Intangible | Free Rein [Pin]

- Chapter 3 -

Everything changed quickly, Marcus left for the academy, Pin started to ride for Holloway, Brightfield's got a new trainer and Harper's dad was trying to change into a better dad.

Harper knew that it would take time for her to forgive her dad and to start trusting him, change can't happen overnight. But she was willing to wait. A clear sign that he was starting to change was the apple that Harper found on the bench that had a carved smiley-face on it, he always used to carve her apples and put them into her school lunches.

It was a sunny morning, so Harper pulled on her black jeans and a cream shirt. She wasn't wearing riding gear as she was entering maid of the island and she would change into clothes that she could ride in later in the day, she didn't like riding in jeans; it was too hard to move around in them. Maggie had gotten excited when Harper mentioned that she was entering and had prepared her some clothes that she had promised that she would like.

Quickly, Harper slipped her boots on and started to walk down the lane. As Robin had spent the night in the field, he could be in any state, covered in dirt or completely clean. The yard was alive with laughter and people running around in a frantic state trying to get ready, even with all the time left before they had to arrive at the event. Practically all the girls were entering, and the boys were already placing bets on who would win, they leant heavily towards Mia.

Harper grabbed Robin's brushes from the tack room and took his headcollar off of the hook by the door. She walked over to the field and whistled for Robin to come, his head raised in the air quickly and he cantered over happily. Harper sighed heavily when she saw that his legs were covered almost completely in mud and his tail was knotted.

Once she put his headcollar onto him, she walked him back over to the hose and began to shampoo his legs to remove the mud. It took her a half hour to completely clean Robin, she led him over to the main post and began to groom him normal. It always calmed her to groom Robin until he was shining.

To let Robin have time to completely dry and avoid getting water onto his travel wraps, Harper began to plait his main and tail. She put a running braid into his hair and did a simple one in his tail. By that point, the summer sun had completely dried his coat. Harper brushed over his legs and picked out his hooves and gave them a polish.

Harper was reminded by Mia that they needed to start loading the horses for the event, so she wrapped his legs and tail so that he wouldn't get dirty and a light fleece onto his back. The yard all loaded their horses quickly and then went back for their tack; the saddle pads had a sort of medieval theme that made Harper smile.

Once they were ready to leave, the yard piled into the horse trucks and cars and set off for the castle where the event was being held. They were a choir of laughter as they headed into the event.

The horses were unloaded quickly and tied up to their allocated spaces, Harper unwrapped Robin's legs and tail and took his rug off and put them back into the horse truck. Zoe grabbed Harper and led her towards the maids tent so that the two of them could get changed together.

Harper's costume was fairly basic, it was a pair of black leggings with a white button-up shirt tucked into the waist, leather guards on her wrists and a leather band around her middle that was similar to Mia's and a big silver necklace that was partially hidden underneath the shirt and was only visible through the top two buttons that she had undone. Zoe had helped her to braid silver strands into her hair in the style of two French plaits.

Zoe squealed that the two of them looked great and dragged Harper back into the main part of the event. In the time that the two of them were changing, more people had arrived at the Maid of the Island event. Zoe and Harper weaved their way around people and eventually found Jade and Becky, who were stood by Bob.