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By Root 1304 0

in the crowd laughing into their hands and giving each other looks. Despite having been groomed and braided, Snowman stuck out from the fancy horses. Jumper classes were judged on skill, not style, but there was still a certain look associated with jumpers—they were sleek and twitchy, often chomping on their bits until they foamed at the mouth and flecks of the foam spattered their chests. Snowman showed none of this pent-up tension as he trotted into the ring. Harry knew that he and his mount looked out of place. The horses competing in this green jumper class represented some of the country’s top prospects—most would be competing for the national championships in a year or two. Some might even reach the international ranks.

Harry watched a couple of the top riders put in clean rounds. When it was Harry’s turn, he headed into the ring at a walk; then, gathering up his reins, he cued the horse to canter with a slight nudge of his lower left leg. Snowman lumbered along at a docile canter, his nose outstretched just the way it was when the pair was out for a country ride. Harry felt a flicker of apprehension. Was this horse even awake enough to ride this course? He squeezed his calves around the horse’s barrel, and Snowman lengthened his stride without missing a beat. He was listening. Harry kept his eyes forward, his weight balanced, and his reins slightly slack. On this, the horse’s first real horse show challenge, Harry needed his mount to know that he believed. Harry measured the distance to the first fence with his eyes, then looked up over the fence and beyond it. Through the reins, through his seat, through the gentle pressure of his calves on the horse’s sides, Harry telegraphed a message: You can do this. Snowman pricked his ears forward, gathered his haunches underneath him, and flew. One fence accomplished, and Harry headed him toward the next obstacle with a steady hand. The first few fences, the horse jumped clean, but over the oxer, a spread fence, he brushed one of the top rails for two faults. This pushed him out of the running for a ribbon.

On the way out of the ring, Harry threw down the reins and gave his horse a big pat. Only two faults. A solid performance for the first time out.

Outside the ring, Harry saw Dave Kelley and Al Fiore sitting side by side, both grinning as if they owned the world. Fiore had a right to look cocky: he had been the leading point winner on the circuit for the past two years running. He was tall and broad-shouldered, over six feet tall, and, at 180 pounds, a good fifty pounds heavier than Harry. A self-taught horseman, the son of a livery stable owner in Queens, he was a crowd pleaser—his acrobatic style in the saddle made the crowds grip the edges of their seats. Al and Dave shared a laugh as they stared at Harry’s flea-bitten gray. Neither of them would have been caught dead riding an old lesson horse into the ring in a top-rated show. This upstart on a plow horse was no competition for their big thoroughbreds. Let ’em laugh, Harry thought. Just a few short months ago, he had been walking behind the horse on a long line, teaching him how to steer. Now this horse could make a creditable performance in a jumper class. He may not have gone clean, but he had tried his best. There were several more classes. Maybe they were laughing too soon.

The next class in the green jumper division was the knock-down-and-out class. In this class, touches would not count, only knocking down poles. Because of this, the fences were much higher and time was a factor.

Harry saw Al Fiore and Dave Kelley jumping their horses in the warm-up ring, but Harry only cantered Snowman. He wanted to save the horse’s legs. Al Fiore’s mount, Riviera Topper, was from the Mann family stable, a breeding string that included Riviera Wonder, the winner of the national championships for two years running with Fiore in the saddle.

Riviera Topper was up first, and Fiore expertly guided the horse around the course. Fiore’s flashy moves in the saddle made the course look difficult, but Harry saw that the horse had