Northern Cross

Chapter 4

The tense silence over the dressage arena made me nervous, but in order to keep Winter at his best, I shoved the feeling down and sat tall and straight, sucking in a deep breath and exhaling. We stood outside the arena, waiting for the rider to escort herself out. Leaning forward, I patted Winter's silky soft neck reassuringly, though I hated that I couldn't feel his fur through the gloves.

When the black trakehner left the arena, I backed Winter a step before putting him into a smooth collected trot, making a small circle before we trotted into the arena and down the middle, before stopping in front of the judge and saluting the judge.

After gathering my reins and sitting taller in the saddle, I applied gentle pressure onto Winter's sides, keeping my cues quiet and invisible, but giving him everything he needed to successfully preform a perfect course.

He arched his neck and maintained his movements until I commanded him to change, cantering in circles, trotting around the end of the arena, half passing through the middle, working trot in front of the judge- everything. Perfection.

We left the arena and it took all I had not to squeal loudly on the spot and drop down to hug Winter, but I knew to wait until we were away from the arena so the next competitor could start their course. I didn't care if we won or not- it was a good course and Winter was excellent the entire time, always attentive to my commands.

Beverly met me by the tent stall, her facial expression clearly saying she was pissed. "What's wrong?" I asked, tilting my head, feeling slightly nervous.

"One of my other clients scratched their class because they didn't want to have to compete against this warmblood, who, might I mention, knocked a rail on half the jumps! She's ridiculous." Beverly snapped, and relief flooded through me. "How was your dressage course? Sorry I wasn't able to watch."

"That's okay," I shrugged, before grinning wildly. "Oh damn Beverly, Winter was perfect. I don't think there's another horse in the whole world that could have preformed that course with such fluid and accurate movements like Winter did. He was totally on his A-game today."

"That's good. You and him deserve to win after everything you've put into him."

"Looks like those hard hours of bucking, rearing, taking off, refusing, ducking out, kicking, and being lazy paid off, right?"

"You bet. When's your cross country course?"

"Seven tonight."

"Okay. Don't have a heavy dinner, okay? Try to limit yourself to a fruit or veggie and maybe some cereal, and ONLY water. Okay? I'll be in the indoor if you need me. Just come by or shoot me a text." Beverly said before leaving the barn areas, heading back towards the large indoor, probably to go review a course with another one of her nervous clients.

Truth be told, I was the only teenage client she had. The majority of her riders were adults, who focused on showing in hunters, then one or two who liked dressage. Sometimes she'd have a little kid- say, maybe five years old at the least- one some dead beat hunter, who'd pick up blue ribbons like sea shells at the beach in the early morning.

But most teens my age, like most of Beverly's adult clients, liked hunters. They didn't have the guts to do jumpers or cross country, but didn't like boring dressage, so they chose to do hunters. And why would they train with Beverly when they could train with some big time hunter trainer?

But I liked Beverly. She was stern and firm, not afraid to openly tell you that if you didn't stop doing something, your horse would be ruined, and at the same time she was warm and open, somebody who would shelter you. And with me being her only teenage client, drama at the barn was grealty reduced.

"Hey." I looked up at find Jason standing nearby, leaning against one of the tent stall walls. "You know, they just called your name in the dressage arena. You got a first. Why am I not surprised?"

I rolled my eyes. "Go back to your fancy horse. Maybe if you try hard enough you can beat me one day."

"Ouch, I'm hurt. I haven't even known you for a full day, and you're already being sarcastic. Should I be okay with that?"

"No," I laughed lightly, walking from Winter's stall down the aisle, before calling over my shoulder, "You probably shouldn't."

"Oh!" He called back, "Okay! Why not?"

"Because sarcasm means I'm comfortable around you, which also means I won't hesitate to turn you into my personal slave." I rolled my eyes and headed to the dressage ring, right to the announcer's stand where I was handed a blue ribbon.

"Keep this up," the judge said with a faint grin, "and you might just be the next dressage star."

"Thanks," I said, my voice tinted with amusement, "but I actually think jumping is more of my strong point. But I try, oh, I try."

I left the ring to head back to the tent stalls to add my second blue ribbon up next to our jumping ribbon, which was proudly displayed on the stall door. I hung it up, making sure there were no folds so the ribbon wouldn't get wrinkled, then admired them, before grinning at Winter.

"Think we can add a third blue? I think so."