The Final Year

“Now in the ring, number 126 Charlotte Syles from Hickory Creek Farm in Wellington, Florida, riding Vanderbilt.” Charlotte smiled when she heard her name called. She halted her horse in front of the judges, took a breath, and picked up the canter with a flawless transition. Last year, she had come 3rd overall at the Maclay Finals. This year, all bets were on her as the winner.

She cantered past the in gate to her first fence, a stone wall set at an angle. She got a beautiful distance, Remmy landed flawlessly, and her position was spot on. “If we keep this up, we’re good to go buddy,” she whispered to her horse as she cantered in between two jumps and rolled around to a swedish oxer. All she had to do was adjust her hip angle over it, and Remmy landed to the right to roll back to another swedish oxer.

Again, Charlotte adjusted her hip angle over the fence, and her horse landed going to the left. She tensed on the reins the slightest bit, and Remmy sunk back into his usual comfortable working trot. She pointed him towards their next set of fences, a one stride bending line, and he shortened his stride to get the perfect distance to the last jump in the line.

Charlotte squeezed once she landed and her horse picked up a hand gallop without complaint. She galloped up the long wall, saw her spot to the triple bar eight strides out, and counted down in her head. Eight. Seven. Six. Five. Four.

Just then, her stomach sank. She had seen the wrong distance. She had missed, something that hadn’t happened to her in years. She had to think fast – push for the long, or pull for the short. Knowing that her big 17.3hh Hanoverian had a huge stride and would probably chip if she held him, she decided to push. Three. Two. One. Her horse did what she asked and went for the long. She let out a breath just as he took off. Rem would do his job and save her ass, and she still might have a chance at winning.

She tried to maintain her position despite the off distance, but something didn’t feel right. Charlotte looked down, and she didn’t see Remmy’s legs neatly un-tucking as they landed. She saw his left leg hit the ground and twist. She saw his knees go down. She saw his face hit the arena floor. And then she saw nothing.

Charlotte jolted upright in bed, gasping for breath. She couldn’t stop the tears this time. She turned around in her bed to look at her horses picture on the wall. “I’m so sorry,” she whispered. She laid back down, curled up under her covers, and cried herself back to sleep like she did every night after waking up from that same dream.

“Char, time to get up. There’s breakfast downstairs – I can have someone bring it to you if you’d like.”

”Oh, no, that’s okay dad – I’ll go down to eat after I get dressed,” Charlotte answered as she sat up in bed and yawned. She looked at her dad and did her best to fake a smile, which he saw right through.

“Are you sure you don’t want me to stay home from work today, sweetie? I can go to the barn with you, and maybe talk to Jaime if you want.”

“No dad really, I’ll be fine. I think I need to do this on my own. Besides, I don’t want Jaime giving me any special treatment. I need him to be hard on me if I expect to accomplish anything this year.”

“Okay,” her dad replied. “But if you need anything, you’ll call?”

“Yes, dad. I promise,” she said, smiling for real this time as her leaned down to hug her.

She really loved her dad. He had been her rock all her life, and had been there for her every day since the accident. For the longest time, Charlotte had blamed herself for her horses death. In a way, she still did – but her father helped her see that in this sport, accidents happen. He always said that if Remmy had to pass away, he would’ve wanted it to be while helping her live her dream.

That probably wasn’t entirely true, given the fact that horses don’t think the way people do. But still, there was no denying that that horse loved her, and his job, which helped ease some of the pain.

As Charlotte headed to her bathroom to get ready for the day, she let her mind wander back to the day she first tried Remmy. She had just turned 14, was 5 feet tall and stick thin, and had never owned a horse bigger than 15.3hh. She had tried almost 20 horses and didn’t click with any of them before she found herself on a plane with her father and her trainer, Jaime Ward.

Four hours later, they pulled up to a small farm in New Hampshire.

“Dad, what are we doing here? We live in Grand Prix Village – I highly doubt we’ll find anything here that we can’t back home,” she said, as they were getting out of the car.

“Just wait, Char,” he answered.

When they walked into the barn, a woman appeared from the tack room wearing a burgundy dress suit.

“William, hi! It’s been too long,” she said, walking over to hug Charlotte’s dad.

“Who is that?” she asked Jaime, leaving her father to talk to the mystery woman.

“She’s an old friend of your dads. Her daughter just aged out, and she’s selling her horse. He ribboned with her at finals last year,” he answered.

“Wait. Finals? Oh my god. That’s too much – I can’t let him spend that kind of money on a horse.”

“Charlotte, you know your dad will spend whatever he has to for the perfect horse for you. Besides, her daughter left for college last week. She just wants to find the horse a home, the least you can do is try him.”

Just then, Charlotte’s father and the woman walked over to them.

“Charlotte, this is Lillian. Her and her husband used to live near your mom and I before we moved to Florida,” he said.

“Hi, Lillian. It’s nice to meet you,” Charlotte said as she shook the woman’s hand uncomfortably. She couldn’t believe that her father wanted her to try a horse this nice with this kind of experience. It wasn’t that he couldn’t afford it, but she still felt bad.

“Please, call me Lilly,” she replied. “It’s nice to finally meet you, too.”

At that moment, a groom walked into the barn with a beautiful dapple grey. Charlotte couldn’t help but stare at him – he was absolutely gorgeous.

“Well, here he is,” Lilly said. “Charlotte, meet Remmy. He’s an 8 year old Hanoverian. We imported him as a four year old with hopes of making him my oldest daughter’s Grand Prix horse, but he’s proved that he belongs in the eq. ring. He had three great years with my younger daughter who just aged out.”

“Wow. I can’t wait to try him,” Charlotte answered, smiling. And she meant it. There was something about him. She couldn’t quite put a finger on what it was at the time, but looking back now, she realized that it was a vibe she got from him that she hadn’t gotten from any other horse before.

“Good! I’m glad,” Lilly replied. “We’ll follow him and Pablo to the ring, then.”

Charlotte and the group followed the groom who was leading Remmy to a huge outdoor arena that was set up with a beautiful course. She walked over to the mounting block, and after the groom tightened the girth, she hopped on. The horse was tall, but very slender and dainty for a Warmblood. He didn’t feel like too much horse underneath her, which she liked.

After 15-20 minutes of flatting him around, Jaime walked to the center of the ring and first had Charlotte canter him over some cross rails in a circle. After that, he gave her a few simple courses. The jumps were set at around 3’ which Remmy jumped with ease. Despite his big stride, Charlotte was able to adjust him easily to get the right strides down the lines.

She was getting along with him wonderfully. He was comfortable, honest, and clearly knew what he was doing. By the end of the ride, the jumps were raised to 3’9” and she was doing courses with tight rollbacks and short bending lines.

“Very good, Charlotte. You look great on him. Why don’t you cool him out and meet us back in the barn when you’re through,” Jaime shouted before walking back towards the barn.

The same groom that walked Remmy out, Pablo, appeared at the edge of the ring and asked if Charlotte would like for him to cool him out.

“No thank you. I’ll walk him around for a bit and bring him in to the barn when I’m finished,” she told him, smiling. She leaned down to pet Remmy’s neck. And at that moment, she knew that he was the horse for her.

After showering, throwing on a pair of navy breeches and a white polo, and grabbing a random pair of unmatching tall socks out of her drawer, Charlotte sighed realizing she had to snap back to reality before going downstairs to eat. She opened up her closet, slipped on her Sperry’s, and walked down the floating staircase to her dining room. It wasn’t until she sat down and took a bite of her waffle that she realized she wasn’t hungry.

Charlotte grabbed the keys to her silver Mercedes Sedan off the counter and walked outside. She drove to the end of the driveway, but stopped before pulling out of it.

“You can do this,” she said to herself. “You’ll be fine. You’ll get back in the saddle, and Jaime will give you a lesson from hell to get your ass in shape. But you’ll be fine.”

Still not completely convinced, she pulled out of the driveway, made a left, and headed back towards the farm that she used to call home.