The past week flew by like a breeze. Just like that, it was WEF week two. Alex and I had gotten plenty of free tacos- but now there was something more. Marvel.
It had already come to Friday, and already I was seated upon the flaxen brute. He had been perfect when I schooled him back at The Bay, jumping above four feet when we did gridwork. We clicked. A lot of the time I would get on some horse I was supposed to catchride and there was no symmetry. But with Marvel- there was something more.
He flicked back and ear towards me as if that moment I would give the giant horse a command. But I had none, other than to stand still until it was our turn in the children’s jumpers. In the ring now was the Adriano Ricci boy on the great black soul he usually tooled around the ring with. He was going clear- and fast in the power and speed. There was no doubt he would easily make it to the speed section. He sat up in the saddle easy, hands strong but not too strong, heels tight but not too tight. He was just right as he breezed over the fences, whirling around in inside turns when necessary.
And just like that, into the speed phase Adriano Ricci went. He wasted no time at all. He pushed with his legs straight away, and flew forward on the feisty gelding. But with that giant whither and crest- he must have been gelded late. Adriano sliced around the course so damn fast I was sure he was going to pop over the shoulder. But he didn’t. He went clear, with one speedy time.
At that point, Todd had walked up beside me and Marvel. He wore his typical shades that masked his eyes, and now that I thought of it he wore those so often I wasn’t even sure what color his eyes were. Green? Blue? One of the two.
“Schaefer, do you know your course?” He asks me, looking into me with those shades of his.
I was still made at him for what he did to me and Toujours, so I couldn’t help but answer coldly. “I wouldn’t be at the ingate if I didn’t.”
I guess this gives Todd the affect I want, because he shuffles uncomfortably and looks to his feet. But at the same time, a stinging feeling in my chest overcomes me. What was I doing, talking to my trainer with that disrespect? But then again, he took the pony I love from me. And then I don’t feel so guilty anymore.
“Well, then go on in.” Todd told me with a sigh, stepping to the side.
I shrug, gathering up my reins and pressing Marvel into ring 12 at a trot. Even though it was my first time ever showing him, I felt pretty confident. I’ve known him for a week strong and he was practically made for me. So it was alright.
After a fair bit of trotting around, I picked up a canter. Marvel wasn’t tugging on my hand at all, but I could tell he wanted to speed up. Not yet, I thought to him. Save it for the speed phase. For now, all we had to focus on was going clear. It was something we could get done.
I posted Marvel at out first jump, a decorative black oxer. It was a nice jump to start at, with a long approach and enough space to adjust. Marvel instantly saw the fence and attempted to get ahead of me, but I restrained him. We were a tad short with the distance, but nothing bad. It was jumpers after all.
My next jump was- of course- another single oxer, except this one went across the diagonal. Another nice, long approach. If it was the speed phase right now, I would be galloping my heart out. But not yet. Not now. Once more I held Marvel back, except this time we got a long distance in his favor. Even though we were long, we went onward to our next fence, an end jump, and made it through no problem.
I let the gelding stretch a bit as we made our way down to the next elements, a one stride. I had jumped plenty of those with marvel before, and he could green up a bit on them. But not this time. He took them like an equitation horse, jumping nice and flat for me so I could release well. Now that I think of it, Marvel could have no problem being an equitation horse. He was adjustable, scopey, and easy to maneuver around a course. That was something I could bring up with Todd- if I could find the will to talk to him.
The rest of the power phase was a breeze. We got that nice, forward distance to every fence. But just ahead was the barrier between power, and the speed. Once I went over that fence, my time would count. And I would make it.
Over the oxer, I gunned it straight away since my next obstacles were the one stride once again which had a logn gallop. Marvel flew off of my hand, dashing down to the fences. I balanced him, or at least tried to when we got there and got short but knocked no rails. My brain was receiving so many crazy thoughts of mine from going so fast and having to think so speedily. But our next jump appeared, a plank jump, and he took it in full stride.
Onward to a triple bar, I saw the long spot. Just then, images flashed through my mind. Kentucky Spring. Alex aboard some catch ride of Todd’s tearing through a jumper course. Suddenly, she gets to the triple bar. The horse takes off, launching from too far away… All I saw after was her unmoving on the ground. The gelding had broken its leg. That was the last I ever saw of it.
But I refused to let this unnerve me. I gave Marvel a kick which caused him to spring off of my leg and close the gap easily. Next, we went to an oxer which like the triple bar was no problem at all. Over a vertical? Not an issue. We were having the ride of our lives with only one fence left now.
It was a single vertical, a long gallop down. I hit the gas. Marvel flew down towards the jump, letting him loose but not too much that he would get so strung out we would knock the jump over. But he cleared it well, and we dashed past the timer. I saw my time. It was wicked fast, and clean. However, not good enough.
“And that is number 222, Marvelous and Schaefer Hoff moving into second place behind Adriano Ricci.” The announcer said.
Yeah, Adriano had one good round. I guess if I really hit the gas even harder on the final fence I could have surpassed his time. But now there was no time for doubts. I walked out of the ring, Todd with a corky smile on his face. Of course. I suppose I had pleased him.
“Well done, you have… two hours until you show Lumiere. A groom can take Marvel back.” Todd told me, rubbing a hand on Marvel’s sweat whither.
“I’ll go watch Navaeh then.” I tell him, putting up my stirrups. A groom came, and Marvel was about to be taken away. But before that, I gave him a kiss. Right on his silly little blaze.
I walked off, knowing I would have something fun to watch. Navaeh was showing in the medium junior jumpers aboard Hold the Ice, an aspring young jumper. The only problem he had was he didn’t exactly like water and liverpools. But with Navaeh aboard, what could possibly go wrong? And Susie was there, so all would be well.
I passed a few people here and there on my way up, mainly people who chatted me up on Facebook once or twice and decided to meet me in person. Oh, Facebook. Because of that social networking site I got about five friend requests a day and got messages 24/7.
I suppose it is also a lovely day to mention I deleted my formspring.
Yeah, with all the hate, it simply wasn’t worth it. Even though Jess completely changed from who she was, there were still others and I was done.
I finally made it to the international ring where the medium junior jumpers were running. And straight as I got there, I noticed Navaeh was walking into the ring on the snazzy bay jumper. He wasn’t too big, and he was all legs. But he managed to get over the jumps. Even get two feet over them.
I found a seat, and watched Navaeh’s every move. Riding with Todd, every rider became wuality because of him. But Navaeh- she was the most known and greatest junior rider out there. She never once missed a distance, she could ride the hunters and jumpers, and her form was great enough to win the equitation. She was a powerhouse. We even discussed of me getting secret lessons from her.
She got a nice, rolling canter, and Hold the Ice seemed strong today. The gelding seemed awful springy on his feet and threw in swaps here and there for the fun of it. Navaeh had her hands full, that was for sure. I wouldn’t have been able to control the gelding like she did.
She pointed him at the first fence, a big rainbow vertical. Hold the Ice launched over it, landing playfully. Indeed, he threw in a buck but Navaeh didn’t have a problem with it. She reeled him in, bringing him back for the second jump, a Liverpool. But where was the logic? Normally, the Liverpool would come later in the course. Putting it as the second jump seemed a tad silly, but now I felt a knot in my stomach for Navaeh. Hold the Ice didn’t like water.
But she got him there. Nice and straight, rolling like she was before. She rode to a flawless distance, all she now had to do was release. But at the very second I thought Hold the Ice was going to go, he suddenly rejected. Dropping his shoulder violently, he threw an awful hard stop at the fence. And suddenly, much to my surprise, I noticed Navaeh tumble off- head first.
The crowd gasped, as did I. It looked, well, awful. I thought for sure she would be shaken up, glued to the ground. But not her. In fact, she jumped to her feet straight away and dusted herself off. I heard a few stray people clap, but me like the others were still overcome with the fact that she completely crashed there and hit the ground hard.
She walked after Hold the Ice, who had galloped out of the in gate. Navaeh being my closest friend had always been there for me, and now I would be there for her. I slipped from my chair that only decided to be my seat for seconds and made way down the warm up ring where she was headed.
And when I finally got there, Navaeh was already back on. I was about to watch her when suddenly two hands grabbed me from behind.
I would have whirled around, but I knew who it was. Warm hands, the smell of peppermint- it was Mattie. I grinned to myself rather sheepishly, softening once I figured it out. I relaxed, looking up at his face, taller than mine. His blue eyes locked in with my brown ones, and his lips curled up into a smile.
“I love it when you do that.” I tell him, stating nothing but the truth. Ever since the dinner party… I was a little more for contact
“I love everything you do, sweetheart.” Mattie tells me. I smile, and he speaks again. “Everything.”
He lets go of me, and I turn around. There he was, the perfect human being that makes me happy and warm at night. The perfect human being who actually makes me feel like I’m worth something. And because of this, I lean up to him. And I kiss him. Right on the lips. I don’t care if people were to look, because I want them to know. I want them to know that I have the most perfect boyfriend in all the world.
“I’m just passing through, but I just wanted to see my girl.” Mattie said, chewing on his lip.
“Well, I’m happy you came by.” I tell him. I’m blushing now, I’m sure of it.
He smiles, and just like that, walks away. I wish he could have stayed, but the boy was probably off to show a horse or something. I couldn’t keep him. He clearly was on his way. But when I turn my attention back to the schooling ring, I notice Navaeh had already taken a few schooling jumps and was now walking back in the direction of the barn.
I cant let her go. From what it looked like, Navaeh was trail riding back to the barn and we hadn’t had a nice chat in a while. And while she was probably a tad flustered from her fall, I could support her. So I begin jogging back up to Navaeh and the jumper, knowing I was there the entire time. But once I touched her leg, she looked down at me and smiles despite the dust rubbed into her helmet.
“Aw, my lover girl!” She joked, poking me with her crop. “How goes it?”
“It’s all good, but how about you? That fall was nasty.” I’m perfectly honest. It was.
“Ay, that was a silly fall of mine. I landed face first. Funny though, I don’t hurt at all. In fact, I can hardly feel a thing.” Navaeh shakes her head, and some of the dirt on her helmet bounces on to me. “Some tourist will probably have a video of it and stick onto youtube.”
I laugh at the truth behind it. Normally when a bnr, big name rider takes a tumble there is always some person to capture it. And onto the internet it goes. But it was odd how she didn’t feel anything after such a nasty fall. It lef me quizzical. Even light falls left me slightly sore.
“So tell me more about this Adriano Ricci person.” I finally say this once we begin crossing the road to grand prix village.
Navaeh raised a brow, lip curling up slightly. “Why, Schaefer, all the girls pine for him, but you have the very best boy ever and-“
“No! Not like that. I mean, he rides all these nice horses. How? Where does he come from?” No. I definitely did not mean to ask in a form of no more Mattie.
“Well, he’s one hot Italian. Rides at some farm not around here. No… only flies in for Florida showing. But he’s at one of the most elite European barns there is. Reesink and Ricci Equine Sales. Adriano’s father owns it with his lifelong friend. So, of course, he gets plenty of rides!” Navaeh motions the ‘plenty’ by spreading open her hands.
“Well, I’m not too surprised.” I shake my head. “Go on.”
“Well, he lives a double life. Tooling around on the most elite jumpers there are and then… well, you should see that kid at night. I’m sure you know about the parties that take place late at night during WEF.” She says next.
Of course I know. WEF was somewhat legendary for the parties that take place. Junior riders win a class, get a boy. It’s not like they are going to spend their night out oogling over some horses. Instead, they go to the parties. They happen during grand prix. They also happen at the rich junior rider houses, along with other places. I hadn’t attended one myself, and I wasn’t sure I wanted to with all of the alcohol involved.
“Well, Adriano attends every single one.” Navaeh laughs, shaking her head. “The kid is famous. But come on. He rides at a top barn, Sports the dark hair, olive green eyes… Of course he’s gonna be popular. But- ow.”
I squint, looking up at Navaeh. “You ok?”
“Yeah. I guess I’m just getting a headache.” She narrows her eyes, as if trying to use mind control to rid the pain in her head. “But anyway, not long ago Reesink and Ricci got in trouble for some-ow!”
“Seriosuly, Navaeh, are you ok or no?” I ask, completely serious.
By now, we reached a nice grass stretch in the village. Few barns were around, and it was a nice and wide pathway to ride on. But right now I wished there were more people around with how Navaeh was being.
“Yeah… fine. Just hurts.” She shakes her head, teeth clenched. “But anyway, they got in trouble… for… for…” She suddenly began stuttering slightly, breath short. “Drugs and…”
And then, suddenly, Navaeh fell from the saddle, completely and utterly unmoving.