Chapter 23

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"Ok Honey, here we go. You have your team behind you." Dad said.

"One, listen to Boomer. I mean how he moves under you.

"Two, let him have his head enough that he can maneuver the arena easily. And that way you won't fall off.

"Three, remember he knows you're blind. Take advantage of it.

"And four, have fun."

"I will, Dad. Trust me."

With that, I felt Boomer move under me. He led the horses behind him. And that was my cue.

I performed the tail drag, the death drag, the hiding Indian, the saddle hang, and the shoulder hang. All the while I twirled the flag. I did a dance through, a ballerina spin, the sit spin, the lay back spin, and the knee spin. Again, the whole time I twirled the flag. I performed another dance through, the mill, the scissors, the flag, the arial backflips, the arial cartwheels, the arial handsprings, and etc. All the while I twirled the flag.

Everyone standing and sitting on the sidelines chanted my name. I could feel the thunder from the audience.

Before I knew it, we were in the arena. I did exactly as my Dad had instructed me to do. And Boomer hit every one of the obstacles to a T. He never missed any or knocked anything down. Before I knew it, we were back outside the arena, waiting for the announcer to speak. Then the announcer spoke into the intercom.

"I want the following three winners to come back into the arena for their awards.

"In third place is Christine Anderson from Anchorage Equestrian School, riding Summer Heat.

"In second place is the Equestrian Academy Float from Casper Wyoming.

"And in first place is Stillwater Color Guard from Stillwater Oklahoma."

We rode our horses back into the arena. We received our rings, patches, belt buckles, and a team trophy. Then we all got our very own trophies.

We held them above our heads and hugged each other as we smiled and laughed.

That was the last time I rode in the Stillwater Color Guard. But I was allowed to teach it. I think that was my favorite year at Stillwater Equestrian Academy.

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