Page 55 of Growing Into Love

“Right. Now, to count the number of Gal’s strides, it’s a four-count to one stride. So.” I start walking from the purple stripes jump, counting off on my hand. “One-two-three-four, two-two-three-four…” I keep going until I reach the pretend red jump. “All right, so this is going to be twelve strides for Gal to reach. Let’s keep going, I want to check out that combination over there.”

A combination is a set of jumps close together, most commonly doubles or triples. Gal eats triples for breakfast—she loves a challenge.

After we finish walking the course, my confidence has returned enough to get Gal and take her through it again. No faults this time and I feel myself getting back in my groove. Next run, Jaz times me. Then I try to beat that time on my third try.

“Two seconds off that run, Cass!” Jaz cheers as I finish and canter up to him. He jumps down into the ring and pulls out some apple—Gal’s favorite.

“Lisa hooked me up with the good stuff,” he says with a wink.

I see Rosa and Carmen watching us from one of the other training rings. Jaz follows my gaze and smiles.

“See?” he says smugly. “You don’t belong with the juniors at all.”

“Oh, don’t look so pleased with yourself,” I say. “I’m still mad at you.”

But I smile as I dismount and lead Gal into her stall. Jaz and I untack her and I brush her down while he goes to look at the other horses. Lisa hurries over.

“I’ll change her hay first thing in the morning,” she says. “She’s such a sweetie. And wow, what a spring she’s got! I was watching you practice. She’s a real natural. She’s a Quarter Horse, right?”

“That’s right,” I say, impressed. “My brother gave her to me.”

“The one you hate?”

I chuckle. “Yeah. I don’t hate him, he’s just a stubborn prick who still treats me like a kid.”

Lisa laughs. “Tell me about it. I’ve got four older brothers.” She rolls her eyes.

“Four? I thought my two were bad.”

Lisa grins then glances to where Jaz is saying hello to an Arabian gelding.

“Is he your boyfriend?” she asks.

“What?” My cheeks burn. “No, he’s just a friend.”

“Oh. I thought…” She shrugs. “Never mind. I was going to say, they’rereallystrict about the rules here, so if he is your boyfriend, you shouldn’t go around kissing him in public or anything.”

“Right,” I say. “The no fraternization rule. What’s that about anyway? The concierge at the Fairview mentioned something about some scandal.”

“A few years ago, a rider was having an affair with his trainer. The trainer’s husband showed up and made ahugescene during the Classic. It was all anyone talked about. Really embarrassed the farm and made the show seem like something for tabloid gossip. So now they’ve got that rule. You’d get disqualified if you got caught kissing him.”

“That won’t be a problem,” I say with a sigh I realize is far too wistful.

“Hey, Lisa?” Jaz calls.

“Yeah?” Lisa says.

“This horse, does he usually have such a thick coat this late in spring?”

Lisa and I walk over to where Jaz is examining a Morgan horse with a rich mahogany coat.

“He’s a new boarder, we only got him this winter,” she says. “I’m not sure if this is usually how long it takes him to shed or not.”

“You might want to have your vet check him out,” Jaz says. “He could have PPID.”

Her eyes widen. “Cushing’s disease? Gosh, okay, thanks. I’ll tell Miriam right away.”

“In the meantime, watch his intake of carbohydrates,” Jaz says.

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