MSRA ⇒ Final Year (BACK IN PROGRESS)

⇒ six

"Hello, everyone!" Cami exclaimed as she joined Anne, Beth, and Lynn at the front of the group. "For those that don't know me, I was a previous student here at Maple Stream. I was captain of the advanced cross country team, took private lessons from Lauren Burton, and had a serious accident that almost ended my career."

As the rest of the students sucked in a breath, Cami continued with her story, explaining what happened, how it wasn't until a few years ago that she started riding again, and how it was hard for her to get back into eventing.

"But, in the end, everything worked out just fine, and I made a full circle - here I am, back at the place that changed my life," she concluded. "Alright, enough about me. Let's get to fitness testing!"

The fitness tests were the same every year - an endurance run and a dash and jump course challenge. We were split into two groups, and each went to one station. I got the dash and jump first this year, so I followed Anne to that station with half of the other girls. She explained exactly what the challenge was - a gallop down to a short course of six jumps, and a gallop back. She's looking for speed, agility, and control. Easy as it sounds, it was quite the challenge. Luckily, we got to do it twice and our better score was taken.

"Kat, why don't you go first?" Anne asked. I smiled and nodded, gathering up my reins and taking a deep breath.

"Let's go, Finn," I told him. We took off at a run down the alley to the course. Once we were approaching the first jump, I checked his speed and brought him back a bit, making him collect. We zipped through the course, sadly chipping a pole leading to a rail down. My fault; I took the turn too shallow. We finished up and galloped back, a smile on my face.

"Not bad," Anne smiled. "The only complaint is the rail, but that was one speedy round. Good job!"

"Thanks," I grinned, bringing Finn back to the group and watching the next girl go. Finn and I sat there watching rider after rider goes through, and soon enough, it was our time to go through again. I didn't cut off the jump too quickly this time, and we ended clear and fast.

Next, we all went to the endurance test, in which we got a pedometer that stopped if we broke into the trot. We started at different parts around a designated canter area and had to canter for as long as we could. With Finn, I had to let him figure out his own pace. He'd get defensive and shut down if I got too in his face. We started too fast and forward, but he ended up settling into a nice, rhythmic pace that took us lap after lap. In my half seat, I reached forward and scratched his neck, which he enjoyed and allowed himself to relax more. By the time he broke the canter, he was drenched in sweat, and I lost track of how many laps we had done. I was proud of his performance - we were in the last ten riders standing, so I'd consider that a massive success for him.

After letting him cool down, I dismounted and made my way over to Cami, who was taking some notes on her clipboard.

"Long time no see," I grinned as she glanced up at me.

"Kat Whitmore," she smiled, bringing me in for a hug. "Look at you. It has been way too long!"

"Yes, it has," I laughed. We sat there for a couple of minutes, catching up before everyone was finished with testing, and it was Cami's turn to address the crowd.

"Alright, everybody, great job!" she exclaimed. "You will find out your coach and group tomorrow, but for now, you're all free to go! Oh! Don't forget to submit your team preferences!"

"Wow, a crazy first day," Abby sighed as we walked back to the Acacia barn together.

"Well, I'm happy to see that not too many things have changed around here," I smiled as I pulled Finn into his stall. His grey coat was soaked with sweat making him several shades darker. The damp Kentucky air made everything sticky, leaving me with Finn's fur, sweat, and dirt caked onto my bare arms.

"Mojo has been on fire lately," she said as she sponged the small bay down with liniment water. "We moved up a level this summer. Stadium jumping is our weak point, but I feel like we're almost there."

Abby and I continued chatting while taking care of our horses and cleaning our equipment. After about thirty minutes, students from the other disciplines slowly started tricking back to the barns. Someone gently tugged on my braid as I was cleaning my bridle in my locker.

"Hey, you," I smiled as I turned and saw Noah. He put his helmet away, revealing his dirty blond hair soaked in sweat. "Work hard today?"

"That was brutal," he laughed before releasing a sigh. "After I get Comet taken care of, do you want to do some homework?"

"That sounds perfect," I said as I finished figure-eighting my bridle and stuck it back in my locker. I turned to him and gave him a quick peck on his lips. "I'll catch you later."

He smiled at me and turned back out to the barn aisle. I quickly made up Finn's grain for dinner today and breakfast tomorrow and left it on the grain cart for the grooms to feed him later. Once everyone gets used to the schedule, the grooms will completely take care of the horses, but for the first week, it's up to us to make their grain. Once I was confident I had taken care of everything, I headed back to the dorms.

After I took the world's best shower and changed, I sat on my bed, scrolling through my phone when Bridget busted in.

"I. Love. Olive," she said as she faceplanted onto her bed.

"Yeah?" I laughed, looking up at her from my phone. "How was show jumping?"

"Brutal," she groaned. "Your boyfriend kicked my butt."

"Dinner at like 6? Noah and I were going to get our homework done and then go over."

"Works for me," she mumbled. "Ugh, I need to shower. I'll see you later."

With that, she peeled herself off the bed and headed into the bathroom. A few moments later, Noah sent me a text saying he was headed to the common area, so I collected my bag and went down. He was sitting in the corner on one of the couches with some light music playing on the TV.

"There she is," he smiled at me, putting his notebook by his side. I smiled back and joined him, making myself comfortable squished right up next to him. "Have much work?"

"No," I said as I wrapped my arms around him. "I do need to just relax for a minute, though."

We sat there in silence for a while. His arm was around my shoulders, pulling me in close while also rubbing circles on my arm. Before I dozed off, I broke the moment and pulled my laptop out to do my assignments. It was just a few practice statistics word problems, a refresher from last year, and a brief 500-word literature assignment about career goals and colleges. I had just finished up when I noticed Noah aggressively punching keys on his laptop.

"You good?"

"What?" he asked, then glanced down at his hands. "Oh. Yeah. My computer science teacher is having us play some games to get used to typing techniques, and I keep losing."

I laughed and stretched a bit. "Don't punch a hole through your keyboard. Hey! How was your internship this morning?

"Actually, really good," he said, repeatedly pressing the enter key. "We've started planning the dressage major's show, and there's talk of us hosting an IEA show for a local team this year."

"Ooh, that's exciting," I smiled over at him. "I got to stick thermometers up about a dozen horses' butts."

Just then, we heard clamoring coming down the stairs. Laughing loudly, Bridget and Olive appeared at the entry of the living area.

"Dinner?" Bridget asked, glancing over at us sitting on the couch. "We were just about to head over."

"Uh, yeah," I said as I looked at Noah. "Are you done with your work?"

"Yup, and I'm starving," he said as he stuffed his laptop into his bag. "Let's go get some food."