Back in the Saddle (7 page)

“Thanks,” Haley responded absently. She'd just spotted Riley hand-walking her horse around in circles while chatting on her cell phone. The older girl had just finished her cross-country course, and Haley couldn't help wondering how she'd done. Haley squinted, trying to read the expression on Riley's face—excited? content? maybe a little disappointed?—but the girl was too far away.

“Ready?” the starter asked, holding up his watch. “Ten seconds.”

“Ready. Thanks.” Haley rode into the box and turned around, keeping a tight hold on the reins so Wings wouldn't burst out early. Out of the corner of her eye, she watched Riley fiddle with her horse's bridle.

“. . . three, two, one,” the starter said. “Go!”

Snapping back to her own ride, Haley urged Wings forward. He was ready, leaping out of the box and almost immediately surging into a brisk canter.

“Easy, easy,” Haley murmured, sitting up and half-halting to bring him back a little. Wings was fast, and Haley never worried that they'd get time faults for going too slowly. But at beginner novice level, you didn't get any extra points for going faster than everyone else. In fact, you would be penalized if you came in too far below the optimum time.

The first obstacle was just a few strides away now. Wings pricked his ears and sailed over the big, round log jump easily. Haley just caught a glimpse of the jump judge giving her a thumbs-up from her lawn chair beside the log, before the judge fell out of view as Wings cantered off toward the next obstacle.

“Good boy,” Haley murmured.

She glanced forward at the roll top coming up halfway across the flat field. But it was still a good distance away, and as Wings cantered easily down a slight hill, Haley's
mind wandered to Riley again. Haley wished she'd had enough time to find out how the other girl had done. Then she'd know exactly what she needed to do.

Wings jumped the roll top perfectly out of stride. After that the course veered off to the left, along a dirt trail through a small grove of trees, and then up a steep hill leading up to another big, flat field alongside the dressage and jumping rings.

“Go on, Wingsie,” Haley muttered, feeling the pony's gait falter ever so slightly as they neared the trees. The bare branches formed a lattice of shadows on the hard-packed dirt below, and Wings was giving the odd-looking footing a hard look.

But a kick and a cluck were all it took to send the brave pony forward again. Soon they emerged from the shadows and faced the steep hill. Wings attacked it eagerly, and Haley glanced at her watch to see how they were doing on time so far.

Except she immediately realized, with a stab of dismay, that she'd forgotten to start the timer on the watch while she'd been in the box!

Oh, man!
she thought.
I was so busy worrying about Riley that I totally spaced.

Wings surged over the lip of the hill, and Haley blinked, forgetting about her watch as she saw the brush jump coming up fast in front of them. Yikes! No wonder that man had warned her about this one. It had looked like an easy five strides when she'd walked it with Jan and the others earlier. But Wings had decelerated as soon as he'd crested the hill, staring off toward the horses and spectators over by the rings, and she'd be lucky to get to the jump in six strides with enough impulsion to make it over.

“Get up, Wings!” she cried, giving him a stout kick with both legs. “Keep moving, buddy!”

The horse snorted and surged forward. But at the same time he shook his head and humped his back as if thinking about tossing in a buck.

“Quit!” Haley growled, booting him again.

He leaped forward but stumbled, lurching forward and scrabbling to stay on his feet. He recovered quickly and cantered on, but Haley instantly realized that the stumble had really messed up their striding. They were going to
meet the brush on an awkward half stride. The jump wasn't that big, and Wings should still be able to make it over if she could convince him to take the long spot. . . .

She kicked frantically, but Wings had had enough. He tossed his head again and skidded to a stop right in front of the jump.

No, no, no!
Haley thought frantically, already adding the points for the refusal onto her dressage penalties. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw the jump judge make a note on her score sheet.

She pulled Wings to the side and kicked him into a brisk trot before turning toward the brush jump again. Wings pricked his ears forward, then pinned them back and started to slow down.

“Go, go, go!” Haley cried, reaching around to tap him behind her leg with her crop.

Wings let out a grunt of surprise—Haley rarely had to use her crop on him—and shot forward. He met the brush jump at an awkward spot again, but this time he kept going, leaping up and over the brush jump but twisting in the air to keep his front legs from hitting it. He landed hard on the far
side, and Haley felt herself flying through the air. . . .

Oof.
She landed on her left shoulder and rolled onto her back. “Rider down!” the jump judge cried into her radio, leaping to her feet. She was a fortyish woman with a motherly look about her. Soon she was on her knees beside Haley. “Don't try to move yet, dear.”

“I'm okay,” Haley said breathlessly. She rolled into a sitting position and looked around for Wings. He hadn't gone far before stopping to nibble on a shrub off to the side of the course.

“I've got to get my pony,” Haley said. But as she struggled to her feet, legs shaking, she saw someone dart out from the spectators and make a beeline for Wings. It was Kyle. He grabbed the pony's dangling reins and led him toward Haley.

“I'm sorry, dear,” the fence judge said, patting Haley on the arm. “I'm afraid this means you're out.”

“I know.” Haley's heart sank as she accepted what had just happened—how everything had gone all wrong in the blink of an eye. She'd fallen off, and she knew what that meant. The big E. Elimination.

She moved forward to meet Kyle and Wings. At the same time Jan appeared out of the crowd and dashed over.

“Haley! Are you okay?” the trainer cried. “What happened? Did you hit your head?”

“No, I'm fine.” Haley flexed her left arm just to make sure. “Landed on my shoulder.”

“Okay.” Jan still looked worried. She glanced at Kyle. “I'll take Wings,” she said. “Thanks for catching him.”

“You're welcome.” Kyle glanced at Haley, as if expecting her to thank him as well.

But Haley didn't say a word. She couldn't. The disappointment had just hit her, far more painful than the minor bumps and bruises she'd sustained in the fall. Her event was over. Not only had she failed to win, but she hadn't even completed. There would be no show jumping for her and Wings later. No ribbon. No enjoying the look on Riley's face when Haley beat her.

How could this have happened?

“How does this look on me?” Kyle grabbed the light blue tenth-place ribbon hanging on a clothes rack near Jan's
trailer and held it up against his shirt like a tie. Haley looked up from folding coolers and stuffing them into a trunk.

Andrew grinned and grabbed the ribbon out of the other boy's hand. “Hey, give it back,” he said. “Turbo and I earned that thing fair and square!”

“I know, I know,” Kyle said with a laugh. “Who knows? Maybe Augie and I will get our own ribbon someday. In about a billion years. If I'm lucky.”

“You can have mine if you want a stupid ribbon so much.” Claire sounded grumpy as she tossed her own brown eighth-place ribbon at the boys. She was leaning against the next trailer, watching Jan's group pack up. “It's definitely not the color I was expecting.”

“Wow, sore winner much?” Kyle murmured into Haley's ear as he hurried past with an armful of saddle pads to add to the trunk in front of her.

Haley just shrugged. Yeah, Claire was acting like a brat, but Haley couldn't really blame her. Haley wasn't in the best of moods herself after what had happened earlier. She still couldn't believe that she'd messed up so
badly. And the worst part? It had totally been her fault. Eventing was all about guts, preparation, and focus. She'd started that cross-country course with plenty of the first two. But she realized now that she hadn't really been focused from the start, and it hadn't taken long for that to catch up with her.

The other worst part was that she'd had to hang around for the rest of the day watching the others have fun. Riley had ended up winning the beginner novice division, of course. Her mare had floated over the show jumping obstacles as if they'd been six-inch crossrails, never coming close to touching any of them.

Andrew and Kyle hadn't done as well, though both of them seemed pleased enough with their performances. Turbo had gone clear cross-country and had knocked down one fence in show jumping, which had been enough for that tenth-place ribbon. Kyle had done fine on cross-country, with just a few time faults, but as usual Augie had been sloppy in stadium, knocking down more jumps than he'd left standing. Kyle and Augie had finished well out of the standings, though Kyle seemed pleased just to
have completed the event, and he couldn't stop bragging playfully that he hadn't come in last this time.

Jan poked her head out of the trailer, where she'd just gone to put something in the storage area. “Your uncle called, Haley,” she said. “He's on his way to pick you up. Should be here in twenty minutes.”

“Thanks,” Haley muttered without looking up from the trunk full of coolers.

Jan stepped out of the trailer, pocketing her phone. “Hey,” she said, walking over to Haley. “You still down in the dumps over that fall? That's not like you. Shake it off, girl, and start thinking about next time.”

“Easy for you to say,” Haley snapped before she realized what she was saying. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Kyle and Andrew trade a wide-eyed look. Jan was pretty easygoing, but she wasn't one to tolerate a lot of back talk.

The trainer just sighed, though. “Listen, Haley,” she said briskly. “You win some, you lose some. That's eventing, right?”

“I guess.” Haley stared at the square of fabric in her
hands. “But Wings and I have made it over way harder stuff than that stupid brush thing.”

“Sure you have.” Jan shrugged. “But this time you didn't. It happens.”

“Only when I mess up,” Haley countered. “And I definitely did. Big-time.” She finally met Jan's gaze square on, practically daring her to say it wasn't true.

Jan's frank blue eyes met Haley's without blinking. “Okay,” the trainer said. “Maybe you did mess up. But the footing was tricky on the landing from that jump, and the approach coming so soon after the hill was giving people fits all day. Who knows how much was you and how much was the course, right? Either way, you've got to learn from it and move on. Doesn't do any good to beat yourself up.”

This time Haley just nodded and looked away. No matter what anyone said, Haley knew it was her fault they'd been eliminated. Wings was as sure-footed as they came; he wouldn't have stumbled if she'd been paying attention to the footing. It wasn't like him to stop either, no matter what kind of distance they found. If
she'd ridden more aggressively, he probably would have jumped the first time. And maybe if she'd been sitting back more, she wouldn't have come flying off over his shoulder like a beginner when he had finally made it over that fence.

Yes, this was all her fault. She'd let her pony down, and she'd let herself down. There were no two ways about it.

She glanced at Wings, who was standing tied to the trailer with the other horses. Turbo was nibbling at the hay net Andrew had hung for him, and one of the other horses kept trying to chew on her lead rope. But Wings was standing quietly with one hind leg cocked, looking sleepy. Haley couldn't help flashing back to that first ride after the penning, when he'd felt sluggish and a little tired. How much had the exciting day chasing cows taken out of him? Was that maybe the real reason he'd stumbled out there? Was he still a little tired and sore from the unaccustomed movements of playing cow pony?

Maybe,
she told herself.
But never mind. It's not going to happen again. Because next time I'm going to make sure we're
ready. I'm going to make sure we redeem ourselves. Big-time.

“Hey,” Kyle said, breaking into her thoughts. “You okay?”

Haley blinked up at him, forcing a smile. “Yeah, just thinking about the future, like Jan said,” she told him. “And listen, thanks for catching Wings for me earlier.”

“Oh!” Kyle flashed her a smile. “Sure, anytime, Haley. No big deal.”

“Still.” Haley glanced at Andrew, who was fiddling with some tangled reins nearby. “Sorry I've been kind of a grump today. It was fun seeing you two do so well, anyway. Congratulations.”