Chasing Gold (15 page)

“IS THIS IT?” UNCLE MIKE
leaned forward over the steering wheel, peering at a sign looming out of the early-morning fog.

“That's it!” Haley bounced on the truck's passenger seat, wide awake despite the early hour. She glanced back at the trailer bumping along behind them. “Thanks again for skipping your fishing meeting to drive me to the clinic, Uncle Mike.”

He glanced over. “Welcome. Wouldn't trust anyone else to get that pony of yours here in one piece.”

Haley smiled at him, knowing there was more to it than that. Her entire family was being so great she could hardly
stand it. The boys had woken up early to help her load her tack trunk into the truck and Wings into the trailer, promising to take care of all her chores while she was away.

“You don't even have to pay us,” Danny had added with a yawn.

The host farm was a fancy place with two large barns, a separate dressage court, an indoor ring, and a huge all-weather jumping ring. Behind all that, Haley knew, an extensive cross-country course wound its way through the hills and fields. The farm hosted several recognized events per season, and Haley hoped that one day she and Wings would be good enough to compete there.

“Looks like this is the place,” Uncle Mike commented, pulling up beside several other rigs. Most of them included large, fancy goosenecks or gleaming aluminum trailers with dressing rooms. But there were a couple of other more humble setups like their own, too. Beside one of them, a willowy teenage girl was brushing a pretty gray mare. When Haley hopped out of the cab of the truck, the teen glanced over, smiled, and waved before returning to her grooming.

Haley waved back, then hurried around to check on Wings. Moments later she was leading him into one of the barns, following the directions of a harried-seeming young man with a clipboard.

Soon she'd settled the pony in his temporary stall with a hay net she'd brought from home. When she emerged, the young man was rushing past, carrying a bucket.

“Um, is Zina around?” Haley called to him. “I should probably check in with her.”

“You can sign in out by the ring.” The man sounded distracted, verging on annoyed. “The secretary will take your check and get you your info packet.”

“Wait—but Zina told me I should find her as soon as I got here.” Haley was a little intimidated by the man's brisk manner, but she wasn't going to let that stop her. “Um, I'm Haley?”

“Haley?” Suddenly the young man's entire demeanor changed. He smiled at Haley, still looking harried but now also relieved. “Why didn't you say so? Thank goodness you're here! Here—take this to Zina.” He shoved the bucket at her. “She's up at the house.”

Haley hurried toward the large, imposing brick house behind the barn, following the sound of voices to a propped-open door leading into a spacious country kitchen. Inside, Zina was leaning against the counter sipping coffee and talking to several other adults. She looked just like she did in all the pictures and videos Haley had seen of her. She was around thirty, with dark-brown hair pulled back from her round, cheerful face in a short ponytail. Her boots and breeches were clean, but there was a smudge of dirt beneath one eye and several pieces of hay in her hair.

“Haley!” Zina exclaimed when Haley introduced herself. “I'm so glad you're here! Guys, this is the girl I told you about.”

The other adults surveyed Haley with interest. Most of them looked like riders too. They ranged in age from slightly younger than Zina to almost as old as Haley's grandparents. Zina introduced them, talking so fast that Haley only caught about half the names and forgot even those almost immediately. She settled for smiling and saying hello, and that seemed to be fine.

“Okay, let's get started.” Zina set down her coffee cup and clapped her hands, her eyes sparkling with excitement. “Ready to work, Haley?”

“Ready!” Haley said with a smile.

The next hour or two passed in a crazy, confusing, strenuous, wonderful rush. Haley stayed busy helping horses and riders settle in, finding lost bits of tack, hauling hay and water around, picking out stalls, running paperwork back and forth to the house, and fetching coffee.

The clinic was divided into three different sets of riders grouped by experience. Each group would spend almost three hours with Zina, learning more about dressage, show jumping, and cross-country in turn. The first group was the most experienced, and the horses and riders took Haley's breath away as they warmed up for their dressage lesson.

“Haley!” The harried young man, whose name Haley had learned was Archie, rushed up to her. “More coffee.”

“Got it.” Haley sprinted toward the house, returning moments later with a travel mug of steaming-hot coffee.

Zina was already in the ring, watching the riders warm up. “You're a lifesaver!” she exclaimed, reaching for the mug. “It'd be awfully embarrassing if I fell asleep during the first session.”

Several of the riders were close enough to hear her and chuckle. Haley laughed too. “What do you need me to do now?” she asked Zina.

“Catch your breath and watch for a bit, why don't you,” Zina suggested. “Keep an eye on the woman on the big chestnut over there—she's ridden with me before, and they really know their stuff. Used to compete in straight dressage before they got bored with that and joined the dark side.”

Haley nodded. “Are you sure? I'm supposed to be working to earn my spot, so . . .”

“Don't worry.” Zina chuckled. “You'll be back to work soon enough. But I always learned almost as much by watching as by riding myself, eh?”

Haley nodded and smiled her thanks. Zina took a sip of her coffee, then strode to the center of the ring and called for attention.

“All right, everyone, welcome!” she said loudly. “If everyone's warmed up, let's get this party started. . . .”

“Excellent!” Zina exclaimed as a stout woman on an even stouter Morgan cross mare sailed over a vertical jump made up of red-and-white-striped rails. The intermediate group was halfway through its show jumping session. “Now let's put the final element up a couple of holes and try it again, everyone. Haley?”

“Got it!” Haley sprang into action, rushing over from her spot on the rail. She quickly adjusted the fence, pulling out the jump pins that held the cups in place on the standards and replacing them two holes higher. Then she stepped back as Zina signaled for the first rider in line to begin.

Haley had no idea what time it was, though Archie had shoved a sandwich and a soda into her hand sometime between the intermediates' dressage and show jumping sessions. She had gulped down the food as fast as she could and gone right back to work, setting up the gymnastic exercise Zina had described to her. Her
mind was buzzing with everything she'd learned so far just by watching the other riders between tasks. Seeing the advanced group on cross-country had been amazing! Zina had driven herself and Haley out there in a golf cart, and Haley had been in charge of stomping down any divots the horses' hooves left in the carefully manicured turf.

She hoped Zina would let her come along to watch the intermediates on cross-country too. But as the show jumping session ended, the clinician called Haley over. “Time to hit the barn, girl,” she said.

“Oh.” Haley tried not to let her disappointment show. After all, she was supposed to be working, not watching. “Okay. What do you want me to do?”

Zina smiled. “Um, how about tacking up that cute pony of yours?” she said. “He's been standing in that stall all day, so you'll want plenty of time for a good warm-up before your dressage session starts.”

“Oh!” Haley had almost forgotten that she and Wings were riding in the third and final group. Her heart thumped with excitement. “Sure. I mean okay. I mean, let
me know if you need me to do anything else or whatever.”

“Go.” Zina grinned. “I'll see you in the dressage ring in an hour.”

“Go, go, go!” Zina shouted, clapping her hands. “Don't let him slow down—he's been through the water like three times now, he doesn't have an excuse!”

Haley gave Wings a brisk kick. “Get up!” she growled. They were working on hopping over one of the log jumps built into the edge of the farm's water jump, a broad, shallow pool with a sandy bottom. The horses were meant to canter up to the jump, taking off on dry ground and landing in the water. That was one type of jump that Haley hadn't been able to figure out how to build at home, so Wings wasn't quite sure what to make of it. Luckily, he wasn't the only one. Of the four other pairs in the group, only one of the horses had much experience jumping into water.

“We go swimming in the cow pond back home,” a cheerful woman in her late twenties had volunteered with a smile. “Does that count?”

Haley had laughed. “We do that too!”

She was still a little amazed by how friendly everyone was. Haley was the youngest rider of the bunch, and Wings the shortest equine. But the others, from a bashful teenage boy with rosy cheeks and a lanky bay Thoroughbred to a woman in her sixties who was an experienced foxhunter and enthusiastic new event rider, all accepted Haley as one of them—an eventer and a horse person.

The horses' hesitance at the water jump didn't seem to bother Zina at all. She'd had Haley and the other riders walk into and through the pool a few times first with no jump involved, letting their horses get their feet wet and sniff at the water. One horse had even lowered his head to take a long drink!

Then there was the sweet-eyed chestnut gelding ridden by a nervous middle-aged woman. When she let him stop in the middle of the pool, he stuck his nose into the water and pawed at it a few times.

“Um, you might want to kick him forward,” Zina suggested.

Haley nodded. She could tell what the horse was
thinking—that the nice, cool water seemed like a fine place to roll!

“Go on, Star.” The rider gave a tentative kick, which the horse completely ignored. With a grunt, he buckled his knees and started to drop.

“Star, no!” Haley was close enough to reach out and give the horse a tap on the rump with her crop. That startled him enough to make him pause—and Zina enough time to wade in and grab him by the bridle, dragging him forward out of the water.

“Oh my!” the rider exclaimed, looking sheepish. “Sorry about your boots, Zina! But thanks—I wasn't in the mood for a swim.”

That made everyone laugh, including Zina. “It's all right, these boots have been through worse,” she assured the woman. Then she glanced at Haley. “Quick thinking, Haley. Thanks.”

“Yes, thank you!” Star's rider added with a smile.

Haley smiled back. Even though everyone took learning and improving seriously, it was nice to see that they all had a sense of humor, too!

But Haley wasn't thinking about any of that as she and Wings approached the jump into the water. Several strides out the pony's trot slowed slightly, his ears pricking forward. Would he do it? For a moment Haley imagined Wings skidding to a stop and tossing her headfirst into the water.