Chapter 11 Samantha
Samantha
Training new horses is fun.
Training new riders and new horses, well, it’s a little nerve-wracking. Even so, with close to daily rides, it’s neat to see Natalie and both her older girls flourishing.
Even with an accomplished rider, Riona has been a bit of a mess. Natalie’s managing it, but getting her lead changes to be smooth has been harder than we thought. Plus, she often over jumps things. Dramatically. “Okay, that’s probably enough transitions. Let’s try a lead change,” I say.
Natalie grimaces, but she doesn’t argue.
She angles Riona around the corner of the arena, and then she holds herself and the horse painfully straight, and then she sits back on her left hip and asks her to move over.
Riona’s change is immediate and smooth, and the smile spreads over Natalie’s face like creamy peanut butter across hearty, whole grain bread.
“Oh, good girl.” She pats her shoulder. “That was perfect.”
“Bring her around and change the other direction,” I say.
I might have imagined it, but I think Natalie just swore.
“You’ll be fine.” I laugh.
“This is her bad way,” Natalie mutters, just before she asks. But it’s a good morning, and Riona changes smoothly again.
“I think we’re almost ready,” I say. “Those both looked great, and you kept yourself entirely straight.”
“For once,” Natalie says.
“That’s good, because the show’s a week away,” Clara says. “We’d better be looking good by now.”
“Alright,” I say. “Then you go next. Show me your pattern.”
Clara and Hannah are starting slow, doing the novice jumper course and a dressage pattern. I think it’s been great for Dara to build her confidence over easy, easy cross rails and with very simple patterns.
Clara starts her off perfectly, getting a good rhythm and not cutting the corners.
“Nice,” I say. “Stayed just where you should on that bend.”
Then she turns Dara for the first cross rail, but I can see the tension in her eyes and in her hands.
Dara’s head pops up, her ears flattening as they go over the jump.
It’s hard for kids going over tiny jumps to go into jump position properly, because they just don’t have to lean very much.
But they can’t handle bigger jumps without popping the horses’ faces as they land the jumps.
Clara still does it with almost every jump.
“Remember, don’t throw your hands away, but give her just a little release as you clear the poles.”
“I know,” Clara says. “I’m trying.” She does better over the second jump, but then when she comes around the bend, headed for the vertical in the center, she pops her again.
I don’t have to tell her. She can see it in Dara’s ears. “Your horse is tattling on you, and I know that’s hard to watch, when she pins her ears, but she’s an honest girl. You’ll appreciate that later.”
On her second line and the last vertical jump, she actually does much better, releasing with her hands just enough.
“Wow, those looked amazing.” I nod. “If you can do that during the show next week, you might walk away with some nice blue ribbons.”
Clara’s smiling.
But when I set up four more jumps for Hannah, her younger sister, and I raise the cross rails, I can tell she’s a little frustrated. It’s hard to watch your younger sister be better at something. It’s also what happens when you take a few years off, so Natalie and I try not to talk about it.
Hannah and Conor are the best fit in the barn.
I mean, Conor would probably be the best fit for most anyone.
He’s willing, he’s amiable, and boy is he talented.
But watching them course around at two feet, and then once they clear those perfectly, two-six, is a thing of beauty.
“Your improvement has been remarkable,” I say.
“You two have really come together as a pair. I love you so much, I’m not even using Conor this week for any trail rides.
I don’t want anyone messing anything up. ”
“Oh boy,” Natalie says. “Now she’s costing us money.
” But she’s smiling. She’s already mentioned that she might want to buy Conor from the hotel business just for Hannah if they continue going the way they have been.
I get why she wants to, but I love Conor so much—I’ll miss having him on the rides we do with more advanced customers.
“Alright, now the one thing you need to remember, no matter what, is to release the reins after your half-halts. Conor slows up as soon as you ask, so you don’t want to punish him by choking back after you’ve asked.”
Hannah nods, and I watch her hands give just an inch or two.
One of the hardest things for even advanced riders is finding the balance between connection and severe contact on the bit. That balance is hard, and it’s always shifting as the horse learns more and gets more excited for his job. “Alright, same time tomorrow?”
All of them nod, and they start putting their horses away. It also means it’s time for me to move from Liam to Scout. The girls are all gone when I walk out to the pasture to halter the black nightmare. When he sees me, he runs toward me, ears perked up.
“That horse loves you,” Natalie says from behind me.
I nearly drop the halter. “I thought you’d left.” I spin around. “Is everything okay?”
Natalie leans against the gate. “I came to ask you that.”
“Huh?” I blink.
“You’ve been dating Richard for a while now, but you’re being weird about it.”
“Weird?” I ask. “How?”
She exhales slowly, studying my face. “I can’t—I’m not sure. Something’s off. You’re excited to see him. You two seem to be really happy, but if I say anything about next week or next month, you get all strange. You don’t make any plans.” She lifts her chin. “What’s going on?”
Well, shoot.
“You may as well just tell me. That look on your face confirms I’m right.” She narrows her eyes. “Is it that you’re worried about the kid thing? I thought you wanted kids, but Brent just didn’t really do his part.”
His part.
“No, Brent did his part.” I can barely speak. My throat closes off, and suddenly, I’m bawling.
Natalie’s entire face falls, and she grabs me, hugging me tightly. It takes me half an hour, and Scout spends most of that time bumping my shoulder, but I tell her all of it. The whoopsie marriage. The fertility treatments. The miscarriages. So many miscarriages.
And then I tell her the lie I told.
“Okay, but it’s not really a lie,” she says. “If I told you I didn’t want to ride, that would be true, even if I blamed a stomachache and really, I had a twisted ankle.”
“I told him I don’t like them,” I whisper. “I do like them. I love them.”
“But you conveyed that you don’t want to have children, and that part is true,” she says.
“You don’t want to put yourself through that again, and you shouldn’t.
” She grabs my arm and drags me in for another hug.
“And if,” she whispers in my ear, “he really, really loves you, he won’t ask you to go through any of that again. ”
I’m not sure how long we’re there, but it heals my heart a little that she finally knows. I needed her to know.
“We should tell Vanessa,” Natalie says. “And I know you have a schedule to keep, and Scout’s really impatient.” She yips. “Ow.” She spins around. “He bit me.”
“Scout,” I say. “Stop that.”
He pins his ears, but he’s still tossing his head at Natalie.
“I’ll make him work extra hard today,” I promise.
“You better.” Natalie’s laugh-scowling as she takes a few steps away from my black demon.
When I get back to the arena, I think about Richard, and I try to come up with a way to tell him the whole time I work with Scout.
He warms up great—he’s gotten better and better at the flatwork.
And then we do some small jumps. After he nails those, perfect distances, great scope, I raise them and we go again.
I’m taking him over three foot six, easily, when Rían walks into the barn.
He watches for a minute, but then he says, “He’s looking amazing. ”
I’ve taken his horse from a completely disastrous, non-rideable mess into a fairly solid citizen, albeit still quite green over fences.
“I’m proud of him. He’s made fabulous progress.
” I pat his neck. “Now watch this.” Part of me doesn’t want to show Rían what he can do.
I’ve been considering trying to buy him, but I can’t afford to pay what he’s probably going to be worth quite soon.
I hug the corner, evening out his rhythm, and then I turn him toward the highest line.
Three feet, and a three-three ascending oxer, and Scout sails over it without the slightest hesitation.
He gets a little too excited, tossing his head twice, but he calms easily.
We circle around and do the blue single, then a trot fence, then the other line, both at two-nine.
He makes it look like a training exercise.
“I think we’re going to try for some cross-country work next.
” I pull him up alongside Rían. “You going to ride him this week?”
“Actually, I’ve been thinking about this for a while.” He sighs. “I think you should buy him.”
Shoot. I should’ve seen that coming. Rían hasn’t asked to ride him once, even now that he’s a lot calmer. “You’ll find that he’s a different horse.” I pat his neck. “You might love him, I swear.”
Rían shakes his head. “I’ve actually tried riding him twice now, both times when you were gone, and it’s been a mess. He races through my hands, he ignores my leg, and he bucks like a bronco that wants free. He hates me.” He stands and reaches for Scout, and the horse snaps at him.
It’s rare, but I’ve seen this before. Some horses and some people just don’t get along.
“The thing is, if I’m being honest, I’m not sure I can pay you what he’s worth.
” I remember how badly Rían wanted a major raise when we first got here.
I imagine he needs the money, and I don’t want to cheat him. “I can list him, if you’d like.”