Alexandra looked excitedly out the window of the moving car. This was it, the moment she had been waiting for forever. A broken wrist had prevented her from coming to Chestnut Hill Boarding School as a seventh grader and now she was determined to show everyone that Alex was here, and she meant business.
An abrupt halt pulled her from her daydream as her parents pulled in. Many others were just heading in too and Alex hurried in, with her parents close in tow. The Adams House prefect led her up to room 6 and her roommates were already there. Their names were Stephanie and Rebecca. All three of them were aiming to be on the Junior Jumping Team, but Alexandra didn't express her secret ambition of being captain. After tearful good-byes from her parents Alex threw her things onto her bed and hurried down to the stables.
She walked slowly down the aisle stopping at each stall to read the nameplate. Morello, Bluegrass, Kingfisher, Mischief Maker, Moonlight Minuet, Skylark. This was heaven for Alex. She'd been riding for as long as she could remember but had never had a horse of her own. Her parents constantly made excuses why she shouldn't or couldn't have one but never gave a straight answer as to why she couldn't have a horse of her very own.
As she floated down the aisle, admiring the horses she suddenly noticed a shadow darting across the lawn. Hmm, she thought, I wonder who that is, sneaking around like that. She thought no more of it and hurried up to her room to put away her things before the welcome ceremony began.
"Alex ride Jazz, Rebecca ride Morello, Dylan ride Cowgirl, Lani ride Colorado, Mallory ride Nutmeg, and Stephanie ride Jupiter!" Ali, their instructor called. It was the start of their first riding lesson of the year, and for Alex, the first riding lesson ever. She had made the intermediate program easily and she knew that jumping team tryouts were next week. That meant only 4 more practices before they all got a chance to compete for a spot on the team. Lynsey waltzed out of the barn leading Bluegrass, her blue roan pony just in time to hear the call for all the school horses in the lesson. Alex knew enough to stay out of her way so she hurried to the barn and took Jazz, a bay pony, out of her stall. Jazz had a stone in her hoof although she hadn't been turned out yet today. She probably still has it from yesterday, Alex reasoned, although the rock worried her. Besides Lynsey, she was the first one out of the barn and she quickly got on to Jazz from the ground and walked her into the arena, where Lynsey was cantering Blue on the rail. Across the ring she saw Ali setting up a course of jumps all about 3 feet high. Alex had jumped higher but she knew there would be tricky turns, distances, and spreads to judge.
One, two three, four, five, six, Alex gave the aid to jump and Jazz responded with a powerful leap, easily clearing the three foot oxer. They headed towards the last jump, the hardest one too. It was a fake stone wall that looked easy, but was actually very wide and the distance was hard to judge. She counted hard with her inside leg and she felt Jazz responding beneath her. One stride separated her and the jump and then…a shadow darted across the jump. Jazz spooked severely, jumping out of the way and sending Alex flying over her head and into the jump.
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