Horsemen Trials, A Fantasy Story about Horses

Lillian was still not fully convinced that Mr. Blair's method was the way to go, but I couldn't blame her there. I hadn't been as convinced till recently, and I still held some reservations. She did agree however, to coming to his place once or twice a week for a lesson.

It was at one of those lessons that Mr. Blair introduced something unusual. Up till now we had mostly focused on our flatwork and dressage, but not today.

As Lillian and I walked up to Mr. Blair, I saw Norah. She and Mr. Blair were adjusting their stirrups.

"Good morning girls," Mr. Blair greeted us.

"Good morning," we responded in unison.

"Today we're going to be doing something a little different. Better dismount and shorten up your stirrups about three holes."

Lillian and I exchanged surprised plus excited looks. "What are we going to do?" I asked as I dismounted.

"We're going to do some jumping and a little bit of endurance practice."

I bit my lip, nervousness and excitement swelling. Don't get me wrong, I do like flatwork, it's really engaging, but variety is the spice of life.

I shortened my stirrups about three holes as Mr. Blair said. When it came time to mount, I was glad I had the tree stump to use, as mounting from the ground would be quite a challenge.

As I settled in the saddle I immediately noticed how short the stirrups felt. Having been riding in longer stirrups for flatwork for a month and half, it was a noticeable difference and I wasn't sure if I liked it.

Norah's brow was wrinkled as she fiddled with her stirrups, pushing her foot down into them.

"Feel too short?" I asked her.

She nodded. "I'm so used to them being longer."

"I know, I want to sit deeper but I don't think I can."

"It will help if you bend your knee," interjected Mr. Blair. He looked around. "Everyone ready to go?"

A chorus of yeses answered him.

"Alright then, follow me."

Mr. Blair rode out first, followed by Norah and then Lillian and I. None of the horses displayed buddy sour tendencies, for which I was very thankful.

Mr. Blair lead us down between the trees and out to the road. We plodded along quietly, the horses were fairly calm and relaxed, although probably wondering why we weren't staying home.

I didn't know where we were going, but I did know one thing: We were going to have some fun.

We went about a mile and a half down the road before reaching a large grassy field. We were not the only ones there, there were a few other people on their horses.

The large grassy field had several logs spread around it. There was a pond over to my left and a forest over to my right. I could feel my excitement rising.

Mr. Blair lifted a hand and we all stopped.

"Who wants to try a little jumping?"

We voiced our assent.

"Now, I know that Iris and Norah haven't done much jumping. Lillian, how much have you done?"

"I've jumped Checkmate up to two feet, over logs and down one or two banks."

"Oh, so you have a little bit more experience. Alright, let's warm up, and when you're ready to jump, meet back here. Remember that you must keep on a look out for others, so you don't have a collision. No jumping though. Understand?"

Again there were more sounds of assent.

I reined Destiny around and decided to do my trot work along the forest edge. Destiny was walking very spritely.

I cued her to trot and she was off like a rocket. I sat up and posted slower, which helped some, but she was still speeding off on the forehand.

I began to turn her in a circle to make her come back, and she did eventually. Then I changed reins and trotted her again. She wasn't as speedy this time around, so that was a good improvement.

When it was time to canter, I had to resist the urge to let her gallop. It was so tempting. But that would not have been right, so I restrained myself.

Barely.

We met back where Mr. Blair said to, all of us having slightly giddy looks on our faces.

"Alright, so, we're going to start with that small log over there for for a warm up fence. We'll go one at a time and take turns, starting with trot and progressing to canter."

"Now, when you approach the fence, there are three things I want you to do. Number one is to make sure your heels are down. Number two is look beyond the fence, not straight at it the whole time. And number three is do not have a crooked line to the fence. That's just asking for a run out or refusal."

He picked up Rejem's reins and began trotting him towards the little log, talking as he did. "Assume your two point a couple of strides before the jump and hold it until a few strides afterwards. Grab mane if you have to."

He demonstrated, Rejem popping easily over the log. He brought him around and stationed Rejem right beside the log. "Who wants to go first?"

Lillian raised her hand, then urged Checkmate forward and circled him around.

She did just as Mr. Blair wanted, going into a perfect two point. "Good Lillian, just stay in two point longer after the jump," called Mr. Blair.

Next up was me. I was excited to jump, which I'd only done a few times before.

I brought Destiny around, using my legs to help keep her straight and forward. She pricked her ears up, seeing the log ahead of us. I rose into my two point and pressed my hands into her neck.

"Good, look up!" Reminded Mr. Blair.

I pulled my gaze up and focused on the pond a ways ahead. Before I knew it we had popped over the log and were on the other side. I held my two point for a little longer and then started posting to her trot.

"That was solid Iris, a fair jump, good job. Norah, it's your turn."

Norah seemed a little more nervous than Lillian and I, but she took it in stride and did well.

We each went over the jump in trot one more time. Then it was time to canter it.

Once again Lillian was the best of three of us, being that she had the more experience.

Then it was my turn. I kissed to Destiny and asked for canter before bringing her around to the log. She locked in on it and I rose up into my two point, keeping my heels down and my eyes up, enjoying her rolling stride.

One. Two. Three! I counted down in my head to see if I could get the striding right, and I did.

We popped over it easily and I loved the feel of it.

"Good Iris, that looked lovely!"

I smiled and brought Destiny to a walk. "Thanks."

Norah went next, with that pensive look on her face. Despite that, she did really well.

We went over that a few more times, then switched to a few other slightly bigger logs. As we went on, my excitement grew and Norah's pensive face morphed into excitement. The horses were clearly enjoying themselves, Juniper let out a buck or two, and I could feel Destiny's energy through the saddle.

Mr. Blair set up a mini course of four logs for us to jump. When it was my turn I felt butterflies in my stomach. This was something I'd never done before.

But I threw my nervousness out the door and gave it a kick for good measure as I cued Destiny to canter, then rose up into my half point and aimed for the first log.

"One, two, three, four," I counted. Destiny leapt over it lightly. "Good gal."

I turned her for the next log. I wasn't able to count strides because of the turn throwing me off slightly but Destiny knew what she was doing and we got the right count.

"That's my gal." I deepened my inside leg and aimed for the next one.

"One, two, three." Up and over we went. I pressed my hands into her mane so I didn't catch her in the mouth.

The last log was the biggest and looked a little intimidating. I gripped mane and gave a kiss to encourage Destiny.

My game little horse pricked her ears and chose her stride well. I rose in my two point in sync with her and for a brief second wondered if we were flying.

"Good gal! Good gal!" I was very pleased as I brought her down to a walk and patted her neck.