Half Halt (Show Jumping Dreams ~ Book 15) Read online

  HALF HALT

  BY

  CLAIRE SVENDSEN

  Copyright © 2015 Claire Svendsen

  All rights reserved

  No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or any information storage and retrieval system, without prior written permission of the Author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

  Your support of author’s rights is appreciated.

  This book is a work of fiction. Any resemblance to actual persons living or dead, places or events is purely coincidental.

  CHAPTER ONE

  “It’s working trot at C,” Miss. Fontain yelled. “Not lazy trot or maybe I’ll get some impulsion later trot but working trot.”

  I was watching Mickey, sitting on the dead grass and half reading Retraining the Racehorse while watching her lesson. She had a look of concentration on her face as she pressed Hampton into a more forward trot but he didn’t like the amount of leg she applied and kicked out.

  “What kind of score do you think you’ll get if he kicks out like that during your test?” Miss. Fontain screamed.

  Mickey shrugged. It was better not to talk when Miss. Fontain was teaching. Your answer was never going to be the right one so it was easier to just keep your mouth shut. It didn’t help that Miss. Fontain actually was a really great dressage trainer, despite her rather prickly personality, and Mickey and Hampton had both improved loads since they started riding with her.

  “Down the center line, halt, salute. Can you remember that at least?” Miss. Fontain sighed.

  Hampton trotted lazily down the middle of the dressage ring and ground to a halt where his feet were nothing like square.

  “I give up.” Miss. Fontain threw her hands up in the air and walked out of the ring.

  Mickey walked Hampton over and slid to the ground.

  “I suck,” she said, letting her horse eat the grass even though he had his bridle on. “And she hates me.”

  “She doesn’t hate you,” I said. “She just wants you to be the best you can possibly be.”

  “What, did you hear that on a commercial or something because that is the cheesiest thing I’ve ever heard?”

  “Maybe,” I said. “I don’t remember.”

  “Well I’m nothing like the best I can be and the show is only two weeks away.”

  “It’s just pre show nerves,” I said. “It’s your very first dressage show, give yourself a break. It’s cool that you are even doing this. Nobody gets a blue ribbon at their first show.”

  “You did,” she said, poking the ground with her dressage crop. “And my mom expects me to. She says she didn’t spend all that money on sparkly browbands for me to fail at something else.”

  “She did not,” I said. “Your mom would never say that.”

  “She thought it,” Mickey said. “I know she did.”

  “Look, Hampton is just bored going round and round in circles all the time. Let’s go out on the trail for a bit. Blow off steam. I can have Ari tacked up in like two minutes.”

  Arion was the horse I had rescued from the hurricane and now he was finally mine. We’d had a bumpy start but things had finally started to click between us. He was just really green and out of shape so I had him on a strict riding schedule. He only got one day off a week and so did I. My days were filled with riding both of my own horses, Bluebird and Arion, Missy’s horse Socks and whatever other horses my dad wanted me to work.

  Now that I’d quit school my days were my own. I had a white board in the barn office where Dad marked out my days with lessons and rides. It was a million times better than going to school and I could already tell I was getting stronger every day. I had muscles in my legs that I didn’t even know existed.

  My evenings were spent on the computer because even though I quit real school, I still had to get an education. I did my work online attending virtual school instead of a real one. It was awesome. I got to work at my own pace and pick my own courses. If I was lucky, I’d even graduate early. Plus it meant I didn’t have to sit in a classroom and have things thrown at my head.

  “Wait here,” I told Mickey, taking her silence for agreement. “I’ll be right back.”

  I ran into the barn, a spring in my step. Now that Jess had left for good it was like I could breathe again. The dark cloud that had been hovering over my head for far too long had been blown away by the wind that was my father’s outrage at the fact that his own daughter was being bullied right under his nose. I’d never had anyone stand up for me like that before and I was starting to love him more than I thought was possible.

  I stuck my head into the office where he was sitting behind the desk, which was unusual for him because he rarely had time to sit there.

  “I’m taking Ari out on the trail with Mickey,” I said. “Is that okay?”

  He didn’t answer.

  “Dad?” I said, stepping into the room.

  He had something in his hands. An official looking letter. From the look on his face, it wasn’t the good kind.

  “Dad?” I said. “What’s wrong?”

  CHAPTER TWO

  Dad startled like he hadn’t realized I was standing there. He shoved the paper into a drawer, crumpling it as he did.

  “What did you say?” he said.

  “I said I’m going to take Arion out on the trail with Mickey and Hampton.”

  “Fine,” he said. “Just be back in an hour. I have that new horse coming in on consignment and I want you to take him in the ring and work him when he gets here.”

  “Alright,” I said. “Are you okay?”

  “Yes, fine.”

  He nodded but I thought he looked a sickly shade of green and nothing like fine.

  “Are you sure?” I asked again.

  “Emily, get out of here.”

  He waved me away with his hand and so I went. He wasn’t like Mom, who I could press until she finally caved. He was more like me, a clam whose lips were tightly sealed. I didn’t find it easy to talk about my feelings or things that were happening to me and neither did he.

  It had taken ages to finally admit to him that I was being bullied by Jess and I probably wouldn’t have even done that if Taylor from the tack store hadn’t told him about the video Jess posted of me online. It went viral and for a couple of weeks I’d been a laughing stock. Then, just as surely as I’d felt my life was over, things turned around. Strangers who had criticized me suddenly came to my defense, the video was taken down and best of all, my father confronted Mr. Eastford about his daughter’s bad behavior and they left Fox Run for good. I still had a nagging feeling in the pit of my stomach though. One that told me the feud between me and Jess would never truly be over.

  “Want to go out on the trail?” I asked Arion.

  He was standing in his stall eating hay but nickered when he saw me. It was quiet and under his breath but I heard it and it made me smile. He’d only just started doing that which may not have seemed like a big deal but for a while he actively hated me. Now we were starting to form a partnership, which was only helped by the fact that I was riding him a lot.

  I gave him a quick groom and threw his tack on knowing if I took too long, Mickey would give up on me. I grabbed my helmet and gloves and dashed him outside. Mickey was still there, poking the ground with her crop and looking morose.

  “Ready?” I cried, jumping into the saddle. “Let’s go.”

  “Fine,” Mickey said. “But I’m not galloping.”

  “Me either.” I laughed.

  It hadn’t taken long to figure out that Arion had two speeds. Really slow
and really fast. His racing days weren’t that far behind him and the first time I took him out on the trail with Dad, he ran away with me and it took three laps of the big field to get him under control again. After that we’d played around with his bit, trying to figure out something that gave me some decent brakes without deadening his mouth. Right now we had him in an elevator bit just like Harlow used to go in but I wasn’t too keen to test it out and have my arms yanked out of their sockets in the process, especially since there was a new horse coming in that I was supposed to ride when I got back.

  “What do you think Jess is doing?” I asked Mickey as we walked lazily into the woods.

  Arion was excited, dancing and jigging beneath me but Hampton was unfazed by such things, which was one of the reasons I wanted Mickey to ride with me. Hampton was a good, calming influence on my silly, green Thoroughbred.

  “Who cares?” Mickey said.

  “But who do you think she is riding with?” I said.

  “After all she did to you, I would think you’d just want to forget about her," Mickey said.

  “I do want to forget about her but I can’t help it. It’s like she was this thorn in my side and now that it’s been pulled out, I still keep thinking it’s in there. You know what I mean?”

  “No, not really," Mickey said.

  We rode on in silence for a while. It was another cold day but the sun was out. I laughed as Arion jumped over the dappled rays of sun that lit up the forest floor. So far I hadn’t started jumping him. Dad said that he needed to get three solid gaits under his belt before we even attempted to point him at a fence but Dad didn’t know that I’d hopped him over a couple of fallen logs out on the trail. They had been barely more than sticks and Arion had literally just trotted over them but it made me happy to know that he at least wasn’t totally against the idea of jumping something.

  “There is a new horse coming in,” I said brightly.

  “Another one?” Mickey groaned.

  “On consignment. Dad said I get to ride it when we get back.”

  “Don’t you ever get tired of riding from dawn until dusk?” Mickey said.

  “Are you kidding?” I said. “It’s the best thing in the whole world.”

  “You say that now,” she replied. “Wait until the summer when it’s a hundred degrees out. Then you won’t be so happy.”

  “I’ll just get up extra early,” I said, not willing to let Mickey ruin my good mood.

  “You’re crazy.” She shook her head.

  “I know.” I laughed. “Horse crazy.”

  “Do you think there is a pill for that or do they just cart you away in a strait jacket?” Mickey said.

  She looked at me and raised an eyebrow.

  "It's straight into the strait jacket." I nodded.

  Then we both started to laugh and Arion spooked at a shadow and nearly tossed me off into a bush.

  CHAPTER THREE

  By the time we got back to the barn, the new horse still hadn’t arrived. Mickey put Hampton away and we hung out for a while before her mom came to pick her up. We were sitting in the barn aisle, leaning against the stalls and watching the horses when she suddenly looked bright again.

  “So,” she said. “Are you going to the Valentine Ball?”

  “The what?” I choked on the water I was drinking.

  “You heard me.” She grinned.

  “Why on earth would I want to go to something like that?” I said.

  “Boys. Love. You know, all that good stuff.”

  “Yeah, no thanks,” I said.

  “But it will be fun,” Mickey said.

  I shook my head, feeling horrified. I didn’t think it sounded anything remotely like fun.

  “Okay then, forget about the boys. They’ll be free food and music and you get to dress up in something other than breeches. It will be good for you.”

  “No,” I said. “You mean it will be good for you. I suppose you’re going with Ethan?”

  “How can I be going with him when he doesn’t even know I like him?”

  “Well don’t you think you’d better tell him then?” I said.

  Mickey made a sort of snorting noise.

  “Don’t you know anything about boys at all?” She looked at me and shook her head. “No. Of course you don’t. You can’t just go around telling boys you like them, you’ll scare them off.”

  “So what are you supposed to do?” I said. “Lay down a trail of breadcrumbs for them to follow?”

  “Not a bad idea,” Mickey said. “But I bet something like potato chips would work better than breadcrumbs.”

  “I wasn't being serious,” I said.

  “Still, it could work.”

  I was just about to ask her how you were really supposed to get a boy to like you since I figured it may come in handy if I ever ran into Will again when her mom arrived, honking the horn so that Mickey would come out.

  “My dad told her not to do that,” I said. “It scares the horses.”

  “I know.” Mickey shrugged. “She doesn’t care.”

  “She’d care if you were the one riding and you fell off,” I said.

  “Or not.”

  “You know she would,” I said.

  Mickey didn’t know how lucky she was, having a mother who took you to the barn and picked you up after your lessons and even went with you to shows. My own mother had been so eager to get away from horses that she moved to Wisconsin and I’d only heard from her once. Sometimes I lay there in bed at night, wondering if Derek had murdered her. I wouldn’t put it past him. You saw that kind of thing on the news all the time. But mostly I tried not to think about her because it was easier that way.

  “Don’t forget you have to help me,” Mickey called out as she ran off.

  “Okay,” I called back, not sure if she was referring to the show problem or the boy problem.

  CHAPTER FOUR

  I was sitting in the office doing school work on my laptop when the trailer pulled in. The good thing about virtual school was that I could do my work whenever I had free time, which was usually in the evenings but days when the barn was slow, I managed to squeeze in a few extra minutes here and there. So far my grades were better than they had been at regular school, which kept Dad and Missy off my back and I was almost enjoying it.

  The truck came to a stop at the end of the barn aisle and Henry, the head groom, went down to help unload the horse. I waited to see what came past the door. It was always exciting to see what kind of new horse arrived. Gelding or mare. Bay or gray. It was like having all these horses that you could call your own. Only eventually they were sold because after all, that was what they were there for. But a horse didn’t come by. Instead I heard the kick of a steel hoof and the raised voices of men. I closed my laptop and went to see what was going on.

  The new horse didn’t want to come out of the trailer. He kept putting his hooves on the ramp and then scuttling back inside. It was weird. Usually the horses we got were well behaved show horses. This one didn’t seem like he was well behaved at all.

  “Are you sure this is the right horse?” I asked Dad as he came to see what all the fuss was about.

  “I’m taking this one on as a favor,” Dad said.

  “A favor?” I looked at him. “A favor for who?”

  “Never you mind,” Dad said.

  He went into the trailer, taking the lead rope from the hauler who looked relieved. I was sure that he wasn’t too keen to have his charge injured right before he was ready to offload him or his trailer all banged up. Dad spent a few minutes in there talking to the horse. I could hear his voice, low and mumbling and it reminded me of the hours I’d spent sitting in Arion’s stall, trying to get him to like me. Eventually the horse backed out of the trailer and stood there blinking in the sunlight.

  His coat was dull. His eyes wild. He skittered on the tarmac and tried to rear.

  “You want me to ride him?” I said. “Today?”

  “He’ll be fine under saddle,
” Dad said, signing the paperwork and handing it off to the hauler who took one look at the horse, shook his head and got back in his truck.

  "I’ve seen him go before,” Dad added.

  “When?” I said. “Recently?”

  “What’s the matter?” Dad said. “Can’t hack it?”

  He winked at me and I rolled my eyes. If Dad was testing me, I was going to pass with flying colors because there wasn’t a horse on earth that I wouldn’t ride or at least try to anyway.

  “Just remember,” I told Dad as we walked into the barn. “You’re the one who has to drive me to the hospital.”

  CHAPTER FIVE

  The new horse was underfed, unsure of his surroundings and shedding like a yeti. His name was Encore but I’m not exactly sure what he was supposed to be the encore to. He looked more like the afterthought. The horse that had been pushed to the back of the barn in favor of newer, sleeker models.

  “You’re going to like it here,” I told him as I brushed his bay coat. “All the horses get equal attention and once we get you all cleaned up you won’t feel so self-conscious anymore.”

  I couldn’t wait to attack his coat with my clippers but Dad said that could wait. He had this annoying habit of wanting to see what the new horses were like as soon as they walked off the trailer. I much preferred to let them settle in and get acquainted first but he had this whole theory about setting their work mindset and seeing what they were really like. It worked fine with the show horses but I could tell it had been a long time since Encore was anywhere near a show.

  I stood in the corner of the tack room, trying to decide what to put on the new horse. Dad had a stash of stuff that he kept for the newbies. Mostly older tack that had seen better days so was ugly but functional. The show horses usually came with their own supplies. Special brushes for their sensitive coats and expensive boots because they just couldn’t wear the cheap kind. Poor Encore hadn’t come with anything except a ratty chewed up halter and a lot of questions. I longed to quiz my father about where he had come from but I knew he wouldn’t tell me even if I asked. He had this whole mysterious thing going on when it came to bringing in new horses. At first I thought it was because he didn’t want other people poaching his sources for good mounts but now I wasn’t so sure. Encore didn’t look like he was going to sell for big bucks. In fact, he’d be lucky if we could sell him at all.