Silver Opportunity

Chapter Seventeen

"I want to propose something," Hannah said as we walked to the barn together. "I think I want you to show Dublin and Titan tomorrow. You can compete with Dub in the usual class, but enter Titan in the two foot division. See how he does, and it'll give us a better idea on what we need to work on."

"Really? If you think we're ready, I say we go for it," I replied, glancing over at her. "What's the worst that could happen? We have to scratch?"

"Exactly," she nodded. We pushed open the doors and proceeded to do our morning chores - I fed out grain and supplements while Hannah filled outdoor waters and spread out hay.  We turned horses out afterwards, and congregated back in the barn. "What's your plan for today?"

"Brunch with the twins at ten thirty at the diner, then we'll come back here and ride, then we're doing show prep, then they're sleeping over for the show tomorrow," I explained. I grabbed my pitchfork and headed to Titan's stall as Hannah headed to her stalls.

"Alright, perfect," she grinned. "I'll have pizza delivered for six then." We both cleaned out our stalls and set up hay and water, chatting back and forth the entire time. By nine, everything was done, and I even had time to pull out all my tack so I didn't need to later. 

I headed back to the house and changed into riding clothes so I didn't smell during brunch and so I could just tack up and ride when we returned. I hopped in my truck and began my journey to the diner. I saw that Molly's Jeep was already there, so I headed in and saw her and Leo sitting at our usual spot at the counter.

"Hey guys," I said as I walked over. I gave Molly a hug and Leo a kiss before I sat in between them.

"I hope it's okay that I ordered your regular," Leo said, snaking an arm around me.

"Three pancakes with strawberries, no syrup, with a side of home fries and an ice coffee?" I asked. Just the, a waitress dropped off a cup of hot coffee for Leo and two ice coffees, one for me and one for Molly.

"Exactly," he smiled. "So, what's new in the Martin family?"

"I got some news this morning," I began, taking a sip of my coffee. "So, Hannah thinks its a good idea for me to take Titan to the show tomorrow and enter him in the two foot division."

"That's great!" Molly exclaimed. "You think you guys are ready?"

"Well, we aren't perfect, but I think it'll be a good start," I said. Just then, our brunch arrived, and we ate while talking about the upcoming show.

"Any update on Justine?" Molls asked. "Have you heard anything?"

"Nothing yet," I shook my head and took another sip of coffee. "She still has the 'horse wanted' ad on FaceBook, and she hasn't come back to the farm yet, so I highly doubt she'll be there tomorrow."

"That's one less thing to worry about," Leo said under his breath, taking a sip of coffee.

"Yeah," I agreed. "But we still need to put our competition pants on so we can rack up those year end points."

We stay at the diner until about noon, then Leo and I take my truck back to the farm while Molly takes her Jeep back home to pick up a few things before she heads over. As Leo and I drove back, we sang loudly to trashy songs and had a good time, but as soon as we got to the barn, it was work time. Leo headed over to the main barn to get Vegas, as I tacked Titan up. By the time I got to the jumping ring, Leo was mounting, and Molly had just gotten Aspen. We warmed up in silence, doing our circles at a walk, trot, and canter until we were all feeling good and loose. As soon as Molly was warmed up with Aspen, the three of us began jumping. I only brought T over a few fences, as they were higher than what we were competing in, and I didn't want to wear him out too much before the show. Since Molls and Leo were still going to ride for a while, I decided to do a horse switch and hop on Dublin too. With Dub, I was able to jump the entire course no problem.

When the three of us were done, we cooled down the ponies and brought them back to my barn where we would bathe them and clean our tack.

We bathed the ponies one by one, starting with Titan, then Vegas, then Aspen, and finishing with Dublin. They all got leg wraps, sleazies, and waffle sheets to keep them clean overnight. While the twins brought their horses back over to the other barn, I took all my tack for both horses and started cleaning it, after putting some music on. I started with my saddle, with thankfully fit both ponies so I only had one to clean. Molly and Leo rejoined me after I finished cleaning it. I moved onto bridles, Dub's figure eight first, and T's with the flash noseband. Then girths - Dublin's stud guard, and T's fluffy one. They shared a breastplate, but had separate boots I needed to clean.

The three of us finally finished cleaning tack and were able to load it into the trailer Hannah had hitched up to my truck. Once we had it all organized, we loaded up the rest of our show equipment: crops, jackets, gloves, hairnets, helmets, spurs, and everything else in between.

"Who is ready for a shower?" I asked as I dragged the exhausted twins into my house. They both just rumbled in response, but I brought Leo into the guest bathroom and Molly into Hannah's bathroom. I headed to my bathroom where I was able to clean off all the dirt and grime I collected over the course of the day. Once I was finished, I put on shorts and a sweatshirt and headed back out to my room where I found Leo lying on my bed. I flopped down on top of him, and he just groaned and put his arms around me.

"You know," he started, "Molly usually takes forever to shower..."

"Not a chance, buckeroo," I laughed and rolled off of him. He just groaned again before leaning over to kiss me. "Worth a shot."

hey guys! sorry for no updates! ive been busy busy busy! i finally got over my pneumonia, but had some tough days at my barn (see my profile updates if you're curious!)