J.O.P. Stable: The Twin Saga (Book 1: The Summer Finale)

Chapter 22:

Jewel's POV:

" Go Shadow! You can do it! " I yelled over the wind in my ears.

Shadow was starting to slow before the last two jumps of the course, the corner log jump and the Owl Hole.

" Just a bit more boy! "

Shadow didn't have the endurance that Onyx's Arabian blood gave him, so he tended to slow at the end of each cross course. I'd have to work on endurance with him after this was all over.

' Stop thinking about the future, focus! ' I screamed at myself in my mind.

Shadow lazily leapt the corner jump, breathing heavily. I patted his shoulder as we approached the Owl Hole. Jumps like this didn't seem to spook him, but he needed to get more speed and power if we wanted to clear it, and we were already 5 seconds over the time.

I leaned over his neck slightly as I spoke to him. " I know your tired and you want to stop, but it's just one more jump, then lunch and a good long break for you, but you need to just give it one more big jump and your through, I promise! " I told him.

Shadow seemed to understand and increased his speed. He rocked back on his haunches and pushed off the ground with one final burst of energy, landing cleanly on the other side and galloped over the finish line. I checked our time as I slowed him. 15 seconds over the time, a total of  6 penalties.

That was pretty good in my book.

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" Here? " I asked the team, setting my plate down on an empty picnic table, one of many that had been set up for the teams competing today. Mom and dad had hired a professional caterer who we knew very well, and I had loaded my plate with her delicious food, while our horses got rechecked, watered and fed just a bit before they could rest for the next 2 hours.

Our cross country rounds hadn't been our best, except for Sky. She had come first in ours, Marlo had come 10th and I had just barely pulled for 5th. Blaire had been 7th in her and Caitlyn had been 4th, while Payton had snagged 3rd. With those scores, minus Sky's, J.O.P.S was in 6th place out of 10th.

Not good....

" Perfect, just the right amount of shade and sun " Payton replied as she sat down next to me. Caitlyn sat down across from me with Sky and Marlo and Blaire sat down on my other side.

We all ate in semi silence, until Blaire spoke up, putting down her ketchup covered hot dog.

" We need to nail our jumping rounds, at least 3rd and up "

" Agreed " Caitlyn replied, wiping ranch sauce off her cheek with her napkin. I was glad we had changed back into sweats, because I could not be trust not to spill anything on myself, and neither could Sky clearly as I watched her drop a carrot stick covered in blue cheese sauce on her sweater.

I nodded. " And we have to make sure we win our bonus rounds "

" I think we have ours covered, Marco used to do steeplechases all the time during his short lived racing career " Marlo said, taking a bit of her hamburger.

" Where is that even taking place? " Payton asked, taking a dainty bite of her salad. I remembered her dad had been behind her in the food line while Payton had been eyeing the hamburgers, I guess he had her on a strict diet to.

" Here " I told here, putting half of my hamburger on her plate before continuing. " Theres and open field beside that line of trees. Since J.O.P.S property does span over 500 acres of property, we have a lot of empty fields we covert for various reasons, we've had a steeplechase course assembled and checked " I explained.