I Dare You [ Cedar Ridge Equestrian Academy ]

Chapter 6: Humble Beginnings

"It all started one night with my friends at home. We were a little drunk, and we were reading one of those Canterwood Crest books or something aloud. My friend Elise suddenly just goes, 'hey, do those places actually exist?' except like, 80% more slurred because she's hammered but me and Sasha are borderline tipsy. So we google 'horse academy' and this place pops up, and there was this aptitude test you could take. So we drunkenly print off the test, fill in all the stuff and mail it to Cedar Ridge.
"Long story short, Elise didn't get a reply because she just wrote crap, Sasha got a thank you for your application thingo, and I got a scholarship. I got to this place because I am an intelligent drunk." The girls just look confused.
"I still have no idea how I got in." Zoe is the first one to loose it laughing.
"You're shitting me right? Like, that actually happened?" I nodded solemnly. Tahlia is almost on the floor laughing, Casey has her head in her hands while Shawna just looks concerned. Zoe is absolutely howling.
"That is literally the best. Story. Ever." Tahlia is spluttering trying to recover. Shawna is the first to try redirect the conversation away from my underage drinking shenanigans.
"At least tell me about your horse while these two choke on lunch."
"Okay, well he's a grey Thoroughbred called Nemo. We mostly jump, but we sometimes do dressage if Nemo could ever learn to concentrate. He's a gun around the showjumping ring, and he's getting cleaner every time I jump him. I only really used to ride in my backyard before." I blush and look down a little. Tahlia is wiping tears from her eyes.
"Don't even worry, we get lessons for a reason. Holly is really the only one who brought her push button million dollar Hanoverian with her to make her look like a better rider than she is." Casey nodded solemnly.
"Monty is green broke. I brought him this year instead of my competition mare to work on his skills. Zoe rides all the crazy ones, and Shawna's mare is actually insane. We're all going to be wrestling with something this year." Tahlia coughed and loudly spoke up.
"And I'm wrestling with the fact I've never jumped before." I try not to look too shocked. I know lots of girls who ride straight dressage, but never jumped before? Wow. Everyone sort of went quiet. I decided to speak up.
"So? We'll teach you."
"They've tried. They spent the last two years trying to get me to jump
Jazz and I refuse to do it." She was adamant. It was weird, why was she so adverse to jumping?
"Why don't we go to the stables?" I suggested. Everyone had finished their food and were starting to wander off, to their dorms or to the stables.
"Definitely!" They replied in unison.

Our little band of 5, all changed into breeches and colored polos, wandered down to the path to the stables. We reached the double doors and Zoe sprinted to the corkboard to see who she was assigned for the term.
"Yes!!" Shawna sidled up next to her.
"Got Dodger?" Zoe nodded excitedly. Shawna high-fived her and Casey cheered. Tahlia was already disappearing down the top left aisle to get Jazz. Zoe sprinted out the back doors to the paddocks out the back. Shawna followed and split away into another paddock holding a brown leather halter and cotton lead. Casey and I wandered down the bottom left aisle to find our horses. I stopped at 12, Casey was headed to 8. Not too far away. I pulled Nemo's halter off the stall and let myself in. He raised his head away from his hay and nickered at me. I scratched his forehead and slid his red halter on. I lead him out and tied him in the aisle before bolting the stall and finding my brushes. Rosie was in the tack room and smiled at me when I entered.
"Congratulations on being the first group in the stables. I can't say I'm surprised." She gestured to the back wall.
"Your gear is there, and your labelled box is in the corner." She pointed to a heaping pile of stuff in the corner. Out of the bottom I spied a plastic lid and pulled a summer rug off the top to inspect the name tag. Georgie Riley. That was me! I lugged out my grooming tote and thanked Rosie before rushing out back to Nemo. I met Casey halfway down the aisle.
"Hey, the outdoor arena is free and Zoe is lying in the middle of the sand to claim it for us. We can all ride in there if you're up for it."
"Duh. I'll meet you out there when I'm saddled up."
"Sweet, I told Zoe I'd saddle Dodger for her." I dumped my tote at Nemo's feet and speed walked back to the tack room ('no running' signs are all over the stables) and got the rest of my gear. I started to brush down Nemo, and he turned his head to sniff me. I rubbed his muzzle and started to brush his face with the soft brush while he was facing me. The worst part of keeping a grey horse was keeping him clean. I carefully brushed the burrs from his tail, a parting gift from the paddock at home. A quick brush down later, I laid my red saddlepad on his back and my white sheepskin half pad with the fluff on it, and laid my beloved black jumping saddle on. I did up his breastplate and tightened the girth. Neem puffed out as usual. I sighed and waited a few seconds before tightening another hole. That'll do for now. I popped his bridle on and did up the figure 8 noseband. I hated the people who did nosebands up too tight. I could probably go up another hole or two on the flash strap but I never did. I patted him and leant over to put his boots on. Plastic and neoprene, of course, the real cheap stuff. Fronts and hinds, Nemo was ridiculously accident prone. I've left him in a flat yard tied up and then come back to find him still tied with a bleeding fetlock. He's just that kind of horse. I jammed my helmet on, slid his halter off and pulled the reins over his head, and lead him down the aisle and outside into the open. Nemo desperately tried to snap up a few blades of grass by the gravel. I saw Talia mounted on Jazz and standing in the middle of the arena talking to Zoe. Zoe saw me and ran to the gate and opened it for me. The arena backed onto the state forest, and was surrounded by the paddocks apart from the gate entrance. This arena was one of three arenas, the second outdoor. It was more secluded than the first outdoor, which was by the driveway and parking lot, designed for show purposes. The indoor was the biggest, but would undoubtedly be crowded.
I thanked Zoe and lead Neem into the arena, before flipping my reins back, checking my girth and mounting from the ground with some difficulty. Nemo was taller than Jazz, who stood at about 15.2 hands. I scratched his shoulder and headed to the middle to join the conversation. He didn't seem bothered by the completely new surroundings and horses, at least not yet.
"So I assume you guys are going to jump today?" Tahlia asked. I nodded excitedly. Zoe stood over by the arena and was boredly spinning in circles. Nemo was used to humans acting stupidly around him, but Jazz's ears swung forward and she breathed like a dragon. Tahlia dropped her hand and stroked her neck, talking quietly to the chestnut mare. Zoe suddenly stopped and rushed to the gate again to let Shawna and her pony in. The little mare was chunky, I assume quarter pony, but had an ever so slightly dish to her face and leggy appearance, so potentially crossed with an Arabian at some point in her heritage. She was an extremely attractive mare, cremello in color with striking blue eyes. No idea how she got over 4ft. Shawna easily mounted Willow from the ground, and as soon as she was on Willow was off at a brisk walk towards the other horses. Zoe didn't even have a chance to get back to the middle before a clatter of hooves trotted out the barn and down the path. Me and Shawna looked taken aback but Zoe and Tahlia seemed totally used to the sight. Casey, mounted on a hastily trotting Monty, was leading a round, palomino spotted gelding down the gravel path. Zoe swung open the gate, and Casey didn't even slow down through the gate. Nemo threw his head and sidestepped, before backing up quickly. I dropped my hands and quickly reassured him, and looked up to find Shawna wrestling with Willow, who was cantering down the long side of the arena. Jazz wasn't at all bothered by the scene. The gate was firmly closed and now only Willow was trotting around wildly. Casey threw Dodger's reins to Zoe who quickly mounted up. She patted Dodger on the neck firmly, and Tahlia looked bored. Shawna was just pulling into the middle laughing, with a stroppy Willow snorting.
"She always uses that as an excuse." She laughed. They all seemed 100% chill with the fact that Casey mounted in the barn, and trotted manically into the arena? Tahlia sat back up straight and spoke to the four of us.
"Lets get to it."

AUTHOR'S NOTE:
Got to write a lot today because of my travelling! It's a good opportunity to write more of these introductory chapters (which I really enjoy writing actually!) before I get into ~plot~. I originally was going to wait for a bit before updating this story but I figure i have it written so I may as well publish it anyway. Hope everyone is enjoying so far!