Catch Rider (Show Jumping Dreams ~ Book 28) by Svendsen Claire

Author:Svendsen, Claire [Svendsen, Claire]
Language: eng
Format: azw3
Published: 2016-04-01T04:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER TWENTY NINE

There was an art to navigating the show grounds. I’m sure it was supposed to make sense but all it seemed like to me was an endless maze of rings and barns and large tents set up where people were drinking champagne out of real glasses, not the plastic kind. I didn’t think I’d be able to find my way back if I tried and I was just about to ask Walter what ring the class was in when he finally stopped.

“Here we go,” he said. “Ring thirteen.”

I really hoped that ring thirteen was going to be lucky for Lucky because so far I didn’t feel that lucky. I felt like a fish out of water. I knew that this was where I’d always wanted to be, competing with the best. It was what I’d been striving for my whole life so why did I suddenly feel like the awkward country cousin who just loped in on her roping horse?

“Here is your course,” Walter said, pulling a sheet of paper off a stack that was pinned to a cork board, fluttering in the breeze like a bunch of leaves that had been pinned down. “Memorize it. You can walk the course now. Martin will hold the horse.”

Martin, the groom from the barn had miraculously appeared with a grooming bucket, his towel tucked into his belt and a bottle of water. He handed it to me and I took a big gulp, my parched throat burning before giving it back to him. I hadn’t seen any rest rooms and even though the show grounds were fancy, I was pretty sure that the riders were meant to use the dreaded portable toilets. I tried to avoid those at all costs. They were usually hot, cramped and smelled of unmentionables. Plus, one time a girl found a snake curled up in the bowl. Not exactly how I wanted to spend the few moments I’d have left before my class.

I got off Lucky and handed his reins to Martin.

“Thanks,” I said, trying to smile encouragingly at the groom. Martin just shrugged.

“Off you go then,” Walter said.

“You’re not going to walk it with me?” I asked.

“I have my own course to walk, remember?” he said.

Right. I was here on a horse I’d never ridden before at a show that felt like it was way above my skill level and now I’d pretty much been thrown to the wolves. The only saving grace was that there probably wouldn’t be anyone here that I knew. No Jess to taunt me and the other girls didn’t have to know that I wasn’t meant to be there. That I didn’t belong. That was until someone shrieked out my name from across the ring.

“Emily!”

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