The Eventers

Chapter 7- Mollie

Emily's rounds were okay, but it wasn't the best I had seen her jump. We went out to the rolling hills on the property, my aunt taking a golf cart while we cantered over them. To fully prepare for an event, we had done dressage and show jumping, and now all that was left was cross country.

I patted Gryffin's neck. He loved cross country, his Dutch Warmblood bloodlines really came out. Emily and Bentley were experts in Cross Country. Some people thought we were crazy with the whole ride only one horse for all three disciplines scheme, but both Gryffin and Bentley had been bred from great eventing horses, so stamina and energy wasn't an issue. Of course, we made sure they stayed healthy, and brought a backup horse (as silly as that may sound) in case anything happened.

Emily raced in front of me, eager to be first on course. I bounded behind her, laughing. When we arrived at the course, my aunt still wasn't there, so we popped over a few warm up jumps. Nothing big, Emily and I took turns going over a log to a creek, with a tight turn. The log was only about 3'0 and the creek was only 2'0 wide. My aunt arrived soon after, and started coaching us on-course.

"More leg after the turn Emily! Get Bentley collected! He needs to learn he can't take the reins!" My aunt shouted. The day before a show, Bentley tended to be a real jerk. Nobody knew why, but he was. He was always perfect in shows, but the lesson before.... sometimes I don't know how Emily does it.

It was my turn to go, and Griff and I shot forward, already in a good hand gallop. We leapt over the first jump, and took a good 10 strides to get to the log-creek combo we had warmed up over. I was laughing gleefully, which I don't know how that happened. We took the sharp turn, hopped the creek, and continued on. Up the hill in the distance was a hay bale, then a log, to a boat jump. Then a steep climb downhill, so we would have to slow down for that.

We took the hill, and I urged Gryiffindor up it. 5...4...3...2...1..... We launched over the hay bale with room to spare. Taking a left turn to the log, I perched on his back as he soared over the low jump. We looped back around to the boat. Gryffin wanted to refuse, but I held fast and rode him hard.

Soon after, we were cantering down the hill, taking good care not to fall. Once at the bottom, I pressed him back into his original gate. Gryffin responded nicely, and we only had one more jump before the galloping stretch to the line where my aunt and sister waited. I pointed Griff to the train-shaped jump, and he pricked both his ears forward. We took it, and landed with lots of room to spare. Finally, I asked Gryiffindor for a gallop. He responded instantly, and we sped across the ground, flinging up chunks of earth.

When we got to the finish line, Griff was breathing hard and sweating foam. I imagined how messy I must have looked.

"Good lesson girls, dismount, and tie your horses to the back of the golf cart so you can get on." My aunt stated, obviously tired from the four-hour lesson. We needed a lot of help on dressage. We dismounted, and brought our horses to the back of the golf cart, where there were two steel rein posts so we could tie the horses up. We tied the reins, and took off the saddles, leaving only boots, polos, and a bridle to take off back at the stable. And, the slow drive back should cool the horses off completely, considering the brisk air this week.

I hopped in the golf cart, waited for Emily, and then the three of us drove off with the horses in close tow.

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Hope you enjoyed! Sorry for the slow updates, I'm still trying to get back into the groove of things right after holiday break, so I apologize. Cheers! XOXO