Pony Jumpers (Show Jumping Dreams ~ Book 2) Read online

  Her face fell flat. “He didn’t win,” she said coldly.

  “Not everything is about winning Jess,” I said. “Can’t you see that? You have all these awesome horses and money to go to shows. Why isn’t that enough for you?”

  “Do you think my family got where they are today by not winning?” she snapped. “Eastford’s are winners and what are you? Dumpster diving trailer trash with a dog food pony. That’s what.”

  She whipped Beauty’s head around and galloped off. As I watched her go I saw a horse trailer pull into their farm, a tiny speck of red and white. Great. She was probably getting another horse she would win on while I couldn’t even manage to control the one I had.

  “Come on Bluebird,” I said. “Let’s get you back to your paddock.”

  It took us an hour to cool Bluebird off and clean him up but by the time Esther appeared, he was calmly munching his hay as though nothing had ever happened.

  "Did you girls have a good afternoon?" she called out.

  "Yes," we shouted back.

  She smiled and walked off into the barn.

  "That was a close one," Mickey said.

  "Yeah," I agreed.

  Monday morning brought the campers back and they flocked to Bluebird like he was a tub of free candy.

  "He's adorable," Faith said, her eyes wide. "You really rescued him?"

  "Yup," I nodded.

  "That's so cool. Can we ride him?"

  "No. I haven't even ridden him yet," I said.

  "We don't even know if he is trained," Esther said as she tried to round up the kids for class in the barn.

  "But aren't you going to try and see if he can be ridden?" Faith whined.

  I looked at Mickey as the kids disappeared.

  "It would be cool to see what kind of training he has," I said.

  "You'd better wait until Esther says it's okay though," Mickey said. "Especially after what happened yesterday."

  "She probably won't let me ride him for weeks," I sighed, straightening Bluebirds mane.

  But as it turned out, the camp kids wouldn't shut up about Bluebird's great rescue and in exasperation Esther agreed that after they had all ridden, we could tack up Bluebird and try him out.

  "Are you scared?" Mickey asked as I pulled my boots on in the tack room.

  "No," I shook my head. But it was a lie. What if I fell off and hurt myself or worse, what if Bluebird wasn't trained at all? What if I'd spent all my money on a pony that would never be a jumper or never be good enough to go to shows? It was too awful to think about. And it got worse. Just as we were standing outside Bluebird's pen with the tack, a car pulled up and Ethan got out.

  "Oh cool," he said. "Are you going to ride him?"

  "I was," I said, feeling my face flush. "But you can ride him if you want."

  "Oh no," he grinned. "He's your pony. I'm just a shareholder. Besides, I'm not dressed to ride. I just came to see how he was doing. See?"

  He pointed to his jeans and sneakers.

  "Come on then girls, we don't have all day. Let's get this spectacle over with," Esther said as she came to watch.

  I slipped into the paddock and put the saddle pad on Bluebird's back. Then I gently placed the saddle on and did up the girth. He turned and looked at me with his soft brown eyes, then sighed.

  "Please be good," I whispered into his mane. "Please don't toss me off in front of Esther and more importantly in front of Ethan."

  I slipped the bridle over his head and he opened his mouth for the bit.

  "Good," Esther said, checking the fit of the bridle. "The easy part is over, now let’s get him to the ring."

  I felt like I was leading a weird sort of procession as I walked Bluebird to the arena, followed closely by Mickey, Esther and Ethan. Behind them the camp kids whispered excitedly like a little flock of birds. When we got to the ring, they all piled onto the fence, their faces flushed with excitement. Probably because most of them were waiting to see me get bucked off.

  "Nice and easy does it," Esther said. "We don't know if he has any bad memories about being ridden so go gently."

  “Are you sure you don’t want to ride him first?” I said, feeling like a chicken.

  But Esther shook her head. “Your pony. Your responsibility. I have faith in you. You’re better than you think you are.”

  My heart was in my throat as I checked the length of the stirrups and tightened the girth. This was it. The moment I'd been waiting for but why couldn't I have just done it alone with no one watching? As I slipped my foot into the stirrup and put my weight on it, I held my breath and crossed my fingers.

  CHAPTER EIGHT

  It was actually happening. I was sitting on the back of my own pony. I couldn't believe it. Bluebird looked around and nipped at the toe of my boot as if to say 'what did you expect me to do? Run off or something?'

  "Good," Esther said and the kids all clapped. "Now pick up your reins. Close your legs around him and send him on at the walk."

  Esther was inside the arena now, probably ready to grab the reins and pull me off if Bluebird exploded but he didn't. He just did as I asked and walked around on the rail, his little chestnut ears bobbing back and forth.

  "Great job," Esther called out. "Try a twenty meter circle."

  I circled Bluebird and felt him round around my leg.

  "Now reverse direction."

  It seemed like Esther had us walking forever but I didn't care. Bluebird was supple and responsive beneath me.

  "Now pick up your reins and let’s see if he'll trot."

  I closed my leg but nothing happened. He needed a stronger kick before he picked up a fast paced trot. I felt like I was posting almost as fast as when I was riding the tiny ponies.

  "Close your reins a little and slow down your posting. See if he'll slow down with you."

  I tried and it worked. The little guy was a trouper. He knew what he was doing, he was just a little rusty. Finally Esther beckoned me into the center of the arena.

  "I think that will do it for today."

  My face fell. "What? No cantering? No jumping?"

  Esther shook her head and patted Bluebird's neck.

  "You have to remember, he's been through a traumatic experience. Being beaten and starved. Sent to the auction. We don't know what that has done to his mind. He may have once been a great pony but that doesn't mean he's push button. He has baggage now. We'll just have to wait and see what is still in there. Inside his head. Besides, he needs his feet done."

  She pointed at his ragged hooves and then straightened his forelock. I saw something lingering in her eyes. She liked him. I could tell.

  "Good boy Bluebird," I dismounted and hugged him tightly. "Thanks for not bucking me off."

  "Is that it?" one of the camp kids asked.

  "Sorry, show's over," I said.

  They all wandered back to the barn looking disappointed. I wasn't sure what they had been expecting but I knew what I had been and it was me, soaring over the jumps like the wind. This hadn't exactly been what I'd hoped my first ride to be but I knew Esther was right. We couldn't just pull Bluebird out of his pen and expect him to jump the moon. That wasn't the way it was done.

  "He looked pretty," Mickey said as she helped me untack him. "He has a nice way of moving."

  "What did Ethan say?" I asked.

  Ethan left halfway through my ride and I hadn't even noticed until I finished. Maybe he thought I wasn't a very good rider after all or that I should have been jumping already. If he thought I'd done a bad job then that could really spell trouble because he was a part owner. What if he decided that he wanted to take over Bluebird's training himself?

  "He said he had to go," Mickey shrugged.

  "Did he seem mad?" I asked.

  "I don't think so."

  But Ethan didn't come back to watch me ride again. Not that there was much to see. Esther had me working with him at the trot to build his muscles. There were circles and serpentines and loops back and forth. By the end
of the week I was so sick of going round and round that I felt like Bluebird might possibly be a carousel horse and all but the most diehard of the camp kids had given up watching all together.

  But on Friday the vet and the farrier were coming and Esther said that if he got a clean bill of health then we could start really putting him through his paces. Only by that point I wasn't worried about Bluebird because deep down I knew he was fine. It was Harlow that I was worried about. Despite the stall rest and all the wrapping and hosing, he was still lame.

  "No change I'm afraid," Dr. Delta said as he felt Harlow's leg.

  "What does that mean?" I asked, heart in my throat.

  "It means you carry on with what you are doing and I'll check him again in a couple of weeks."

  Esther shook her head as I put Harlow back in his stall. Slipping off his halter I gave his sweet, gray nose a kiss.

  "You'll be okay," I told him.

  "Do you think he'll ever be riding sound again?" I heard Esther ask the vet.

  "Hard to tell," he replied.

  I peeked through the bars and saw Esther frown. I knew what she was thinking. Harlow was taking up a stall that could be used for another lesson horse or a paying boarder. If his leg didn't hurry up and get better soon, I didn't know how much longer she would keep him around.

  "Now let’s see this pony you rescued," Dr. Delta said.

  I ran ahead to the paddock and put Bluebird's ratty halter on, feeling embarrassed but also proud. In the short time since we got him from the auction he'd already put on weight and with the daily riding, his muscles were starting to come back. Esther's salve had worked wonders on all his cuts and the scars were disappearing into the sleek summer coat that was growing in after the daily currying Mickey and I had been giving him.

  "Pretty pony," Dr. Delta said. "Let's take a look."

  As he went through the motions, looking in Bluebird's mouth and feeling his legs, I crossed my fingers. I knew he was sound but I was afraid that maybe there was something else wrong with him. That maybe he was too good to be true.

  "He’s a nice looking boy," he nodded when he was done. "I don't see anything wrong with him, other than the obvious. Superficial wounds and general neglect but he's already on the road to recovery."

  "We picked him up at the auction," Esther said. "Have you seen him around here before?"

  Dr. Delta scrunched up his face like he was thinking hard.

  "You know, he does seem a little familiar," he said. "I'm pretty sure he was on the circuit a few years back. You have any papers?"

  "From the auction? Hardly. You know how that goes."

  "Yes. I do," he nodded.

  He pulled Bluebird's coggins and gave him his shots, then said he'd mail a bill. I didn't have the heart to ask how much it was going to cost.

  "Do you think it would be okay to jump him?" I asked as he was getting into his truck.

  "I don't see why not," he said. "As long as your trainer says it's okay," he pointed to Esther and waved.

  "Thanks," I said.

  That afternoon it was too hot to ride. The farrier came to give Bluebird a trim. He said that his hooves were hard and he shouldn’t need shoes any time soon. I was relieved but even the trim was costing money I didn’t have. He also said he’d send a bill. I felt a little sick, wondering what I was going to do when all the bills arrived. After he left, Mickey and I lay in the shade, periodically spraying each other with the hose to cool down.

  "I hope she lets me jump soon," I said. "I'm going crazy."

  "It's too hot to jump," Mickey moaned. “It’s too hot to do anything.”

  She'd had a lesson on Hampton earlier and they had both come back into the barn drenched in sweat.

  "I hate the summer," she said.

  "Me too."

  "Let's go to the beach. It has to be cooler than here."

  "Anywhere has to be cooler than here," I agreed.

  And as much as I loved the barn, I had to agree that I'd kind of had my fill of sweaty breeches and boots. The beach sounded like the perfect place to cool off.

  "I'll call my mom and ask her to pick us up," Mickey said, pulling her cell phone out of her pocket. "She can bring our bathing suits and we can change here before we go."

  "Good idea," I nodded.

  Most of my clothes were now at Mickey's house. Mom and I seemed to have some kind of unspoken arrangement that I would spend the rest of the summer at my best friend’s house which was working out fine, considering that I'd bought a pony without her knowledge and everything. But what was going to happen when the summer was over and she finally found out?

  The beach was pretty crowded but Mickey and I found a spot over by the rocks that wasn't too bad. We ran into the surf, laughing and splashing each other in the cool water. There was a warm breeze and though the sun was hot, the water cooled our skin.

  "We should come here every day," Mickey said as we lay out on our towels, still a little out of breath.

  "Instead of the barn?" I asked, leaning on one elbow.

  "It's too hot to ride and Esther is making us help out with all the camp kids but what do we get out of it? I'm sick of teaching kids to post at the trot and pick out hooves."

  I hated to admit it but Mickey was right. I kind of felt like Esther was taking advantage of us but since she was currently boarding my pony for free, I hardly felt like I could complain. Mickey, on the other hand, had every right to. But I didn't want to spend the rest of the summer at the barn alone.

  "I just wish that Harlow was better," I said. "And that I could start jumping Bluebird. Working him on the flat is driving me crazy."

  "Maybe this will make you feel better," Mickey grinned and pointed over my shoulder.

  I looked and saw Ethan striding down the beach towards us.

  "Oh no," I said, suddenly feeling sick.

  "I thought you liked him?"

  "I do. I don't. Oh I don't know. What if he thinks I'm doing a sucky job with Bluebird? What if he wants his money back? I don't have a hundred dollars. I don't have any dollars. What am I going to do?"

  "Chill out," Mickey said. "He probably just wants to say hi or something."

  Ethan was wearing striped shorts and cool looking shades. He also had a great tan. I wrapped the towel around my pasty white body and discount store bathing suit, not wanting him to look at me.

  "I didn't expect to see you guys here," he said, smiling.

  "I know," Mickey sighed dramatically. "We're slaves to the barn but somehow we managed to break free."

  "Cool. You guys should come here more often."

  "We totally should," Mickey said.

  "So how is our little champion doing?" he asked, sitting down on the wet sand next to me.

  "Really great," I said, glad to have something to talk about other than the beach. "The vet gave him a clean bill of health, he had his feet done and now I can't wait to start jumping him."

  "That's awesome," he said. "But just be careful."

  "Why?" I said. "I know how to jump."

  The words came out sounding more defensive than I meant them to and I felt my cheeks flush red.

  "I know you do but I overheard Jess and Amber talking. I think there might be something wrong with that pony after all. I think he might be dangerous."

  "Dangerous?" I blurted out. "How could he possibly be dangerous? He's the sweetest pony in the whole world and he hasn't done anything wrong."

  "He hasn't done anything wrong with you yet," Ethan said. "But there is a rumor going around that he put a girl in the hospital. They say she never rode again."

  CHAPTER NINE

  "I don't believe it," I told Mickey that night. "You know how Jess is. She's just mad because I bought Bluebird and Ethan helped me. She wants to tarnish his good name and make me look stupid. I don't trust her one bit."

  Mickey rolled over in her bed and looked down at me in my sleeping bag. She had a worried look on her face.

  "But don't you think that if he was a good pon
y then Jess's parents would have just sold him to someone else for a lot of money instead of shipping him off to the auction? I mean Jess can't have the only say. It's her parent’s money."

  "But Bluebird wouldn't hurt a fly, you know that."

  "He's good on the flat," Mickey agreed. "But lots of horses can suddenly take a dislike to jumping. You know how Jess is, if he had a bad experience he could do anything not to jump, including throwing his rider off. It's not worth getting hurt over."

  "I won't get hurt," I mumbled.

  But as Mickey finally drifted off to sleep and her snores filled the room, hot tears streamed down my face. I didn't want my pony to have a reputation for hurting people. I wanted people to like him and see how amazing he was. I wanted to prove to everyone that Jess was wrong for sending him off to the auction. I was also getting kind of sick of lying in a sleeping bag on the floor. I missed my mom. I'd tried to call her that evening but she hadn't been home. I knew that she was still wary of horses and letting me ride had been a really big deal. But if riding meant that I never saw my own mother, I didn't know if I could take that. I wanted to talk to her about Bluebird. She always knew the right thing to do. But I couldn't. I was going to have to figure this out on my own.

  "Ask him for a canter in the corner Emily," Esther called out the next day.

  I was riding Bluebird. No one was watching. All the kids were in the barn, fawning over Hampton who'd just cleared a three foot triple combination like it was a set of cross rails. Mickey couldn't stop grinning when she got off and I was happy for her but I was also jealous.

  Bluebird fell into a lazy canter on the wrong lead.

  "No, no, no," Esther shouted out. "Again. Stronger aids this time."

  I nudged Bluebird hard with the heel of my boot and this time he kicked out in retaliation. I knew he was feeding off my bad mood but I just couldn't shake it. Everything was going wrong and no matter how hard I tried, I felt like something bad was about to happen.

  "Can we just quit for today?" I pulled Bluebird into the center of the ring.

  "You want to quit now?" Esther asked. She had a purple bandana tied around her head and was wearing mismatched socks. I wasn't sure if she was making a fashion statement or just hadn't been paying attention when she got dressed that morning. Either way, I knew the camp kids were taking their toll on her. Mickey and I weren’t the only ones who couldn't wait for the summer to be over.