The next few days went by uneventfully, consisting of first week of school things and riding. Philippe and I were slowly jumping here, getting used to the drastic change in environment from a small stable in Medicine Hat to a gigantic one in Calgary.

The arenas were 3x as big, round pens able to fit jumps in, and of course the stables were massive too. Phoebe had already settled right in, coming from a big sales barn before we bought her. But Philippe was a stallion my dad raised from birth, now 7 years old while Phoebe was 13.

Philippe took some time warming up to new places, especially one so big. We started out with small 18' cross rails and have gradually moved up to 2'6 and 3' courses.

Philippe was getting the hang of it, whilst I was rusty. Even if it's only a few days, I get gross when it comes to jumping after not doing it for a hot second.

LRRA split up the students by levels for eventers, so that meant I was in a group with Jenna. Jack and Quinn were also eventers, but they were BN/Novice so I didn't have group lessons with them.

Tacking up Philippe for our first lesson, Quinn walked up to his stall. "Hey. Is this Philippe?" She asked, petting his soft nose.

I nodded. "Yep, the one and only. Do you have lessons right now too?"

Quinn shook her head. "Nope, just came to watch. Y'all are jumping today right?"

I shrugged. "Maybe, but it's only the first lesson. Probably just seeing what each rider can do and eval the riders who just moved up." Quinn nodded and I continued to tack up, a comfortable silence falling between us, the sounds of Philippe munching on hay accompanying it.

Finally, after putting on Philippe's brush boots and bright green bell boots (that matched his saddle pad, of course) I put on his sidepull, which he gracefully dipped his head into. Quinn opened the stall door and shut it behind us, following us to the large outdoor arena where 6 riders were. LRRA had about 45 Training eventers, but separated them into much smaller groups. I let out a relieved sigh when I spotted a familiar black mare, who in the daylight I noticed was actually a dark bay. Artemis. And of course, her equally beautiful rider, Jenna.

We enter the arena, Quinn staying outside and hanging around the rail. I walked up to Jenna, who smiled and nodded in acknowledgement and I returned it.

The instructor got started right away as the riders finished filing into the arena. "Alright, riders!" She exclaimed. "My name is Ms. O'Connors, and I would like for you all to introduce yourselves too." Ms. O'Connors paused. "But, before that, we're going to go over some rules."

A few students groaned and Ms. O'Connors rolled her eyes. "Yeah yeah, I know, rules are so tough. But necessary for safety and performance. First thing we're going to go over is jump heights. Do not, and I repeat, do not, jump higher than 2'3 without at least 2 other people nearby watching. It is extremely dangerous to jump your horse without supervision, and you are only allowed to jump over 3 '3 if a trainer is watching you closely. I know 3 '3 is Training height, but we will also experiment with ones a bit higher when you and your horse are ready. We're not stressing either of you out, now."

Ms. O'Connors goes on to explain basic safety skills after that, things like air vests for the more timid riders, safety vests for anyone who wants to wear them and explaining the necessity of them during cross country, and so on. Then finally, it was time to introduce ourselves.

The boy on the opposite end as me went first, a small Asian boy named Alex and his horse, Alister.

We went down the line of 8 riders, meeting Seline and her mare, Lion, Devon and her gelding Apollo, Kiera and her gelding Duke, Delilah (ugh) and her stallion, Pride, Cyran and his mare, Freya, Jenna and her mare, Artemis, and finally me and my stallion, Philippe.

This only took a few minutes before Ms. O'Connors was letting us warm up. The arena was large enough that 8 horses could fit comfortably on the flat, but jumping, the others would need to stay at the end of the arena or the rail.

Ms. O'Connors set up 6 jumps in a small course, keeping the height at 2 '4 to warm up. We each jumped the course one by one, and when it was my turn, Philippe was getting antsy to jump. Half halting, I let him get his smooth canter, digging my heels down and two pointing as Philippe soared, landing nicely on the opposite side of the jump before heading off to the next with directional help from me. We finished the course smoothly, Philippe only nicking one rail because of my inability to see a distance.

I patted and scratched his withers as the others went, the only person having difficulty was Alex, who's pony, Alister, kept rounding his body over the jumps and Alex getting launched onto his neck as he hollowed out his back after the jumps.

Ms. O'Connors gave us each individual things to work on by ourselves before letting us cool down our horses. I noticed Jenna already talking to Delilah, so I decided to head over to Devon and Seline.

"Hi," I greeted. "I'm Beau. How was the first lesson here?" I asked.

Seline shrugged and Devon giggled. "I liked it!" Devon exclaimed. "This is one of the first times I'm jumping Apollo and he's so good," she cooed, leaning over the gray horse's neck and hugging him.

I furrowed my brows at that. "Isn't he your's?" I asked, confused.

Devon shook her head. "No, I'm leasing Apollo for this year." She nodded to Seline. "And Seline over there isn't leasing and doesn't own, so she'll be on different horses all the time."

Seline gave a sheepish smile. "I already can barely afford LRRA as it is, can't risk my family's bank account by trying to lease."

I nodded in understanding. "Well, this is my guy, Philippe," I said, the palomino perking up a little at the sounding of his name before going on with his free walk again.

"Isn't he a stallion?" Seline then asked, suddenly sounding cautious.

"Yeah..." I responded hesitantly.

"Huh," she murmured. "I've never seen a stallion act so calm. Even Delilah's was a bastard during the warm up but Philippe seemed so calm. I like that!"

I giggled and we continued to talk while cooling out our horses, exchanging phone numbers and socials, talking about past experiences and our riding careers.

When I dismounted and rolled up my stirrups, Quinn came running up to me grinning. "That was awesome, Beau!"

"Thanks," I smiled back, grabbing Philippe's reins and heading back to the stallion barn. Taking off my helmet, my bright red hair plastered to my forehead because my hair clip went god knows where. Delilah came storming in after, followed by Kiera, who oddly didn't have Duke with her. Maybe a groom took him off her hands?

"Why can't we jump higher," Delilah complained, taking her sweaty blonde hair out of her Charles Owens helmet, shaking it out.

"Ms. O'Connors probably just doesn't see our potential. After all, we seem to be in a group full of amateurs."

I eavesdropped more as I pretended to mind my own business and untack a sweaty Philippe, giving him cookies periodically.

Finally, Delilah and Kiera seemed to notice me. "What about you, Beau?" Kiera asked all innocently. "You seem to be a pretty good jumper. How did you feel about the low jumps?"

I shrugged. "It was just a sort of eval ride, I bet we will begin jumping bigger next lesson." Delilah rolled her eyes.

"Say," Kiera started. "Where did you get that stallion? Philippe, was it? He looks really familiar to one of the famous mares here, Sparkling Honor."

My eyes widened. "That's his dam! I didn't know she was an LRRA horse."

Delilah nodded, eyes also wide as she spoke, stunned. "She was one of the greatest eventers to ever enter LRRA, competing up to Advanced in her day. How did you get a foal from her? My dad tried for years and never was able to because she was privately bought by someone in Medicine Hat," she finished with a wrinkled nose at the last part, like she was disgusted.

"Actually, I think my dad bought her," I said sheepishly. "Her barn name was Spark and we bred her to one of our local champion stallions, Daring Feathers. She died a few years ago though, unfortunately. Who was her owner here?"

Kiera was shocked. "You owned Sparkling Honor?! She was a legend! Her owner was a student who went here and is now a trainer for the Prelim team, Anna Zion. I can't believe she ever sold such an incredible mare."

I shrugged. "Different circumstances for everyone. From what my dad told me when we bought her, she was going through some financial issues and sold Spark and kept her other horse, Cowboy I think his name was."

Delilah nodded. "Yeah, Anna also had a gelding named Cowboy. Not quite as remarkable as Sparkling Honor, but he was a pretty damn good barrel racer and pole bender." I smiled slightly at that; it was nice to know at least one other person who did western and English at the same time, especially barrel racing and eventing.

I said goodbye to the girls, who seemed kinder than before and headed back to main, tack in one hand and phone in the other and texted Seline and Devon in our new group chat.

BEAU: Hey do you guys know of Delilah Samton and Kiera Black?

SELINE: Yep. Rudest people to ever exist. Why do you ask?

DEVON: *throwing up emote*

BEAU: They started talking to me in the stallion barn and seemed genuinely nice. Even if Delilah and I didn't get off on the right foot a few days ago...

DEVON: Beau, please don't fall for their charades. Delilah knows how to put on a nice girl act and Kiera is just her little minion.

SELINE: And watch out for Jenna Tolburn. She seems to always hang onto every word Delilah says.

This irked me a little. Jenna had seemed so nice everytime I met her, never saying a single bad thing about anyone and was enthusiastic to learn about everything. I ignored it for now though, sending a thumbs up emoji before turning off my phone and putting all my stuff away. And finally, I saw Chloe Terris, also putting her stuff away in her part of the cubby.

"Excuse me," I pardoned myself politely, hanging Philippe's bridle up. Chloe's bright green eyes seemed to light up when she saw me.

"Hey!" She greeted me. "I've been wanting to meet you, I love your name!" I smiled and thanked her, sitting down on my tack trunk.

"So, I'm assuming you do eventing?"

Chloe nodded. "Yep, with Dream, or Galaxy Waiting." She pulled out her phone, showing me a photo of a gigantic light gray Shire gelding, who had to be at least 17 hands.

My eyes widened, surprised that such a large breed could jump. "What discipline do you do?" I asked.

"Eventing!" Chloe said happily. "We just moved up to Intermediate. How about you? I noticed your dressage and jump, so I just assumed you event too," she added sheepishly.

"I do Training, probably going onto Modified in a couple months. How did you get such a big draft to the upper levels?" I asked.

Chloe shrugged. "When we bought him he was already doing Novice, and we have slowly moved up the levels over the past 4 years. He's only 10, so we have some time before he needs to step down."

I was still in awe but maintained my composure. "Could I see him by any chance?" I almost begged. Chloe laughed but nodded, leading the way through the barn.

Dream was as majestic as he looked in the photo. His long black mane was in braids, and his forelock was in a ponytail, presumably to avoid tangling. He nuzzled at Chloe, looking for treats, which she gave him.

We talked for a little longer; I showed her Philippe and Phoebe and we exchanged Instagrams before parting ways, her heading back to her apartment off campus and I to my dorm. Chloe didn't have a full scholarship like I did, so she rented one of the many apartments that surrounded LRRA, cheaper than board here.

I had planned to watch some TV but Jack was already there, watching some baking show, so I brought out my Algebra homework, getting started at the practice take home test the teacher, Mr. Giano, gave us to see where we were in our memory of math.

With the sounds of Gordon Ramsey screaming in the background, I got to work.