Home Sweet Drama (18 page)

“Aristocrat's head seems high,” I said.

Heather nodded once, then corrected him. Aristocrat lowered his chin the second she asked him to.

I almost couldn't believe what we were doing—if we'd tried to critique each other weeks ago, we would have torn each other apart. We still weren't really friends, but our relationship had definitely changed.

I looked up, surprised, when Mr. Conner entered the arena. I glanced up at the wall clock near the skybox—Heather and I had been practicing for more than half an hour. We'd been working so well together that it felt like we'd just gotten started.

“I had a feeling you'd both be here,” Mr. Conner said, smiling. “I sincerely appreciate your dedication to the team. You both continue to impress me.”

I held back a grin.

“Thanks,” Heather and I said.

“Today's going to be a little different,” Mr. Conner said. Heather and I looked over as Mike led a tacked-up Lexington into the arena. He handed Mr. Conner a helmet, which Mr. Conner put on and then mounted Lexington.

“For the first half of the lesson, you two are going to stay in the center of the arena and you'll critique
me.
”

Heather and I looked at each other—confused. Mr. Conner was a top-level rider and there was no way we'd
find anything wrong with his riding. We weren't even close to being experienced enough to give him feedback.

Mr. Conner looked at our faces and grinned. “I'm not going to ride in my normal style. I'm going to start with some obvious mistakes and I want you to point those out. As we go, my mistakes will become more and more subtle. You'll have to work harder to find them.”

It sounded fun to be able to critique Mr. Conner instead of him always pointing out where we needed to improve.

“Any questions?” he asked.

Heather and I shook our heads.

“All right,” Mr. Conner said. “Let's get started.”

Heather and I moved Charm and Aristocrat to the center of the arena, swapping places with Mr. Conner. He guided Lexington along the wall and my eyes swept over his body, looking for mistakes.

“Shoulders down and back,” Heather said. Mr. Conner listened to her and I focused, determined to find the next mistake. I watched as Lexington, still young and inexperienced, took advantage of the extra rein Mr. Conner gave him.

“Tighten your reins,” I called. “He's drifting because no one's keeping him in line.”

Mr. Conner tightened the reins and guided Lexington back along the wall.

It was getting tougher now. Heather and I both watched him, looking for some mistake.

“Elbows in,” Heather called. I looked closer and noticed she was right. Mr. Conner tucked his elbows closer to his body.

He let Lexington into a trot and immediately, I knew something was off.

“You're—” Heather and I started at the same time.

She motioned to me.

“You're on the wrong diagonal,” I said.

Mr. Conner sat for a beat, then started posting—this time on the correct diagonal.

Heather and I called him on a few more errors before he drew Lexington to a walk.

“How did you feel about that exercise?” he asked, halting the gray in front of us.

“It was different to see things from your perspective,” I said. “You're watching a lot when we're riding and I never thought about that part of it before.”

Heather adjusted her reins. “I thought it was helpful to see someone else make mistakes—some we do and don't even realize it—and to see how that would look to a judge.”

“Exactly,” Mr. Conner said. He reached down and
rubbed Lexington's neck. “That's what I was hoping for—I wanted you to see what the judges witness when they watch you and others ride. At this point in your riding careers, you rarely, if at all, exhibit any of the early mistakes I made. That's how it should be. As lessons for the YENT continue, we'll keep working on the finesse of your riding.”

He smiled at us. “All right. Back to
me
critiquing you. Space out your horses and start spirals at a trot.”

I trotted Charm to the left end of the arena and started maneuvering him through the pattern. My mind was focused on our ride—we had a show after fall break and I wasn't about to waste one second of our lesson.

We completed a few spirals before Mr. Conner held up his hand.

“Halt and I'll explain what we're going to do next,” he said.

Heather and I stopped our horses in front of him, ready for instructions.

“I want to practice leg yields,” Mr. Conner said. “We haven't worked on them since last year, so I want to remind you how to execute them.”

I took a breath to keep down my nerves.

“Even if you don't intend to specialize in dressage,”
Mr. Conner said, “knowing how to do leg yields is a valuable tool for jumping. If you approach a jump at the wrong angle, a leg yield can help straighten your horse before he reaches the jump. Also, for pleasure riding, you can use leg yields to move to the side of a trail or to make opening and closing gates easier.”

I nodded at that. Sometimes I had to dismount to open or close a gate. If I could do better leg yields, I'd be able to stay in the saddle.

“For this lesson, we'll refresh our memory about how to leg yield by doing it at a walk,” Mr. Conner said. “Practice this on your own in between lessons and we'll eventually work up to doing it at a canter.”

We nodded and I made a mental note to watch a few clips of leg yields on MyTube later.

“Heather,” Mr. Conner continued. “I'd like you to go first. Ask Aristocrat to walk forward, then move him toward the wall. He should naturally want to walk along the wall since that's how we work during lessons. But don't allow him to turn completely—just bend.”

Heather nodded. “Okay. And once he starts to bend, I'll ask him to move sideways while still going forward.”

“Exactly,” Mr. Conner said. “Let's see you try it.”

Heather walked Aristocrat in a straight line, keeping
him away from the arena wall. Then she started to bend him toward the wall, and when he moved toward it, she pressed her boot against his side when he took another step forward. She also moved the inside rein with her hand and within two strides, Aristocrat began to move forward
and
sideways at the same time. They continued the movement for three strides before Heather turned him away from the wall and back to us.

“That was nice, Heather,” Mr. Conner said. “How did you decide when Aristocrat had bent enough?”

Heather put the reins in one hand and pushed up her helmet. “I read an article in
Young Rider
about leg yields and I think it said the horse bent enough when you could see his nostril and eye.”

Mr. Conner smiled. “That's correct. A great execution for the first attempt. Good job.” He turned to me. “Your turn, Sasha. Remember not to pull on the reins—be gentle and ask Charm to flex to the side and not turn.”

I nodded. “Okay.”

But I didn't feel okay. It had been
so
long since I'd done leg yields—I worried that I'd forgotten everything and wouldn't be able to do it. I gave Charm rein to move forward because I knew the longer I sat still, the more I'd overanalyze and make myself and Charm more nervous.

I kept him straight for several strides before I flexed my fingers around the reins and asked him to bend just slightly. He started to make a complete turn, so I restraightened him and made him move forward for several more strides before asking him to bend again. This time, he moved slightly instead of a full turn. I timed pressing my leg against him when he moved his back leg forward.

C'mon, move sideways!
I begged in my head.

It felt as if he wasn't going to do it and then he moved sideways and forward at the same time.

Yes!

I kept pressing and relaxing my leg against his side and I didn't make him take as many steps as Heather and Aristocrat had done. I patted his shoulder and we turned back to Mr. Conner and Heather.

Mr. Conner nodded at me. “Excellent, Sasha. Charm isn't as familiar with these movements as Aristocrat, but he listened to you and he worked hard at paying attention to what you were asking of him. Keep practicing it.”

“We will,” I said.

“Let's try that again,” Mr. Conner said. He gestured at Heather. “Take Aristocrat though it at a walk.”

I watched Heather start the exercise and I felt eager to
try again. When it was our turn, Charm seemed to know exactly what to do. He listened to me the first time and we completed the leg yield without making the same mistakes we had the first time. Mr. Conner made us practice for another half hour before he signaled us to bring our horses in front of him.

“Thank you, girls,” he said. “That was a great lesson. Considering it's the day before fall break and the night of the dance, your rides were commendable. As a reward for your hard work, Mike and Doug will care for your horses.”

“Thank you,” Heather and I said.

“Enjoy the dance tonight and have a good break,” Mr. Conner said. He grinned and pointed to his clipboard. “We'll
really
start working for the schooling show when you get back.” He turned and walked out of the arena.

Heather and I dismounted and unsnapped our chin straps. We led the horses to the arena exit and toward the aisle to find Mike and Doug.

I saw Mike filling a bucket with water and he waved at us. “Be right there,” he said. Heather and I nodded at him.

I rubbed Charm's neck, then hugged him. “I'm going to miss you, boy, but I'll be back in a week. And Mike and Doug always take great care of you.”

Charm leaned against me, hugging me back. I buried
my face in his mane and held him tight before I let him go.

When I released him, I saw Heather lowering her arms from around Aristocrat's neck. Heather loved Aristocrat more than she let on and I knew she'd miss him just as much as I'd miss Charm.

Mike walked over and reached for their reins.

“Have a good break,” he said. “I'll take good care of them.”

“We know you will,” I said. “And thanks.”

Mike smiled and led Charm and Aristocrat down the aisle.

Heather pulled her hair out of its ponytail and shook it around her shoulders.

“I'm going back to my room,” she said. “There's no way I'm going anywhere else—not with this craziness going on.”

“Agreed,” I said. “I'm putting in my earbuds until I get to my room. You know the second we walk out of here we'll hear a chant, or a cheer or something.”

Heather laughed and we started down the aisle toward the exit. “For sure. If I hear ‘Canterwood Crest is the best' one more time …”

23

KIKI AND JADE

WHOA. I SURVEYED THE MESS THAT HAD ONCE been my room.

“Paige?” I called, stepping over a pile of flip-flops that looked as if they'd been tossed one by one from her closet. Her desk was covered with two curling irons, a flatiron, headbands, clips, and a half dozen brushes of different sizes.

“Sasha! Omigod, help!” Paige looked around her closet door. Her eyes were wide and her voice was squeaky.

“What's wrong?” I asked.

I stepped over the mess and pulled Paige out of her closet.

“I'm panicking! This is the Homecoming dance. With. Ryan. It's the biggest event of the fall and I have to look perfect.”

“You
will
look amazing,” I said. “We already picked out your dress and you looked gorgeous when you tried it on.”

Paige picked up the hunter green dress off her bed. The one-shoulder dress skimmed above her knees and made her red hair look even more vibrant.

“But what if it looks horrible now?” Paige asked. She held it up to herself in front of the mirror.

“It won't. Put it on and you can wear a hoodie while we do your hair and makeup so we don't spill anything on your dress.”