MSRA ⇢ Starting New

⇢ 3 ; school starts

Two days later, and Bridget and I are up and at it at seven a.m. to get ready for our first day of classes. I get dressed into some white denim shorts and a navy blue long sleeve shirt. I put on my white converse and pulled my long, dirty blonde hair into a straight pony tail. I put minimal makeup on, brushed my teeth, and headed over to student support for breakfast at 7:30. After grabbing a muffin, the two of us headed over to the historical building for our history class.

"Do you know anyone in here?" I whispered to Bridget as she sat across from me in an empty table of four.

She took a look around. "I don't think so."

Of course, just then, Ethan and Noah walked in, and when Noah caught sight of me, he slid into the seat beside me.

"Hey," he said, pulling his notebook out.

"Hi," I replied quietly, pulling my laptop out. I followed the directions written on the board and enrolled myself in my teacher's online class, where I'll be able to get my homework, assignments, and anything I might have missed in class.

"Okay, class, so we're going to start out first assignment today," my teacher said as he walked into the classroom, coffee in hand. "We're going to be doing quick presentations on the history of a certain breed of horse. Get into pairs and I'll pass out directions and breeds in a few minutes."

I turned to Bridget to claim her as my partner, but she was already busy talking to Ethan.

"I guess it's you and me," Noah smiled, bringing his chair closer to me. I pulled up Google on my computer and waited for the teacher to pass out the assignment. When he handed it to Noah, we both scanned the page to find out assigned breed.

Friesians.

"My sister has a Friesian," Noah said as we started research. Half an hour later, we each had a solid amount of information to share on the breed and we has a successful presentation to the class. After everyone presented, we got our homework assignment and headed to our next class.

-

After English with Bridget and Amelia, Geometry with Noah, Biology with Bridget and Megan, and creative writing with Amelia, it was finally time for lunch. Amelia and I met up with Meg and Bridge in the Student Support building where we got lunch. As the four of as sat together eating, we told each other about our days so far.

"So does anyone have cross country next?" I asked, to which they all just looked up and stared at me.

"Literally nobody is taking cross country this year," Amelia said after a moment of silence. "Not after Cameron's accident."

"They re-did the course!" I said. "Besides, what are you doing for your other minor?"

"It's called 'beginning cross country'. It's just a class that will go over the basics, but we wont be doing full courses any time soon," Megan said. "Cross country was never my strong suit to begin with."

"So, none of you are in my class," I said, shaking my head. "That's crazy!"

"Anyways," Amelia said. "Whoever that Dustin kid in my algebra class was, he was hotttt."

We all started laughing and go up to toss our trash. Bridget and I headed back to the dorm to change into riding clothes. I put on my newest pair of tan breeches with a purple top and my recently cleaned tall boots. When Bridget was ready, we walked over to the barn and got ready for our classes. Once Hope was tacked up, I tug my helmet and vest out of my tack locker and snugly fit them on me. With the help of the pasture fence, I mounted and started my lonely walk over to the course. My phone read 1:35, so I had some time to get a solid warm up for Hope in. By the time I reached the cross country course, Hope was loose and ready to go.

There were only about twenty people here, and we all looked around at each other. There was this one girl next to me on a bay thoroughbred who seemed nice enough.

"Hi," I said to her. "I'm Kathleen."

"Oh, hi," she said. "Abby. And my horse is Mojo."

"This is Hope," I smiled.

"Why is there like nobody here?" she asked.

"After the accident, no one's enrolled in it," I said, just as four female instructors walked to the front of the group.

"Hello everyone, I am Ms. Burton, but you can just call me Beth," one of the ladies said. "I am the lead cross country trainer and supervisor here at Maple Stream Riding Academy. In order to ensure that no past mistakes are remade, today we will be doing a fitness test for you and your horse. Lynn will continue explaining."

"Hello," Lynn said. "As Beth was saying, we'll be doing fitness testing today. It will test your horse's stamina, strength, and alertness. How you do on this test will determine how hard you trained this summer. It will also determine which trainer you're put with."

"Hi, I'm Anne," the youngest of the trainers said, tucking a piece of her blonde hair behind her vineyard vines hat. "By splitting you into groups of 5, you will get more individualized training. Not only that, but it creates a safer environment so there's not too much commotion. You guys are the smallest group in the school. There are only twenty cross country majors this year. Twenty. Out of four hundred students. 380 students that the other two disciplines are split. I know that there are at least sixteen classes of thirteen students in show jumping."

"I'm Sara," the last trainer said. "The group you get put in determines which trainer you get. The highest level, most prepared riders will go with Beth. The group below with Anne, the group below that with Lynn, and the least ready will come with me. By creating 'teams', there will hopefully be a bit of a competitive feel to it. Just because you made a team doesn't mean you can't move up or down. Try your hardest and you could just make it to the top."

We got assigned random instructors to help run our fitness tests. I was with Beth's group, and we went first.

"Okay, so we're starting with a slow canter drill. What you're going to do is follow the short cross country course, just go on the right side of the green cones. Do not go over ANY of the jumps. You'll do this at a slow canter, and a pedometer will measure the distance you travel," Beth explained. "You should be able to do this about four or five times, as the course is fairly short, but if your horse needs to stop, just click the blue button twice. Again. Do not jump anything!"

She handed us all pedometers, which fit onto our saddles where our breastplates attached to our saddles.

"Whitmore, you'll start," Beth said. "Once you turn the corner, Raines will go, and so on so forth."

I trotted Hope a few steps before engaging her in a soft canter. I didn't have her frame up, as that would tire her more quickly, but I did put myself into a mini two point to make it easier on her. We continued at a canter for a while, and I mentally thank my mom for the grueling conditioning she put Hope and I through this summer.

Many, many laps later. Hope is covered in a thick film of sweat and is breathing heavily, getting heavy beneath my leg. I sit back down and allow her to walk, clicking the blue button on the pedometer twice. We walk back to where Beth is standing and I hand her the pedometer.

"Impressive," she said. "Almost two miles. There's one more rider, feel free to walk your horse around to cool her out."

-

45 minutes later, an exhausted group of horses and riders stand in a semi circle around their four new instructors.

"Awesome job today, ladies and gents, you all worked your butts off today," Sara said. "You will learn your teams tomorrow. Now, go cool your horses down a bit and get them a little to drink. Class dismissed."

We still had fifteen minutes until our next class, so I walked Hope around with a loose rein, offering her water at the water station near the course.