Tommi took her time getting Legs settled in his show stall, fussing over him and feeding him a few extra treats. She was proud of how he’d handled things in the ring today. He had his quirks, but he also had more heart and try than any horse she’d ridden in a long time.
She was still in the stall when she heard Miguel’s voice out in the aisle. “I believe she’s in with one of her horses, miss,” the groom said. “Third one on that side.”
Curious, Tommi stepped to the front of the stall and looked out. At first all she could see was Miguel leading a horse down the aisle. Then they passed her, and she saw Vanessa hurrying along after them.
“Tommi!” the girl said when she spotted her. “I was looking for you.”
“You found me.” Tommi ducked out under the stall guard. “What’s up?”
Vanessa reached her, but she wasn’t looking at Tommi. She was staring past her at Legs, who’d come to the front of his stall to see what was going on.
“That’s the horse, right? The one who’s for sale?” Vanessa rubbed the gelding’s face as he nosed at her curiously. “I just saw you take him in the High Juniors. Can he go any faster than that?”
Tommi frowned. “Of course,” she said. “He’s still green and is new to the Highs, so I’m giving him a chance to get used to the height and tight turns and stuff before we—”
“Okay, good, that’s what I figured,” Vanessa interrupted. “I’ll want to see for myself, of course. But I’m thinking he could be the perfect ride to help me move up. My main horse now is maxed out, and I heard this guy has enough scope to do Grand Prix.”
Grand Prix, huh? Remembering Zara’s comment earlier, Tommi could guess where Vanessa had heard that. She tried to keep her expression neutral, though inwardly she was wincing. Gossip had it that Vanessa was already breaking down her current star, a really nice schoolmaster that her previous trainer had imported for her. He deserved better than that. And so did Legs.
She opened her mouth to tell the girl to forget it, that Legs wasn’t for sale. Not to her.
But she could almost see her father’s disapproving expression. Listen, Thomasina, this isn’t a game of My Little Pony. You’re playing with real money here.
Tommi wasn’t the type to fret and second-guess herself, so she’d already moved on from her decision to scratch at the last show. At least she thought she had. Now she had to wonder, though—was she doing it again? Paying too much attention to her own worries and feelings, when this should really just be a straight business transaction?
“I don’t know about Grand Prix, but Legs is a very talented jumper,” she heard herself saying. “If you’re serious about wanting to try him, bring your trainer by and we’ll talk.”
“Whoa, big guy,” Kate said as Fable tossed his head and opened his stride, pulling her past their distance. She ducked to stay with him as he lurched over the vertical, then sat down to collect him on the other side. The second fence in their schooling line was only four strides away.
Make that three and a half strides. Fable ignored her aids, charging full steam ahead at the second obstacle and winding up too close again. He popped over with a grunt, pinning his ears as he landed.
“Ugh,” Kate said aloud as she circled back around to the first jump. “Let’s try that again.”
Then she saw Jamie at the rail of the schooling ring, waving her down. It took a bit of an effort to turn Fable, who’d already locked onto the first fence again. Finally, though, she managed to slow him to a walk, then turned and rode back over to the trainer.
“Doing some schooling for tomorrow’s eq?” Jamie asked.
Kate nodded, a little too breathless to speak for a second. “Yeah,” she finally managed. “He’s kind of full of himself today.”
“I can see that.” But Jamie wasn’t looking at the horse. He was looking at Kate. “Look, I know you have a lot to do and probably aren’t always thinking about what you’re wearing,” he said. “And you know I don’t get too worked up about the dress code at home most of the time. But please keep in mind that when you’re at a show, you’re representing all of Pelham Lane’s riders—and me—anytime you’re on a horse.”
Kate felt her cheeks go pink as she glanced down at herself. She was still dressed in jeans and that baggy polo. “Sorry, Jamie,” she said. “Um, my show breeches got stained, and they’re still at the hotel being dry-cleaned.”
“I see.” Jamie looked sympathetic. He knew all about Kate’s financial status—after all, he was the one who’d given her a heads-up on those show breeches after spotting them in the consignment corner of a small tack shop in Connecticut. “Well, that’s fine. But you can look tidy even when you’re not in show clothes, right?”
This time Kate just nodded, not trusting herself to say a word. Sure, she’d thought about changing to her schooling breeches before she rode. But after remembering how even those had drooped off her when she’d tried them on that morning, she’d changed her mind and stuck with the jeans, even though they weren’t particularly clean.
Fable was getting restless, slinging his head and trying to move off. Jamie glanced at the horse.
“Looked like Fable was pulling past your distances in that last line,” he commented. “Next time, try doing some lateral work on your way to the fence. He used to be a dressage horse, remember—he knows how to do that. That’ll make it harder for him to rush.”
“Okay, thanks. I’ll try that right now.” Kate gathered her reins. She’d caught her breath by then and was ready to get back to riding. Ready for this whole uncomfortable conversation to end.
“Good.” Jamie checked his watch. “Oops, wish I could stay to watch. But I’m supposed to be meeting Tommi in the jumper schooling ring right now. Let me know how it goes, all right?”
“Okay.”
Kate watched him go, feeling anxious. It was going to take more than a little dressage to fix her problems.
Usually the only time Tommi got nervous on a horse was when she was walking into the show ring. At those times, she always turned her nerves into adrenaline and determination, using it to make her performance better.
But she was having trouble doing that now, even though all she was doing was warming up Legs at the trot in a mostly empty schooling ring.
She glanced over to see if Vanessa had arrived yet. There was no sign of her or her trainer, or Jamie for that matter, though he’d promised to try to be there for moral support. However, Fitz and Dani were hanging out at the rail. Tommi had run into them while tacking up Legs, and they’d decided to tag along and watch.
“Good boy,” Tommi told Legs, giving him a pat as she brought him back to a walk. That was enough of a warm-up. She didn’t want to tire him out too much. He’d already had a pretty long day.
“He’s looking good,” Fitz called as Tommi walked the horse toward them.
“He feels good, especially considering he just finished showing like an hour and a half ago.” Tommi stopped the horse by the rail. “Not that Vanessa let that stop her.”
Dani snorted. “I know, right?” she said. “I feel sorry for her horses. She goes through them faster than you-know-who goes through girls.” She shot Fitz a sly look.
“I have no idea who you’re talking about,” Fitz said with a smirk. “But you’re so right about Vanessa. She uses them up fast, and dumps them even faster once they go lame or get sour or just stop winning.”
“Or if she can’t ride them and they make her look bad,” Dani agreed. “I heard she got trashed all over the Internet last year when one of her old horses got rescued at some scuzzy auction all skinny and lame and on his way to kill.”
“Seriously?” Fitz shook his head. “Wow, that’s cold. It’s not like her folks couldn’t afford to retire every horse she’s ever ridden.”
Tommi felt more uneasy than ever as she listened to them. “Hold on, you guys. Are you sure she’s still like that?” she put in. “She switched trainers last winter, remember? Her new one’s got a good rep—Abby Durand-Evans. Maybe she’s shown Vanessa the error of her ways.”
“Maybe.” Fitz didn’t sound too convinced. Dani just shrugged.
They all stopped talking about it as Jamie arrived. “Legs ready to go?” he asked Tommi, checking his watch. “Abby just texted me—they’re on their way.”
Tommi nodded, relieved to see him. Yeah, this was supposed to be her project. But it was nice to have him there backing her up.
“He might be a little tired from that class earlier,” she told Jamie. “But I think he’ll do fine.”
“Good.” Jamie was peering across the ring at the path on the opposite side. “Here they come.”
Vanessa’s trainer was a short, brisk woman with thick blond hair pulled back in a ponytail. She shook hands with Tommi and introduced herself.
“I caught part of your warm-up before your class earlier,” she said. “He looks like an overachiever.”
Tommi chuckled. “That’s a good word for it,” she said. “He takes some finesse, but he’ll try his heart out if he understands what you want from him.” She glanced at Vanessa, who was buckling on her helmet, then back to the trainer. “Do you want to see some flatwork first, or should I just go ahead and jump a line or something?”
“Forget that,” Vanessa said before her trainer could speak. “I already saw you ride him in the show ring before. I’m ready to take him for a spin myself.”
Tommi hesitated. “Um, okay,” she said when neither Jamie nor Abby protested. She slid down. “You okay riding in my saddle?”
“Sure, whatever.” Vanessa ducked between the fence rails into the ring, then stepped over to adjust the stirrup length. Legs twisted his neck around to nose at her, but she pushed his head away. “Give me a leg up,” she ordered.
Tommi thought she was talking to her until she saw that Abby had ducked into the ring, too. “Could you hold him, please?” the trainer asked Tommi. Then she turned to help Vanessa into the saddle.
“He likes a light hand and a steady leg,” Tommi said as she released her grip on the reins. Vanessa didn’t say anything, though Abby smiled and thanked Tommi.
For the next few minutes, Tommi stood with Jamie and the others and watched as Vanessa’s trainer guided her through about five minutes of flatwork, then started jumping. They began by going back and forth over the three-foot line Tommi had used to warm up. Then Vanessa wanted to try something higher, so Abby set the vertical to 3’6” and the back rail of the oxer a little higher.
“Come in nice and easy,” the trainer called.
Vanessa nodded, then kicked Legs into a brisk canter. The horse pricked his ears at the jump, and Tommi could see him hesitate. Her body tensed with the aids she would have given—a slight half-halt to balance him, coupled with more leg to send him forward.
“Git up!” Vanessa growled loudly, turning her foot out and jabbing the horse with both spurs.
Legs’s head shot up, and he spurted forward. Tommi winced as he flung himself over the jump and galloped toward the next one.
“At least that proves he’s honest,” Fitz murmured in Tommi’s ear as the horse flew over the oxer.
“Bring him around and try it again,” Abby called. “A little less leg this time.”
Things continued pretty much the same way for a while. They jumped the new line several times, then raised the jumps again. And again after that. The horse’s hooves never even came close to touching a rail despite a few scary distances. But Tommi could see him starting to get frazzled.
“Put it up again,” Vanessa called to her trainer as she landed from the oxer yet again. “Let’s see how high he can go.”
Tommi bit her lip. They were already at the maximum height Tommi had schooled with Legs so far. And now Vanessa wanted to go higher? No way. It was time to put a stop to this before Legs totally freaked out.
She shot a look at Jamie, hoping—and half expecting—that he might do it for her. But he was leaning on the rail nearby, watching with a neutral expression as Abby stepped over to set the fence.
That made Tommi hesitate. If two experienced trainers didn’t see a problem with this, who was she to second-guess them? Maybe this was normal for the trial of a high-level jumper. Maybe Legs was handling it better than she thought.
Before she could decide, Vanessa was bringing him around again. He wobbled a bit on the approach, acting as if he might be thinking about running out. But Vanessa held him on the track and he ended up going over. He gave the vertical a hard rub with one hind leg, but cleared the oxer with room to spare. Vanessa didn’t even slow down, taking him around again, and this time he sailed over both.
“You were right, this horse can jump,” Vanessa called to Tommi as she hauled the horse to a stop. Legs jigged, looking sweaty and a bit wild-eyed, but the girl didn’t seem to notice. She glanced at her trainer. “He’ll be perfect for me, don’t you think?”
“You look good on him,” Abby replied.
Vanessa nodded, looking pleased. “I’ll have to clear it with my parents first, of course,” she told Tommi. “But I’m sure we’ll be in touch soon.”
Tommi felt vaguely queasy as she untacked Legs back at the stabling tent. She was just pulling the saddle off the horse’s back when Zara wandered by with Chaucer at her heels.
“How’d it go?” Zara asked. “I heard someone just tried him. Was it that girl I talked to earlier? I forget her name—Veronica or something, maybe?”
“Vanessa. Yeah, it was her. And Legs was a good boy,” Tommi said as she bent to unhook his boots. “Actually, that’s an understatement.”
“What do you mean?” Zara dug into her breeches pocket and came up with a horse treat for Legs. “They got along really well?”
“Not exactly.” Tommi grimaced as she remembered some of the highlights. She felt pretty certain that Legs wouldn’t tolerate Vanessa’s impatient, ham-handed riding for long if she ended up buying him. He was likely to end up just like the rest of her rejects, dumped and forgotten.
She gave Zara the CliffsNotes version of the trial ride. “Wow,” Zara said when she finished. “So are you actually going to sell him to her, or what?”
“I don’t know.” Tommi grabbed a brush out of her grooming tote. “I mean, I really like this horse and he has a ton of talent. I’d rather wait and find someone better for him—a rider who can bring him to his full potential and still treat him well, you know?”
“Sure. So you tell this wench no sale, life goes on.” Zara shrugged. “Easy.”
“Not exactly.” Tommi started brushing the saddle marks out of Legs’s glossy bay coat. “It’s kind of tempting to just go for it. Get him off the books ASAP. That’s sure to impress my dad—he’s all about the quick close.” She smiled wryly. “And Vanessa’s kind of famous for paying too much for all her horses. I doubt she’ll even try to haggle on my asking price.”
“Okay.” Zara bent to play with Chaucer’s ears. “So sell, then. What’s the worst that could happen?”
“Probably not much,” Tommi said. “I mean, I’m sure it wouldn’t be long before Legs bucked her off one too many times. She’s likely to get sick of him way before she has a chance to break him down, and her trainer’ll snap him up for somebody else in her barn. Or at least convince her to sell him on to a decent show home.”
“Cool. Then it’s a win-win,” Zara said. “Right?”
Tommi ran her brush over the tired horse, who was trying to stretch the cross-ties enough to reach out and nose at the dog.
“Right,” Tommi said, trying hard to convince herself that it was true.