Sandy

• Kelly Quarman, Grade 7
• Short Story
• 2011

As I position my foot into the stirrup a tingling sensation filled my body, making my heart race. As I swung into the All Purpose Wintect 2000 saddle that I’ve been riding in for three years, I felt on top of the world. Sandy’s steady gait rocked me back and forth, it seemed to calm my nerves down a bit.

You see, I’ve been riding a horse called Sandy for 3 years now. She’s a Grey, Arab. 14; 2 hands of height, and 12 years old. Sandy is an AMAZING show jumper. And today is our first competition.

I entered the ring, observing my surroundings. Sandy’s ears were pricked forward, showing me she was eager to do this. I dropped my left rein, and raised my hand to my helmet, politely saluting the judge. The bell he rang made me snap into reality, I Was going to ride my first show jumping course, and I was going to ride it now. Sandy started off into a trot when I only had one rein, I quickly gathered them up shorter and put her into a steady canter. The first jump was 5 strides ahead and I got a sick feeling in my stomach, maybe I wasn’t in the right place, maybe I shouldn’t be doing this. But there was no backing out now, I had to do this. As I approached the jump, it suddenly grew in size. But I got into 2 point position, and put my legs on, Sandy launched over the jump like a pro. We had cleared the first jump perfectly, but jump two was ahead, the set up for this jump was going to be tricky. If I didn’t get it right, Sandy could refuse or I could fall off. But I put Sandy in the middle of the yellow spread, and she cleared it with ease. Next was a double, with two strides in between the two jumps. 3A had a big brick wall beneath it, and 3B was a wide riser. Going over the double felt better than words can explain, like I was the only person in the world. Sandy and I ruled the land. Over jumps, 4, 5, 6, 7 and 8 Sandy was perfect, not even blinking at the fillers that lay under the jumps. But approaching jump 9, Sandy began to loose her confidence, making my nerves fly up the wall. Under the jump lay bowling pins, “It is okay”, I whispered. Making Sandy’s fear go away, she soared over it without any regrets. Next was the last jump, it was just a simple straight bar and I knew we could do it. Sandy began to go really fast, and her striding would be wrong, causing her to possibly knock a rail. After I half halted her and steadied her canter, she effortlessly flew over the rail. Through the finish flags we went, and the crowd broke into applause. I was sure to do this again with Sandy.