And here is Chapter Twelve for ya'll! There is a timeskip to the show, because I'm lazy and have no other ideas. Just a random show that offers showjumping, cross country, barrels, western pleasure, dressage, and pole bending. There are teams of riders from each place, in this case Pine Road Stables, and at the end of the show they tally up the points to see which stable came out in first! Now, without further ado, I give you: Chapter Twelve!

        I unloaded Lady from the trailer, careful not to let her get overexcited, because she knew the show routine well, and she loved it. As I tethered her to the trailer, Parker led Feather out and tied her beside me. I checked Lady's button braids that I had painstakingly done the night before, and I was immensely relieved to see that they were perfectly in place. I grabbed my grooming kit and ran the hard brush over her, not bothering with the currycomb since she didn't need it, all I wanted was to flick the dust off her shiny coat.

        After picking and oiling Lady's hooves, I stood back to admire yesterday and today's work. I turned around to see how Parker was doing, and Feather looked even better than Lady. Her button braids were in a neat line, every one of them even and straight, and her coat was a glossy dapple gray. "Nice work," I told Parker who was crouching to oil his mare's hooves and hadn't noticed me. He looked up and said, "Thanks," before finishing up.

        "What events are you in?" I asked him, changing the subject.

        "Showjumping, dressage and barrel racing," he responded while we each began tacking up our horses. "You?"

        "Showjumping, dressage, and cross-country. I didn't know you did any western stuff," I commented.

        He shrugged. "I do barrels occasionally. Whenever they don't offer it, I'll do cross-country instead, but since they have it, why not do it? Dressage is first, right?"

        I grabbed my copy of the show schedule to check. "Yep, dressage is at nine, then showjumping at ten, cross-country at eleven, then there's a break, then barrels at twelve-thirty, pole bending at one-thirty, and pleasure at two-thirty. All times are estimated." I finished.

        "All right, then. It's eight-thirty now. Let's go register and get our numbers." Parker suggested.

        "Sounds good," came my reply.

        The two of us went to the registry tent, waited in a line for around five minutes, then registered and received our numbers. I was 168, and Parker was 134. As we walked back to the trailer, I grabbed Lady's bridle to finish tacking her up so that I could head over to the warm-up arena, since dressage was starting in about twenty minutes. I was supposed to be the fifth one to go, and Parker the seventh. Rachel and Isabelle were also in this class, and I was pretty Rachel was supposed to test second, but I had no clue about Isabelle.

        Parker stayed behind to finish something, saying that he'd be right over, so I walked Lady over, mounting once I got to the first of the two large warm-up arenas. Soon enough, the first rider was called from a stable I didn't recognize. Soon enough, Four people, including Rachel, had finished and it was my turn. I took a deep breath, and then they called my name. "Next up for the dressage is number 168, Kennedy Hawkings on Lady's Secret" That was me, and Lady's Secret was Lady's registered name. I straightened my back, lifting my eyes up and squeezing Lady into a working trot.

         Halting Lady square at X, I saluted to the judges before resuming the trot. Over the next few movements, I rode and Lady performed an amazing test, and we came out of the arena at a free walk with a grin on my face. At the end, when they announced the dressage results, I placed fifth. Parker got second, Isabelle got third, and two kids I didn't know got first and fourth.

        An hour later, I was heading into the ring for showjumping. It was a fairly straightforward course consisting of jumps of various heights. There were multiple oxers and verticals throughout the ten-jump course, and a faux stone wall, plus a water jump. The course also consisted a double combo, but Lady knew those well. I squeezed her sides gently, bringing her up to a canter and making a large circle to settle her as the bell rang. Together we flew over the first vertical. I grinned, feeling whatever nerves I might've had disappear as my mind focused on only one thing: Finishing this course. Lady cleared the next two verticals and an oxer with the same ease. Four down, six to go.

        As we approached the water jump, the one that marked the halfway point on the course, I checked her stride a bit, not wanting to come rushing at it. Three, two, one, now! I counted down the strides in my head. Lady snorted at being held back, but she cleared it and I allowed her to lengthen out once more. The double combo was next. I could either have Lady take one big stride or two small ones, and I let her have her head. As I thought, she easily made the first one, took one step, then cleared the second half. I exhaled, not realizing I had been holding my breath. Even though Lady knew how to do them, and so did I, combos would always make me slightly nervous.

        Lady took the rest of the course with ease, and as we cleared the final jump, the faux stone wall, I urged her onward into a quick canter, crossing the finish line before halting her, waiting for my time to flash onto the board, and smiled when I saw it go into second place. Of course, there was still five riders to go, including Parker, but I had done well.

        I ended up only dropping to third, because Parker ended up winning the class, with a neat clear round and a quick time. Now only the cross-country to go. I dismounted to walk Lady a little before the cross-country, since she was already well warmed up and deserved a small break. When the announcer called over the loudspeaker for all cross-country riders to head over to get ready for their rides. I remounted Lady, walking her over.

        I was second-to-last to go, so I mainly had Lady walking around to arena to keep her warmed up until they called me, but not overdoing it so that she was too tired to gallop the two-and-a-half mile course. When they called the names Kennedy Hawkings and Lady's Secret, I rode my mare to the starting box, where the officials counted me down. "Three, two, one, go!" On go, Lady lunged forward like a racehorse breaking from the gate, but obviously not quite as fast.

        Lady soared over the first five jumps, of which consisted a hayfeeder, a flower bed, a stone wall, and two water jumps. The course was relatively easy, but it had some tricky jumps in there. For example, there was a corner jump where I had already seen a few horses refuse at. Squeezing Lady onward, she took the last few strides toward the jump, barely brushing it with her hind legs. The rest of the course flew by, and I didn't give the fair-sized ditch a second thought. I crouched like a jockey on Lady's neck, urging her on with my voice and arms alone as we thundered towards the finish. "Go, girl, go!" I shouted, although my voice was lost in the rush of wind. I pulled her up slowly after finishing, and I grinned, patting her neck. "Good, good Lady! You did so well!" I praised her. Afterward, when I had ended up receiving a blue ribbon for my win, I fed Lady several carrots and clipped the ribbon to her halter.

        Pine Road Stables ended up getting second overall, and only after we had gotten back to the stables, unloaded the horses, and gone home was when I realized that everyone on the team probably knew who I was now. I shrugged, deciding to just let it play out. I fell asleep almost immediately, exhausted yet satisfied. I was ready for this.

Okay, soo... sorry it took a while. For some reason it took me three days to write this chapter, and I have no idea why. On the plus side, almost 1,500 words! Kennedy is pictured up top. Live free and be happy.

Glorybringer1163