At 7 am sharp the next morning, Ebony was woken by the shrill ring of her mobile phone. Dazed, she sat up, cursing as she hit her head on the roof of the F100’s canopy. As she fumbled amongst her swag for the phone her mind started to clear. Sunday. Crosscountry and Showjumping.
“…hello?”
“Eb, it’s Mum. Sorry to ring you so early but I’m just off to yoga, so I thought I’d see how you went yesterday.”
“Good. Good,” yawned Ebony rubbing her eyes, “I should be getting up any way. Boss ran around with his head in the air in the warm-up - and then aced his test, which was a relief. And the new boy put in a nice solid baby-test. He wasn’t completely round, but I wasn’t going to put too much pressure on him just yet.”
“Lovely.”
“Yeah – he’s still just building up those top-line muscles, so it’s hard work for him to stay in the right frame for a long time”
“Bowen”
“What?”
“Bowen, Sweetie. Bowen therapy. Meant to be brilliant for balancing horses and riders. Aligning your energies. That’s what you both need. I’ll ask Karma about it today at Yoga”
“Ok mum, that’d be good,” Ebony smiled and shook her head, “anyway, we’ll see how he goes today”
“What time do you ride?”
“Ummm…..” Ebony checked her watch “9:50, and 11:05”
“Great, good luck baby – ride carefully. Wear your helmet, and hang onto that horse’s mane. Take some Bach flower essence. Give some to Buddy and Boss too”
“We have to wear our helmets Mum – it’s the rules. Don’t worry ok? My boys look after me. Have a good day – say hi to Karma for me. Love you.” Ebony pressed ‘end’ and noticed the message symbol flashing.
God luck 2day in the cross coutry. Luv Lisa.
Ebony smiled and snapped the phone shut. Time to rock and roll.
* * * * *
At 9:30 there was quite a crowed gathered around the practise ring. Everyone wanted to check out the strange skinny black gelding who took the fences sideways. Eb wasn’t totally keen on being watched, and Buddy was wary of the crowd too, flicking his ears and flaring his nostrils at the onlookers. Eb slowed to a walk; that was enough of a warm up for now anyway. Mira steered her horse to fall instep next to Ebony. She sat aboard her young bay stallion, a new addition to her eventing stable, that her parents had had imported from Germany. He had been nicknamed Goosie for his long, snakey neck and bad attitude. Mira stood out on Goosie, as she sat aboard the prancing stallion in her token sky-blue coordinated eventing outfit. Ebony wore more muted colours, preferring to direct people’s attention to her horses. She wore olive green jodhpurs, and a simple black polo shirt with her dark grey back protector and her back-number over the top. Goosie flirted his sky-blue bandaged fetlocks, as he tippeted along, veins coursing under his coat, which was shiny with sweat, while Buddy toddled alongside, looking at his knees, but keeping one eye on Goosie’s foaming, crunching mouth. His black coat was almost shiny now, thought Ebony. Almost.
“Number 9 – 30 seconds” called the steward. Mira smiled at Ebony.
“That’s me.”
“Good luck, Chickadee” said Eb encouragingly “see ya at the finish line!” Ebony knew that Mira would do one Preliminary event with Goosie, then he would be rapidly levelled up as she campaigned him. Mira liked her horses to level up fast. Ebony decided to see how Buddy handled today. Since she didn't know anything about Buddy's background, she thought it might be better to take things slowly and build his confidence up. No time to think about that now though.
“Number 17 – 30 seconds”called the steward. Ebony began to make her way over to the starting box. As the steward began to 10 second countdown, she walked the black horse calmly into the box from the back.
“4, 3, 2, 1 – Go! Good luck!”
Ebony squeezed her calves against the black horse, and they were away. Buddy hesitated. Coming from a smallish warmup arena into a wide open space, he felt disoriented: Where're we going, lady? But suddenly he spied the first jump – a small, inviting log – and a lamp in his head switched on. The first four jumps flashed by in a blur. They were low and inviting fences, aimed at getting the horses comfotable and confident early in the course. Ebony marveled at her new horse's bravery. He bumbled up to each new obtstacle and picked his way over cheerfully. Ebony found herself enjoying the ride. And the swinging slightly from side to side as she rose in the saddle became second nature after a while. It felt like the way a motorbike rider might lean into a corner. She just kept her centre of gravity above the horse, and let him to the rest.
Cantering happily down the hill, the water fence came into view. It was not a hard fence: A simple jump in, jump out, and a little log to complete the combination. The water was not more than 20 centimetres deep. However Ebony knew that water often spooked horses. It moved, it sparkled, it reflected. And when the horses jumped in, it splashed up and slowed them down. Ebony let buddy trot into the first element. He paused on the edge, looking down between his front hooves in astonishment. You want me to go where? He edged back a little, but Ebony persisted, talking to the horse and encouraging him with her seat and calves. The big horse shook his head. Okay... He seamed to say, shutting his eyes and leaping off the edge in a slow-motion dive into space. They hit the water hard and he pecked slightly. Ebony lost both stirrups and banged her nose on his neck, but realising she was still aboard, fumbled her reins back into place and faced the horse at the jump out. Oh – it's only up to my fetlocks! That's not so bad! And the black horse popped handily out of the water and over the log, kicking-on up the hill and swishing his wet tail.
The rest of the course passed in a blur, with only one more spooky moment where some spectators had shaken out their picnic rug nearby a fence. Buddy had spooked sideways, but had still clattered over the fence and carried on. Ebony felt so pleased with him. As she galloped over the finish line, a few people clapped. She dropped off the black horse and scratched his sweaty face proudly.
“Well done, Mate – you did good.”
She was letting down her girths when Mira jogged up with a water bottle and a bucket and sponge.
“Oh thanks Mir – you're a legend” Ebony smiled at her friend, gulping down some water gratfully, half of it running down her chin onto her shirt. Mira began sponging Buddy down a little, between his back legs, and around his mouth. Ebony took of her helmet and fluffed up her hair, which had become plastered to her head with sweat.
“Geez Eb, you get so red in the face!” laughed Mira, handing Ebony the reins so they could walk the horse to cool him. Ebony laughed and saw Ryan Price jogging over. She groaned inwardly and wondered why she always looked like a wreck when he was around.
“Hi there – how'd it go?”
“Good!” Ebony smiled “we might be a little over time – I didn't really push him. The studs did a great job with his grip and confidence. And he hesitated at the water, so we may have a refusal – I'm not sure if he stepped back or not.”
“Wait and see, i guess” shrugged Ryan kindly “and how were you, Mira?”
“Ok” she nodded “we made good time – I dont think that will be a problem. But we had a refusal at that narrow fence between the trees – it was dumb. Dad went nuts when i told him.” She smiled ruefully.
Ebony smiled at her friend “but he's a new horse, Mir, he's got plenty of time...”
“Yeah, I wish” laughed Mira mirthlessly. “Mum and Dad like to see their investments pay off immediately, you know? Oh well, I've still got Eddy in the Novice this afternoon. So do you Eb – we'd better head off, so you can put this doofus away and get on Boss and jump some real jumps!”
“Me too” said Ryan, “I'd better get Pete warmed up and find Cathy. She's new here, just moved her since her old place burned down. Most of her horses were killed or really badly burned, and she lost all her gear. The insurance company are digging in their heels, so she's doing it tough for a while. I'm helping her out with feed costs and we're sharing travel til she's up-and-running again. She's had a rough couple of months.”
“That's aweful,” cried Ebony aghast “Imagine that – your horses being burned alive. I dont think I'd ever get over something like that. Is there anything we can do?”
“Probably,” smiled Ryan “She's a tough cookie, but she needs some good mates right now.”
