The Value of the ride

Chapter 1:New beginnings

"Jenna promise me you won't give up on your dream" my mom said holding onto my hand. Tears swelled in my eyes as I nodded. "Dont cry baby, I love you" she said giving my hand a squeeze. "Love you too momma" I say leaning down to hug her. She had said good bye to my brother Nate and sister Scarlett. My dad was on his way home at the moment. My mom was dignosed with bone cancer two years ago. She went down hill rapidly and decided to end treatment a few months ago. My dad came running into the room and my mom smiled. "I love you all" she said softly as my dad kissed her.

Later that night she passed away in her sleep with my dad holding her.

This was about a month before my eighteenth birthday.

It has been about four months since my mom passed. Me and my dad are driving to a school to look at it. I applied to Featherlight College for Equestrian Studies. They also have a building for equine veterinary medicine. I was hoping to learn about running a ranch and horse training but my back up was also to be a large animal vet.

We pull up to a large building and I smile. "Your momma would be so proud of you Jemma. " my dad saif and I nod. My mom was a great horsewomen and always told me stories about her childhood. She was a great rider and took me to take lessons. Sadly moms favorite and only horse passed just before she found out she had cancer. Then with all her bills be were never able to afford another horse.

As I climb out I notice a lot of things. First is the large barn off to the left with students riding and a few pastures behind it. The reason I chose this school was because they own around 20 lesson horses that they assisgned students. The second thing I noticed was that the school and dorm where huge. The entrance had a huge arch that was two stories tall and it had two horse head statues right before the stairs.

As we walk into the building I see a women walking towards us. "You must me Jemma Fowler" the women said extending her hand for me to shake. "Yes ma'am " I say shaking her hand. "Its very nice to meet you. Im Professor Winters the assistant head master. Head master Matthews is out of town for the month but will be here once school starts. There are just a few things we need to go over. If you would follow me." professor Winters said before turning and walking away. I follow her to the office and ahe motions for us to sit.

"First off welcome. Your dorm is number 239 in the freshman wing. I can show you after. Second we need to know about your horse or if your planning on using a school horse. " she says and I sigh. "I am saving up to get a horse. I would need a school horse for now" I say figeting with my school ring. I did that normally when I was nervous. "Ok well we will have to evaluate your riding. Evaluations will be held the Monday and Tuesday before classes start. Here is your schedule and you can move into your dorm this week thru the week before school starts next month. If you wish to ride before your evaluation you will need to fill out a form and submit it to Rachel our head stable operator and lead riding teacher. " Professor Winters explained handing me paperwork. I look over everything for a minute before she says she was going to give us a tour.

We follow her and she shows me to my dorm and then to the barn. She then walks me thru where my classes will be held. All of this took only about four hours.

"I look forward to seeing you at the start of the semester Jemma. Have a great day" Professor Winters says as we head back to the car.

"So what do you think" my dad asks me as we start to pull out of the parking lot. "I like it. I wish I had my own horse but I was going to look up rescues near here. Maybe I can volunteer and end up finding my dream horse" I say with a smile. "Thats my girl" my dad said. It made me smile. My dad was always so supportive of all of us. I just wish my mom could have seem this school, she would have loved it.

Once we got home dad had to leave for work. I pulled out my laptop and started searching for rescues near my school. I didnt find anything at first but then I retyped in rescue. One rescue popped up and I decided to look them up on f*******:. They had a post about needing volunteers to help with new horses.

Pulling out my phone i gave the number a call.

"Hello thank you for calling Hoofs Horse Rescue this is Lilo how may I help you" a women said on the other end of the phone.

"Hello Lilo, I was calling to see if you needed help still? I'm going to Featherlight College this fall and was hoping to be able to volunteer on the weekends and maybe during the week." I say with a smile. I know she couldnt see my smile but I was so excited to have found a place.

"Of course , what is your name dear" Lilo asked over the phone.

"Jenna Fowler, I have been around horses since before I could walk. So I have about 16 years experience around them. Im not afraid of anything with them. My mom trained horses and I use to help all the time. " I say fighting back some tears as I mention my mom.

"Alright if you are at the school we could use some help this weekend. If we like you we might even have a paid opportunity down the road" Lilo says and I let out a small happy squeal.

"Thank you and I will be moving in tomorrow so I will see you on Saturday. What time would you like me to come" I asking knowing it would probably be rather early. "Lets have you come at 9am on Saturday so I can introduce you to everyone and give you a tour. Then Sunday we will have you start with the others at 7:30am." Lilo said and I reply with a thank you before hanging up the phone. I had a place to volunteer now I just needed a horse. Maybe I would find the perfect one for me at the rescue. Until then I just hoped the other people at school wont tease me for having to use a lesson horse.

Waking up I look at the boxes scattered around my room. "Jemma time to get up" my dad yelled as I heard a knock on my door. "Yes" I say sitting up. Scarlett opens the door and walks in. "Jemjem your not going to not come back right" she asks and I pat the bed next to me. "Scarlett I'm just about half hour away. I will visit you all the time. Plus I could never leave you sweetie" I say pulling her into a hug. Scarlett had just turned 12 about three days before mom passed away. She was the youngest out of us.

"Want to go grab my tack set for me and bring it to the kitchen. I am bringing moms blue one. You are keeping the purple one. " I say tickling her a little causing her to squeal. I was going to miss this. Even though there was a gap between us we had always been rather close. I loved my baby sister more than anything.

She soon ran off to grab my tack while I packed up just a few more things. Closing up the boxes I started taking them into the livingroom by the door. "Alright you got everything your bringing with you today? Pillow sheets tack?" My dad said and I nod. "I got it all daddy thank you" I say giving him a hug. I walk outside to my old beat up blue chevy pickup. I start putting a few things into the passenger side before tossing in a few thing in the bed of the truck.

Soon everything was packed up. I had my mom's saddle bridle and breast strap in the truck cab with me and all the other boxes in the back.

Scarlett came out with my dad and gave me a hug. Nate walked up a few moments later. "Take care string bean" he teased as he gave me a one armed hug. "You to dragon breath" I tease back waving my hand over my nose. He immediately checked his breath and I started laughing. "Very funny Jemma" he said as I climbed into the car. I waved to them as I pulled away. I felt a pull in my heart about leaving but was also excited to be on my own.

Soon I was pulling up to the school. I found a spot near the front and parked. I grabbed the saddle first and a bag with a few thing in it. I walked down the hall towards dorm room 239. I pushed open the door slowly and some girl started yelling. "Watch it! You almost stepped on my tack. Crazy b***h" she said kind of murmmering the last words. "I'm sorry" I say softly as I look around the room. They had racks set up on either side for saddles. I walked over and set mine down. "Excuse me I wanted that one" my room mate said tapping her foot at me. "I'm sorry I didnt see your stuff over here so i thought it was free" I say standing my ground. "Fine keep it" she said with a huff before walking out of the room. I sigh knowing this was going to be a long semester if I couldn't change rooms. I look around and see a lady carrying a clipboard. "Excuse me. Can i ask you a question" I say walking towards her. "Sure" she says smiling back at me. "There isn't a way to change room mates is there" I ask as she looks at her clipboard for a second. "Sadly no. Im sorry hun. If you keep having problems you can writing the head master and they will be able to help you" she says before walking away. I sigh and walk back outside to grab the rest of my things.

Once I have everything in my room. I make my bed and then walk down to the barn. They have sign up sheets for horses and I walk down to see the school horses.

On the sheet I see six mares and four gelding. I look at their names then go look at them. I didnt really like the mares because they seemed to have attitudes. The four gelding seemed nice. The one I really liked he was a dark bay(dark brown) with a white leg that went up to his knee. He also had a white mark on his forhead that looked like a circle. His name is Jasper and it said he was 15 and stands about 16 hands. I walk down and see him sticking his head out. I gently pet his nose and smile. He was a big guy but seemed really gentle. "He is a sweetie" an older woman said walking up to me. "I can tell" I say as I turn and he nibbles at my hair. "I'm Rachel the head stable owner. Do you need a lesson horse? I'm giving some group lessons in a few minutes if you wanted to join" she says smiling at me. "Yes but I need one for the whole semester" I say still scratching Jasper some. "Ok well follow me and we will get your form filled out" Rachel said smiling at me. I followed her into the office and filled out the papers to be able to ride him. "So Jasper is one of our intermediate horses. So I need you to fill out a relase in case you fall and a liability form for being able to ride at the school in general" she explains while I sign the papers. "Looks good Miss Jemma now lets get you saddle up" she says walking me towards the tack room. "Now for lesson horses you get a fourth of a lease and you share the horse with up to 4 students. Which means you have to put in the days you want to ride. Also I require you to take a lesson once a week for half an hour. " she explains while i grab Jaspers tack and follow her back to him. "He is good with getting tacked. He likes to bite when you tighten his girth. The peice that goes under her chest. So be aware of that. He doesnt do it all the time but sometimes. " she says as i open his stall and walk in. He turns around to face me and I set the saddle on the now closed stall door. I position his saddle pad first then toss the western saddle. I mean under her belly to grab his saddle strap and tighten it. He nips towards me a little but doesnt connect. "Jasper be nice" I say gently scratching his neck. He seems to relax and puffs out just a little. I laugh because my moms horse always did that too. It just meant you had to tighten the saddle strap before you mounted. Otherwise the saddle would slid under his belly and could harm him. I grab his bridle and position the bit to slid into his mouth. He takes it willingly and they i slip the other part over his ears. "You definitely know what your doing" Rachel comments as she walks in. "Dont forget to tighten his saddle before you get on. Cant believe how many times my students forget and almost end up sliding off under the horse. " Rachel says with a chuckle. "Ya my mom always said keep it loose walk them out tight up or your end in a shout" I say smiling as i remember my mom's little rhyme she always sang while tacking her horse.

"I'll have to remeber that one" Rachel said as she opened the door for me and Jasper to walk thru. I walked him into the arena and saw about three other girls. They all started to whisper to eachother and then chuckled. "Jemma this is Hannah Emma and Samantha. They are advanced beginners in western pleasure riding." Rachel said pointing to each of the girls. Hannah I recognized almost immediately. She was my room mate that was rude earlier. "So you have a school pony" she teased and the other girls chuckled. "Actually its a school horse. Ponies are under 14 hand and Jasper here is almost 16 hands."I say tighten his saddle before climbing up. "Well I was joking" she says with a loud huff. "Thats enough girls" Rachel said before starting the lesson. Jasper rode nice but I wish his trot was smoother. He had a very bumpy ride which causes me to have to post. Thankfully I knew English so it was hard to post. Soon the lesson was over and I urged Jasper into a canter. He cantered nicely for me beforw I slowed him down to a walk again. "Very nice form Jemma. I think you would do better with a different horse. Jasper isnt really a get up and go type. He tends to be a little lazy. I think Honey would do better for you" Rachel says. I dismount Jasper and loosen his saddle some so its not as tight. We walk back towards his stall. "This is Honey" Rachel says pointing to the horse two stalls down from Jasper. I put Jasper into his stall and untack him quickly so I can go see Honey. "I'll come back to brush you down boy" I say giving him a small scratch before walking out of his stall. I set his saddle on the saddle rack in front of his stall. I walked down to look at Honey. She was a beautiful dappled grey arabian with a grayish white mane and tail. "Honey is only 6 years old and can be hot some times." Rachel says and I smile. "My mom worked with a horse named Pepper who was hot. Oh my gosh was that horse a pistol. You would touch her side and she would be in a canter in about two steps. Horrible ground manners would try to run you over or drag you. Pepper would also not stand still for more than about four seconda for you to mount. My mom worked with her for a while and changed her feed a few times to keep her calmer." I say laughing.

-fash back-

"Now Jemma when I climb on I need you to hold Pepper by the bridle. She gets a little hyper so once I'm on let go" my mom says as she pulled on her helmet. She didnt ride with one often but Pepper was the exception to that. She gave me a "one two three" and mounted quickly. I let go and Pepper took off quickly. Suddenly she started bucking and my mom put her hand up. "Bucking bronco" she screamed as they went past me. I almost fell over from laughing.

-end of flash back-

That was the first ride my mom had on Pepper by the end of her training she could have put a small child on her.

"So what does Honey do" I ask reaching out to let her. "Well she is more go then woah. She just needs a light tap to trot and barely a squeeze to canter. You need to really pull to get her to stop some times but other than that she is a sweetie" Rachel said and I nod.

After spending some time brushing Jasper I went back to the dorm.

Hannah was laying in her bed with head phones on. She was singing to some song. I went and sat down on my bed. Before I knew it I was getting tired. It was an eventful first day on campus. And to think, the semester didnt officially start for another two weeks. Thankfully I was going to that rescue tomorrow. I pulled out my phone and set a couple alarms before letting the darkness take over me.