New Beginnings at Century Farms

Chapter 8

I ran outside to the barn as fast as I could. I went straight to Pepper's stall, and let myself in. "Oh, Pepper," I said. I hugged his neck and buried my face into his mane. I started crying. "I'm going to miss you so much!" I cried. I let go of him and wiped my eyes with my coat sleeve. "It's gonna be okay, though, boy," I said. Pepper could sense that I was sad, so he wrapped his neck around me, as if to give me a hug. "Thanks boy," I said. "I know you'll go to a good home. Mom checked out the barn you'll be going to and she said it was nice. I don't know the owners, but they sound nice. Mom wouldn't let you go anywhere where they would hurt you," I said, more to myself than to Pepper. "Let's go for one last perfect ride."

I led him out of his stall and put him in the cross ties. I brushed him extra well, and he shined like a new dime. I got his tack, put it on him, then got my safety vest and put Pepper's boots/splints on for cross country jumping. I was gonna warm up with some dressage in the arena, then do a few regular jumps in the arena, then go out to our cross country course and do a few of those jumps. I'll finish up by cooling him down on our favorite trail.

I tightened my chin strap on my helmet, then mounted Pepper. I let him walk around the arena a few times with loose reins. Then I asked him to trot, and we trotted some 20 meter circles and went down center line a few times. I let him walk again, and did some leg yields. When I was done with those, I asked him to canter, and he immediately went into a smooth, rocking canter. I felt like I was on a rocking horse. We cantered a 20 meter circle, then went down the diagonal and did a flying change. He was perfect! We had recently been working on flying changes, and it was tough for Pepper in the beginning, but now he's a pro at them! I brought him down to a collected trot, then a walk. I let him do a free walk down the diagonals so he could stretch his neck and take a break.

Once he had had a break, I dismounted him and set up a few jumps. I put up a few crossrails, a few verticals, and one oxer. They weren't too high; they were about 2 feet. I got back on him and trotted him around the arena. I warmed him up by trotting over the crossrails. He trotted over them like they were trotting poles! "Okay boy, now let's do some more jumps!" I said to him. I cantered a circle before the jumps, then pointed him at the first crossrail. He cantered right up to it and flew over it easily. We arrived at the next crossrail, and took it like it was nothing. The next jump was a vertical. I counted the strides in my head, and then went into two-point at the right moment, and we cleared the jump with inches to spare! We cantered over the next vertical, and then finished finished the course with the oxer. He flew over the oxer perfectly! "Good, good boy!" I said to Pepper. "You were perfect!"

I let him walk and have another long break. We walked over to the cross country course, but I was only going to take him over a couple of the jumps. He has been working so hard already, I'm not going to make him do another whole course. We arrived at the cross country course, and I decided we would do the two brush jumps and the two log jumps. They were the easiest ones. I trotted him around a bit to get him back warmed up, then I cantered a circle, and pointed him at the first brush jump. Timing was essencial for cross country because these were solid jumps, not ones were the pole would fall down if we hit it. If we hit a solid jump, it could cause a bad injury to the horse or the rider. I counted down the strides, and we took off and flew over the brush jump. "Awesome," I whispered to myself. The next jump was a log jump, and we easily jumped it. There was another log jump, which we easily cantered over, and the last jump was the other brush jump. Three, two, one! He flew over the brush jump perfectly and easily. "Good boy!" I praised him. "It's sad that those were our last jumps together," I sighed. "Let's go on the trail now."

We walked towards the woods and on to the path where our favorite trail starts. We started out on the main trail, and when we were about a quarter way through it, we turned and went between the big tree and boulder that marked the spot where we made our own trail. We had been going on the trail we made up for about two years, and we had gone on it so much it looks like a main trail. Only I knew about the secret trail though. It leads to the same place as the one that we were just on does; it leads to the big open meadow. As we ambled along the trail, I looked up at the sky. The sun was starting to set, which means that we had to hurry home so we could get there before dark. "Come on boy, it's starting to get dark, so we better pick up the pace," I said to Pepper. I gave him a little nudge with my legs, and he walked a bit faster. Just then, a herd of deer jumped right in front of us, and Pepper freaked out! He reared, and I held on to his mane for dear life. He put all four feet back down on the ground, and then bolted. He was running so fast, I wasn't ready for it! His thoroughbred blood was kicking in, and he wouldn't stop when I pulled back the reins. "Whoa boy!" I yelled. He kept on running, and when he jumped over a fallen tree, I lost my stirrups and my hold on his mane and I tumbled off of him on to the hard ground. All I could see was a frightened Pepper galloping away as fast as he could, then everything started spinning, and then the world went black.

Hey guys! Sorry I haven't updated for a while, I've been busy with riding, school, and volleyball. I will try to update more, I promise. Thank you so much for all the votes for my book and all the views! Please comment, I love to know what you guys think!!! Thx💕