Horsemen Trials, A Fantasy Story about Horses

So Mr. Blair went on. He was the opposite of Mr. Bellton. He focused on the rider and the trainer about what they should be doing. The horse for the most part should respond well in turn. If they didn't 90% of the time it was the rider or trainer's fault.

After this he picked up Rejem's reins to demonstrate. The horse seemed so compact and powerful. His walk was beautiful, elegant. Mr. Blair started turning him in a circle.

"Observe me closely. Watch for my aids. After this I'm going to quiz you," he said.

I squinted my eyes, determined to focus on him. After a few seconds Rejem started trotting lightly forward. I thought I saw him squeeze his legs, but I couldn't tell for sure. That made me frustrated and I tried to concentrate harder.

This time Mr. Blair posted and he seemed to flow with the horse's movement. Rejem was light and elegant on his feet. Then they slowly began to spiral in on the circle, making it smaller with each a pass, but still keeping Rejem bent to the inside, thus keeping the roundness of the circle.

After he had reached a very small circle he went around two or three times and then he then began to spiral outwards, and I still couldn't see the aids he was using. He reached the outside of the circle.

He came off the circle and went down the long side of the arena. Then he began to do shoulder in. For the life of me, I couldn't see anything he was doing, other than a small twitch in the reins, or a light squeeze of leg. I barely caught those.

So he went on. He did more movements, each of his aids nearly invisible. He switched to canter, then to trot. He did pirouettes in canter and piaffe in trot, movements I'd only seen done once and wanted to do myself.

Finally Rejem halted. Mr. Blair let the reins out and Rejem stretched out. "Alright, now for the quiz."

He stroked Rejem's neck. "What aids did I use to spiral in on the circle?"

All of us on the fence were silent. I fidgeted with the end of my braid. Mr. Blair sighed. "Come now, don't be shy."

Finally the girl to my right raised her hand tentatively. "Yes Norah?"

She slowly took her hand down. "Uh, I'm not sure if this is an aid or not," she said, blushing furiously, "But to me it seemed as if you, like, conformed your body to match your horse's on the circle. Almost as if, uh, you were walking the circle yourself."

He smiled a little half smile. "Yes Norah, I was. It is an aid. I used my seat to guide Rejem around the circle and help him to bend correctly."

He looked at the rest of us. "Anyone else notice anything?"

This went on for the next half hour. Mr. Blair would ask us about a certain movement, we'd tell him what aids we thought he used, and then he would tell us what he actually did use and why. Finally he'd gone through every move he'd done.

With that he dismounted from Rejem. "Could someone bring me that rope hanging on the fence?"

One boy hopped down, grabbed it and took it to him. "Thank you Andrew," said Mr. Blair as he attached the rope to Rejem's bit and bridle.

Finished he turned to the rest of us. "Alright, who wants to go first?"

We looked at each other, puzzled. "What do you mean Mr. Blair?" asked Norah softly.

He chuckled. "You really don't know? You all are going to ride Rejem so I can get an idea of your position, experience, and what you're riding flaws are."

He looked at our surprised faces and chuckled again. "Don't worry, Rejem is perfectly safe. He's done this hundreds of times."

"We know that, it's just we didn't expect to ride him," I blurted out.

He smirked. "Well, I'm afraid not many people do this anymore at their clinics anymore, but it really can be enlightening. So. Who want's to go first? How about you Iris?"

I bit my lip and looked down at my lead rope. I wanted to go, but what was I to do with Destiny? This wasn't a good place to tie her.

"I'll hold her for you," Norah volunteered quietly.

"Alright," I said and handed her the rope. I hopped down from the fence and walked towards Mr. Blair. Mr. Blair put a hand to his chin. "Hmm. I think you'll need your stirrups a bit shorter."

With that he turned and began adjusting the stirrups. I stroked Rejem as I waited. The big horse had a kind eye. Some stallions I'd seen were puffed up and prideful. Rejem was not one of those, and in not being that, he retained a quiet dignity that was to be respected.

"Alright," said Mr. Blair, done shortening the stirrups. "I'll give you a leg up."

I nodded and went to Rejem's side. I gripped a chunk of his mane and the saddle cantle, holding up my leg. Mr. Blair crouched down and held it, ready to boost me up. "Ready?"

I nodded. "One, two, three," said Mr. Blair. I clambered up into the saddle. It wasn't the most graceful mounting, but I was up there.

Mr. Blair measured my ankle against the stirrup. "That's good for now I think," he said. I stuck my feet in them. The saddle was a tad big for me, but that was alright.

He stepped back and analyzed me. His eye flowed over my body as I looked straight ahead and wondered what he'd think of me. Finally he came up to me.

"You're rounding you back slightly. Sit up a bit." I sat up straighter. But he shook his head. "No, no. Now you've put your spine in an uncomfortable shape, for both you and the horse."

He reached up and pressed against my spine, guiding it into the right position. "There, see, that's better."

I felt like I sat taller than before, but it did feel better. Now Mr. Blair touched my heel. "Now, Ravine, let your heel down. Let the gravity pull it down towards Rejem's hind end."

I did as he said and he stepped back again. "There, that's better. Let's send you into a walk now."

He clucked to Rejem, who began a steady walk. Mr. Blair just watched me, giving me small instructions. "Pull your shoulders back a little bit."

I never regretted leaving Mr. Bellton's clinic.