Page 141 of Lost Trust

“And you knocked a barrel. That’d be a no-time.”

A rider receives a no-time when they break the rules or fail to complete the required cloverleaf pattern correctly.

“Dammit,” she sputters.

I ride Rowdy over beside her.

“Hey.” I keep my voice calm. “You’re dropping in and looking right down at your turns.”

“I know.”

“You’ve gotta sit up. Keep steady. Your first turn was perfect.”

“No, it wasn’t. I was way out of place.”

I nod. “Okay. But you corrected and still cleared through it.”

She looks toward the barrels. “Then I flipped out.”

Bingo.

“And that’s the problem.”

She looks back at me.

“You need to take a breath and relax. You’re trying to fix everything at once, and that’s when you get in your horse’s way.”

Jaci nods slowly.

I smile. “Let’s go again.”

We turn toward the alley.

I reset my watch. “Take a breath.”

She does.

“Now go.”

Butter Bean surges forward, and Jaci sits deep, her hands steady.

They fly toward the first barrel.

“Whoa, whoa, whoa!” I see her start to get ahead of herself before she corrects. “That’s it! That’s it! Go on!”

Butter Bean wraps the first barrel.

“All the way up! All the way up!”

Jaci keeps her shoulder up and rides the mare forward instead of collapsing into the turn. They clear the second barrel and drive toward the third.

“Drive up!”

Butter Bean drops her shoulder.

“Drive up!”

Jaci stays with her, and they explode out of the turn and race for home.