Isn’t that the whole point of a show?To be judged?
His winking face doesn’t make me feel much better.
And then I’m driving, and Natalie, Hannah, and Clara are pelting me with questions.Once I answer them all, I have one of my own.“Who’s watching the twins and Paul?”
“Mason,” Natalie says with a sigh.“He’s insisting on coming.”
“Even though he never came to shows before,” Hannah says.
“But Mom never went to the shows before either, not as a person showing,” Clara says.“So she kind of ran everything, and the time or two Dad came, he had no idea what was going on.”
“He still has no idea what’s going on.”Hannah’s glaring out the window.
“He’s trying, though,” Clara says.“I think that’s worth something.”
“I’ll remind you of that,” Hannah says, “the next time Itryto do the dishes but run out of time.You can go ahead and do them for me.”
“Someone isjustlike her mother,” I say.“You literally sound like a tiny clone of Natalie when she was your age.”
Hannah’s beaming when we pull up to the show facility.
“You know, this ten a.m.start time is kind of amazing,” I say.
“Yeah, the walk-trot classes in America always starting at 7 am was brutal,” Natalie says.“And Pre-beginner wasn’t much better.”
“Okay, so remind me of the order,” Hannah says.
Clara’s just doing the dressage and show jumping portions, but Hannah wanted to try to do all three parts.I’m not sure she’s going to really manage the dressage test, but she really wanted to try.She only memorized one pattern, so we are all really hoping and praying she gets pattern A.
A few moments later, Hannah’s jumping up and down, so I’m guessing she did.Her mother does an amazing job of both calming Hannah down and also preparing her horse without getting her white show pants dirty.I’m not quite sure how she does it, but I think being a mother might give you superpowers.I’m surprised, as Hannah’s preparing to go into the warmup area before her dressage test, when Natalie grabs my arm.
“I’m freaking out.”
“What?”I grab the reins for her.“Why?”I glance over her horse, but she seems just fine.Natalie looks great, too, so she’s not freaking out over something obvious.
“I never should have done this.My job is to wipe her boots, and tell her it’s fine, and tuck her hair up under her helmet.My job isnotto be so distracted by my own stupid pattern and my spot outside that I might have to miss my own daughter’s first dressage test.”
“I talked to the showrunners.They’re super nice.They agreed that they’ll hold our run for a moment if they have to so we can be here for Hannah.They’re happy we’re all joining them, and they look forward to us coming to many, many of these.”I squeeze her hand and release her.“Now, tell me your pattern.”
She runs through it, and I hope it’s right.I don’t have hers memorized.I’m going to struggle enough to remember mine.Dressage has always been my weakest of the three.“Good,” I say.“Good.”
“Except that really long walking section is impossible.Literally, she tosses her head one hundred percent of the time.”
I smile.It’ssoNatalie, I can hardly handle it.“You do realize you don’t have to win your very first show back.”
She rolls her eyes, and then Hannah goes in for her test.
I work through the pattern in my head while Hannah goes, and if I remembered it right, which I think I did, she got every single movement.She went a little wide on the ten-meter circle, and her working trot needs some work, but her posting was great, and Conor looked relaxed.All in all, it was a really good first dressage test.Her score’s higher than I imagined it could be, and we’re all beaming when Natalie gets up to warm up for her turn.
I head back to get Scout ready—these smaller shows run really fast—and when I get back, Natalie’s ready to go.Mason’s there, waving, and Paul keeps shrieking, “Mom is the best!Mom is the best!”
“Could you?—”
Before I can even finish, Clara salutes and starts fast-walking around to the spectator area so she can encourage Paul to settle down.The last thing we need is Riona spooking because a kid’s singing or yelling, but Clara running in front of her could be just as bad, hence the fast-walk.
Sometimes I wonder why we like horses so much.They run around on their one big toenail, spooking at everything, and they have a million medical problems.But then, Clara calms Paul down, and Natalie enters the ring, and she executes her entire dressage testperfectly.I don’t think I’ve ever seen her so in sync with Riona.Some horses do better when they perform at shows, almost as though they realize this matters, and Riona must be one of those.Her dressage score is exactly what it should be—high.
Vanessa has joined Mason and Paul.Now Trina’s jumping up and down next to Blaine and Amelia.Bryce drops a hand on Trina’s shoulder.Trace is clapping for Aunt Natalie, and even Mason looks pretty excited for her.For a split second, my vision blurs.
