It Comes Naturally

chapter twelve

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"Each jump has a number on it so you know the course, you had the chance earlier to walk it earlier and you will now be going through it one by one, this is your final stage of assessment so give it your all!" Mr Peters said once he finished guiding us through the course. It was set up in the biggest outdoor arena so we had plenty of space. I looked around me at everyone who was walking back to the stable there were between 15 and 20 of us and only 6 ended up getting into the team, the only other middle schoolers I recognised were Melody and another boy who I had only seen a few times, I think he rode in the morning group. I walked back to my stable and quickly put on Gizmo's orange boots before untying him and leading him out to the warm up arena. I went over a few small practise jumps before I got called out to the other arena.

"Kailey, how are you today?" Mr Peters asked as I entered the arena.

"Good thank you, how are you?" I replied politely.

"Very well thanks, I expect good jumping from you." He told me before ringing the bell signalling I had a minute to begin. I went through the course easily on Gizmo all of the jumps were between 80cm and 1metre, I had so far cleared all of the jumps and I was on to the last obstacle, a treble, Gizmo and I didn't really have a lot of experience with these and I felt the nerves creep up on my as I approached the first jump. Squeezing my legs, Gizmo jumped clearing it, the second one he soared over the third one I prepared myself and squeezed my legs but I was a little bit to late and he knocked of the top pole with his front legs. I cringed at the sound of the pole hitting the sand floor but patted Gizmo's neck as we finished the course.

"Well done Kailey." Mr Peters said. "Can you please come back here this afternoon after your classes to receive your results?" He added.

"Yes, thank you." I replied as I left the arena.

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I walked into my maths class, it was the last class of the day as my jumping tryout was right in the middle of the morning.

"Kailey, have you got a pass for being late?" Mrs Dorine asked me.

"Oh yes, here it is." I said taking it out the pocket of my jodhpurs and handing it to her. I couldn't be bothered getting changed for one class and then back for my lesson this afternoon so I just left my riding clothes on.

"How did you go?" Imogen asked as I sat down next to her, she was the only one in this class with me.

"Good, we knocked down one rail and from what I saw everyone else had clear rounds." I told her worried.

"Don't worry about it at least you tried." She smiled.

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"I'm so excited for our lesson, cross country is Annie's favourite!" Imogen said as we led our horses to arena 3 where we would be warming up before we went out to the cross country course.

"I'm pretty sure Mr Peters has been instructing cross country for the last few groups as well so hopefully we have him!" I said, I had never had Mr Peters as an instructor he was always instructing the seniors the same time I had my lessons but for the last week he has been teaching our year level for cross country.

"Really? That will be good, he's an amazing instructor!" Imogen replied.

We went into the arena and began warming up walking, trotting and cantering making sure we did plenty of turns and transitions. When Mr Peters thought we were ready we all came back to the walk and went out of the arena towards the big paddock behind the stables that had a massive cross country course in it. 

"Ok guys, we're going to start of doing a few practice jumps and then I'm going to get you to complete the blue course one at a time." Mr Peters explained to us, we had already had quite a few cross country lessons and I do recall having done the blue course before, all of the jumps were quite simple with the heights not exceeding 80cm. 

Our group began cantering around taking turns jumping over the three or four practice jumps, Gizmo was clearing them easily.

"Kailey you're up first!" Mr Peters called out to me.  I slowed Gizmo down to a walk and walked him towards the start box, I could feel him get excited but I kept control. "I expect this should be easy for you Kailey, of you go." Mr Peters said to me before I let Gizmo go towards the first jump which was a small log. We continued through the course and reached the water jump, Gizmo loved water and always seemed to get more excited, I sat back before the drop down into the water using my seat to slow him down slightly. Before letting him go and jump up the bank and then over the log which only had one stride before it. We completed the rest of the course, once I reached the end I slowed Gizmo down to a walk and walked him around making he sure he cooled down while I waited for the other to finish.

I turned around and saw Imogen fly over the last jump on Annie before trotting over to me. "Well done," I smiled, "I can tell Annie loves it out here."

"She does, before I got her she mainly only got used for trails." She told me.

"Oh that explains it." I said.

"How did you get Gizmo?" She asked as we waited for everyone else to finish the course.

"My Grandma bought a mare that happened to be pregnant with him which she didn't know, but she's had him since he was a foal, I helped break him in. I got him as my Christmas present from her this year, but I did ride him all the time before he was mine as well." I explained.

"That's so cool, it explains why you two have such a great bond." She said. By now everyone had finished the course and they were beginning to head back to the stables.

"Come on let's go, I wanna find out if I got into the team or not." I said following the rest of our group up to the stables.

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