MSRA ⇢ Starting New

⇢ 16 ; victory

"Get back on!" Anne shouted, and I caught Apollo. The rules at this show were, a fall can only cause disqualification if it's caused by a jump. There were no jumps in sight, so I slapped Apollo into a canter and vaulted on, my feet finding the stirrups. Thank god for my pony gaming years, or else I don't know how I would've mounted.

"Good job, good save," Anne praised as I rode by. I still had a bit of time before the next jump, so I reoriented, fixing my stirrups and my hold on the reins. The next jump was a bit funky, but we cleared it just fine. We rode a few more jumps, then like that, the course was over.

"That was a crazy save," Cami said. "How long has it been since you mounted via vault?"

"Like five years," I laughed. "I didn't think I was going to make that one."

"Well you did good," Anne said. "I'm impressed. Go untack him and cool him out, he's looking a bit hot."

I walked Apollo around a bit, cooling him out. When we got back to the trailers, I untacked him and sponged him down with water and linament. After Apollo was taken care of with fresh water and hay, I changed into athletic leggings, a sweater, and my Dublins. It was a bit more comfortable than my previous affair. I also took my free time to call Noah.

"How's it going?" he asked when he picked up the phone.

"Good so far," I smiled. "I've gotten a blue. But I also got thrown off."

"You okay?" he asked. "Disqualified?"

"Yeah, I'm fine. I wasn't disqualified, the fall wasn't caused by a jump, and his body didn't hit the ground," I explained. "I'll hear my results for that class in the next hour, but I'm done riding. I'm exhausted."

"Well, good luck," he said. "Hope's doing okay. Her limp's a bit worse than yesterday, but she's walking around more. I just got done hosing it down, I put some linament on it, and I'm about to wrap it in some ice."

"Thank you for taking care of her," I said. "I'll see you when I get home. Bye."

"I love you," he said, right before hanging up the phone. My heart skipped a beat. He loved me?

After thinking about it for a while, I came up with the conclusion that I loved him too. I really do.

"Hey, Kat," Abby said as she led Mojo to the other side of the trailer.

"Hey," I mumbled, heading over to her. "How have your classes gone?"

"Good!" she said. "Second in highs and fourth in lows. Not too bad."

She was in fifteens classes, and I was in sixteens classes, even though her birthdays in a few weeks.

"No, that's awesome!" I said. "I'm waiting to hear the results from my highs class. I got first in the lows."

"Nice! How'd your highs run go?"

"I fell off, but I didn't get disqualified," I explained. "Any minute now..."

"Here are the results for the advanced sixteens girls cross country, class 5b," the announced said. He began listing off names and places. "In fifth place, we have Eve Roberts riding Glory Days, in fourth we have Laura Foss, riding Post Tropical, in third place we have Kathleen Whitmore riding Outshine the Stars, in second place, we have Regina Walsh riding Zips Fidelity, and in first place, we have Diana Forrest, riding Kentucky Nightmare. Congratulations to all, ribbons are at the booth."

"Hey, nice job!" Abby said excitedly. "Let's go get that ribbon!"

We headed up to the booth where some other people were getting their ribbons.

"Name?" the woman dispensing the ribbons asked.

"Kathleen Whitmore," I responded, and she scanned her eyes down the ribbon list, then handed me the yellow ribbon.

"How does someone fall off and still get third?" a girl holding a fourth place ribbon whispered not so quietly. "This system is rigged."

"How'd she fall off and still place higher than you?" Abby asked, whipping around to face the girl. "Because she's a better rider than you. Simple enough."

She grabbed my wrist and dragged me away, back to the trailers.

"Damn, Abby," I said. "Put her in place."

"Sorry," she smiled. "I hate people like that."

I found my first place ribbon on a saddle rack in the trailer's tack room, along with a small horse figurine, which I'm guessing all first place winners got. It kinda looked like Hope. I put my yellow ribbon next to the blue one, then Abby and I headed out to the course to Cami and Anne, who were watching the other people on our team compete.

"They're announcing day end soon," Anne said. "I think you have a good shot at one of the awards."

"Maybe," I said. "That's not my priority though. Hope's not any better. She's worse."

"Oh, Kat," Cami said. "She'll get better. She'll be fine. For now, you can keep using Apollo. And if Mason has an issue with that, I'll personally trailer in one of my sister's horses, okay?"

"Thanks, Cami," I smiled.

About forty-five minutes later, they started announcing day-end awards. I surprisingly got Champion, because I had the highest point count out of everyone in the advanced sixteens girls cross country. As a prize, along with a huge blue, red, and yellow ribbon, I got awarded a navy blue cooler sheet, that had red and yellow trim. On it, it read 'Champion', along with the name of the barn and competition. It was pretty sweet.

After everyone had gotten their ribbons, another kid on our team got reserve champion in Abby's division, we loaded up the horses and headed home.