New Beginnings at Century Farms

Chapter 19

We walked outside into the sunshine, and I mounted him and we started to warm up with Heather and Cloud. It's so cute, I think Cowboy and Cloud have a crush on each other! They always touch noses with each other, and occasionally I'll see them scratching each other's backs in the pasture! It's so sweet. We started trotting around the arena, and I let him get his coughs out. Then, we did lots of serpentines and circles. I worked on transistions with him so he knew to listen to me.

When I let Cowboy have a walk break, I heard the gate creak open, and to our delight it was Cindy, Alison, and Rachel. Oh joy. They started warming up and I tried to ignore the glare that the trio gave me when they would pass me. All of the sudden, Cindy halted Sunshine right in our way. I tried to walk around her but she kept moving Sunshine so we couldn't pass her. "Excuse me, but I need to keep going," I said impaciently. "Oh, I'm so sorry," she said sarcastically, and swung Sunshine around so we got a nice shot of dark bay rump.

I sighed and watched Heather as she dismounted and set up a few jumps for her and Cloud to take. I'm not sure if Cowboy is ready to do any jumping, but I am planning on trying it soon. Not today though, with so many people in the ring. Heather mounted again, and cantered Cloud over some warm up jumps, and then she jumped the course that she set up. She finished with a clean round, and Cloud looked wonderful over the jumps! "Nice job," I said. "Thanks, Cloud and I did really good I think," she said. "Uh, yeah you did! You guys were awesome!" I said. When I said that, I heard Cindy sigh, and she said,"You wanna see an awesome round, then watch this." She dismounted and kept all of the jumps but added one. It was an oxer. Heather and I have done tons of oxers, but the one she set up had a really big spread. "I'm not so sure if you should do that," Heather warned Cindy, but Cindy just snapped back at her. "I can do whatever I want." And with that, Cindy mounted and jumped the warm up jumps, and then she cantered over the original jumps that Heather set up, and when she came to the oxer, she gave Sunshine a big kick, and Sunshine leapt over the oxer, trying so hard to make it over. Sunshine barely made it over, and she landed really hard.

I gasped. I immediately dismounted and ran over to Sunshine. She scrambled back up, but Cindy fell off of her. I quickly took my gloves off and felt Sunshine's legs for heat, but her legs felt fine. I was furious! "What were you thinking?!" I yelled at Cindy. "She could've been hurt, she could've sprained her ankle, or worse, broken it! You don't deserve such a nice horse, or any horse, if you're going to ride wrecklessly like that!" I screamed. I could feel all of the blood rush to my face. "Oh yeah, well, if you are concerned about "wreckless riding," than how about you get back on your mount and jump those easy jumps!" she yelled back at me. "ARE YOU KIDDING ME?" I yelled at her. "Don't you have any brain at all? I can't jump a horse that's been what he's been through over huge jumps like those!" I spat at her. "Really? Then I dare you too," she said.

I went frozen when she said that. I'm not the one who usually backs down from a dare, but this was a dangerous one. But, Cowboy has been making a lot of progress, but I can't do that to him! No, I'm not going to do the dare. I can't, if I did, Mom wouldn't trust me, Heather wouldn't trust me, and worse of all, Cowboy wouldn't trust me if I let him get hurt. I can't risk letting him get hurt again. He's with me to be healed from somebody who has hurt him, and I'm not going to let him down by risking him. "No," I said shakily. "I'm not going to do it."

"Gee, sounds like somebody is chicken," Cindy said. Her friends started making chicken noises, which were really getting on my nerves. "Wow, real mature Cindy," Heather said. "C'mon Mel, let's go." We walked out of the arena and towards the trails.

"I'm so glad you didn't do the dare. Cowboy isn't ready, and it's good that you respected that,"Heather said. "I know, but I really do hate that Cindy. She's always trying to get something out of me. It really bugs me. She really bugs me," I said. "I know, I wish she and her friends didn't ride here. They used to pick on me too, but I just kept ignoring them, and eventually, they just left me alone," Heather said. "Thanks for sticking up for me and Cowboy, we really appreciate it." "Anytime. So, let's talk about something else. How about the show?" Heather suggested. "Yeah, I'm glad it's going to be during spring break so you'll have time to practice for it," I said. "Oh, did your mom say no?" Heather asked. "No, she said she'll think about it. I'm really hoping that since she saw how much progress I've made with Cowboy, she'll let me do an introductory test with him, but I'm not sure," I admitted. "She has to say yes! You guys would definitely win a blue ribbon for sure!" Heather said. "Mom said she would tell me her decision today, so I really hope she'll let me!" "Well, we'll find out after our trail ride," Heather said.

"Want to race to the end of the field?" Heather asked when we ended up in a field of grass from our trail ride. "Sure,"I said. We halted the horses and counted down. "Five, four, three,two,one goo!!!"I yelled, and Cowboy and I got a head start. "Hey!" yelled Heather as she urged Cloud into a gallop. We were soon head to head and neither horse was giving up. I was in a jockey crouch over Cowboy's head, and he was practically flying! We kept running until we saw the woods up ahead. We slowed the horses, and declared that we had a tie.

Once we cooled the horses out and reached the stable, we dismounted and put the horses in cross ties. I brushed Cowboy, and then decided to actually give him a bath. "I'm going to give Cowboy a bath, I'll see ya later," I said to Heather. "Okay, I'm supposed to help Mom get some of the lesson horses ready for theri lessons, so I'll see you later too," Heather said. I lead Cowboy to the washrack and turned the warm water on, and when it came on, I let the warm water run over Cowboy's sweaty back. He let out a big sigh, and started to relax. "Good boy," I said. I let the water keep running over his back, then his legs and neck. I also got his mane and tail wet. I got the apple scented shampoo, and started scrubbing it into Cowboy's thick coat. I aslo washed his mane and tail. I rinsed him off, and then used the squeegy to get all of the water off. When most of the water was gone, he was still damp, so I led him outside and let him graze around the stable. I sat down with my back against the stable, and Cowboy grazed to his heart's delight. We sat out there for a long time, and when my back started to get stiff from sitting, and when Cowboy's coat was dry, I led him to his stall and put him inside. I gave him a treat and petted him for a while. "Well boy, I better go help with some other chores, and take Missy out for a ride. See ya later."

For the rest of the day, I rode Missy and helped out with chores, and enjoyed all of the fun I'd had with Cowboy.

Author's Note:Hey everybody! Thanks so much for reading this chapter! Do you think that Mel's mom will let her do the show? Please comment what you think, and comment any suggestions you may have, and PLEASE vote!!!!! Thank you all bye bye!!! P.S. Sorry for this long chapter oh btw the pic above is Geronimo, he's a real horse and his story is the same