Horses In My Heart

Getting Ready for School

Summer was over tomorrow and with the end of summer came time to head to Bluefront! I was extremely excited and for my august birthday had asked for nothing but stuff for school for Teagan and I. I had gotten new riding polos, jhodpurs, a new show jacket and show shirt, a charles owen and new tall boots. Teagan had gotten all new jumping tack, a pink saddle pad and pink jumping boots to match plus a turnout sheet. It had been the best birthday ever and I was packing all my things into my suitcases. One was for normal clothes and the other for riding. I finished packing and made sure I hadn't forgotten anything a bazillion times. Then I ran downstairs, "I'm ready!" I shouted.

"Great" said my mom "why don't you go say good bye to all the horses then go give Teagan a nice hack. You could call that girl you met at the show, what was her name again?" Mom said as she pulled a plate of chocolate-chip cookies out of the oven.

"Del her name is Del" I said and grabbed her number off of the island where I had left it. "Good idea mum, I'll call her now" I said and grabbed my blackberry from my pocket quickly punching in Del's number.

"Hello?" said Del's voice on the other end of the line.

"Hi, it's Arrie, is this Del?"

"Yes it is! Hi Arrie! Oh my god, you as excited as I am for school tomorrow?" Del said practically blowing my ear off she was talking so loud.

"I bet even more excited!" I stated happily "anyway I was wondering if you wanted to come over for a hack, you could borrow one of our horses if you want" I asked.

"Sure! that'd be great" she said. "Whats your address?" she asked.

"Caytalie Racing Stables on Kelly Road, it's off of Green St." I said.

"Cool, I'll be over in say 10 minutes, is that okay?" asked Del

"Great" I said "see you in ten!" I said and hung up.

"Del is coming over in 10 minutes kay mum?" I shouted as ran out the door towards the stables and driveway.

"Sounds good" said my mom, her voice fading as I got closer to the stables.

About ten minutes later a red truck with the logo for Trent Equestrian Center on the side pulled up. Del hopped out dressed in jhodpurs and paddock boots with half chaps. She held her helmet tucked under her arm and her brown hair was in a braid down her back. "Hi! i called poking my head out of the stable door.

"Hi!" Del said and ran over. "Wow! Your stable is amazing!"

"Thanks" I said and lead her inside, I brought her over to the row of stalls "You can either ride Commanche, Alfie or Kay" I said pointing at a dark bay Thoroughbred with a star, then a Mousie gray, then finally a light chestnut.

"Which one's got the best jump on him?" said Del smiling.

"That'd be Commanche" I said and grabbed his lead rope and bringing him out, then clipping him into the cross ties behind Teagan.

"Awesome! He's beautiful" said Del stroking Commanche's nose "hey there big boy" said Del gently.

"I'll go grab his tack. Give me a minute I said and ran to our tack room where I grabbed the bridle labeled Commanche's Wild Side and his all purpose saddle. Each horse had racing tack and all purpose tack (excluding Teagan who also had jumping tack), and Del and I sure wouldn't need the racing tack.

I placed the saddle and bridle on the hooks on the nearest stall. "Thanks" said Del.

"No problem, you can use my grooming kit by the way" I said and pointed at the pink bag full to the brim of brushes, combs, treats and lead ropes.

"Cool" said Del and grabbed a currie comb, using practiced circular motions to loosen all the dirt and hair on Commanche's back. Commanche snorted and I smiled, getting to work on Teagan.

"So, I didn't know your parents owned the biggest lesson stable in Canada" I said as I placed Teagan's old saddle pad on her back (her new one was packed).

"Ya, well I din't know your parents owned one of the most successful racing stables!" Del responded and laughed as she tightened Commanche's girth.

"whatever" I said playfully and slung Tee's saddle on her back positioning it at her withers. Del finshed tacking up first and held Commanche's reins while I fastened Teafan's throat latch, then grabbed her reins and led her outside "I'll lead" I said.

"Sounds good" Del responded and lead Commanche over to a fence then climbed up and settled herself gracefully on his back. I did likewise and clucked for Tee to trot on, we trotted past our paddocks, until we reached an open field, where I had set up a mini show jumping course. It was my special place, where I could be one with Tee and we could practice in peace.

"This is so cool" Del squealed looking around "you made this?!?" she asked in awe.

"Yep!" I said, "Wanna try it out?" I asked and gave Tee and squeeze, she lunged forward into a evenly paced canter and I aimed her at the first jump, it was only a 2'3 vertical and we both had no problem with it. When I was done I motioned for Del to go over.

"He have a good jump?" she asked as she kicked him into a canter.

"Almost as good as Teagan's! But he sometimes has a bit of trouble spotting distances though" I said.

"Cool" Del said and aimed him at the jump I had just gone over, she gave him a nudge at the base and Commanche sprung forward, Del rose up out of the saddle giving him a great release and caught him gently when he landed, cantering away. "You were right! He does have a awesome jump. How old is he?" she asked giving him a well earned pat.

"He's about Crayola's age I think, like you said around 12" I said and smiled.

Del smiled back and we continued jumping until the sun started going down then we headed back. "That was so much fun Arrie, thanks again for inviting me" Del said thfully as we dismounted at the barn door.

"It was awesome having a friend to jump with. I'll see you tomorrow, your ride is here" I said pointing at the smae truck. "I'll untack Commanche, bye!" I said and waved.

Del waved backed as I led the two horses inside, cooled them off groomed them and put them away. I then ran up to the house, wondering what was for dinner and thinking about what was going to happen tomorrow.

"Catherine said that the first 3 days were all about getting to know everybody, so lot's of theory games, games on horse back and stuff like that I assume" my dad said between bites of pizza.

"Cool!" I squealed excitedly. I was barely keeping still, I was so excited. Bluefront, I was going to Bluefront tomorrow with my new best friend and my favourite horse ever.

"I wonder what house I'll be in?" I id thoughtfully. Bluefront had 6 dorms. Dorm 1 was the Warmbloods, Dorm 2 the Thoroughbreds, Dorm 3 the Quarter Horses, Dorm 4 was the Halflingers, Dorm 5 were the Arabians and finally Dorm 6 were the Friesians. On the first day everyone was put in dorms and each dorm slept in a seperate dorm house. There were about 15 kids per house, and two floors, the bottom floor was for the boys and the top floor was for the girls. I didn't care what Dorm I was in but I sure hoped that I was with Del.

After I finshed dinner I got into bed with my stuffed horse Caramel. I turned off the light and barely slept, tossing and rolling as I thought about the days that were to come.