Chapter 7

Greyson revered the car out of the parking lot, and left the campus, but had to stop at the gates to show their ID's. He picked up speed going 60 in a 50mph area. The car was so smooth, and the roads were so empty, no one cared.

They continued until they reached the gravel street leading to the barn. The manager said he was to pave it, but that was yet to happen.

"We are here," Greyson stopped the car. They got out. Brynn walked over to the tack room, and closed the door. She went to her locker and got out her spare change of riding legging and an Ariat top. She also had her Charles Owne helmet. Her Ariat boots were in the corner. She grabbed those, and walked over to the bathroom. In a minute or two, she was in her jumping attire. Greyson walked in a second later, to get his clothing.

Brynn walked out and went to see Beauty in A Blood Stained Dress. Her Barn name was Salem. She had got an email from Amanda Haufler, the mother of the girl who owned Salem, Bethany Haufler. She said she could ride and care for Salem if she wanted, and when her daughter came to her senses about her horse, they would consider selling it if she was not interested. Brynn had enough time to care for Salem, because she was already trained in Dressage, and a broodmare. She had had 5 foals in her lifetime, before somewhat retiring.

Brynn was reconsidered entering Salem into the fair because if she were to have a foal, it would take 2-3 years before she could be worked again.

"It would be best to restart her dressage basics," She questioned Greyson, who had just walked out, and was confused.

"Who's dressage basics?" He asked.

"Salem, er, Beauty in a Blood Stained Dress, but Salem is her barn name. She's been trained up to third level. I got permission to continue her training from her owner."

"You want to buy her." Greyson said flatly. He saw straight through her.

"She's a lovely chestnut, great pedigree, bloodline is spectacular!" Brynn countered. "Her scores are through the roof, and her boult is amazing. She's a major loss if we let her be a pasture puff, just let me convince her owner to not sell her or keep her in the pasture. First I'll make her love Salem, then if she's still in denial of wanting to ride, her loss of an amazing dressage filly." Brynn caught her breath after ranting for a minute straight. Greyson laughed.

Brynn rolled her eyes and went to her trunk to grab her dressage saddle. She put it on the rack. Then she went to Salem's trunk and grabbed her bridle and saddle pad. The saddle for Stolen was supposed to fit Salem, so Brynn thought to give it a try, and Salem's saddle was in a filthy condition. It was full of dust, and extremely squeaky. The leather was peeling back and the stirrups and straps were nowhere in sight, besides one little stirrup in the bottom of the trunk.

She finished putting everything at the wash rack and got Salem from her stall.

"Today is going by so slowly," Greyson commented, watching Brynn struggle to get Salem into the cross ties. He continued to watch, and Brynn tried to get the saddle pad on without spooking the poor unused horse.

"This is entertaining," He laughed.

"Shut up." She grumbled. Salem finally stopped throwing a fuss and listened. Brynn finished with the girth, much to Salem's demise. She touched up the bridle and adjusted the stirrups. She led Salem over to the indoor arena, Greyson and Confident walked slowly behind them.

She mounted up slowly, making sure not to spook Salem. She walked 2 laps around the arena, cautious. No one spoke. A 4 year old filly being schooled for the first time in a year and a half was able to spook easily. Greyson and Confident stood in the corner, there mainly to watch.

Brynn took a moment to realize she was in jumping attire, not fancy dressage clothing, but it was fine because she planned to take Stolen out on the 1 meter course after this. She got Salem up to a working trot, then to the extended trot. She had her crop, and planned to use it, but began to reconsider. Salem's transitions were so smooth and flawless. She held her head low, as a dressage trained Oldenburg would. She kept this up, then they worked on the diagonal trot, then an extended canter. Salem was going strong, but then spooked when Confident let out a loud cough. She trembled, the whites of her eyes became visible. She took a sharp turn right, trying to throw Brynn off.

Brynn kept calm, and calmed her down. After 6 minutes, Salem was calm enough to go to a working canter. Brynn asked for a pirouette, and Salem listened. They got extended trot to H, where then they walked to the middle. Brynn used a small touch of the crop and asked with her aids for a piaffe. Shockingly, Salem knew exactly what to do. They did a longer, more elevated form of piaffe to F.

A few borders came to watch. Greyson and Confident stood there, as still as a rabbit. Noticing the quiet crowd of roughly 20 people, Brynn and Salem did a passage trot around the arena two times. Poor Salem was quite tired after. The time on the clock read 4:07 pm. Brynn patted Salem, and signaled to let Greyson and the crowd know they could talk now.

"Good job, that was beautiful!" Greyson exclaimed and walked over. The crowd slowly left.

Confident snorted in the corner, as it to tell everyone that he was, too, important. Greyson walked back to him, and mounted him without the block. Confident was massive, 17.3 hands, and 1500 pounds, and greyson was rather light, so mounting without a block to spare Salem from spooking was worth the while.

"Go turn her out, and take Stolen out or I fear he'll rip his gate off." Greyson chuckled. Brynn listened and took Salem to the washracks. She quickly untacked and turned Salem out after a small wash down. Then she went to Stolen's stall. He was not there.

Panicked, Brynn went to the wash racks to find Stolen being tacked by her groom. Brynn smiled.

"Thank you, ." She smiled. William,16, was Colton's cousin. Like Colton, William was handsome, but unlike Colton, William didn't have a shit attitude at times, he was very nice, and went out of his way to be nice to Greyson and Brynn, and had a desire to become a professional like Brynn.

"No problem, Brynn." William shook his dark chestnut hair. It looked as if it was liver chestnut, but William was convinced it was red. He adjusted her stirrups, knowing the exact length. He chuckled.

"Hopefully he won't be too hot today, he was in a sour temperament before." William sighed. William was, to note, from Britain originally, and he went to quite the pristine school. Then, when he was 10, his family moved to america due to his father finding a better biotech job at a new foundation named Sky. The potion played quite well, and Brynn was aware of it. William's father acted like he was royalty at times, and it was getting on Brynn's nerves.

William though, was pure as a fairy, extremely kind.

"What's the hold up?" Greyson laughed, then made eye contact with William. You could tell that darkened his mood.

"Brynn, are you ready?" Greyson asked, and Brynn nodded. She mounted. They walked back to the arena, Greyson informing her on the strides and jump patterns, like a coach. In some ways, Greyson was a coach to Brynn, as he always helped her with the strides and other problems. Greyson was seen as a saint in the way that he could see the strides to almost any jump, even in cross country. He was superb to watch out on the cross country course.

They got to the arena at 4:19, and had roughly an hour to school the horses. Brynn did the canter poles and lines with Stolen to warm up, then they raised the bars from 2'9 to 3' 11 on 80 percent of the jumps, and up to 4'4 on the other 20 percent.

Greyson volunteered to go first, and Brynn took out her phone. She had the iphone 14, as it was released two weeks ago. She zoomed in onto the 4'4 jump a few seconds before Confident came into view on the camera. Right as he took the jumper, Brynn snapped a picture. The shutter sound made Stolen's ears twitch back to face her. Brynn laughed softly.

Greyson trantered up to them. Trantering was dreaded to most, but it was something that Greyoson admired in his Hanoverian. Confident could gait, or he could not. It was up to the signals he had been taught. Not only did money buy Confident's training, but so did trust, patience, and practice. It was like training a puppy, but 14 times larger.

Greyson shook his head laughing.

"That tranter is weak buddy." He laughed. Brynn ran the course fast. They had 20 minutes until the game.

"Shit" She said 8 minutes later. She ran to her groom and asked her to take care of Stolen for her, as she was going to be late. William agreed, and smiled. Literally anything pleased him.

"Shitty shit, we are late!" She exclaimed to Greyson, as she hopped into the car. Greyson just laughed. Hit closed his door and slowly sped up onto the main road. They went a little speedy, but no one really cared about their side of the country.

"Don't worry, babe, we won't be late." Greyson reassured. Brynn blushed. She reminded herself that the game didn't start for a while, but missing the game was not why she was worried about being late, it was that Colton would surely spread rumors if they didn't come.