Champion Horse by Jane Smiley Page A

around the arena, asking him to change direction over and over. He did it, as I would expect him to.
    It wasn’t that he had no bad habits – he stuck his nose out more than I liked, and his idea whenever he didn’t understand something was to go fast. But he felt agile and mostly willing. By the time Danny had to leave to get to work, I was as comfortable on Pie in the Sky as I was on most horses that I rode for the first time – there is always the first time. No horse feels the same as any other horse.
    I took Pie in the Sky back to Rodney, and Rodney gave me a pat on the shoulder and said, ‘Yer a quiet thing, miss, but tough as an old boot, aren’t ya?’ I did not know if this was a compliment.
    *
    I went over to the big arena, where Lucy, Monica, and Penny had been joined by Nancy on Parisienne. It was after nine, so they were already going at it. Peter Finneran had his back to me, his hands on his hips. The girls were doing flat work – they were walking. But even so, Peter Finneran had plenty to say. ‘What do you girls think a walk is? A stroll? No sirree! A walk is a four-beat gait, four distinct beats. That horse needs to be saying, “I am walking, hut two three four, hut two three four.” That horse needs to soften his jaw and hinge at the poll and step out step out step out. And he needs to go straight. Lucy! Your horse is going sideways, and you don’t even know it, do you? Where is your hind end? Your horse’s hind end? Well, it is not behind you, it’s beside you! It’s going to pass you if you don’t watch out. Come over here!’
    Lucy and Donegal turned and walked over to Peter Finneran. They halted in front of him, and he said, ‘Here’s a funny thing that is especially obvious on this horse. His back end is wider than his front end. It’s true of every horse, even the most delicate Thoroughbred!’ He nodded towards Parisienne. ‘No, keep walking! You can do two things at once, I hope!’ With two little motions, he made Donegal stand square, then he said, ‘If you are moving straight forward and your horse’s spine is straight, then he cannot be parallel to the rail. There are some times when I want him to be parallel to the rail – so that he is a tiny bit bent to the outside – but I want you to know the difference between parallel to the rail and therefore a little bent, and straight, therefore not parallel to the rail. Lucy, sit up, apply your legs equally, and look ahead.’ She walked a few strides, and Donegal looked straight to me. He did have large haunches, and you could see that he was a little triangular from front to back. Peter Finneran said, ‘When do you want them absolutely straight?’
    Nobody dared answer. All of a sudden, he whipped around and said, ‘Abby? What do you think?’
    I said, ‘Going down to a jump?’
    ‘Finally! Some sense! Yes. Now, I want you girls to turn your horses in a line and walk down the centre of the arena and see if you can sit up, go straight, and balance these animals.’
    I backed away from the arena, and carried the bag Mom had given me of peanut butter and jam sandwiches for breakfast around the big announcer’s stand and clock stand to where Peter Finneran couldn’t see me and I couldn’t see him. But I could hear him. It was exhausting. The clock said nine-thirty. My group didn’t go until after lunch.
    The morning was very dull except for one time when Jane came out of her office, saw me, and said, ‘Oh, come talk to me for five minutes. I feel like I’ve hardly seen you lately.’
    The stables hadn’t stopped for Peter Finneran. He had the big arena, but other lessons were being given, trail rides were going out, and the grooms and workers were cleaning stalls, turning out horses, and otherwise tending to the stables business.
    Jane had papers laid out on her desk – a map of the stables with names written over each stall. She also had a pad of paper and a stack of envelopes. I thought maybe she was making up bills