Horsewoman Book 1: Best Of Equitation

Chapter 5

I plunked down at the table with a handful of green, blue, orange, red, pink, and purple neon Sharpies. A pile of white poster board sat in front of me. I was about to make the signs for the rodeo. I decided on the sky-blue marker for Skye (of course!). I thought for a minute then wrote: Skye Blue (Skye) is a feisty Andalusian filly. I have had her only two weeks, and already love her. She will be three this August. BOE will be her first show ever, and I hope she does well! Then I drew clouds around the writing and put SKYE in big blue letters at the top. I glued a picture of me hugging her long neck we'd taken when I bought her. Then it was Freedom's turn. Freedom Flag (Freedom) is a sweet six-year-old Friesian mare. My family has owned her for five years. She has won blue in halter for the past four years, in other shows. This will be her first time at BOE! Then I made the rest of the signs:

Teensy Tiny (Teensy) is a three-year-old Falabella gelding. He is very stubborn, but under his bay coat, he's really a sweetie. I've had him for two years. This will be his first show!

Chocolate Sweets (Sweetie) is a loving brown quarter horse mare. She is five years old, and we have had her for three years. She has great ground manners, and we use her to give horseback riding lessons to the handicapped.

Nickers the Horse Gentler (Nickers), is an amazing white Arabian mare. We found her when she was two weeks old, abandoned in a dumpster. I named her after Winnie the Horse Gentler's horse. She is my favorite horse ever, and our best event is jumping.

Pal is a six-year-old Palomino gelding. We don't know what breed he is, but we're guessing he's an Arab-Quarter horse cross. He is a great cutter, but an accident with a cow happened recently, and since then Pal has been terrified of cows and calves.

Misty Day (Misty), is a five-year-old dun Chincoteague. She is a champion pole bender at BOE.

When I finished (finally!) Dad drove me to BOE, along with the signs, crepe paper, and rhinestones.

I had just finished putting crepe paper up on Pal's stall when I noticed the girl in the stall next to me was leading her horse into her stall. The horse was a cute paint mare, about fifteen hands. "I love your horse! What's her name?" I asked the girl. "Her name is Rain! I'm Sadie Lawrence, by the way," she answered, holding out her hand. I shook it and said, "Cristal Rogers! Do you want to meet my horses?" "Sure!" She replied. "Ok....this is Map, Sweetie, Freedom, Nickers, Teensy, Pal, Misty, and Skye." Sadie pet each one on the neck. "And these are my horses," she said, sweeping her arm over the next five stalls. "These little stinkers are Jazz, Rain, Breezy, Moon, and Trika. Jazz is a vaulting horse." I rubbed their ears and scratched their cheekbones. "So cute!" I said after petting Trika. Sadie looked at her watch. "1:00!" She exclaimed. "Time to get Breezy ready for dressage!" My mouth dropped open. "You mean you're entering the dressage riding class?" I asked. "Yep!" She said with a lopsided grin.
"Well, you'll have some stiff competition against Freedom!" We both laughed. "I'd better get Freedom ready, too," I realized. We said our goodbyes and started grooming. I unlatched the stable door and Freedom nickered. "Hey, Freedom," I cooed, rubbing her poll. "Time to get you ready to win!" She nickered again and tossed her head, like she understood. I grabbed the tan canvas grooming bag from my backpack, analyzed it, and selected a pink rubber currycomb. I moved it in circles along Freedom's body, lingering high on her chest and near her withers, her favorite spots to be rubbed. Next I took a wooden-handled dandy brush from the bag (after a long digging). I brushed off all the hair and dust I'd loosened when I used the curry. When I finished braiding her tail and pulling and braiding her mane, I began saddling her. I put a black saddle pad with Ariat written on a corner, then set my fancy black dressage saddle on top. I buckled the girth quickly then grabbed my dressage double-rein bridle off the wall. I put the bit in her mouth and she took it rather nonchalantly. I slipped the headstall over her black ears. I tied the reins to a post and said to my horse, "I'll be back when I'm done grooming myself, Freedom." She didn't even shy when the stall door made a loud clang when I closed it.

When I stepped out of the dressing room, I felt like a different person. A velvet helmet sat on my hair, which was braided into a tight bun. I wore a black showcoat over a white shirt and black bowtie. On my legs were tan breeches, with steel-toed, knee-high English boots. There were black leather gloves on my hands. A crop was in my right hand. "You look great, Cris!" I looked over to see Ella standing next to me. Then I heard the loudspeaker bellow, "First up is Ryan Stevens on his five-year-old mare, Criss-Crossing!" A boy about 18 walked out on a pretty white-and-bay paint. "Cristal Rogers, you are next!" Ella gave me a leg-up into the saddle. I trotted Freedom over to the arena and waited for Ryan to finish. Criss Crossing had a pretty messy trot, so I knew they didn't stand a chance against Freedom and I. I noticed Sadie on Rain, cheering for Ryan. I rode up closer to her. "Do you know Ryan?" I asked her over the cheers. She nodded. "We're dating," she answered. Ryan walked a sweaty horse back out of the ring. "Next up is Cristal Rogers on her six-year-old mare, Freedom Flag!" I walked Freedom into the ring. I posted in time to Freedom's high-stepping trot, followed by a collected canter. Then it was time for the freestyle gait. Unlike most shows, BOE lets you freestyle your horse's best gait at the end of your performance. The more advanced it is, the more points you get. I aided Freedom into a piaffe. Applause thundered around us, and I knew the trot was good.

The rest of the class flew by, and soon they were announcing the five winners. "In fifth place is.......Ryan Stevens and his beautiful Quarter mare, Criss Crossing!"                      

"In fourth place is.......Mattheus Peterson on Amaze, an Anglo-Arab!"
I'm not fourth.
"In third place is Sadie Lawrence on her quarter horse, Rain!"
I'm not third.
"In second is Miriam Jordan on her Arabian, Katie!"
My heart pounded as Miriam stepped up to receive her prize. Fifteen other horses to go against for blue. "And the first place winner is.........................." A drumroll started suddenly, making Freedom shy. "Cristal Rogers on her beautiful Friesian mare, Freedom!"                                                                                              I stood there in disbelief. Then, what the announcer said finally clicked in. I galloped through the ring to the large, padded, horse-friendly podium to receive my ribbon. A man in his sixties with a head as shiny and bare as an egg handed me the ribbon. The plastic circle with 1st Place written in gold font was about as large as Freedom's cheek. Frills of blue and gold fabric encircled it. Three straps of blue fabric, about two feet long, came out of the circle. Written in gold letters on the straps were: BOE DRESSAGE CLASS WINNER!