Free Horsenapped! by Bonnie Bryant

begin all the jumps, where I need to change leads, how fast I think Starlight should be going with each approach, and how many strides he’ll need to take between each of the jumps.”
    “Wow,” Stevie said, genuinely impressed.
    “But the trouble is that I don’t think I’ll remember any of it.”
    “You’ll do fine,” Stevie said. “I’ve watched Starlight jump enough to know that this is his event.”
    “I hope so,” Carole said.
    “Well, let’s go tighten our horses’ girths and get this over with.” Together, they entered the stable.
    Lisa was there, giving Pepper a final brushing, and dusting some sawdust off his rump.
    “I don’t know about this one, guys,” Lisa said.
    “No problem,” Stevie said. “At least not for us. This is going to be Carole’s event. The best we can do is the best we can do. Carole and Starlight are going to take it, cold. See, now the pressure’s off. Feel better?”
    Lisa laughed. “You know I do,” she said. “You always have that effect on me.”
    The girls finished the final grooming and tacking process and met in the hallway. Then they examined one anothers’ horses to be sure their tack was spotless and their horses’ coats were shiny. They had all done their work. It was time to warm up the horses and get ready for the competition.
    Stevie was second. Lisa and Carole stood by the edge of the ring and crossed their fingers for her. Topside had once belonged to a championship rider and he had been in competition all of his adult life. He knew what he wasdoing. So did Stevie. Unfortunately, so did Max. The jump course was a tricky one that tested the rider and the horse. Stevie was good, but a few of the jump combinations were better than she was.
    “It’s the triple that will get the riders,” Carole said. “See, it’s not that they are high jumps. They aren’t. It’s that they are close together and your horse has to be completely balanced and cantering rhythmically before he can take off again. Max hasn’t left us much space between those jumps for recovery.”
    Stevie sailed smoothly over the first three jumps. She grinned as she passed her friends. Carole had the feeling Stevie wanted to wave, but of course she couldn’t do that. That was definitely not good form. Then she approached the triple combination. Topside was in top form. Stevie had him take off at just the right moment and he recovered almost instantly for the second part of it. Again, no problem. The third jump was as good as the first two. Carole and Lisa automatically began applauding and they weren’t alone. Everyone in the audience did, too.
    “She seems so relaxed,” Lisa said.
    “Too relaxed,” Carole said. “If she’s not careful, she’s going to—”
    And then Stevie got into trouble. She let Topside take a slow curve approach to the next jump and instead of aiming straight at it, they came at an angle. Stevie misjudgedher distance and Topside took off too close to the jump. Topside’s hoof caught the top bar on the way over, knocking it to the ground.
    “That’s five faults,” Carole said.
    “But so far, those are her only faults,” Lisa reminded her.
    Carole knew that was true, but she also could tell that Stevie had gotten rattled. She was distracted and it cost her. She got too close to the next jump before signaling Topside for the takeoff and he refused the jump. Stevie knew what to do. She circled around and brought him back through the approach. This time, they went right over it, but the refusal cost another ten faults.
    Stevie had learned her lesson about concentration. From there until the end of the competition, she and Topside worked together as if they’d been born together. It was a great finish. It had been a great start, too. It was only the middle that worried Carole.
    “You were great!” Lisa said, greeting her back at the fence.
    “I wasn’t, but thanks anyway,” Stevie told her.
    Carole gave her a hug. “You were great part of the