She’d been holding them too stiffly, and it wasn’t right for a rising trot. It wasn’t right for any gait, actually. It was important for a rider to look relaxed. Topside was doing everything right; now Stevie had to do as well as her horse was doing. “Now change directions at the half school,” the judge instructed the riders. She pointed to Stevie, meaning she was supposed to be the first rider to do it. She got a third of the way along the side of the ring, about eight on a clock face, put mild pressure on Topside with her outside leg, moved her inside hand ever so slightly to instruct Topside with the rein, and found the horse doing exactly what she wanted him to do. Halfway across the ring on the diagonal, Stevie sat for two beats of the trot, changing her posting diagonal, and then resumed a normal rising trot. Perfect, she told herself, and she was right. She smiled proudly. It wasn’t a hard thing to do. She’d done it hundreds of times, only she’d never done it in a show before, in front of a crowd and in front of judges.
