The Eventers Club

Chapter 14

Ashleigh's pov

"It's alright buddy, nothing to worry about" I coo as Beauty became unsettled. It's nothing I haven't dealt with before but it was worrying, what had ticked him off this bad?

"Lacey Dumar, and who are you" a girl looked me up and down in disgust. She looked to be older then me, and Beauty almost instantly calmed when she stroked him. I grind my teeth in annoyance, I've got my round next and here's this girl wanting to have a chat.

"Ashleigh" I blankly state asking Beauty to walk on to the arena, he stomps a foot in agitation and refuses to go anywhere.

"Good luck, that horse won't perform for anyone but me, expect at least 3 rails down with those combinations" the random girl laughs before disappearing into the crowd. Beauty starts getting into a mini fit again, this time not as bad as he starts to listen.

"And so the trilogy starts" I hear Evelyn say dramatically.

"What?" Now I was confused.

"I don't know, I just wanted to say that" Evelyn awkwardly laughs trying to lighten the mood. 

"Who was that and why was it talking to me" I ask bitterly, slightly jealous Beauty had calmed down once she was with him.

"That was Beauty's last rider Lacey as she told you-"

"-before she went to medical school they had the closest bond I've seen between horse and rider, I'm surprised Beauty didn't throw you, he has done it before when she's swung around" Evelyn compliments.

"Oh thanks for that motivational speech" I mutter rolling my eyes.

"It should be a compliment, it means Beauty actually likes and trusts you, it may not seem like it but he didn't throw you which is the important part" Evelyn explains.

"Why wouldn't she come back to ride him during the summer breaks and so on?" I asked confused, if I had a bond like that with a horse like Beauty I would even come on the weekends if possible.

"Found something 'better' to do and apparently a more 'talented' horse to ride" Evelyn snickers.

"She doesn't even care about him, maybe at one point but now she doesn't even try. She's one of those 'I want to win' kind of girls, no respect for Beauty at all. To bad he adores her. However that seems to be lessening since you've been here. He seems to put more energy into your rides then anyone else, Lacey included, she probably saw your dressage test and wanted to rattle your cage. Her and Jake are from the same barn so it makes sense" Evelyn continues in a spiteful voice glaring at Jake. I giggle, my mood changing to amusement as she said that.

"I think that's a stretch, even for Jake" I laugh as he looks our way with a suspicious expression.

"And I think he likes you, he doesn't seem to try talk to any other girl here and you have this banter constantly going on. You totally should go for it" I state and Evelyn gives me a death stare.

"Jeez, not that, I mean that you should go for the win, I think that egotistical smile of his needs to be knocked down a few notches. If we're lucky, we could knock him off the board" I say smiling, an evil gleam sparks in Evelyn's eye before she frowns again.

"We can't, your the last rider remember?" Evelyn sighs.

"Well how did Adam just help us out?" I motion towards the ring. Deathbringer also known as Charger pranced out of the ring chewing at the bit. The blood bay stallion was crazy fast, hence why his stable name was Charger. Looking at the leaderboard, he had been put into second place with the time of 74.89 seconds and four faults.

"I thought he pulled out..." Evelyn says confused.

"Nope, he convinced Darla this morning to let him skip dressage and just do the other to events even if he didn't get that good of a score" I smirk at the convenience, now it was up to me to pull through. Beauty seemed to have calmed down but was still stomping his foot with frustration.

"Good luck" Evelyn says as I walk Beauty into the ring. He starts to get looky and sea sore of the reins so I halt him.

"Don't worry buddy, you don't need to depend on her to be at every show, I'll be here but only if you want me to be" I whisper patting his neck, and strangely enough, he calms down. Then it clicked, he wasn't just a horse that followed cues, but voice aids as well. If I speak to him, he calms down, how did I not pick this up in training?

I snap out of my thoughts and nod at the judges in respect before cantering off towards the first jumps. We had to go clear, and I would do the course extra slowly if it meant we could go clear. But that didn't go according to plan after the first jump. Beauty was bored with a pace and was itching to go faster so I decide to let him forward. We cleared verticals, oxers, a water jump, you name it, we most likely did it. The final jump was close and I hear nothing but silence. A high vertical stood in the way of us going clear. Beauty pulled at the reins wanting to go even faster but I didn't budge. I didn't have a lot faith in him yet with his spacing.

A second later we were propelling over the fence and as we land I hear the pole rattling. My hope was crushed as I heard a soft thud of it hitting the ground. With Beauty being a smaller then Luna, Jakes mare, we'll probably be in 4th if we're lucky.

"That was Ashleigh Sutton on New Moon with the time of 76.02 seconds and 4 faults giving her third place" the voice over the microphone announces. I blink surprised before happiness hits me like a truck, we still beat Jake! Evelyn is going to love this, the look on his face right now must be hilarious.

Jake's score had been 76.51 seconds and 4 faults due to knocking one of the rails. This meant Evelyn automatically won with no faults. Adam having 74.89 and 4 faults, meant he had beaten Jake by almost 2 seconds, just not Eve due to the faults. I had just beaten jake by 0.49 of a second much to my surprise.

"Good boy" I coo rubbing his neck as we left the arena, that snake Lacey didn't seem to be lurking around any longer.

"Good job, that was awesome" Evelyn cheers as we high five.

"I said you two were starting to build a great bond, I don't know how you made him calm down like that" Evelyn states clicking her fingers to exaggerate it.

"Thanks but I want to hear all about Jake" I said cheekily, Evelyn blushes and looks away meekly. I start to laugh, this will definitely be interesting.