Love of Horses Pt. 01

Claire smiled at Kate and sat with some second-year riders.

"Okay everyone, this meeting is underway," Ralph said.

There was complete silence.

"First it's my pleasant duty to introduce my new assistant Kate John. Come and stand beside me Kate."

People clapped politely.

Ralph said, "Now that our indoor facility and a second outdoor ring, this one with lights, have been completed, I have been authorized to have a show team of up to thirty members and so have been given an assistant. Admin doesn't like seeing Patrick ending each riding year in one of the bottom three positions."

Claire said, "No it follows that more riders, more horses for training and more entries mean improved results, providing the coaching is up to scratch."

"Thank you Claire. I can announce more horses will arrive soon so that we always have a reasonable number taking a spell. Kate is not a graduate so under Patrick's terms of engagement of instructors, a non-graduate cannot carry the title of co-coach or even assistant coach. But she will supervise what you do and give advice not instruction. If you are sensible you'll regard her advice as instruction."

"Kate is eighteen and has just completed high school. She comes off a cow and horse ranch up north and began riding when she was four and began working horses when she was ten and since the age of thirteen has been finishing off half broken-in horses. In my opinion Kate is the best rider we've had at this school and in saying that I include myself. Run the video please Brenda."

It was Kate's application video. She was already half sinking through the floor in embarrassment after the astonishing way in which Ralph had described her as a horsewoman.

Several girls tittered at Kate's opening remarks on the video.

That stopped when those viewers noticed she roped the sorrel at first shot and when she charged the herd and jumped the high fence, clearing it by inches and a buzz of excited comment swept through the room.

There were several cries of Omigod when it was realized Kate had made that jump without a saddle. And there were shrieks of 'Omigod' when Kate rode that horse straight over the edge of the ravine and down gravel on the slope of about thirty degrees.

There was big applause when the video finished.

"How old is the horse?" someone called.

Kate looked at Ralph and he waved his hand forward inviting her to answer.

"Cool Lady is eight. The stallion was my choice as was the brood mare when I was ten."

"That corral to rail looked at least five and a half feet high."

"It's 4 ft 8 in actually. I practiced that entire stunt twenty times before we filmed it. By then Cool Lady could have jumped and completed the course going backwards with her eyes shut."

"Okay that enough questions for now. Did I say Kate could really ride?"

"Yes?" called most of the group.

"Kate will share training with me but her special areas will be supervising the Western team which this year we increase from three to six places and next year will lift that to eight. We currently have eight Western horses and more are being donated. If more than six of you want to show Western then we'll run a ballot for the final three places. Kate and I need to pick the three strongest Western riders because it's been our smallest section and in competition we have trailed everyone. Kate's other responsibility will be supervising the English event team members involved in hunter-seat equitation over fences. I really need to put my effort into dressage and bringing on the newcomers in walk-trot-canter and equitation on the flat in all classes. We'll now run the elections for officers of the club and the two captains and vice-captions of our English and Western teams and then I'll invite Kate to tell you want she wants from the Western team by way a commitment and that may go down like a lead balloon."

After the elections, with Claire being elected club president, Kate said, "In the eleven years of competing, Patrick show teams have never progressed beyond the Regional Finals and last season Claire Kennedy made history by pulling off a third placing in roping in the Regionals but unfortunately the rules state only the top two go through for the Western semi-finals. I guess that's why she was voted in as the only nomination to captain the Western team just minutes ago."

"That performance was a splendid result after years of drought for Patrick but I'm sure Claire will agree with me it's not good enough. This season the aim will be to have the best three in the Western team competing in the zone finals and the following season the aim must be to have at least one rider in Western and English through to the Nationals."

Someone called "Impossible."

"Is that right? Well please consider how do individuals and teams from the 48 colleges and universities in Intercollegiate Equestrian Society-approved events get into the finals? You know for a small university our equestrian operation is unbelievably resourced. Coach Hall agrees with this strategy, we no longer think we'll ride in show events to see how far we can get. Instead we aim to rise to the top like cream. Only a few will make it but our time is nigh when we'll have riders riding off for places in the Zone finals and perhaps the following season we'll have one of two riders qualifying to go through to the Nationals."

"I finish by saying this. If you sign up for competing in the eight shows in the Western Riding you'll be out of bed at 6:30 three mornings a week of your choice to run around the inside perimeter of the indoor arena, taking it easy at first but working up to run twenty circuits. And then three times each week you will either swim lengths for one hour or work out in the gym for an hour, much of that time on a bike."

"You won't be spied upon but I will be watching for such activity out of interest. It's up to you to decide how and when you do this fitness training. I don't believe I've ever seen a champion rider who didn't appear superbly fit. So I guess with my tough conditions I'm taking a risk we may not field a Western team this year. That being so then I'm out of a job."

Claire called, "Debs and Gwyn are you in?"

"Yes," they chorused.

Clair grinned. "You have the top riders in Western last season back in the team this season Miss John."

"Thanks guys. As I said cream rises. Oh everyone please call me Kate. I'm only a kid. Back to you Coach Hall."

"Wow it sounds as if the kid is setting the pace with motivational spiel. You're establishing your place in the team Kate and so soon. You all know riding performance at a show can tail off as you tire. Fitness delays and subdues tiredness. Having said that, the track, pool and gym fitness regime is hereby declared to be voluntary but be aware fit riders will stand out. We have received late applications here tonight to try-out. It's my fault that I forgot to put a closing date and time on the notice calling for try-out applications. I've had a quick think about this. Now that I have an assistant we'll try out everyone who wants a trial and then compare notes and whittle the selection for the competition pool down to thirty names."

Ralph finished by saying the show schedule and the training schedules were already posted on the equestrian pages on their university website.

"When you pay your equestrian club fee, that will give you all two one-hour training sessions a week for 10 weeks for the autumn and spring semesters. Show team members have priority with use of facilities but joint use may be possible in consultation with the show team supervisors."

At 8:00 after the team meeting when Kate was at the final sitting in the university's Fountain Café for dinner, she took a call.

"Hi. Kate speaking."

"How are you?" the caller rasped.

She was startled and said, "Is that you Sammy?"

"Yeah. You sound okay."

"Have you made this call? You never make phone calls."

"Your Uncle Ted dialed the number for me on his phone."

"Why are you calling me?"

"I-I miss you. You always have your coffee in the kitchen and talk to me. Your mom takes hers outside or into the sunroom."

"Well how are you?"

"Fine. Doc Childs told me to buy some fish oil tablets and another type of pill I can get from any pharmacy to rebuild a bit of the cartilage or something like that to take away some of the pain. It might work but it might take months."

"Well I hope it does some good. You stubborn fool you've always refused to go to Doc Childs, arguing why go to him when you can still walk but for years I haven't regarded that shuffle you do as walking."

As usual Sammy ignored that sort of talk. "Are you riding horses?"

"Yeah a few times with the boss's wife."

"Is she pretty?"

"Why would you want to know that Sammy?"

"Dunno. I better go now before I damaged the phone battery by wearing it out."

"Okay. It's been nice talking to you Sammy."

"If I get lonely and miss you can I call you again?"

"Sure. Look why don't you ask mom if you can borrow one of the pickups one Sunday and come down and see me? You can have my bed and I'll sleep on the couch and you can leave for home on Monday."

"I might try that. Goodbye Kate."

"Bye Sammy."

During the call, two people she knew slightly had joined Kate at her table. She'd nodded to them and indicated to them to sit. And now they conversed. She liked that because she didn't know many people yet and these people were so friendly. Yes she was lonely too.

As she was walking to her small apartment Kate stopped in shock. Was Sammy missing her because...

Jesus because he was her father!"

She wondered what to make of that. Well she'd already thought if she married she might be unwise to have children if her father had been one of her mom's brothers.

But Sammy?

Jesus.

Inside her small apartment she poured a wine and drank it quickly.

That changed nothing.

Omigod. She was born in February and she remembered her uncles sometimes talked about the spring deluge almost twenty years ago and they were trapped on the other side of the swollen river for five days before the rainstorm that hung over the mountain had stopped and river levels dropped. Her uncles sheltered in a cabin beside the cattle yards across the river and it was stocked for emergencies. Seth had shot a deer so they were okay for meat. Kate recalled the story they'd pulled down the derelict pump-house and used that for firewood.

Fingers trembling, Kate counted back and yes, the timing would be exactly right if that flood had been in February.

She giggled nervously. God what if Sammy really had banged her mom. Her brothers would have radioed they were marooned and were well. Her mom and old Sammy would have become bored and he would have said something like "Show me your tits" and her mom would have yawned and sighed "Why not?" and pulled them out and it would have gone on from there.

If that were true Sammy would have been sixty-three or sixty-four, still capable of firing live rounds. Omigod!

Kate booted up her computer and went to the archives section of newspaper that came in the mail to the farm Mondays to Saturdays. She looked up the weather stories for eighteen years ago and searching February dates. And there it was: '100-year Flood Maroons Scores of Families; Drowns Hundreds of Cattle'.

"Oh god mom you slut," Kate said aloud and giggled. "Little wonder you've always refused to say who got your pregnant and who was my father. Oh mom!"

Kate got herself in such a tizz she didn't know whether to laugh or cry. Instead she began thinking of Sammy. Sammy had always given her presents but small presents. He'd taught her to ride and then did his best to teach her to jump and... Omigod. When in her early teens and she and Sammy would be out alone out on the ranch moving cattle or doing maintenance and she did something he approved of, especially if it were a step forward for her, he'd sometimes say, 'That's my little darling'.

Yes so why would he say that? But that still wasn't proof he was her father. Her birth had been registered and the copy of the official document that she possessed stated 'Father unknown'.

Well she'd have to ask Sammy. She'd only buy another fight if she tried to squeeze the information out of her mother. But what if her mother hadn't told Sammy and he hadn't clicked that it had been his semen that had done to trick?

Kate sat watching a soppy movie on TV to calm herself.

CHAPTER 2

At 6:45 the first morning after that team meeting, Kate entered the gym and found Clair Kennedy with all five members of the Western team on bikes.

"Hi here to spy on us?" Claire enquired.

Kate said Coach Hall had said the fitness regime was not compulsory.

"We know that," Clair said. "I just said to the team if we want to win placings we follow you. Are you here to train?"

"Well one gets fit riding but I'm doing any hard riding at present and no way am I going to allow my fitness to slip."

"Way to go coach."

"Jolene I'm not a coach. Just call me Kate. Why don't you cycle with a straight back in riding position instead of hunching over like a racing road cyclist?"

They all straightened and Claire whispered something and the girls called together, "Thanks coach."

Kate grinned at them and went off to a treadmill to warm up.

She went to the office after breakfast and asked Ralph what could she do while waiting to take her first lesson at 11:00.

"I suggest you inspect the tack room and check for anything missing or in need of repair or replacement," he said returning to his paperwork but called to Kate as she was walking through the door.

"What?"

"Look you have a horse at your ranch don't you?"

"I have a string of five."

"Well I was meaning the sorrel. I was thinking you'd coach better..."

"Supervise is the word you must use."

"You'll supervise better on a horse and it would help us out if you used your own horse for that. We'll pay you an allowance, look after all vet work and allocate your mare her own stall. There's been a delay in bringing in our extra horses...one may have a virus so the lot are being watched. You can leave tonight and take one of our horse trailers. Have a day relaxing at home and return the next day. I'll take your training commitments."

"Sure I'd really like that and to check out things at home."

"Good then do it. Tell Claire about being away and she'll advise her team."

Ralph called her at 10:15 to the office of the associate provost for faculty administration for a meeting. Ralph introduced Kate to Mrs Robinson.

"Lucy is off a ranch too and rides one of our horses occasionally. It was Lucy who came up with the idea of the university building a horse riding trail through our woods and was appointed to chair the project committee what has raised the money as well. The trail opens in a month to six weeks she tells me."

"It looks great Mrs Robinson. I've walked part of it and the ravine crossing has been done so beautifully to blend it in to the environment."

"I'm glad you noticed that bridge Kate. A national environment protection watchdog group has been here to inspect it and is contemplating giving us its top award for excellence in structural design in a wilderness area."

Mrs Robinson said, "Well I've been going from the equestrian center's strategic and financial plans with Ralph before they are submitted to the director of sport. We talked about you and your enthusiasm for pushing our show teams to achieving higher performance and rewards."

"Well not to the detriment of themselves, their studies and their mounts."

"Oh of course not dear. None of us would want that. At the same time this university was established as a land-grant university and receives federal funding. It is in our interest to achieve solid performances and have those results reported. Dear I want you to consider increasing your status here to a fulltime student."

"Mrs Robinson I feel I lack the academic ability to study comprehensively and will fail to gain a degree."

"Ralph mentioned your feeling about that to me. Well he and I have looked at all the study options available to you to go with those you have already opted to take. With your consent we would then take this specially designed study course and push to get it approved. If approved you would qualify as a fulltime undergraduate and meet the student conditions of the Intercollegiate Equestrian Society and thus probably ride to glory for this university in at least one event in the national finals."

"But Mrs Robinson that would be like cheating if I don't have a chance of passing all of my exams."

Kate saw Ralph move uncomfortably in his chair and he wouldn't make eye contact with her. Mrs Robinson said blithely, "Well we won't know until way down the track will we? By then your trophies if you win then will be in our trophy cabinets."

"Mrs Robinson..."

"Kate don't be angry with me. It is only a proposal. You would have to receive lots of extra tuition and..."

"I cannot do it Mrs Robinson. Can't you see if I push in under an arrangement I'm uncomfortable with I would be stealing success and honor from other riders if I were successful. That just will not do."

Mrs Robinson sighed and said well she'd just been floating a proposal to test its credibility.

"Mrs Robinson," Kate smiled. "I thank you for accepting my explanation that the scheme you so creatively proposed is flawed and in some minds could be regarded as an improper procedure."

"Thank you," the administrator said stiffly.

"But Mrs Robinson I'll tell you something that may excite you. There is a female in our Western team, Claire Kennedy whom I'm confident will be one of our first two riders to make it to the semi-finals but she might not quite have it to get a placing to go on from there but who knows when in sport anything can happen. Even more exciting for me is something I glimpsed during the try-outs. I believe, with his dedication and fine coaching to eliminate all his rough edges, Rick Flavell in our English riding team could ride through to the Nationals in May by winning at least two titles in the Zone finals."

"Well that is most interesting. Do you agree with your assistant Ralph?"

"Well Lucy, my thinking is Kate is the type of person who goes for gold taking all risks whereas I'm more conservative and focus on perfection. The truth is it's possible to be conservative and win gold and also to be less than perfect but win gold on an exuberant and outstanding performance that the judges have been looking for. Between us, Kate and I perhaps present a very balanced coaching team."

"But she's not a coach. Our minimum requirement for a coach is a bachelor's degree."

"Correct, Kate has been hired and works a supervisor, a hugely talented supervisor."

As Kate and Ralph walked off he said Lucy Robinson had him over a barrel.

"She said there is talk in administration that we fritter away too much of our money and she began digging holes in my strategic plan and asked wasn't night training under lights extremely wasteful in being spent on horse riders."

"Jesus if it were swimming or football, they wouldn't blink."

"Yeah and that's what occurred to me while fighting to keep our budget intact and then she shoved her nose into wanting to talk to you to satisfy herself that you at the tender age of eighteen were capable of delivering strong support to me and our activities. Jesus she was exceeding her authority"

"Well I think I handled myself well."

"Yes and you exceeded my expectations. I wasn't able to warn you what was possibly in store because she was sitting right next to me."

"I understand."

"Good so why don't you hitch up a horse trailer and take off now? I have your training schedule so will cover for you this afternoon and for the next two days."