Aspen, the least accustomed to ridi

Aspen, the least accustomed to riding in a trailer, was loaded last. Jade led the gelding up the rubber-covered ramp without incident, however, and then Travis helped her back him into the stall next to Sweet William. While Jade fed each horse a carrot, Travis and Felix made quick work of hanging the hay nets so that the horses could eat during the trip to Lexington.
Within minutes the van’s ramp was up and its doors shut with Felix, Tito, and Jade settled in the cab. Behind the van, Travis drove the Range Rover with Margot beside him.
Waving good-bye and shouting, “Good luck!” and “Ride clean and clear!” Jordan waited with Ned and Andy until the van had rumbled out of sight. Then the three of them set to work.
The morning flew by as they followed the farm’s daily routine. The horses that would be turned out for the first half of the day were walked down to the pastures. Then the mucking out began. Divvying up the stalls, they made their way down the barns’ aisles with their pitchforks, filling the wheelbarrows with soiled shavings and droppings and then laying down a fresh layer of wood shavings. After topping off the water buckets and sweeping the concrete aisles clean, they were ready to exercise the horses.
Key to their horses’ soundness and happiness was the carefully devised schedule of exercise and turnout times and days off that Travis and Ned planned for each horse. On days like today, with three riders and two stable hands traveling, Jordan was especially happy to do her part to keep the farm running smoothly. And though she couldn’t say that she was happy to be divorced from Richard, she realized that were she still with him, the demands of her married life would have made it next to impossible to help her sisters with the horses they bred and trained.
That would have deprived her of something special. Helping Margot and Jade was much, much more than saving their family’s horse breeding farm and beautiful old home. Their coming together had strengthened the bond between them in so many ways. Jordan liked, admired, knew them in a way that few adult siblings with their disparate lives ever enjoyed in this day and age. For that gift, she was more than willing to put in a twelve-hour day tackling any job that needed doing.
First on her docket was to school Mistral and Indigo, two of their four-year-olds, since Andy, who normally rode them, would be exercising the stallions, Faraday and Nocturne, in the indoor ring, and Ned would be riding three of the broodmares. After that, she’d give Ned a hand with the foals while Andy worked with their two- and three-year-olds. Attentive to the last detail, Travis had even allotted time for her to longe Doc Holliday and turn him out in the upper pasture so he’d be relaxed when she gave the children a lesson.
Then there were the foals and their dams to bring in from the pastures. The foals needed daily handling as part of the gentling and training process. When the remaining horses were brought in from the fields, all would be watered and fed. With the horses tended to, Jordan would clean her and the children’s saddles, as well as the bridles she’d used. Only then would she go into the office and return phone calls or emails inquiring about the horses or booking fees for Faraday and Nocturne.
Andy had jumped both Mistral and Indigo the day before, so Jordan’s job was to give them a good workout on the flat. Jordan groomed Mistral, a bay Thoroughbred gelding who possessed both the conformation and easy, willing attitude to make a fine hunter prospect.
After tacking Mistral, she led him down to the outdoor ring. Walking into the center of the ring, she slipped the reins over his neck, checked her girth, lowered her stirrups, and then, sticking the toe of her field boot into the stirrup, swung herself up into the saddle.
She let Mistral stretch his muscles at a loose-reined walk for ten minutes and enjoyed the noises of the spring morning: the chirping of the birds and the chattering of the squirrels punctuated by the occasional whinnies of the horses in the south pasture calling to each other. By the time she gathered the braided reins, Ned had entered the ring with Tidbit.
She was glad of Ned’s company in the ring. Ned was of the old, classic school of riding, espoused by such greats as Bert de Nemethy and George Morris, and he’d taught Jordan and her sisters to ride—and Travis, too. His presence made her pay even greater attention to getting the horse beneath her moving in a collected, balanced stride. A happy, engaged horse carried himself in an unmistakable way—with a smooth forward flow of motion—and was equally supple rounding corners and circling. Achieving this fluid athleticism was the goal of every serious equitation rider.
Having Ned in the ring didn’t just make her ride better; watching him was a treat in itself. Tidbit was a twelve-year-old mare who’d given them four fine foals and had already been covered by Nocturne this season. Yet Ned had the broodmare moving around the ring with her ears pricked forward, her neck slightly arched, and her hooves skimming the sandy footing, as alert and responsive as any of the horses they showed.
When they’d ridden for a half hour, they slowed to a walk, allowing the horses to rest and stretch. Glancing over at Tidbit, Jordan said, “You should have taken her to Lexington, Ned. She’d have been in the ribbons.”
“Tidbit would have come home with a blue.” And he leaned over to scratch her sleek white neck fondly. “But you would have had to show her, Miss Jordan. I don’t have the patience for it anymore. I can get more accomplished staying here at Rosewood. How’s Mistral going for you? Looked like he did that simple change real nicely at the canter.”
“Yes, he did. I know Andy’s been introducing him to the flying change, but I didn’t want to ask him for it in case I confused him.” A flying change was aptly named, conveying the way a horse would switch leads in midair between strides at the canter—thus while “flying.” It was an essential move for both show hunters and jumpers. A flying change allowed a horse to switch leads as it changed direction, and thereby approach a jump balanced on the correct lead. In the show ring, a hunter could be penalized and lose points for a poorly executed or failed lead change.
“Mistral’s not easily rattled. Why don’t you do a figure eight down at the end of the ring and see how he goes? Just be sure you’ve got his haunches engaged when you give him the command, because that’s where the change is initiated. Ask him for one change in each direction and then bring him back down to a walk.”
“Okay, I’ll give it a try.” Gathering her reins, she sat straighter in the saddle, closed her legs, moving her outside rail leg slightly behind the girth and applying a light pressure on the outside rein, and gave Mistral a “cluck,” a verbal cue. When he responded, lifting his inside shoulder to pick up the gait, she urged him forward with both legs.
Moving along the rail, she kept his canter collected and concentrated on feeling the rolling movement of his hindquarters beneath her while maintaining a light pressure on the reins so that when she reached the point in her circle where they would change direction, she’d have him set up to make the flying change.
When she reached the center of the figure eight they were executing, she shifted her seat bones deeper into the saddle while moving her outside leg slightly behind the girth, as her fingers closed about her inside rein. She felt Mistral respond to the dual signals with a surge of his hindquarters as he took his next stride. When he came down on his foreleg, he’d changed leads.
Jordan’s face split in a grin as relief flooded her. She continued cantering, however, reminding herself to make her circle large enough to set him up properly for this last change of lead. It wouldn’t be right to screw it up for Mistral when he’d executed the first change so cleanly. She couldn’t afford to be complacent, either. Horses, like humans, had a stronger and weaker side and this might well be Mistral’s weaker side, although he’d picked up the lead easily enough when she’d cantered him earlier.
She focused on the rocking three-beat gait as once again they neared the spot where she would apply her aids to ask for a flying change. Mistral was a smart fellow, answering with a swish of his tail and a flick of his brown ears. Jordan felt a surge of power beneath her as he took his next stride, and then he was cantering on the other lead.
Straightening in the saddle, she closed her legs and hands to bring him to a walk, then immediately patted his neck. “Good boy, Mistral. Andy’s done a terrific job with him, Ned. He didn’t hesitate a bit when I asked him.”
“You rode that nicely, Miss Jordan, real clear and consistent. That’s why he didn’t back off on the changes. Even a nonrider could see that, ain’t that right, Owen?”
Jordan nearly gave herself whiplash looking around to where Owen stood, forearms propped on the top rail. His casual stance indicated he’d been watching her for some time.
“Uh, hi,” she said only to fall silent as she became abruptly aware of how filthy she was after a morning spent cleaning stalls, brushing horses, and then riding under the warm spring sun.
From her perch on Mistral’s back, she could tell Owen was as impeccably dressed as usual, a fact she found particularly irksome at the moment. Did he always have to look so good? And what was he doing here?
He didn’t seem put off by her less than genial greeting. “My office assistant is alarmingly efficient. She faxed me the tax forms yesterday afternoon. I brought them over for you.”
“Oh.” Pricked by guilt that she’d been less than thrilled at his unexpected presence when he was actually being a considerate employer, she quickly tacked on a “Thank you.”
He nodded before shifting his attention to Ned.

Hasil (Bahasa Indonesia) 1:

Aspen, paling tidak terbiasa mengendarai sebuah trailer, penuh terakhir. Jade dipimpin gelding ke atas ramp tertutup karet tanpa insiden, namun, dan kemudian Travis membantunya kembali dia ke warung di William manis. Sementara Jade makan kuda setiap wortel, Travis dan Felix membuat pekerjaan cepat gantung jerami jaring sehingga kuda bisa makan selama perjalanan ke Lexington.Dalam beberapa menit jalan van sudah bangun dan menutup pintu dengan Felix, Tito, dan Jade menetap di taksi. Di belakang van, Travis melaju kisaran Rover dengan Margot sampingnya.Melambaikan selamat tinggal dan berteriak, "Good luck!" dan "Naik bersih dan jernih!" Jordan menunggu dengan Ned dan Andy sampai van telah bergemuruh dari pandangan. Kemudian tiga dari mereka bekerja.Pagi hari terbang oleh saat mereka mengikuti rutinitas sehari-hari di pertanian. Kuda-kuda yang akan ternyata untuk pertama setengah hari yang berjalan ke padang rumput. Kemudian penyia-waktu mulai. Divvying atas kios-kios, mereka membuat jalan mereka turun Lumbung lorong dengan garpu rumput mereka, mengisi gerobak dengan serutan kotor dan kotoran dan kemudian meletakkan lapisan segar serutan kayu. Setelah topping off ember air dan menyapu lorong beton bersih, mereka bersedia untuk latihan kuda-kuda.Kunci untuk kuda-kuda mereka kesehatan dan kebahagiaan adalah jadwal dengan hati-hati dirancang kali latihan dan pemilih dan hari libur Travis itu dan merencanakan Ned untuk kuda masing-masing. Pada hari-hari seperti hari ini, dengan tiga pengendara dan dua tangan stabil yang bepergian, Jordan adalah terutama senang untuk melakukan bagian untuk menjaga peternakan berjalan lancar. Dan meskipun ia tidak mengatakan bahwa dia senang akan bercerai dari Richard, ia menyadari bahwa yang dia masih dengannya, tuntutan kehidupan pernikahan akan membuat itu mustahil untuk membantu saudara perempuannya dengan kuda-kuda mereka dibesarkan dan dilatih.Yang akan memiliki dia kehilangan sesuatu yang istimewa. Membantu Margot dan Jade adalah jauh, jauh lebih menyelamatkan kuda peternakan keluarga mereka dan rumah tua yang indah. Mereka datang bersama-sama telah diperkuat ikatan antara mereka dalam banyak cara. Jordan menyukai, dikagumi, mengenal mereka dengan cara yang beberapa saudara kandung yang dewasa dengan kehidupan mereka berbeda yang pernah menikmati di hari ini dan usia. Untuk hadiah itu, ia adalah lebih dari bersedia untuk dimasukkan ke dalam dua belas jam sehari menangani pekerjaan yang diperlukan dilakukan.Pertama pada map nya adalah untuk sekolah Mistral dan Indigo, dua dari mereka empat-year-olds, karena Andy, yang biasanya menunggang mereka, akan melatih kuda, Faraday dan Nocturne, di indoor ring, dan Ned akan naik tiga dari broodmares. Setelah itu, dia akan memberikan Ned dengan anak kuda sementara Andy bekerja dengan mereka dua dan tiga-tahun. Perhatian ke detail terakhir, Travis bahkan telah dialokasikan waktu baginya untuk longe Doc Holliday dan ternyata dia di atas padang rumput sehingga dia akan santai ketika dia memberikan orang pelajaran.Then there were the foals and their dams to bring in from the pastures. The foals needed daily handling as part of the gentling and training process. When the remaining horses were brought in from the fields, all would be watered and fed. With the horses tended to, Jordan would clean her and the children’s saddles, as well as the bridles she’d used. Only then would she go into the office and return phone calls or emails inquiring about the horses or booking fees for Faraday and Nocturne.Andy had jumped both Mistral and Indigo the day before, so Jordan’s job was to give them a good workout on the flat. Jordan groomed Mistral, a bay Thoroughbred gelding who possessed both the conformation and easy, willing attitude to make a fine hunter prospect.After tacking Mistral, she led him down to the outdoor ring. Walking into the center of the ring, she slipped the reins over his neck, checked her girth, lowered her stirrups, and then, sticking the toe of her field boot into the stirrup, swung herself up into the saddle.She let Mistral stretch his muscles at a loose-reined walk for ten minutes and enjoyed the noises of the spring morning: the chirping of the birds and the chattering of the squirrels punctuated by the occasional whinnies of the horses in the south pasture calling to each other. By the time she gathered the braided reins, Ned had entered the ring with Tidbit.She was glad of Ned’s company in the ring. Ned was of the old, classic school of riding, espoused by such greats as Bert de Nemethy and George Morris, and he’d taught Jordan and her sisters to ride—and Travis, too. His presence made her pay even greater attention to getting the horse beneath her moving in a collected, balanced stride. A happy, engaged horse carried himself in an unmistakable way—with a smooth forward flow of motion—and was equally supple rounding corners and circling. Achieving this fluid athleticism was the goal of every serious equitation rider.Having Ned in the ring didn’t just make her ride better; watching him was a treat in itself. Tidbit was a twelve-year-old mare who’d given them four fine foals and had already been covered by Nocturne this season. Yet Ned had the broodmare moving around the ring with her ears pricked forward, her neck slightly arched, and her hooves skimming the sandy footing, as alert and responsive as any of the horses they showed.When they’d ridden for a half hour, they slowed to a walk, allowing the horses to rest and stretch. Glancing over at Tidbit, Jordan said, “You should have taken her to Lexington, Ned. She’d have been in the ribbons.”“Tidbit would have come home with a blue.” And he leaned over to scratch her sleek white neck fondly. “But you would have had to show her, Miss Jordan. I don’t have the patience for it anymore. I can get more accomplished staying here at Rosewood. How’s Mistral going for you? Looked like he did that simple change real nicely at the canter.”“Yes, he did. I know Andy’s been introducing him to the flying change, but I didn’t want to ask him for it in case I confused him.” A flying change was aptly named, conveying the way a horse would switch leads in midair between strides at the canter—thus while “flying.” It was an essential move for both show hunters and jumpers. A flying change allowed a horse to switch leads as it changed direction, and thereby approach a jump balanced on the correct lead. In the show ring, a hunter could be penalized and lose points for a poorly executed or failed lead change.“Mistral’s not easily rattled. Why don’t you do a figure eight down at the end of the ring and see how he goes? Just be sure you’ve got his haunches engaged when you give him the command, because that’s where the change is initiated. Ask him for one change in each direction and then bring him back down to a walk.”“Okay, I’ll give it a try.” Gathering her reins, she sat straighter in the saddle, closed her legs, moving her outside rail leg slightly behind the girth and applying a light pressure on the outside rein, and gave Mistral a “cluck,” a verbal cue. When he responded, lifting his inside shoulder to pick up the gait, she urged him forward with both legs.Moving along the rail, she kept his canter collected and concentrated on feeling the rolling movement of his hindquarters beneath her while maintaining a light pressure on the reins so that when she reached the point in her circle where they would change direction, she’d have him set up to make the flying change.When she reached the center of the figure eight they were executing, she shifted her seat bones deeper into the saddle while moving her outside leg slightly behind the girth, as her fingers closed about her inside rein. She felt Mistral respond to the dual signals with a surge of his hindquarters as he took his next stride. When he came down on his foreleg, he’d changed leads.
Jordan’s face split in a grin as relief flooded her. She continued cantering, however, reminding herself to make her circle large enough to set him up properly for this last change of lead. It wouldn’t be right to screw it up for Mistral when he’d executed the first change so cleanly. She couldn’t afford to be complacent, either. Horses, like humans, had a stronger and weaker side and this might well be Mistral’s weaker side, although he’d picked up the lead easily enough when she’d cantered him earlier.
She focused on the rocking three-beat gait as once again they neared the spot where she would apply her aids to ask for a flying change. Mistral was a smart fellow, answering with a swish of his tail and a flick of his brown ears. Jordan felt a surge of power beneath her as he took his next stride, and then he was cantering on the other lead.
Straightening in the saddle, she closed her legs and hands to bring him to a walk, then immediately patted his neck. “Good boy, Mistral. Andy’s done a terrific job with him, Ned. He didn’t hesitate a bit when I asked him.”
“You rode that nicely, Miss Jordan, real clear and consistent. That’s why he didn’t back off on the changes. Even a nonrider could see that, ain’t that right, Owen?”
Jordan nearly gave herself whiplash looking around to where Owen stood, forearms propped on the top rail. His casual stance indicated he’d been watching her for some time.
“Uh, hi,” she said only to fall silent as she became abruptly aware of how filthy she was after a morning spent cleaning stalls, brushing horses, and then riding under the warm spring sun.
From her perch on Mistral’s back, she could tell Owen was as impeccably dressed as usual, a fact she found particularly irksome at the moment. Did he always have to look so good? And what was he doing here?
He didn’t seem put off by her less than genial greeting. “My office assistant is alarmingly efficient. She faxed me the tax forms yesterday afternoon. I brought them over for you.”
“Oh.” Pricked by guilt that she’d been less than thrilled at his unexpected presence when he was actually being a considerate employer, she quickly tacked on a “Thank you.”
He nodded before shifting his attention to Ned.