Hunter Derby: (Show Circuit Series -- Book 3) by Kim Ablon Whitney

trying to work on.
    “I don’t know. Try it again. I guess I haven’t done a lot of trot jumps with her.”
    This time Gidget broke into a canter a few strides away. Zoe pulled her up on the other side.
    “I think we found her kryptonite,” John said.
    “Hello, trot jumps,” Zoe said. “From now on all we’ll be doing is trot jumps.”
    It was a bit of an exaggeration. Doing only trot jumps would likely give Gidget more of a complex about them. But she needed to get good at them if she was going to be a derby horse.
    Zoe started trotting out of lines to begin with and that seemed to freak Gidget out less. Then she would head to a jump at the trot, bring her back to a near walk, and then push her forward again.
    John rode different horses each day while Zoe rode Gidget. She began to feel like he was rotating them so she could see them and help him. As she became more comfortable, she would tell him what she was thinking—how a certain horse needed more impulsion or another needed to jump a lot of square oxers to get his front end better. She began to think how it must have been lonely for John to be riding all day at the farm by himself.
    At first Zoe thought the fact that she had to cool Gidget down and put her away was annoying but she soon found she liked it. What did she have to race home to anyway? The TV and a bag of Doritos? She liked spending the time with Gidget and with John too.
    She took to spending extra time grooming Gidget. She found the mare had a favorite spot about a third of the way down her mane. Zoe would rub it until Gidget would twist her nose in pleasure.
    “Who loves me now?” Zoe would say to her. “Who’s going to actually trot the trot jumps?”
    They took turns using the wash stall and then grazed the horses alongside each other out front of the barn.
    She and John talked about what they’d liked in school and what they hadn’t. John had been a good student, taking honors classes and getting all As, which had made his decision to drop out of college for horses even harder for his parents to swallow.
    “They pretty much freaked,” he said. “I think they’re still hoping I’m going to give up and go back to school so I can get a real job. I might have to if I don’t sell a horse or two soon . . .”
    Zoe hadn’t liked much about school except for a few teachers she had who were zany and fun and actually seemed to care about the students. But she’d stopped going to real school after eight grade and had gotten her diploma through tutoring services at the shows.
    They had to talk a bit loudly because John couldn’t let whatever horse he was grazing get too close to Gidget. Once or twice their conversation had gotten interesting and John had let his horse meander closer so they could talk more intimately. Of course this always ended with Gidget flattening her ears and threatening to kick or bite.
    “Don’t mess with the princess,” Zoe told him.
    Zoe had gotten used to Gidget’s ornery personality, especially since it was mostly directed at other horses, not people. Gidget made nasty faces at Zoe from time to time but she’d never followed through on any of her threats and Zoe now kind of liked the fact that Gidget was a tough broad. The mare didn’t take crap from anyone and Zoe admired that about her.
    Zoe had also figured out that Gidget’s favorite snack was bananas and glazed donuts so most days she brought her both.
    “Don’t you dare bite me,” Zoe said to Gidget with affection when the mare made a face at her, or even went so far as to gnash her teeth.
    John noticed Zoe becoming fond of the mare. “What’s going on between you two?” he said. “Some sort of female-bonding-we-hate-men thing?”
    “Gidget hates everyone, not just men,” Zoe said. “She doesn’t discriminate.”
    “What about you?” John asked.
    “I don’t think anyone has ever claimed I hate men,” she said. Not wanting to go much further on the subject she added, “I love the