Back in the Saddle by Catherine Hapka Page B

slowed down again as he approached, his head going up as he gave the flowers a hard stare.
    But once again Jan kept him moving forward, and once again Cancun hesitated only for a split second before leaping over the jump. He spurted forward on the far side and let out a small buck, which Jan sat through easily before sending him on.
    â€œHey, look, Wings—you’re not the only one who does that,” Kyle commented with a grin.
    Haley laughed and patted her pony. “But he looks cuter doing it,” she told the boys.
    Then she watched as Jan circled Cancun back around, aiming him at the flower fence again. Doing that at a real event would get you eliminated, but Haley knew it wasn’t about doing things the proper way right now. Jan was schooling Cancun, making sure he was learning all the time, and this was what Jan thought he needed to do to learn what she was teaching him. And it seemed to work, since the gray gelding cleared the flowers nicely the second time.
    After that Jan continued on to the next jump, not deviating again until they’d finished the course. “Wow, that was nice,” Andrew commented. “But it’s pretty obvious why Cancun flunked out of hunters.”
    Haley chuckled and nodded. She’d ridden show hunters for a year or so before discovering eventing, and she knew that those horses had to look calm and easy to ride, neither of which was true of the big gray gelding. But it was just as obvious that Cancun had scope to spare for the small fences he’d just jumped.
    â€œI wonder why she’s starting at BN instead of novice or even training,” Haley said, her eyes never leaving the trainer as Cancun cantered around the far turnbefore coming back to a smooth, collected trot.
    Kyle shrugged. “Like she said, she doesn’t want to overwhelm him,” he said. “It’ll be easier to help him get used to the commotion if she doesn’t have to worry about him actually, you know, getting over the jumps.”
    â€œYeah, I guess.” Haley bit her lip. “Anyway, I bet they’re going to win our division.”
    â€œProbably,” Kyle agreed, and Andrew nodded.
    But that doesn’t mean Wings and I can’t try to beat her, Haley thought. And even if we don’t, there’s no shame coming in second to someone like Jan. That’ll be just as good as winning, right?

    â€œToss me that hoofpick?” Kyle called.
    Haley grabbed the pick she’d just used to clean out Wings’s feet after the lesson. Ducking under her pony’s neck, she handed it to Kyle, who was in the next set of ties in the wash rack.
    â€œThanks,” Kyle said. “So anyway, I hope you guys’ll still talk to me at the event even though I’ll be a lowly tadpole-level rider.”
    Andrew laughed. “We’ll see,” he teased.
    â€œWhat about you, Haley?” Kyle turned to grin at her.
    â€œOf course.” She rolled her eyes, then returned to rubbing the sweat marks off her pony’s girth area. “So do you think the lower jumps will help Augie, like Jan said?”
    â€œHope so.” Kyle leaned over, grabbed one of Augie’s hooves, and ran the pick around the frog. “But I’m sure it’s mostly my fault he’s so lazy in stadium. So I’m actually hoping it helps me.”
    â€œIt will,” Andrew told him. He smiled and patted his horse, who was on the other side of Augie. “I’m hoping Turbo and I have another good day and maybe improve our dressage score a little. Jan thinks we might be able to move up to novice by the end of the summer if we keep on the way we’ve been doing.”
    â€œReally?” Haley felt a pang of unease as she flashed back to Jan’s suggestion earlier about her moving down a level. “Um, Wings and I have already competed at novice, so I’m sure we’ll be back there soon. You know, after we get over whatever happened last