembered. "Oh, I'm supposed to go with Jas to the show place and register!" I exclaimed. Jasmine Baines was my best friend. She's the complete opposite of me; I have blue eyes, blonde hair, and a light complexion. Jasmine, on the other hand, has dark skin, brown eyes, and shiny black hair. The only thing we have in common is we both adore horses! Just on time, a gleaming blue sports car rolled onto the grass. Jas leaned out the side and waved me over. "Hey, girl!" She called. "Long time, no see!" I caught up with her and exclaimed, "Guess what, Jas!" Jasmine tapped her chin. "You got a new saddle?" I laughed. "Better than that! I got a new horse!" Jas's mouth dropped open. "You're kidding! What's its name? What color is it? What gender? How old? How much money? Is it broke yet? Is it-" "Jas," I interrupted. "She's a grey Andalusian filly, two years old, unbroke, an her name's Skye." "Wow!" Said Jas. "Can I see her really quick?" I nodded and looked at her Mom, Kestrel, and she smiled and nodded. "Go ahead," she said. Jas squealed and jumped out of the car. We sprinted all the way to the barn. I spotted Mom, carrying a roll of paper towel, a bottle of disinfectant, a washcloth, and a bottle of kitchen cleaner. I knew she was cleaning a room in our small bed-and-breakfast. Our rental house is a cute two-story house with blue shingles and red trim around the windows. We have a kitchen and dining room on the bottom floor, and three small suites on the top floor. I give trail rides and riding lessons to the people who stay at the house.

"Sturdy legs, nice conformation, strong back," Jas was assessing Skye approvingly. When she was done complementing Skye, she straightened up and nodded. "Have you sat on her yet?" She asked. "No, but today I got her used to a saddle pad," I answered. A car horn blared loudly from the driveway. Skye whinnied and stepped backwards. "Shhh, baby," I said to her, stroking her forelock. Jas and I each fed her a Dickson's Low-Cal pony nut, said our affectionate goodbyes, and raced to the car.

"Wow, Cris! 24? I'm only entering 12 with Mina," Jas gaped at the number of events I was entering. Midnight Toffee (aka Mina) was Jas's Friesian mare. She was the cutting champion at last year's rodeo.

"..... and beginner jumping course," I had just finished telling the red-haired lady at the registration my events. The lady (her tag read KATHLEEN) pushed her hair back and raised her eyebrows. "My word! 24 events for an eleven year old?" I grinned and nodded. "Yep." "So, how many stalls is that?" Kathleen pushed her round glasses higher in her nose and jotted something down on a flowered notepad. Hmmm. Freedom, Misty, Teensy....... "Eight," I confirmed. "All in a row would be awesome." "Ok, that'll be $400.75 including tax," she said. I handed her the money. "I'll bring the horses over tomorrow!" I called as we walked away.

"Load them up! Move them out!" I was loading all of my show horses into our huge horse trailer. "Map!" I called. The pretty chestnut looked up, flicked her ears, and trotted over. She loaded smoothly into her freshly bedded stall. Then I led Skye into the trailer. When she heard the metallic clang of her hooves on the ramp, she shied but soon got used to it. She trotted happily over to the haynet in her stall. "Phew!" I sighed after loading Freedom. I climbed into the front of the blue Ford pickup. Dad soon met me in the drivers' seat. "Ready to go?" He asked. I nodded vigorously. "Let's go!" While Dad drove, I read over my busy schedule for the show. "Remember, the first day's tomorrow!" Dad reminded me. My hands started shaking. "What do you have tomorrow?" He asked. I glanced at the paper. "I have Skye's halter class and Freedom's dressage," I replied. "What do you have?" I asked him. "Ummmm, think I'm barrel racing Tutu, carting Nova, and cutting with Buttermilk," he said. "Busy day tomorrow!"

"How do you like your stall, Skye?" I looked around approvingly at the spacy stall at the rodeo. An automatic waterer, a hay net, a food trough, and thick bedding filled the stall. Once I finished settling the other horses, I decided to groom Freedom. She had rolled in the trailer. First, I put her in the crossties. Then I grabbed a rubber currycomb from the grooming bag and started moving it in circles on Freedom's muscular body. Then I brushed the hay from her mane and tail, cleaned around her eyes, and sweat-scraped her. I finished with a soft dandy brush. I looked around the boring, brown stalls. "I'll brighten these up tomorrow, babies," I said to the horses. Here at BOE, it's a riders' tradition to decorate the stalls with colorful signs about the horses, tinsel, crepe paper, glitter, colored paper....... the possibilities are endless! I left the rodeo with an excited smile on my face.