AUSE-Olympics - Leaving the past behind

In the distance, she could hear the crowd roar in anticipation. The competition was about to begin. There was people and horses everywhere in the barn, running here and there in panic. Lots of green rider that never competed at such a high level competition. It was completely normal to be nervous. Olympics were such a big thing. Everyone wanted to be perfect in order to score the best. Especially in dressage, where look was so important. In is stall, the black stallion was chewing on his hay, totally careless of the hubbub around. Mary sighed and closed her eyes.

It was her first time at the Olympics. She was a young rider, disciplined but excited. She knew her horse, Elis, by heart. She had trained with her for years now, growing and learning at the same pace as she did. She was feeling what she felt, and god was she nervous. The chestnut mare was old, but she was always startled by such animation. Mary was stressed that she would be hard to control in the arena. Her coach was trying to motivate her by giving her tricks, while a random groomer was braiding the mare’s mane. She was very uncomfortable not being able to take care of Elis herself.

This was so far away now. And her horse today was so different. When she came to RRD, it was for a certain horse named VOS Captain Teague that the stable had just bought. Apparently, he was a dressage horse with a little background. So she took him in charge and she immediately saw his potential. He was so intelligent and was learning very fast. After only five years, this black andalusian stallion had become one of the finest horses she ever trained. And he also became her best friend.

Elis looked over the middle fence of the trailer, searching for her trainer’s eyes. Mary was finishing packing the trailer to go back home. They had been disqualified from their class after the mare spooked and injured her hind leg. For her, it was the end of the world. How humiliating it was to get disqualified for spooking at the Olympics. Her coach was furious after the mare. She looked at the big brown eyes that were fixed on her. It looked like Elis was trying to apologise. Mary smiled. In fact, loosing was not important at all. What was important was the fact that her beloved horse was fine. They only needed to work harder on the mare’s attention. And in four years, they would come back and rock the arena.

She smiled. Teague was a big kid when turned out in the field. But as soon as he entered an arena with tack on, there was nothing that could catch his attention other than his rider. Mary had nothing to fear about their performance. Someone entered the barn, yelling a number. 4. It was their turn. The women took Teague’s bridle and lead him towards outside. She got up slowly, making sure all the equipment was well adjusted and was not hurting the stallion. As soon as she sat properly in the saddle, her legs contacted the horse’s sides and she felt his breathing. It was such a relaxing sensation. She took a deep breath and guided them in the arena.

The crowd went silent almost instantly. All eyes were fixed on the duo. Everyone remembered last Olympics, when the team had made quite a dramatic exit. But this year, they were ready. She had worked the mare days and nights for four year in order to get her ready. There was no loosing possible this year. The music started and Elis followed it towards their victory. They did a perfect performance.

Teague twitched under her, bringing her back to reality. They stopped in the middle of the arena and saluted the judges. Then, the music started and the stallion flew towards his routine in a collected trot. Following the precise routine establish for Grand-Prix level competition, they proceeded to the extended trot, and then back to the collected trot. Teague was flying over the grass and Mary didn’t need to ask much. A little kick, barely noticeable, and the andalusian engaged the half-pass from K to B and then from B to H. They traveled to C.

Backing up had never been the easiest thing with Elis. For some reasons, she hated to go that way and would do anything to avoid doing it. That’s the part where, last time, she spooked and got them disqualified. But this year, they would make it. One step. Two step. Three. Four. Five. And we go back. Not perfect, but they made it.

The extended trot led them to V where they cleared the passage. Mary was moving in her saddle like she had spent her life in there. Even though most of the dressage riders needed to be able to fake effortless performances, she was truly doing an effortless performance. Teague was doing everything and she only needed to remind him when to change movement. Her second set of reins didn’t even contact with the stallion’s mouth. She was tensing them just enough for it not to show. Dressage was so formal and harsh on the horse body that she was happy she didn’t need to use all her aids on her horse.

Piaffe. Passage. Extended walk. Collected walk. Passage. Piaffe. Passage. And collected canter. The moves where succeeding themselves one after another. Time was passing so slowly for the women, she had time to anticipate the black horse’s possible mistake and prevent them. Though, it’s not like she needed to correct a lot. Here come the flying changes. Slow him down a bit. Perfect. Then let him go to and extended canter. He need full speed for that as he his shorter than some horses. Then, series of flying changes and half-passes. That was something mystifying for her as she never understood why they wanted to see so many of these moves. It seemed to her that less was enough, but again she has never judged a dressage performance. Finally came the pirouette. She could admit it was her favorite move. Horse needed to have perfect balance in order to avoid all common mistakes. It was such a technical movement that it made her proud each time Teague was clearing it perfectly. She could never know if this time was going to be good or not because staying in a perfect circle was hard. But as she expected it, the stallion cleared it easily. And again. Then back to the collected trot.

Elis had finished the routine with ease and offered her rider a gold medal in individual dressage. Mary was so grateful and motivated; she never noticed her horse started to fade away slowly. But all this time, the mare followed her rider with endless love. Until the end.

The rest of the routine went fast and they found themselves saluting the judges again before exiting the arena with long reins. Teague was sweaty but he seemed happy. Mary made sure to un-tack him fast and gave him a quick shower before dressing him with his pretty red and gold blanket. They took off for a walk around the arena while the rest of the participant where competing for the win. As the music beat started again, Mary closed her eyes and smiled. At the corner of her eye, a tear rolled down. It was over now. Elis was gone and she would never be back. But now, she had another wonderful horse. And this one was there, with her, at that very moment and he was fully healthy. She couldn’t be more thankful to God, or anyone that lived above them, for giving her a second change in love.