Back in the Saddle (6 page)

She didn't make any more big mistakes after that, but her concentration had been blown by the near disaster, and even as she swept into her salute at the end, she knew it hadn't been their best ride. She kept a smile on her face until they turned away from the judge, then blew out her breath in a whoosh, slumping in the saddle as she exited.

“Nice ride,” Riley said as Haley passed.

Haley shot her a look, wondering if the older girl was being sarcastic. But Riley had already turned to watch the next rider enter.

Jan hurried over to meet Haley as she rode away from the ring. “Well done, Haley,” she said. “Saw your bobble at the beginning, but you recovered well.” She patted Haley on the knee, then gave Wings a rub on the neck.

“Thanks, but we definitely could've done better,” Haley said.

“You can always do better.” Jan raised an eyebrow at her. “If not, why even bother competing?”

“Yeah, I guess,” Haley muttered.

Just then a woman over by the results board called Jan's name, and the trainer looked that way. “I'd better see what she wants,” she told Haley. “You okay?”

“Sure.” Haley forced a small smile, and Jan hurried away.

Andrew dismounted and led Turbo over to where Haley and Wings were standing. Kyle rode after him. “Good job, Haley,” Andrew said. “Your transitions were really accurate.”

“Thanks, but I know we messed up.” Haley sighed, giving Wings a pat. “It was totally my fault. I spaced out when we came in and, well . . .”

She let her voice trail off. Kyle shot her a sympathetic smile. “It's okay,” he said. “You know you're still going to beat me by at least fifty points.”

Haley smiled weakly as Andrew chuckled. Beating Kyle wasn't what she'd had in mind for today. Her gaze wandered back to Riley, still standing ringside.

Andrew followed her gaze. “I know that Riley girl looked good in dressage,” he said. “She'll probably win this phase. But who knows if that fancy horse of hers can even jump, right?”

“Yeah.” Haley felt a twinge of hope. It was true—there were still two phases yet to come.

“You and Wings always kill the jumping phases,” Kyle reminded her cheerfully. “Especially cross-country. That's what Jan says, anyway.”

“It's true,” Andrew told him. “I mean, you've seen them in lessons. Wings is a cross-country machine!”

Their comments made Haley feel a tiny bit better.
Because they were right. There were still two phases left in the competition. Two phases that happened to be the ones she and Wings were best at. She'd never come out on top in dressage in her life, and that hadn't stopped her from winning in the past. In fact, she'd never failed to improve by several places by the end of the day, since at least some of the top dressage performers usually had faults in the jumping phases.

“I just wish we'd been able to show what we can really do,” Haley said. “We've been working so hard in dressage, and all it took was one tiny mistake to throw us off, you know?”

“That's eventing for you.” Andrew squinted toward the ring. “Hey, Kyle, better get back over there. Aren't you next?”

Kyle pulled a slip of paper out of his pocket and consulted it. “Nope. There's two more after this one before it's my turn.”

“That must be one of them.” Haley watched a girl around her own age riding toward the ring. Her horse was an attractive and kind-eyed bay mare with four white socks.

“Hey, I know her,” Andrew said. He waved as the girl passed them. “Good luck, Claire!”

The girl, Claire, glanced down at him briefly. “Thanks,” she said without slowing down.

Soon she was in the ring beginning her test. “How do you know her?” Haley asked Andrew.

“She rides with a trainer I took a few dressage lessons with before I started going to Jan,” Andrew said. “She'd just started when I was there last summer, actually. She'd been riding for a couple of years but was brand-new to eventing.”

Haley watched the mare round the far turn and begin her first trot circle. “Her horse has a fancy trot,” she commented.

Both boys nodded, and they all watched in silence for a moment. The bay mare's gaits were lovely and steady, and the rider wasn't making any major mistakes. However, Haley couldn't help noticing that their circles weren't exactly round, and a few of the transitions were early or late.

At least that's one more rider Wings and I will probably
beat,
Haley thought, trying to make herself feel better about her own ride.

When Claire rode out of the ring, she paused to talk to her trainer, a lean man wearing a sweatshirt with a stable logo on it. Then she rode over to Haley and the others.

“It's Andrew, right?” she said, glancing at Turbo, who was grazing on a bit of winter-brown grass. “Is that the same horse you had before?”

“Uh-huh.” Andrew gave the thoroughbred a pat. “He's come a long way, right?”

“I guess.” The girl glanced at Haley and Kyle. She had bright blue eyes and a sharp chin. “Hi. I'm Claire.”

Haley and Kyle introduced themselves. “Nice ride, Claire,” Kyle added.

“Thanks.” Claire smiled rather smugly. “My trainer says Bella always wins the dressage. She used to compete at intermediate before I bought her.”

“Really?” Haley knew that intermediate was the second-highest level in eventing. No wonder the mare was so fancy!

“Yeah, her owner was maybe going to try her at
advanced, but my dad made him an offer he couldn't refuse, because I just had to have her.” Claire patted her horse. “Come on, Bella. Let's go celebrate with some nice carrots, hmm?”

She rode off without saying good-bye. “She's . . . interesting,” Kyle commented.

“I don't know her that well. But I heard that her family is pretty rich,” Andrew said.

Just then Jan bustled over. “Heads up, Kyle,” she said briskly. “You're on deck, so look alive.”

“Okay.” Kyle shortened his reins, waking his horse from what appeared to be a quick nap. “Here goes nothing!”

Forty minutes later the last of the beginner novice riders had finished their dressage tests, and the judge's scribe was shuffling through some papers, standing in front of the big wooden bulletin board near the ring. Haley and her teammates watched from a polite distance, Haley's fingers crossed in the pocket of her breeches as she waited, more or less patiently, for the scribe to post the dressage scores. Had the judge noticed her mistakes? If
so, how much would it bring down her score?

“Okay, they're up,” she told Andrew and Kyle as the scribe finally pinned several sheets to the board. “Let's go check out the damage.”

Haley hurried over, with the boys on her heels. Her heart sank when she immediately spotted Riley's name at the top of the list. She scanned down, hoping hers would be right below it. And down, and down . . .

“I got eleventh.” Andrew sounded delighted.

Haley glanced at his name, then finally spotted hers a couple of spaces below. “Thirteenth for me,” she said, trying not to sound as disappointed as she felt.

“There's me, number twenty-two,” Kyle said cheerfully. “Hey, at least I beat a few people!”

“Including the one whose horse jumped out of the ring and got the big E,” Andrew joked, giving Kyle a playful punch on the arm.

“Hey, I'll take what I can get,” Kyle retorted with a grin.

Haley couldn't muster a contribution to their banter. Instead she just stood there staring at her name. Thirteenth
place? That was pathetic. How was she supposed to win the division after a start like that?

Unlucky thirteen,
she thought with a grimace.
Is the universe playing an April Fools' Day prank on me?

“Ow,” she blurted out as someone pushed past, knocking her aside and almost stepping on her foot.

“Excuse me, excuse me!” It was Claire, bullying her way to the front of the group of riders gathered around the results. She scanned the list of names and scores and let out a gasp. “Ninth place?
What?
” she exclaimed. She whirled and scowled at Andrew as if he were somehow responsible for her results. “But we did
much
better than that, don't you think?”

“That's eventing for you,” Andrew replied philosophically. “You win some, you lose some.”

Claire frowned at him. “Bella doesn't lose,” she snapped. “At least she shouldn't, not after how much Daddy paid for her!”

She stormed off without waiting for a response, almost bowling over an elderly man as she went. “Wow,” Kyle said. “She seems kind of bummed about her score.”

“Yeah.” Haley was a little annoyed that Claire had beaten her, though she guessed the mare's fancy gaits might have had something to do with it. But Haley did her best to shake that off. Claire wasn't her competition—Riley was. And Haley was going to have to stay focused if she wanted to make up enough ground to beat her. “Come on,” she told the boys. “Let's go find Jan and give her the news.”

Jan was back at the trailer helping an adult student tack up her horse. She nodded at the news about the scores.

“Okay, so now you know what you need to do on cross-country,” she told Haley, Kyle, and Andrew. “There's nothing out there you and your horses haven't seen before, so just ride your plan and think forward. It's a nice, flowing course, and you can all do it.”

“I know Augie can do it,” Kyle joked. “I just hope I can hold on for the ride.”

“Don't be silly,” Haley told him. “You'll do great.” She was already feeling the thump-thump-thump of excitement inside her as she thought about the course. Jan was right—it was nothing she and Wings couldn't handle in
their sleep. Doing some quick calculations in her head, she figured out that Riley would have to incur only a couple of jumping faults and maybe some time penalties, and Haley would be breathing down her neck by the time they hit show jumping.

And all Wings and I need is to get close,
she thought fiercely,
and we'll be able to psyche Riley out and win!

CHAPTER

THE START BOX
for cross-country was in a broad, sunny field with a view of most of the rest of the course. Haley glanced out, mentally riding the whole course as she waited for the starter to count down her time.

Log to roll top to brush to coop,
she thought.
Then we'll have to be careful at the ditch. Jan thought it might ride a little funky if the sun's too bright and the horses have trouble getting a good look at it. . . .

Since the course was essentially a big loop around the property, the finish line was just a few yards off to one side of the start box. As Haley circled Wings, making sure he
was on the aids and paying attention, a man galloped in on a sweaty chestnut horse.

“Whew, that was fun,” the rider exclaimed to no one in particular. He brought his horse down to a walk, gave it a hearty pat, and then glanced over at Haley. “Watch out for the brush near the beginning,” he called to her. “It's easy for them to want to stop right after coming up that steep hill.”