The Eventers Club

Chapter 35:

Evelyn's POV:

" That was Franklin Granelet on Harvey with a score of 80.40% putting him in 1st place "

I took a shaky breath as I struggled not to tense up on the reins.

Hugo snorted as he lowered his head, sniffing the grass below us. He didn't try to eat, I had a feeling he knew just as important this moment was as I did. Either that or he was too nervous to eat...like I felt.

Blair had been one of the first to go and was now sitting solidly in third place, while the guy who just went had almost a ten point lead over the second place rider. EFA had their riders all over the scoreboard, but none of them were placed lower than 10th.

I took a shaky breath as I made a final check of my stirrups and girth. Everything checked out from the last time I had checked it...about 5 minutes ago. I wanted to make sure nothing could go wrong with tack so that all of my focus in the ring was in my riding.

" Next up we have Evelyn Holloway on King of Holloway "

No more time to think.

It was time for action.

Before we entered the arena, I took a breath and leaned down over Hugo's muscular neck.

" Let's be there for each other this time boy... " I whispered. " Just focus on me and I'll focus on you... "

Hugo sighed as if he was relaxing as well. It made me smile.

I made sure my cues were invisible as Hugo entered the arena in a working trot. He was nice on the bit and felt relaxed, more than he has ever been during dressage.

We tracked left at a working trot and made a nice 15-meter circle to the left and then to the right after crossing X. I felt Hugo's body bend nicely around my leg and I felt a surge of pride at how well he was moving.

Guess dressage wasn' as useless and boring as I thought...

We turned down centreline at A and leg yielded over to the left. Hugo struggled greatly with movements like leg yielding, sometimes almost tripping over his own hooves, but he seemed to do well this time around.

We crossed the arena to change directions and I half halted to show the medium strides that the test called for during this segment. Hugo flicked an ear back to me and showed me that he was listening to doing exactly what I had told him.

After another leg yield to the right, it was time to pick up the canter. I took a breath, knowing that if I got nervous and tense, my cues to Hugo would be too heavy and he would take off.

Slowly I moved my inside leg back against his sides and sat deeper in the saddle while giving him a bit more rein to move. Hugo responded with a nice, smooth transition that was probably one of our best yet.

Hugo didn't bend as fluently during our 20-meter canter circle, but he kept a smooth rocking motion that made me feel like I was sitting on a cloud.

Now it was time for the most difficult moves in the test. One loop 5 meters from the side of the arena where we changed directions but kept a right lead canter. It was meant to show the balance of the horse, something Hugo always struggled with. It was the main reason we almost always picked up the correct lead when riding because Hugo would be too unbalanced otherwise.

" We've got this boy... " I whispered as I patted his neck quickly.

Hugo snorted as we cantered our loop. I could feel him lean against my leg more and I got scared for a moment that he would switch leads even though I didn't tell him to.