"Well, if you could get yourself there, you could make use of my colleague's hotel room for a week…" Jill wondered if she was dreaming to hear such a statement about such a big, huge horse show.
But then again, it was not the first time Jill had landed an invitation to head south just by showing up somewhere. "Remember the first clinic I went to go audit?" Thanks to an OHTA blast where it was clear there was no charge, she went out once to a David O'Connor clinic to spectate. "I was desperate for some kind of equestrian development!" Jill was telling her students after their class about losing yet another horse - this time her mount had been sold out from under her to cover the owner's medical bills. Said owner also being her teacher meant she was really, suddenly, fully out of the game (albeit selfish to see it that way).
Jill said she'd never done anything like that before, attended a clinic for such serious competitors, but she was so glad she had! It was an amazing facility and it was surprisingly easy to be there, and, so totally worth the drive! She stuck it out all day in the cold and damp and moved in closer and closer, eventually sitting on a cross fence beside the clinician and making conversation with the riders as they all watched each fellow participant and waited their turn for various exercises.
Eventually Jill had even taken over as jump crew, as other helper/auditors left, but still she had been to shy to chat with the team coach at all.
In the barn, the chief maintenance guy had obviously taken a shine to her. He must have liked she walked through the stable making conversation with each animal through its stall door, because before she left they asked her to join them in Florida for the season. She hadn't really had much of a conversation with any of the people, but yet she agreed. On the condition that she go down AFTER the Royal Winter Fair.
*
And then, she was almost made famous for the fact that she made them wait an extra few days after that, so she could spend some time in the Kentucky Horse park. Afterwards, she learned it was her worker-buddy-to-be that convinced everyone else, saying "there's just something about her." How could it be her fault that he fell in love when she didn't?
*
But then again, it was not the first time Jill had landed an invitation to head south just by showing up somewhere. "Remember the first clinic I went to go audit?" Thanks to an OHTA blast where it was clear there was no charge, she went out once to a David O'Connor clinic to spectate. "I was desperate for some kind of equestrian development!" Jill was telling her students after their class about losing yet another horse - this time her mount had been sold out from under her to cover the owner's medical bills. Said owner also being her teacher meant she was really, suddenly, fully out of the game (albeit selfish to see it that way).
Jill said she'd never done anything like that before, attended a clinic for such serious competitors, but she was so glad she had! It was an amazing facility and it was surprisingly easy to be there, and, so totally worth the drive! She stuck it out all day in the cold and damp and moved in closer and closer, eventually sitting on a cross fence beside the clinician and making conversation with the riders as they all watched each fellow participant and waited their turn for various exercises.
Eventually Jill had even taken over as jump crew, as other helper/auditors left, but still she had been to shy to chat with the team coach at all.
In the barn, the chief maintenance guy had obviously taken a shine to her. He must have liked she walked through the stable making conversation with each animal through its stall door, because before she left they asked her to join them in Florida for the season. She hadn't really had much of a conversation with any of the people, but yet she agreed. On the condition that she go down AFTER the Royal Winter Fair.
*
And then, she was almost made famous for the fact that she made them wait an extra few days after that, so she could spend some time in the Kentucky Horse park. Afterwards, she learned it was her worker-buddy-to-be that convinced everyone else, saying "there's just something about her." How could it be her fault that he fell in love when she didn't?
*
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