Carry On (Book 1)

Chapter 13:

Ariels POV:

I didn't understand dressage.

Sitting up in the stands of the indoor arena, waiting for Madison to start her round, I was reading off the test sheet that the riders had been required to memorize. Working trot? Free walk? Serpentine? Flying change?

The test may as well have been latin to me.

Sure, I knew how to ride, I knew how to post to trot and I knew how to hold myself up during a jump, but the technicalities were something completely foreign.

" Hey! "

I turned and smiled at Jack, who looked very...professional, dressed in a black show jacket, white breeches, and shiny black tall boots. He sat down beside me as the rider just before Madison began her test.

" How did your test go? " I spoke up as I continued to read the test sheet in my hands.

" Not bad. Wasn't our best, but then again, Dressage was never my strongest event " He chuckled. " That'll be show-jumping "

I nodded faintly, squinting my eyes as I tried to follow the horse and riders moments as they fell on the test sheet, but I was lost.

Jack must've noticed my confused look, as I felt him move closer to me and peer down at the sheet.

" Her first loop on the serpentine wasn't too good, but she made it up in the second one, don't you think? "

" Um... " I stuttered, I didn't know what to say.

Jack chuckled. " You don't understand anything that's happening right now do you? "

I felt myself blush. " Not really no...Storm and I have never done anything like this before... "

" Actually you have "

I raised a brow as I looked at him, making him chuckled again.

" You ride on the flat, you ride circles at a walk trot and canter, you change your leads, all that stuff is incorporated in dressage, it's just more glorified in an official test " He explained.

I nodded in understanding. " Oh, okay, ya I can see that... " I bit my lip. " But this working trot and medium walk stuff, what is all that? "

" Watch Mads " Jack nodded to Madison, who entered the arena in a trot.

" She has to enter at a working trot, meaning Koda should be properly balanced and remain on the bit... "

" On the bit? "

" A position on the bit is submissive to the rider's, given through the bit. When a horse is behind the bit, the head is tucked too far down and rearward. If above the bit, then the head is too high. "

I nodded, wondering if I could ever get Storm to hold his head like Madison had Koda holding his. Storm loved to toss his head, a lot.

" The horse should go forward with
 regular, elastic, and cadenced strides with good hock action in this trot " Jack finished explaining.

Madison and Koda made a beautiful 20-meter circle before moving on to the next movement.

" And what's she doing now? " I whispered to Jack.

" It's called a serpentine, it's a way for the judges to see how a horse bends on both the left and the right side. Koda's a bit tight on his right side, but most horses have trouble bending on one side "

I thought back to Storm, wondering if he had a preference for bending.

Madison directed Koda in another circle before slowing him to a walk.