A Wish

Chapter 3

I hop on a groomed Buddy and steer him out to the arena. Starting to warm up, I see Lauren looking at me strangely. She's probably wondering what on earth I'm doing in just a halter. I laugh quietly to myself and ask Buddy for a trot. He's a bit lazy, and I normally ride him with a whip, but if my horse is lazy, I won't have the money to spare for such luxuries. After I've warmed Buddy up, I head towards a jump and he pricks his ears at the sight of it. I sit deep and ask him to canter, but he doesn't need any encouragement and eagerly pops into canter. He could easily step over the jump, but he jumps about half a metre over it, and by a miracle I sit to it and have quite a good two point - for my standards. I do it a couple more times, and he's quite good and I'm getting used to jumping bareback. I hop off and raise the jump to 60cm - still small but reasonably bigger. I take a running jump and vault onto Buddy, who's surprisingly okay with it. I suppose there's a reason he's an RDA horse. I turn Buddy around and canter up to the jump, and he jumps it almost normally. I said almost - he stag jumped. At least I didn't fall off - nearly did, but I didn't. That's the main thing. I have another go, and it's actually successful. Mission of the day completed. I try a couple more times, and get the hang of it. This time, I don't jump off. I canter up to a barrel, and Buddy baulks a little and his ears flop to the side in confusion, but I push him on and he regains his nerve. Finally, his ears go forward and he absolutely surges forwards too. I grab a handful of mane, expecting a huuuuuuge stag leap, and he takes a big, although not uncomfortable, jump. I stay seated on his back, I don't yank on his face, I don't get left behind or unbalanced, so I guess you could call it successful. It's about a 70cm barrel on its side, so it's the biggest I've ever jumped. Yay! I try again, and Buddy doesn't baulk, and he jumps normally and I go into a successful two-point position. Before Buddy stops cantering, I bring him around and jump the barrel again, with the same results. Barrels pretending to be logs, sorted. One less thing to worry about.
"Hey, Lauren," I call out across the arena. She looks up to identify where I am.
"What?" She asks, a little angry.
"Can we swap now?"
She nods and vaults off.
Wow, that was easy.
I walk Buddy over to Bandie and Lauren, and dismount. We hand over our reins (or lead rope) and I lead Bandie over to the fence and take his saddle off, then climb over the fence and pick up his halter. Returning to the arena, I slip the lead rope around his neck and take his bridle off. Praying that he doesn't bolt off, I secure his halter and bring his reins over his head and tie the end of his lead rope to the top of it, so it forms reins. I hang his bridle on the fence and lead Bandie over to the fence so he's lined up along it, and I climb up onto the fence and mount him. Lauren has warmed him up, so I get straight into it. Oh, did I mention that Lauren put the jump up to 90cm? Nah, don't think I did. Anyway, that's what she's just been doing. I push Bandie into a canter and he bounds forward, seeing the big jump. Okay, it might not be big for you, if you're a professional show jumper or something, but it is for me. I grab some mane as he eyes up the jump, then jumps it with a perfect bascule and LOADS of scope. I, however, am not blessed with such dignity. I was crouched low over his back, hands near his ears, eyes closed, screeching quietly. Anyway, such detail is unnecessary.
I canter in a circle so I'm once more facing the jump, and I gather up my nerves. "Cool it, Jasmine. Stop being such a wuss." I command myself. Bandie eyes up the jump, and powers towards it. I push my hands up his neck, clasp my legs right around him, and just at the right time, lift up into two point. And I even make myself keep my eyes open.
Then we land...