Hercules: A Matter of Trust (3 page)

E
mily ran out the front door of the barn and found exactly who she was looking for: Meredith Jenkins, one of the girls who worked at the barn. She was Emily's age and had always been nice to her the few times they'd met. Definitely a potential ally.

In the gravel driveway of the barn Meredith was bathing a reddish chestnut horse with three white socks. His coat was wet, and he was nicely muscled and rounded out. Not a rescue horse, for sure. He was very cute, actually.

Instead of having him tied up in a nice wash stall with warm water as Emily would have done at home, Meredith had draped the lead shank over his neck
while she sprayed his feet with a hose in the middle of the driveway. Every few seconds, he'd take a tiny step forward, and she'd order him to cut it out. And then he'd take another step, until she finally stopped, grabbed his lead shank and backed him up to where they'd started. Then she tossed the lead shank over his neck and squatted down to start scrubbing his white socks.

“Meredith!”

The girl glanced up and grinned when she saw Emily approach. “Hi, Emily. Congrats on getting Debby to let you near Sapphire again. Alison told me. Excellent work!”

Emily smiled back, glad she'd sought Meredith out. She didn't know her well, but she was the only person at the barn that Emily knew besides her own family. Meredith was occasionally invited to dinner, and she'd been at Family DVD Night last night, so Emily felt a little comfortable with her. Meredith had helped her out with Sapphire once, and ever since, they'd had a bit of a bond. “You want me to hold him?”

Meredith shot a warning look at the horse as he took another step. “No, he's fine. He's not going anywhere.” She glared at the horse as he took another step, then got up, grabbed the lead shank and backed him up again. “Halo, stay here!”

“You getting him ready for his new owners?” Emily glanced down the driveway, half expecting to see a van from another barn rolling up to take the horse away. She dreaded those vans, knowing that in each one might be the people to see Sapphire and make a deal Aunt Debby couldn't turn down. “He looks ready to sell.”

Meredith laughed. “No, I'm not selling him—as long as he's a good boy, that is.” She tugged on the lead shank as Halo took another step. “Halo's mine.”

“Yours?” Emily couldn't keep the surprise out of her voice. “But I thought all the horses here were part of the rescue-fix-and-resell deal.”

“Most of them are.” Meredith glanced at her watch. “But Debby also takes paying boarders to make money. I get free lessons in exchange for the work I do around here.”

“Really?” Everyone at Emily's barn in New Jersey paid for lessons, and Emily was one of the few girls that helped out with chores. Emily did it because she liked to be there, not because she had to. Emily was the only one at her old barn who actually brushed her own horses, let alone did work for anyone else.

“Yep. But it's fun. I don't mind, and I learn so much working for Debby. She's brilliant, you know?”

Emily bit her lip. “You think?”

“Totally. I'm so lucky I was able to get in with her, because she doesn't take many new students.” Meredith looked at her watch again, made a squeak of tension, and scooted down to Halo's back sock and started scrubbing that one. “But she's demanding, for sure. I have to get a horse ready for its new owners, who are arriving in less than an hour.” She started scrubbing harder. “I'm so not going to have time to get everything ready by tomorrow.”

“Tomorrow? You mean the horse show? You taking Halo?” Emily dumped some soap on her palms and started washing Halo's other back sock. The suds dripped down over his white hoof, making rivulets as they pooled around his foot. She smiled as the familiar scent of ivory soap drifted up to her nose, because that was the same type she used on Rhapsody back at home.

Meredith shot her a grateful look. “Thanks for the help. And yep, Halo and I are showing tomorrow. I'm so pumped.”

“You riding in the Maiden class?” Emily tried to keep her voice casual.

Meredith laughed as Halo inched forward a couple steps. “Maiden? No way. I haven't been eligible for Maiden in years. We're doing the eleven to fourteen Opens and Large Pony.”

“Large Pony? What's that?” Emily couldn't keep from grimacing at Meredith's reaction to the Maiden class. Would she think Emily was a loser for riding in Maiden?

“Large Pony is Hunter class, which means it's a class that judges the beauty of the pony. Large ponies have to measure between thirteen hands two inches and fourteen two. Medium ponies are twelve two to thirteen two, and small ponies are twelve two and under. The jumps are bigger for the larger ponies, obviously.”

Emily thought about the big jumps Alison had been riding the other day, and then thought about the tiny ones that Aunt Debby had had her jump. “How big are large pony jumps?”

“Three feet.” Meredith scooted over to where Halo now stood, so she could keep scrubbing his sock.

“Three feet? Seriously?” The jumps Emily had done couldn't have been even half that. How cool would that be to jump three feet? “What's Maiden?”

Meredith frowned. “I don't know. Maybe eighteen inches.”

Eighteen inches? Yikes. Moondance would be able to step over those at a walk. Emily was pretty sure that she'd jumped higher than that in both her lessons. She moved over to where Halo had moved, and started
scrubbing his sock again. “What kind of class is Open eleven to fourteen?”

“Equitation. Judges the form of the rider. Once you get in the Open division, it's divided into age groups. I'm twelve, so I ride in the eleven through fourteen classes.”

Equitation. That would be what Emily should excel at. Her form was brilliant, after years of coaching by Les. “Is Maiden hunter or equitation?”

“Equitation. An over-fences class and a flat class.”

Emily relaxed a little. She should have no trouble winning an equitation class filled with beginners, especially on the flat! Easy-peasy! She wiggled her toes inside her paddock boots, pleased that the toe-kissing plan was going so well. “Can I ask you something?”

“Sure.” Meredith grabbed the hose and pointed it at Halo's sock and squeegeed the soap out with her hand until his pink skin glowed underneath the white hair. She pointed the hose toward the sock Emily had been scrubbing. “Done?”

“Yep.” Emily rubbed her fingers through Halo's hair as Meredith sprayed the sock with the hose, the water cold on Emily's hands. Halo took a step, and they both laughed and moved over with him. “Do you know much about the model classes?”

“Sure do. The first Large Pony class has that element. The top ponies after the jumping class are brought back for conformation judging before final placement.” Meredith tossed Emily a towel, and they both squatted and began to dry Halo's legs.

“Aunt Debby wants me to show Sapphire in a model class tomorrow. Will you give me some tips?”

Meredith shot her a wide grin. “Oh, totally! That will be so fun! I'm going to practice with Halo later today. We'll do it together, okay?”

Emily beamed at Meredith, unable to stem her excitement. “That would be fantastic. I want to do well with him.”

Meredith peered at her under Halo's brown belly, which was still dripping with water. “I got to show Sapphire once when he first arrived. Debby wanted to see how he did.”

Emily felt a tinge of jealousy. “You did? How was it?”

Meredith grinned. “It was
awesome
.”

“Ooh,” Emily sighed. “I bet it was.”

“I only did a flat class—no jumps—but everyone was watching, wanting to know who this beautiful horse was.”

The towel slipped out of Emily's fingers as she leaned
forward to listen. “Really? Was he good?”

Meredith snorted. “He was terrible. Took off and ran over the judge.”

Emily laughed and picked up her towel again. “I can totally see him doing that! I bet he looked good doing it, though.”

“Of course he did. Sapphire looks good all the time.” Meredith caught Halo's lead shank as her horse took a few more steps. “And he knows it, too.”

Emily giggled. “He does, doesn't he? He thinks he can get away with anything because he's beautiful.”

“Totally!” Meredith jumped to her feet, her cheeks flushed. “I was so honored when he took off with me on him. I love his spirit.”

“Me too!” Emily leaped up as well. “I thought I was the only one! Aunt Debby wants to crush his spirit!”

Meredith shook her head as Halo took a small walk around them. “No she doesn't. She just wants to manage it enough to make him the star he can be.”

Emily wrinkled her nose. “She has high hopes for him, doesn't she?”

“Oh, yes. He's the golden horse of the barn, for sure.”

“Believe me, I know. She's so possessive of him.” Emily cocked her head, thinking about Meredith and
Sapphire running over the judge. “Did she bust you when he was bad at the show?”

“Me? Not at all. It wasn't my fault.”

Emily frowned. “How do you get to that point? Getting Aunt Debby to have that kind of faith in you? To have her not blame you for things that go wrong around you?” She knew for sure that if she allowed Sapphire to run down the judge tomorrow, Aunt Debby would use it as an excuse to limit Emily's freedom with him.

Meredith got a sympathetic look on her face. “Don't worry, Emily. Debby didn't trust me at first, either. She watched me all the time and was always checking up on everything I did.”

“Really?” Emily searched Meredith's face to see if she was telling the truth. “She did?”

“Yep. But eventually she realized that I was smart enough to know what I could and couldn't do, and she backed off. You'll get there. And we'll start by making Sapphire do really well in the class tomorrow. You'll show her.”

Emily grinned. “I will, won't I?”

“Of course you will.” Meredith glanced at her watch. “But it'll have to be later. I have to run.” She started tugging Halo toward the barn. “Let's hook up later to practice for the model class! Four o'clock, okay?” She
hustled Halo into the barn, his feet clopping on the floor as he trotted after her.

“Yeah, four works.” Emily gazed after the pair, suddenly wishing so badly that she could have her own horse the way Meredith did. Really having her own horse. Not like T.J., who was hers only as long as it was convenient for her aunt and her dad. It wasn't as if Emily actually had any independence with T.J. Clearly her aunt didn't trust her ability to make smart choices, like how Meredith had described. Plus, it wasn't like Emily could show T.J. and ride him. Emily wanted a horse to ride and take care of with no one looking over her shoulder to make sure she was doing everything right.

Then Meredith glanced back over her shoulder and gave Emily a thumbs-up before disappearing around the corner.

Excitement rushed through Emily. If Meredith could have Sapphire plow down a judge and not get blamed for it, there was hope for Emily. Tomorrow she would prove it. Tomorrow would rock! Wait until Aunt Debby saw her and Sapphire…

There was going to be no judge-trampling tomorrow. No way.

“
E
mily! You're not paying attention.”

“Sorry, Meredith.” Emily winced, trying to put Hercules out of her mind and concentrate on making Sapphire stand correctly. She'd run up to the paddock to see Hercules again before meeting Meredith to train, and he'd been just as scared of her as he had been earlier.

She couldn't stop thinking of the terror in his little brown eyes, and she felt so bad.

“Okay, so walk and come to a stop again,” Meredith ordered. “Like you're lining up in front of the judge.”

Emily grabbed Sapphire's reins, and walked him forward a few steps.

She lifted his head and eased him to a stop, and his front feet stopped in perfect alignment. She did a quick check of his back feet and saw one foot was stretched out behind him too far, so she pulled him forward another step and all his feet lined up correctly.

“Nice,” Meredith said as she strolled up to Sapphire, pretending she was a judge inspecting him, letting Halo trail behind her. “His ears?”

Emily pulled a piece of wax paper out of her pocket and crinkled it under Sapphire's nose. His ears popped forward to inspect it, and his eyes were all alert—then his lip popped out and he swept the wax paper out of Emily's hand and started to chew it.

Meredith groaned as Emily grabbed the paper and tried to pry it from his teeth. “He can't do that in the class,” Meredith said.

“I know.” A piece of paper ripped free in Emily's hand, and the rest disappeared into his mouth. “I won't let him get it next time.” Emily gave up on the wax paper and scowled at him as he spit it onto the driveway. “Nice, Sapphire. Really attractive.”

He lowered his head and nuzzled against her hip, and she immediately hugged him. “Okay, you're forgiven.”

But Meredith had her hands on her hips, her face all serious. “Emily, you can't let him nudge you in the
class, either. He has to simply stand there and look beautiful.”

“I know.” Emily released him, trying to give him a stern look. “You be good, you hear me?”

He snorted and gave her a shove that nearly knocked her off her feet.

Meredith cocked her head. “You know, there's a reason why Debby makes him behave around the barn. Because if he messes around in a class—”

“I'll be careful in the class.” Emily scratched his ears, chuckling at his moan of delight. “He'll be perfect.” But he gave her a slight nudge to knock her off balance, and she felt a little flash of wariness. What if he wasn't good? What if he
did
trample the judge?

She studied him carefully, looking him in the eye. Sapphire loved her, and she needed him to be good. They'd be fine. She grimaced and hoped she was right.

“This is what you need to do.” Meredith grabbed Halo's reins tighter and turned him away. “Watch.”

She walked Halo across the driveway, then turned and clucked him into a trot. He stretched out his neck, showing a beautiful arc, and he pointed his toes as he trotted, gliding across the gravel like a ballet dancer. His ears were forward, his muscles gliding under his shiny coat.

Then Meredith eased him to a walk in a graceful transition; finally she circled him around and halted him. His front feet stopped in perfect alignment; one back foot was forward under his belly and the other was placed at the exact right spot slightly back. She moved her hand by her hip and Halo's ears perked forward, his nose extended to show off his muscled neck and his beautiful head.

He kept the position for several moments until she patted his neck and grinned at Emily. “And that, my friend, is how it's done.”

Sapphire chose that moment to give Emily a hard shove, and she landed on her butt in the gravel. Emily glared up at him, feeling the first true worries that maybe her toe-kissing plan might be a little harder to accomplish than she'd thought. “And that, my darling horse, is
not
.”