Hunter Pace (Show Jumping Dreams ~ Book 7) Read online

  “What Emily means to say,” Esther said, frowning at me. “Is that without barns like this one, young girls wouldn’t have the opportunity to learn how to ride. To forge a partnership with an animal that is ten times their size and to pursue a career in a sport that needs more up and coming talent.”

  “I see,” Candy nodded, although I could tell that she couldn’t see at all.

  “And,” Esther continued. “Riding is a sport where girls and boys compete side by side. There are no separate teams or divisions. Our girls get to prove that they are just as good as the boys and a lot of the time even better.”

  “Fascinating,” Candy nodded and her blonde hair wobbled precariously back and forth on the top of her head. “So basically you are just doing this to benefit your own business then?”

  The interview had suddenly taken a horrible turn for the worse. Esther’s face turned red.

  “No,” she stammered.

  “Actually,” I said. “Fifty percent of the proceeds are going to go towards saving abused and neglected horses and ponies.”

  “Oh well done,” said the news anchor. “Here at Channel Seventeen we love animal rescue. Have you seen our Saturday morning slot, Neuter is Nurture?”

  Esther and I looked at each other and tried not to laugh.

  “No,” I said sarcastically. “Sounds fascinating.”

  “It is,” she continued on seriously. “We try and encourage people to spay and neuter their pets. And,” she added, “We’d like to match the amount of money that you raise here today.”

  She beamed this awful fake smile at the cameras before the guy yelled ‘cut’ and switched it off.

  “That was great,” she said. “Always love a chance to plug animal awareness.”

  “Um, I have to go and get ready,” I said, backing away.

  “Great,” she cried. “We’re done here anyway. Just want to get a few shots of horses galloping and that sort of thing. You know, everyone loves to see a girl with the wind in her hair on the back of a stallion.”

  “They’re all geldings here,” I heard Esther tell her as I ran away as fast as I could.

  Mickey was laughing by the time I got back to the barn.

  “I’m never going to live this down, am I?” I said.

  “I host this hunter pace for all horses everywhere,” she swooned, pretending to faint.

  “Come on,” I said. “What was I supposed to say? They were making it look like Esther was some kind of money grabber. This way she still gets to keep some money and we all look good.”

  “I don’t think any of you looked good,” Ethan said.

  “Thanks a lot,” I shoved him in the arm. “Wait until you see what your sister has done to Princess, then you won’t be laughing. You’d better hope they don’t film us out on the course or she’s going to make us look like a laughing stock.”

  “What’s she done now?” he said.

  “Go look for yourself. She’s turned Princess into some kind of dress up pony.”

  “She’d better not have,” he grumbled, storming off down the aisle.

  It was almost ten when Esther gathered us all around outside. There were a lot of girls and a few boys all on mounts ranging from small ponies to large horses and everything in-between. Some of them I recognized from shows and others I didn’t.

  There was a cool wind after the wet front had slid through and I wrapped my arms around myself. It was uncharacteristically cool for May and I was glad that I’d put on a long sleeved shirt that morning.

  Esther stood on a mounting block and motioned for everyone to be silent.

  “Welcome to the Sand Hill Hunter Pace,” she yelled proudly and everyone clapped. “I’d like to remind you that this is a timed event but your goal is to get closest to the optimum time. That means galloping like crazy won’t help you because you’ll finish too fast.”

  She held up a sealed brown envelope.

  “No one knows the optimum time except me and we will open this envelope at the end and declare a winner and award this beautiful cup.”

  Everyone jostled a little closer to catch a glimpse of the cup Ethan had found in his attic.

  “Now there is a break point at the halfway mark. You will stop for fifteen minutes while you and your horse catch your breath. There will be water available and first aid if you need it. Other than that you are on your own. A member from each group is required to have a cell phone so that you can call for help should anything go wrong and the team from my barn will go last to make sure no one has got into trouble anywhere. Any questions?”

  No one raised their hand.

  “Good,” Esther said. “Now remember, the point of this is to have fun so go out there and have a blast.”

  “Yeah right,” I heard Jess say. “Forget about fun. We are totally winning that cup.”

  CHAPTER TWENTY TWO

  The first group stood by the starting line. Four girls on chestnut ponies from a barn that was a couple of hours south of Sand Hill. They looked pretty pumped up, high fiving each other and egging their ponies on like they were in the starting gate on a race course and ready to bolt out when Esther blew the whistle. As she did they took off across the field, jumping over the tire jump that we’d made in perfect unison and then disappearing up the hill.

  The guy with the camera was crouched in the bushes filming. I hoped they showed that one on the news. Four chestnut ponies jumping together at the same time was actually pretty cool.

  They went off a ten minute intervals. Everyone seemed excited and eager to get out there. Even Mickey was getting impatient.

  “When is it our turn?” she moaned.

  “I think there are five more teams to go and then us,” I said.

  “Well just tell me when the Fox Run team has gone,” she said. “Because I’m not coming out until they do.”

  She’d taken up residence in Willow’s stall, talking to the mare in a low, whispering voice. I wondered what she was saying but I didn’t want to eavesdrop. Instead I went to comfort Fury who was beside herself, twirling around in her stall at all the commotion outside. As I slipped in she lunged at me with pinned ears, forgetting for a moment who I was. But she slid to a stop at the last minute as she recognized me and I rubbed her face.

  “I know it’s all noisy out there,” I told her. “But you don’t have to worry. It’s not a show or anything and you are not being ridden anyway. You’re having a mental health vacation, remember?”

  It was something the other kids at school said when they skipped class. That they were taking a mental health day. I didn’t get it. Staying home would mean being pestered by my mother or Derek and that wouldn’t be good for my mental health at all. The only reason I’d ever skip was to go to the barn and mom would never let that happen. Since she found out that I’d lied to her for almost a year about riding, she’d been extra vigilant about making sure I wasn’t doing anything I wasn’t supposed to and I’d been good about obliging her. After all, as long as she let me ride, I didn’t really care about anything else.

  I gave Fury a flake of hay to distract her and then went to see Bluebird who was tacked up and waiting in his stall.

  “Ready to have some fun boy?” I asked him.

  He rubbed his face on my arm, leaving a smear of horse snot behind.

  “Thanks a lot,” I said. “I’m not going to look very professional on TV now, am I?”

  Bluebird just threw his head up and down. I knew he was laughing at me. He had a twisted sense of humor like that. I went to the bathroom to try and wipe the snot off and found Jess in there washing her hands.

  “Hey,” I said.

  “Hey,” she replied.

  It was all awkward and uncomfortable. I never knew where I stood with her. I’d tried to be nice at the clinic, to understand what it must be like to have a father who demanded that you win. I imagined that maybe she was like a damaged horse and if I was nice and treated her gently then she would come around. And yet here she was, rubbing the fact t
hat she had Hampton in my best friend’s face. Every time I thought I was getting somewhere with her it was like things would get worse again.

  “Did you really have to bring him?” I asked her.

  She was fixing her hair in the mirror. It was all silky and shiny while mine looked like birds had been nesting in it, all bushy and wild. I wanted to ask her what shampoo she used but I needed to know why she brought Hampton more than learning about hair care products.

  “Who?” she said, feigning innocence.

  “You know who,” I said. “Hampton.”

  “Oh him.”

  “Yes, him. It’s like you’re rubbing it in Mickey’s face or something.”

  “I’m not rubbing anything in anyone’s face,” she said, scrunching up her nose.

  “Then why did you bring him?”

  “You know,” she said, turning to face me. “It’s not really any of your business but if you must know, Beauty threw a shoe and my show jumper hasn’t arrived yet.”

  “Oh,” I said.

  “Now get out of my way.” She stormed off outside before I could say anything else.

  I scrubbed at the stain on my shirt feeling all sullen and moody. I hated the way that Jess could turn my mood from happy to angry in about five seconds. She could have borrowed a horse from Andre. Heck, her father could have bought her another one just to ride today. But I knew why she’d brought him, even if she didn’t want to admit it. She brought him because he was the horse she could ride the best and I knew that when Mickey saw how well Hampton went for Jess that it was going to break her heart.

  CHAPTER TWENTY THREE

  I watched the Fox Run team leave the start. Jess on Hampton, Amber on Belle, the other girl on a chestnut and a boy on a bay. They took off across the field and I waited for Hampton to refuse the tire jump. He hated going outside the arena. Mickey could never get him to do anything. He was always more interested in the grass than doing anything she asked and if she tried to make him he would always act out, spooking at nothing and getting her so flustered that she’d eventually give up. But there he was, cantering with his ears pricked and taking the tire jump like it was nothing. Then they cantered up the hill and disappeared.

  “They’ve gone,” I told Mickey.

  “Good,” she said.

  “Come on guys,” I called out to Ethan and Faith. “We’re next to go.”

  Ethan dragged Wendell out of his stall with a scowl on his face.

  “I couldn’t get her to take them out,” he said. “I tried everything. I even threatened to tell Mom and Dad all her dirty little secrets but she didn’t even care.”

  “Faith his dirty little secrets?” Mickey said.

  “The kid is devious,” I nodded. “Never mind. I’m sure they will have finished filming by the time we go by anyway so I wouldn’t worry about it.”

  “But it’s still an embarrassment,” Ethan groaned.

  And there she was, dragging the black pony with the streaming pink ribbons down the aisle. She had even tied matching ones in the end of her braids.

  “Just ignore her,” I told Ethan.

  “That should be easy enough, I’ve been doing it my whole life,” he sighed.

  Outside the crowds had cleared. Everyone who was staying to help had gone on to the halfway point and the others had probably decided to clear off for two hours and then come back for the party.

  “You guys all set?” Esther asked.

  “Yes,” I nodded.

  “Oh my, what on earth?” she said as soon as she saw Faith.

  “Don’t worry about it,” I said. “I have everything under control.”

  “I sure hope so,” Esther sighed. “I still think that Faith is too young to be galloping around with you guys and this just proves how right I am.”

  “She’ll be fine,” I said again, even though I wasn’t sure.

  “Alright,” Esther said. “Well, good luck out there. We’ll see you at the halfway point.”

  “Okay,” I said.

  We took our horses to the start and Esther blew the whistle. I closed my legs around Bluebird’s sides and we were away. Willow covered the ground next to me in long, floating strides and behind I could hear the thundering hooves of Wendell and the staccato beat of Princess as she tried to keep up.

  As we approached the tires, Bluebird pricked his ears. We’d been using them as practice all week and he knew it was a jump. He hopped over them and so did Willow, a grin stretching over Mickey’s face as she gave the mare a pat. Deep down I knew she’d never have got Hampton over that jump in a million years. I peeked behind to see Wendell and Princess both hop over as well.

  The nervous feeling that had been lingering in the pit of my stomach vanished. This wasn’t a show with judges to impress and ribbons to win. This was us, riding together like a team and having the time of our lives.

  We cantered along the trail. It was cold in the shade and there was a damp smell in the air like rotting leaves and dead things. Once or twice I felt Bluebird slip beneath me on the slippery leaves and the churned up ground. I hadn’t thought about it before but now I realized that going last, we would have the worst footing to deal with.

  But before we knew it we were back out in the sun and hopping over the low bar that separated Sand Hill from the wide fields beyond. We cantered four abreast down the hill, Faith beside me with a look of pure bliss on her face. I knew that look. It was the same one I had. The pink ribbons streamed out in the wind as Princess cantered on and despite the fact that the pony was a tomboy at heart, she had a look on her face that said she was as happy as Faith was.

  When we got to the trees, we slowed to a trot. The logs to jump were marked out with red tape.

  “Follow me, okay?” I called out to Faith.

  “Okay,” she nodded.

  We weaved back and forth over the jumps. The ground was badly churned up in front of one of them.

  “Looks like someone had trouble,” Ethan pointed.

  “Well no one is here,” I said. “They must have moved on.”

  “I hope it wasn’t Hampton,” Mickey said, looking pale.

  “Come on,” I picked up the reins. “Let’s keep going.”

  We cantered the rest of the way down the hill to the old house where Granny Mae lived. We slowed to a walk as we crossed the courtyard. I didn’t see the chicken. It had probably taken off when the first team came barreling through. The curtains were still drawn and the house looked empty and abandoned.

  After the hunter pace was over, I told myself that I would go and visit Granny Mae in the hospital. Tell her how great Willow was doing and how much Mickey loved her. I wished she had been here to see us. I could almost imagine the shadow of an old woman, sitting in the window with a white shawl around her shoulders, smiling sadly and giving a little wave like the Queen.

  “Which way now?” Faith said as we came out in the lane.

  “We follow the arrows,” I said, pointing to the signs we had spent hours making.

  We walked down the lane and the whole time I had my fingers crossed that a car wouldn’t come along. Our horses and ponies were all pretty well behaved but it only took one idiot to honk his horn or floor it past us to scare even the most trustworthy horse. We made it to the next field without meeting any traffic and I let out a sigh of relief as we urged our horses into a canter.

  But as the breeze whipped back my hair and drew tears from my eyes, I thought I heard something. It could have just been the way the wind was howling through the neighboring trees but it also could have been a scream.

  CHAPTER TWENTY FOUR

  I slowed Bluebird to a walk.

  “What is it?” Mickey asked, pulling up Willow. “Is he lame?”

  “No,” I said. “Did you hear that?”

  “Hear what?” she shrugged.

  I didn’t want to say what I thought the noise had been because I didn’t want to scare Faith. There she was, sitting on Princess, all ribbons and hope and having the time of her life
.

  “A voice,” I said. “Like someone yelling?”

  “It was probably just the wind,” Ethan said as Wendell danced about, eager to be cantering again.

  “Yeah,” I said. “Probably.”

  But as we cantered over the field and kicked our horses into a gallop, I wasn’t so sure. We jumped more logs and the pile of branches we had spent ages making into a brush fence. Princess didn’t like it very much. She dug her heels in and refused but I had to hand it to Faith. She stuck in the saddle, tapped Princess with her crop and made the pony jump it anyway. We left the brush fence behind with my heart still pounding in my chest and one of the pink ribbons fluttering from a twig. It was bad enough being responsible for myself, let alone making sure that Faith didn’t get hurt as well.

  “Good job,” I told her as we trotted for a little bit to let the horses catch their breath.

  “Thanks,” she grinned.

  We ground to a walk as we got to the woods. The trees were too dense to do anything but walk in single file and follow the red tape. Up ahead was the creek. I checked my watch. I had a feeling we were pretty much on target for time. Fox Run may win the cup but at least I’d know that we were the best if we were closer to the optimum time than they were.

  “Okay to trot?” I called out as the woods thinned again.

  We trotted and then cantered our way up to the creek and as we got closer my heart plummeted like a rock into my stomach. What had once been a tiny, trickling stream of water was now a gushing, roaring river. The rains had turned it from little more than a pond into something that I wouldn’t ever try and cross in my right mind.

  “What are we going to do?” Mickey said.

  Willow was snorting at the river and backing up. Princess was rolling her eyes and doing the same thing. Only Bluebird and Wendell didn’t seem to care.

  “Looks like everyone else made it through okay,” Ethan said. “Otherwise they’d be a pile up of riders and horses standing here like we are, wondering what to do.”