The Colt Challenge (A Horse Story)

Chapter Three

My muscles ached from the twenty minute bike ride and my brain felt a little swirled. Here I was again, standing in front of the little office building and the grand stables that followed behind it. The girls were just as excited as yesterday, the horses seemed utterly confused though. Almost all of the round pens are taken up by eager riders and their new foals. A twinge of jealously gripped at my heart as I passed the enthusiastic teens. They all had responsive and fun little youngsters to deal with. I had Arrow.

As I walked to the arena I tried to convince myself that Arrow wasn't a bad foal. He wasn't all that 'bad' but he certainly wasn't all that good either. This time guilt pinched me, I felt so horrible for thinking these nasty thoughts about him, I guess I just felt that way, annoyed and uninterested. My riding lesson was in an hour, but instead of drowning in my whirlpool of unhappy thoughts I leaned against the nicely painted white arena fences and watched the current lesson.

The horses moved gracefully around the sandy area, their hooves pounding against the ground in a three beat rhythm. There were six advanced riders in this lesson, all were at one with their mounts as they cantered along. One of the instructors, Kelly, watched contently a satisfied grin playing on her lips. "Alright everyone, bring your horses into the middle for a moment!" Kelly called out to the older girls who responded almost instantly. Once everyone was relaxing at X, Kelly began to set up a small course of jumps. The heights were quite big though, the largest one being a 1.20 upright. "Melanie you're first!" Kelly announced, then proceeded to tell Melanie the order of jumps.

Without hesitation, Melanie pushed her dun gelding Flame into a forward moving canter. As they approached the first jump Flame's ears swiveled forward and the horse prepared to take off. With ease the pair soared over the green and white jump and swiftly moved on, heading towards the next fence. I watched with admiration, and a hint of envy, although I would like to believe I could jump 1.20 my highest jump so far was probably only 70cm or so. A bold look of determination shining on her face, Melanie prepared for the final jump. Lifting herself out of the saddle and encouraging Flame on with her voice and heels, they sailed over the jump with room to spare. A whoop of congratulations came from the girls watching around me. "Well done Mel!" I called out confidently, Melanie turned and waved at me sweetly, and I smiled happily in reply.

An hour later I was standing in the tack room studying the list of horses looking for my name.
Allegra Mason riding Bullet.
Bullet was a fun horse to ride, very speedy and a little hard to handle at times but always very entertaining. Grabbing the appaloosa's green themed tack I headed to his stall. Then I noticed a little palomino filly. Venus. My mouth fell open and I almost dropped the saddle I was carrying. Cassidy French had been given my precious palomino. Tears threatened to spill from my gray-blue eyes, but I wouldn't let them fall, Cassidy already had enough to tease me about. I would not cry in front of her. Less enthusiastic I trudged over to Bullet's stall and sloppily placed on his tack.

Usually I would have checked everything over ten times but today I could not be bothered at all. It was so unfair, Cassidy didn't deserve Venus. What did I do to deserve Arrow anyway?! Pushing the negatives thoughts out of my mind I unclipped Bullet's halter and took the reins. The appaloosa walked calmly beside me, and stood patiently beside the mounting block alomst automatically. Climing up the wooden step, I swung my leg over Bullet's spotted side and seated myself on his back. 

Everything was much less worrying from the back of a horse, and despite everything that was making me unhappy a smile crept onto my face. Reins loose and my feet dangling, we casually walked into the arena where most of the girls were waiting. My instructor Zara was chatting and giggling with the older students. She was nineteen, and enviably pretty. Her long ebony hair shined in the sunlight, and her beautiful azure eyes memorized everyone. I could not help but feel a pinch of jealously inside my stomach.

Eventually all the rider were ready and we started to warm up the horses by walking around the arena. After half an hour of mindless trotting we were called into the middle. "Okay girls, what should we do. Bareback, or jumping." She asked, in my opinion Zara was the best teacher, she always asked what we wanted to do and made sure we were having fun. Like most good instructors she was tough and she pushed us but not in a bad way.

"Can we do both?" I asked hopefully, a large grin plastered to my face. Jumping bareback was one of my favorite things to do, even though I often fell off.  It seemed my smile was infectious and soon everyone, including Zara, was enthusiastic about my idea. We all ditched the leather seats and remounted bareback on our horses.

Zara quickly set up an assortment on colorful jumps, mostly ranging from 30-80cm. Most girls seemed excited but I noticed one girl looked less pleased. She fidgeted uncomfortably on top of Knight's back and played nervously with her long dark hair. Her dazzling green eyes were wide with fear, the grey gelding beneath her sensed the tension and flicked his ears back in concern.

"Alright, since you suggested it why don't you go first Ally? After her we'll have Aria and Knight okay?" Zara addressed both me and the scared girl, who nodded unhappily in reply. I saw her inhale and she didn't breath out for so long I thought she might pass out. 
"Ally?" Zara said, looking at me with a puzzled expression. I then realized I was supposed to be jumping.
"Oh sorry!" I apologized quickly, gathering my reins and squeezing Bullet into a forward moving trot.

Luckily Bullet's trot was very smooth, so barebacking on him was an enjoyable experience. In the first corner we picked up a speedy canter, and I struggled to keep the appaloosa under control as he raced towards the first jump. The more I tried to pull him back the more he fought, so eventually I let him run and we approached the first jump. Tucking his spotted legs right underneath him, Bullet soared effortlessly over the medium sized jump. A wide smile on my face we continued onto the next jump.

This one was a little bigger, but I felt more confident bareback than with a saddle. Once again, the gelding flew over with no help needed from me. In fact the only thing I really had to do was try and keep a steady pace, not lose my balance on his slippery back and rise into a bareback jumping position! 

After a couple more simple jumps we were finished. Beaming with pride I fussed over the speedy little gelding, praising him genoursly. As I walked him back to the group I smiled kindly at Aria. "Good Luck" I whispered. A trace of a smile appeared on her freckled face, but soon faded when Zara called her name. 

Aria seemed like an amazing rider. Confidence issues were definitly holding her back though. You could see in the way she rode gently and easily that she was born for horses. It was also obvious how fearful she was. In that moment I decided I would try and help her.

My current To-do list:

- Train Arrow
- Bond with Arrow
- Get near Arrow
- Become good friends with Lacey
- Help Aria become a confident rider.

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Sorry this is a terrible chapter :(
It is also unedited so is a bit basic and may have a few mistakes.
I just really wanted to get a chapter out for my readers :) You guys are awesome!
Just to clarify, the 'foals' in the Colt Challenge are all around three years old.
This is kind of just a filler chapter. The only really important bits in this are Aria and the fact that Cassidy has Venus (:/)
Any questions feel free to ask! If you want me to check out a book you've wrote I will probably be happy to do so!

 

-HorseLover224