excerpt
Even if he didn’t win, which he never expected to, at least he
knew that he could hold his own. He walked away from the crowd
and slowly led the big buckskin gelding around the grounds to let
him cool down. Joel told his horsewhat a great job he had done. The
big boy earned a few pats and the opportunity to snack on some of
the patches of grass that bordered the show grounds.
There were only a dozen or so riders left to show and Tanya
was the last exhibitor in the class, so Joel returned to the arena to
watch her run. And when he entered the arena, suddenly, people
were much friendlier to him.
Finally, it was Tanya’s turn. As the girl rode the pretty little
palomino filly into the arena, the crowd hushed in anticipation.
This would be a good one. As he watched Tanya perform the
identical pattern that he had delivered, Joel could see that she
was the better rider of the two. The only question was: Would the
little palomino hold up under the pressure and the noise?
Once Tanya dismounted and exited the arena, the announcer
reported: “A score of 74 points from judge number one and 73.5
points from judge number two for Topsail Sue, owned by the
Hooper Ranch of Willow Springs, Montana, and shown here
today by Tanya Robinson. Great ride Tanya. Some of you may
remember Tanya back when she was the Montana State High
School Barrel Racing Champion a couple of years ago. We’ll have
our final placings in a minute, folks, and then there will be a
one-hour supper break before the derby tonight.”
As Tanya walked through a crowd of congratulatory well-wishers,
the announcer was back on the loudspeaker. He called the
top ten horses and riders back into the arena for their final placing.
Tanya and Joel sat side by side on the palomino and the
buckskin. Joel didn’t know how Tanya felt, but he was feeling
pretty good just being there; it was a long way from the wharves
of Hong Kong and his wasted former life.
“And for the first round from judge number one, in tenth
place, from Cody, Wyoming, is Jewel’s Pistol owned by . . .”
Libros Libertad 