Horse Lovers Paradise

Horse Lovers Paradise (1)

Chapter 1

Who wins?

"OK all scholarship students this way" a loud booming voice said.

"Ooh, Ella I'm so nervous. I have butterflies in my stomach and they're flying up a storm" Jasmine said nervously.

"I know me to" I said.

"Look at her"

"who?"

"The girl with the fluffy pink top and designer glasses leading the Arabian" Jasmine said staring at the girl. I followed her glance to see a girl leading a perfectly groomed and washed Arabian. "Look she's coming this way" Jasmine squealed excitedly.

"Calm down, Arabs aren't that good!" I said.

"I don't care, I've never seen an Arabian before" Jasmine cried.

"I'm Vanessa and you're in my way!" proclaimed the girl in perfectly clipped tones.

"Ever heard of please?" I challenged. Vanessa and I glared at each other. No one moved, everything went silent even the birds in the trees stopped chirping. It was like the whole world had stopped right before my eyes. Vanessa finally broke the silence by saying

"of course I know that word but I don't use it".

"Manners get you everywhere in life" I said in a fake cute voice.

"You'll be the only one using you manners" she said doing quotation marks around the word manners with her fingers, "after your begging on your hands and knees for a second scholarship after I smash you in the ring later on" Vanessa continued. She gave me the evil eye then left.

"Isn't she charming?" I asked turning to Jasmine. Jasmine gave a small chuckle but I could tell she was as nervous as I was, or maybe even more!

"All scholarship students this way" a loud voice shouted. Jasmine and I looked around to see a pretty well presented woman standing on a mounting block. This woman looked amazing in her spotless cream jodhpurs, ironed lilic purple school shirt, she had shining leather knee length boots and a black riding crop in her left hand, and her hair tied back in a tight neat bun but most of all her lovely smile. Seeing how kind this lady looked made me feel a lot better. "Welcome to Welsh Mountains" she began "Today, for all of you who have passed the academic stage will be tested to see who the best horse woman is!" I took in a deep breath I knew I had only just passed the academic stage so I really had to shine today. "Today I would like everyone to use a school horse so nobody has an unfair advantage," this woman sounded like she knew a thing or two. "because there are so many of you I think the easiest way to do this is if you get given a red card at any point of today it mean you are no longer required for the scholarship." I dreaded getting a red card and by the look on Jasmine's face so did she, although I knew I was quite a good rider there were 30 of the best riders in the country competing for the scholarship so my chances for getting it weren't very high. "The first thing I will be getting you all to do today is grooming and tacking up a horse. This will show me whether you are capable on the ground for managing a horse. If you would all follow me the barns please" the woman said stepping off the mounting block and walking towards 2 different coloured barns. "On the door of each stall should be a name, find your name and that's the horse you will be using for today." The woman said letting out a deep breath. "The tack you will be using is in there" she said pointing to a large room at the end of each barn. "Your horses name will be underneath yours and labeled on the tack, grooming kits are also in there" the woman only just got the last word before everyone bolted into the bars running past all the stables trying to find the horse they were using.

"What a chaos huh Jas?" I asked as I looked at all the running girls. There was no reply. I glanced next to me to make sure Jas was OK but she wasn't there, I looked around and saw her running ahead with all the other girls. I rolled my eyes and slowly made my way up the ally trying not to spook the horse more than they already were. I glanced at each stable door looking for my name and admiring each horse as I did so. I found my name on a stable door. The name beneath mine read 'Sliver Ghost' I gently tugged at the door and it slipped open. Right in front of my eyes laid an amazing grey horse. Its grey colour was drop-dead-gorgeous and nearly white. It had gently looking eyes and fine dished face. From the look of this horse I would say he is a Hanoverian Warmblood. I patted the horse's gentle, velvety nose and its little ears pricked forward. I smiled to myself thinking this horse was the most amazing creature I had ever seen. I closed the door and headed down the alley towards the tack room. Once inside I glanced around enjoying the smell of saddle soap and used leather. Everywhere I looked there was tack. There were saddles on racks bridles on hooks and grooming kits under it all. To my luck the first name I spotted was 'Sliver Ghost' so I grabbed the grooming kit and headed off to his stable.