Samantha Forster cantered the big grey around the ring, standing at 17.1hh the 6 year old warmblood stallion was a force to be reckoned with, he was a great jumper and an amazing dressage hors, he was also a great ranch horse a job which he was originally trained to do. But setting aside his skills Dancing Swallow had a major problem he was a pain in the ass, he chucked major tantrums if any one else besides Sam asked him to do anything.
Tracey Barbra and Pete Walsh stood at the edge of the fence watching as she practiced dressage movements and pieces with her horse, they were her trainers. Tracey Barbra was a middle aged woman and an accomplished dressage rider, dressed in clean jodhpurs and a pressed white shirt, with clean knee high boots she looked every bit the part of the strict teacher, but she a great trainer and believed that appearances meant a lot. Pete Walsh was a young trainer who had competed at the Olympics, he was wearing jodhpurs and a polo shirt, he was more casual and outgoing but was quite strict when it came to horses and training. They watched as Sam asked Swallow to halt then pivot to the left and go into a collected canter on the opposite leg. Sam was a very beautiful girl with cinnamon brown eyes and full pink lips. She was slim with muscular legs and an overall toned body that of a girl who worked hard. A dusting of freckles covered her nose and her auburn hair fell past her shoulders and it was cut in layers and she had a front fringe, it was currently tied in a low ponytail under her helmet. She wore blue jodhpurs and brown boots with chaps as well as a blue polo shirt. Bringing the stallion to a halt she dismounted and led Swallow over to her waiting trainers, "how was that?" she asked as she handed the reins to Pete whilst she pulled up the stirrups. "very well, you've definitely fixed your faults and hesitations from the grand prix although that was a fabulous performance" Tracey said to her, "now take Swallow and give him a good groom then take the weekend of, Cody as well you both deserve it you've worked hard over the last few months" Pete said returning the reins to Sam as Swallow was pulling on them, Sam smiled and led Swallow out of the ring.
Sam was grooming the stallion from the stepladder when an auburn head appeared outside of Swallow's stall. "hey little sis" her twin Cody said, his appearance was only slightly different to hers, he had the same eyes and hair colour but he was almost a head taller than her and 3 minutes older. "How did your lesson go?" he asked her leaning against the stall door , he too was a rider but he wasn't at the same level as Sam and didn't compete as often as she did on his 16.7hh chestnut mare Imperialistic Dream, she was peaceful and calm in almost all situations and had an even temperament, her attitude was almost the exact opposite to Sam's Swallow surprisingly she to had been trained as a ranch horse but the ranch she was from closed and she had to be sold Cody saw her and bought Dream and began training her at 3. "Good Swallow and I went over some movements and drills, how about you? Weren't you jumping Dream today?" Sam asked as she grabbed a mane comb and continued grooming the big horse, "yeh I was, she jumped really well, she even cleared 1.35m today" Cody told her sounding quite proud of the fact. "Good job, would you mind grabbing his summer rug while I finish her?" she asked him as she moved the step ladder so she could reach the top of Swallow's tail. "Sure" he said and walked off to the tack room.
Minutes later Cody returned with the dark blue rug that had Dancing Swallow written in yellow lettering, and let himself into the stall "what are you doing?" Sam asked her older brother from her position on the step ladder near Swallow's hind quarters with a quizzical look on her face. He grinned "helping you out shortie", Sam frowned and stepped down from the ladder "you know I hate it when you call me that, and you even have the soccer team calling me it to" she said dropping the brush into the grooming kit box, Cody smirked and through the blanket over the stallions high back. "How do you get his rugs on without a taller person helping you?" Cody asked as he tried to do the chest strap up, but it was proving difficult as Swallow kept sidestepping every time he got his hand on it, "I use the step ladder" Sam answered guiding Cody out of the stall, she then moved to Swallow and did up the strap quickly and easily. Cody's jaw dropped, "how on earth did you do that? He wouldn't let me near him" Cody said looking at the monstrous horse before him just last week he had taken a bite out of his shirt when he tried to clean his hoofs. Cody sometimes worried about his twin sister being around the easily aggravated horse but when he saw how quiet the horse was as soon as it was Sam that was near him he lost all doubts. "I dunno he just seems different when I'm with him almost like another horse" Sam said answering her brother's question and exciting the stall with the grooming kit in hand which she handed to Cody and grabbed her tack, she took them to the tack room and grabbed their back packs. Cody was putting Swallows grooming tools into Sam's locker when his blue rip curl bag hit him in the chest "gee thanks" he said dryly to his twin she just smirked and left the tack room with Cody falling into step beside her as they headed to the bus stop.
"Oh I almost forgot Tracey and Pete said to take the weekend off" Sam told Cody as they sat in seats on the bus Cody grinned "does that mean we can go to a game on Saturday?" Cody asked, they both loved to watch soccer but often missed the chance to go to games because of their horse responsibilities. Cody was also the captain on their schools soccer team, and Sam was the team's striker. She was the only girl in the league and had only been allowed to play because like Cody, Sam was an amazing player. Sam grinned at Cody as they arrived at their stop "yeah" she said and followed Cody off the bus and headed down the street to their house. Cody grabbed Sam around the waist and spun her around, they were both still laughing when they walked in the door until they saw they're Mum standing in the kitchen with a sad expression on her face.
Louise had left Nevada when the twins were 9 months old, because she had taken pity on Wyatt Forster her husband of the time when she saw the instant attraction between himself and BLM worker called Bryanna. She had given him a way out in the form of divorce papers, he still called on their birthdays and Christmas but he was a true cowboy and didn't talk much, instead the twins spoke to Grace Forster Wyatt's mother who they knew as Gram. Wyatt and Bryanna had had two kids Jaxom who at 14 was a year younger than Sam and Cody, and Reena who was 13.
"hey mum what's up? You look unhappy about something" Cody said dropping his bag on the floor and sitting in a chair at the kitchen table. Sam followed him and said "yeh the last time you waited for us in the kitchen was when Screws was hit by that car". Louise smiled softly at the pair of them "well I got a call from your father today and he's asked for you two to come and live with him for a year" she told them and lent against the bench top, "and… I agreed "she looked at Cody and Sam who both had shocked looks on their faces. "Because I think it's time that you got to know him and your other siblings", Cody looked over at Sam who was thinking it through "well I guess we could but what about soccer and dream and Swallow?" he asked, "well I'm sure there'll be a team there for you two to join and Swallow and Dream will go with you they live on a ranch after all" Louise said and started making their dinner. " anyway we've arranged that you'll leave at the end of next week, it should give you enough time to pack and tie up loose ends, your fathers calling the school and your officially enrolled as of whenever he calls" she said and they laughed, "there's boxes in the hallway oh and I spoke to Tracey after you left the stables she's arranged for a truck next Sunday morning she'll be there after they come though ah and you leave 10:00am in the morning so get packing" and she shooed the redheads out of the kitchen. Louise was a brunette with mocha coloured eyes and Sam's good figure. The twins had inherited their hair colour and eye colour from their father, although Sam was the exact image of Louise, Cody was a mix between both Wyatt and Louise.
I hope I'm making the right choice by sending them back to Nevada Louise thought as she bustled around the kitchen making their dinner .