Becky Mercer and Emie Morris hate each other. There's no getting around that. But when their trainer gets in a hospital that will leave him incapacitated for two months, the girls know that they must put aside their differences. Unfortunately, there...
Emie nearly skipped down the alleyway a wheelbarrow full of manure, leading the way to the manure pile. They had finally finished their portion of stalls, which meant Becky and her could work out the two horses that hadn't been ridden in some time. After dumping the manure, Emie headed over to the cross-ties where Yukon was standing impatiently. Yukon was the greenest horse on the property.
"What is Yukon doing here?" Emie asked suspiciously.
"Beck is going to ride him" Charlotte, Becky's younger sister informed her, with the most adorable little lisp. "What's your name?" She asked.
"Emie," They answered, slightly crouching to meet the ten-year-old's eyes.
At the mention of Emie's name, Charlotte stumbled a few steps back. "Beck doesn't like you," she stated matter-of-factly.
Emie didn't know how to respond to that so instead, they changed the subject entirely. "I'm going to get a horse. Do you want to join me?"
Charlotte nodded and followed closely behind, chatting Emie's ear off about some horse she rode at camp. Emie grabbed their horse—Falcon—and returned to the barn to find that Yukon was completely tacked up while Becky hummed some pop song as she braided Yukon's forelock.
"Kayleigh said that Yukon doesn't completely understand turning signals yet, you should wait until he's back," Emie said, trying to dissuade Becky. "Plus, you don't have her permission. He's her horse after all."
"Well Kayleigh isn't here is he?" Becky countered.
"Yeah!" Charlotte said, adding her unnecessary opinion.
Emie sighed; it was two against one. "If this ends poorly, it's all your fault."
"Yay!" Charlotte cheered, making Yukon's head jerk up in surprise. The gray was clearly unnerved by the child, which was odd to Emie considering that in her experience, horses were typically fascinated by children. "Beck's the best rider ever!"
If Emie hadn't known any better, she would have sworn that Becky flinched at the proclamation. Clearly, Emie was confused because the Becky they knew would never flinch at anyone's words, let alone a compliment. Maybe the brunette was just jumpy or cold. Yeah, that had to be it, right? The pained look that had been on Becky's face was gone so quickly that Emie was sure they imagined it. Becky smirked, unclipping the cross ties, walking confidently towards the outdoor riding ring.
Emie sighed walking swiftly into the tack room, grabbing her saddle and bridle, while also taking the time to steal Becky's girth from her custom-made saddle. Emie had never tacked up quicker in their life, probably because they were really worried about what would happen when Yukon didn't understand what Becky was asking of him. Emie nearly ran to the outdoor arena, where Becky was calmly trotting; she did have the wrong posting diagonal though. A year ago the fence enclosing the area was nearly falling down so Kayleigh invested in that perfect magazine fencing, which was plastic.
Since then, the entire barn learned that the fencing was quite sensitive, so everyone stayed at least two feet from the fencing at all times, so as not to get in trouble with Kayleigh. Everyone had seen what happened to that one rich fancy student when he got too close to the fence; it left this ugly black line across several feet of fencing. The student was quite lucky he was rich because the fencing was very costly to replace. Emie used the mounting block on the outside of the ring—usually used by trail riders—to mount her horse, Falcon. Emie wanted to be ready if anything were to go wrong.
Unfortunately, some of the students who had been milling around the barn while waiting for their parents saw what was going on and started wandering down to the ring. The last thing Becky needed was an audience to boost her ego. As Becky urged Yukon into a canter, he tossed his head in protest. After a few seconds of struggle, Becky started to get impatient and gave him a solid kick. While Yukon stumbled into a canter on the wrong lead, Becky pulled his head sharply, demanding a tight circle. Yukon had a very sensitive mouth. With the additional pressure and confusion, he threw a series of bucks, some of which Emie could compare to a Bronc's. It looked as if they had just stepped foot in a bucking bronco competition.
Becky was thrown by the first two bucks, frantically flailing as she flew through the air. There was a sickening crunch and for a few seconds Emie was afraid to look but they gathered their courage and glanced over to the origin of the sound. The cracking sound had been from a portion of the fence breaking Becky's fall. Emie spurred her horse and raced into the ring, carefully roping in Yukon and doing their best to calm the gelding.
"Kayleigh is going to be so mad," was all Emie could think to say.
"Shut up," Becky glowered, pieces of fencing surrounding her.
After only two moments of silence, the student who had been silently observing burst into wild laughter. Had Emie not seen the blood trickling down the back of Becky's neck, she likely would've been laughing too. Seeing the crimson drips staining her skin made the idea of laughter despicable.
"And that, Becky, is why you don't have a horse." Jennifer, Becky's mom said when she arrived only a few minutes after Emie called her frantically. "You wouldn't be able to live with yourself if your reckless decisions cost an animal's life."
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