My short story | ||||||||||||||||||||
| ~Up And Over~ | ||||||||||||||||||||
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CHAPTER 1 She tossed and turned in her twin size waterbed. All Shelby Hunter could think about was the next afternoon, when she would be riding in her first major jumping show. Shelby turned and looked at the clock. The bright neon numbers glowed 3:12 a.m.. "Gosh! I have to get some sleep unless I want to fall asleep in the arena tomorrow!" she thought to herself. Soon after, she feel fast asleep. CHAPTER 2 Shelby woke up the next morning to bright rays of sunshine streaming in her window. She glanced at the clock that read 6:22 a.m.. She jumped out of bed excited but nervous about the day ahead of her. She quickly put on a shirt and some old jeans, laced up her boots, and skipped out the door to the barn. She heard nickers coming from all the hungry horses. She guessed, Hank, one of their stable hands, was getting their food right now. "G'morning Hank." she said to a middle aged man as she passed him in the barn aisle. He was leaning over a big barrel of sweet feed. "Hey Shel! Good luck at your show today." he stated. "Thanks! I'll try." she replied as she walked on towards the end of the barn. She heard a familiar whinny coming from one of the last stalls. Right before she reached the last 3 stalls, a dapple gray horse popped it's finely shaped head over the second to last stall door. "Hey pretty girl!" Shelby said to the horse as she dropped a kiss on it's velvety gray nose. She opened the door and before she walked into the stall, she wiped off off the dusty brass nameplate that read "Melody Song". She latched the door behind her. "So Mel, are you ready for our big show today?" she asked the horse. "We have a big day ahead of us. But we're going to have fun aren't we?" Melody bobbed her head, almost as if she understood. Sometimes it seemed that way to Shelby. "I'll go get your breakfast now." Shelby said. But before she left, she stood back and admired her 6 year old Thoroughbred. She knew she was lucky to have such a great horse. She was an off-track racehorse and had the speed to be a racer, but her heart just wasn't in it when she raced. Shelby knew the moment her parents took the horse out of racing, she had found a jumping partner. And as she expected, Melody threw her heart over every jump. Shelby knew she would become an excellent jumper and they began training from then on. Shelby gave her one last pat and skipped off to the feed room, whistling. CHAPTER 3 Some hours later, Shelby looked excitedly out the window at the big farm they where entering. They passed under a tall arch at the front gate that said 'Whispering Oak Farm'. She watched all the people as they walked, groomed, and exercised their horses, obviously getting ready for the big event. "Mom this is so cool! But I'm so nervous." she stated, looking out the window of their blue truck. "I'm sure you'll do great Shel." Mrs. Hunter replied to her. Shelby saw other people in the arena already riding. They pulled to a stop in front of the large outdoor arena. Shelby jumped out of the truck as soon as it stopped. She rushed back to the trailer and let the ramp down. She walked up beside Melody and was relieved to see that she wasn't at all shaken up by the ride there. She slowly led her down the ramp and the horse was eager to go. Melody lifted her head high, watching all that was going on around her, and every so often she would answer the call of another horse with a high pitched nicker. Shelby brushed the glossy black coat of her horse and braided her mane. After a thorough grooming she opened the compartment of the trailer and took out the saddle, saddlepad, and bridle. "All set girl, lets go warm up!" she said after she tacked her up. Then they walked across the show ground to the warm up ring. CHAPTER 4 Shelby spotted a mounting block and led Melody to it, then she mounted her horse. She gave Melody a nudge and they started their warm up. She trotted and cantered around the arena for about 15 minutes. "All riders competing in class 5, please come to the number 2 arena. Your class will be starting in 5 minutes." called the announcer over the loudspeaker. "That's us pretty girl!" stated Shelby and they trotted off to the arena. She stood by the gate with the other competitors and waved to her parents, then heard the announcer say "Ladies and Gentlemen, Welcome to the 1999 Whispering Oak Horse Trials...Entering the arena now is number 182, Charlie Carrigan on the 8 year old Welsh Cob, Blazer, owned by Wild Wood Stables." The crowd was quiet as they watched the riders and their trusty horses go around. Then 1 by 1 it was edging up on Shelby's turn. Fortunatly she was last which gave her an advantage of seeing where the 'sticky spots' where. And at last there was one more person until her turn. Only 3 people had gone clean out of 6 competitors but their time wasn't the best. The only person she was worried about was Ross Spencer, a really good rider who had an excellent Thoroughbred gelding. She watched as he entered the ring and saluted the Judge. She studied him as he rode over the jumps with ease. As she figured he came back with a clean ride. "Beat that!" Ross said as he passed her. He had always been a snob but she just ignored him. CHAPTER 5 "And now, number 144, Shelby Hunter riding her 6 y/o Thoroughbred mare, Melody Song, owned by Mystic Mountain Acres." said the announcer. "We can do this girl! We'll show that snob. Just do your best" whispered Shelby as she asked the mare to trot into the ring. She stopped and saluted the Judge, feeling butterflies in her stomach. She was so nervous. The buzzer sounded. She shortened her reins and heeled Melody into a collected canter. They came upon the first jump, a vertical, about 4 feet high. Mel lifted herself off the ground and over the jump, then landed smoothly on the other side. They made a small turn to the right and straight in front of them was a brush jump, a little higher than the ones she was used to, but Melody sailed over it like nothing. She counted her strides as she came to the parallel, "One, two, three, jump!" she thought as they popped over it. Right ahead was the triangle, and again they went over clean. Shelby smiled. This was what she loved to do, and if she put her heart into it, Melody would too. At last Melody saw the last jump, a cavalletti, she made a sharp turn and asked her hors for more speed. "Come on girl..Just one more jump to our victory!" she whispered to Melody. As they took off for the jump, she thought to herself "Three, two, one, and jump!" Shelby automatically leaned forward and Melody flew over it like she had wings. They were up and over! "Good girl Melody!!" said Shelby. Beaming, Shelby circled Mel and headed back to the gate. The sound of applause filled the air as they trotted out of the ring. She hopped off her horse and wrapped her arms around Melody's neck. "Your such a wonderful girl Mel! You did excellent!!" She didn't care what posistion she placed. She did her best and so did Melody and she was proud of that. She patted Melody and waited for the results. "And now the results for the number 5 1999 Whispering Oak Jumping competition," the announcer paused "In fourth place we have number 108, Mandy Knowles on Hazelnut, third place is number 258 Paul McKinley riding Blazing Star, number 173 Ross Spencer riding Kentucky Frost," Shelby looked at Ross and saw his jaw drop, she giggled. "And now the winner of the 1999 Whispering Oak Horse Trials is....number 144, Shelby Hunter riding Melody Song!!" She smiled evily at Ross. "Yes!" she cried as she hugged her horse once more and rode in with the other 3 people for thier victory gallop. Afterwards as she was about to fall asleep, she thought, "I could definately get used to this!" then she drifted off to sleep. Written by: Amber Ferguson I hope you all liked it! I worked real hard on it and was quite proud of it. That was the first story I've ever written. So write me and e-mail and tell me what you thought about it!! - [email protected] | |||||||||||||||||||
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