In a quiet moment Tory sat on G.G’s fence and considered how her life was going. It was four weeks ago that Tory, her Dad, and St. Albert, had arrived at the farm.
Over the summer Tory settled into a busy routine around the farm. She got up early every day and helped let out the horses, clean out stalls, and restock hay and feed. There were always a few extra chores to be done like fencing to fix or broken water feeders to clean out. One long hot week there had been bales and bales of hay to stack in the loft. Sometimes the vet would come to check on a horse. There were always bandages to prepare with potions and change as healing happened and wounds changed. Because almost all of the new horses came with problems and injuries Tory was quickly learning which remedies to use and how to use them.
Every couple of weeks the Natural Hoof Trimmer would come and it was Tory’s job to catch the horses that needed hoof trimmings and hold them while the trimmer worked. Tory learned the difference between natural hoof care and what ferriers did. Often new horses had to have shoes removed so healing could begin. Like all the women that seemed to play big roles on the farm, the Trimmer was gentle but firm and seemed to understand the horses on a deep level.
Tory lost the 10 pounds she had gained and developed muscles in her legs and arms she didn’t even know she had before. On Clara’s advice she cut her long black hair short. Everyone said how great it looked framing her face but not hiding it. In the humid air of the Island it curled on the ends and bounced with full body as though it were energized as much as Tory. And it was much easier to look after. Tory could no longer be bothered with curling irons, hot curlers and conditioners all the time when there were horses to ride and look after.
By mid-morning every day Clara, Tory and Grandma Nan stopped their work and met in the tack room. There they would sip on cool iced-tea or real lemonade and munch on the homemade cookies Grandma Nan always had on hand. t was a chance to re-group and discuss problems or solutions and sometimes it just became “girl talk” or “horse talk”. It was also a chance to relax and just be the “team of three” as they called themselves, before all the other kids started arriving. Before noon there would be tons of Clara’s students just hanging around before their lessons. They sometimes exercised horses or helped with chores or cleaned tack. Most of them were girls Tory’s age and they all shared the common love of horses and just wanted to be around them. Some of them were “cottage kids” which meant their families only spent the summer on the Island. They all brought lunches with them and at noon they would all gather out in the grass and share food and pretend they were horses, jumping over any obstacle they could make, find, or imagine. Tory started making a lot of good friends. She knew she was considered different. Tory realized the others were jealous that she got to live at the farm, could ride whenever she wanted to and had a special “in” with both Nan and Clara. But they all had horses in common so the rest of their lives weren’t really important.
After lunch, in the heat of the afternoon while the horses were out grazing in the fields and the barns were all cleaned and ready to go, the girls and Clara would often walk through the trail in the woods to the beach for a swim in the cold salty ocean. Tory loved floating on her back softly rocked by the waves while she watched the clouds above. Life seemed easier on the Island and Tory was beginning to feel at peace with things.
Best of all were the afternoons when lessons began in earnest. Girls of similar levels and abilities were grouped together and Tory watched them all. She gained tips and learned a lot by just watching and listening to the instructions Clara told them. Under Clara’s patient but firm schooling, Tory was becoming a good rider. Clara said she had a “good seat” and most importantly she had “horse sense”. Tory had gained confidence around the horses and rode lots of different ones as Clara encouraged her to try different horses so she could ride anything. Firefly was Tory’s lesson horse though and they rode in the beginner class every afternoon. Just as she had on that very first day, Firefly seemed to understand Tory and was careful with her, taking her expertly over her first trotting pole and then her first cross rail. While Tory still either walked or trotted the other horses, she could canter on Firefly and loved the rhythmic feeling and speed as much as Firefly seemed to.
Grandma Nan rarely watched the lessons although she seemed to love to hear about Tory’s successes and would give her riding tips now and then. While the lessons were going on Grandma Nan usually found a reason to head to town to buy supplies or feed or an extra piece of tack from the Farm Supply Store. Sometimes Grandma Nan snuck out to her garden or back to the house where she made her famous cookies and healing potions under the watchful eye of St. Albert. He kept himself a house cat, and never associated with the wide variety of barn cats that hung around the barns and tack room. Clara said she thought watching the lessons might have reminded Grandma Nan too much of watching Tory’s mother ride. Grandma Nan insisted she didn’t watch because she didn’t want to butt into Clara’s territory or say something she shouldn’t.
Tory was disappointed that her father never came to watch her. He always seemed to be at work, or going to work, or sleeping because he had been working. Tory wanted him to be proud of her and her accomplishments but he just seemed consumed by work as though nothing else mattered.
After all the lessons were over and the other girls had left, Clara and Tory did the final cleaning and organizing. They talked while they worked and Tory sometimes discussed her father with Clara. She seemed to really understand. Clara often asked Tory about her Dad and what things had been like before her mother had died. It felt good to be able to talk about her mother to someone that wasn’t hurting as bad as she was but still cared. Tory also learned a lot about Clara. She knew she lived alone after a marriage that broke up on bad terms. Her ex-husband still lived on the Island but Clara avoided him as best as she could. And it was through Clara that Tory found a lot out about her mother. Clara had known her mother before she took off and told Tory about what a wonderful rider she was and how close she was to Grandma Nan. Tory felt she could tell Clara anything. She told Clara how she was nervous about school in the fall and Clara assured her she would be fine, that she already knew a lot of the girls in her class and boys didn’t like horses so what was the point anyway. Clara was smart and worldly and very good at keeping a secret, like their special project with G.G.
Clara and Tory spent time every day with G.G. Clara would watch and give pointers while Tory got closer and closer to G.G. so that she could pat her back and stroke her thick neck. No one else could get near her and Clara never tried to interfere. She said the Gentle Giant was a one-person horse and she thought Tory was the only person for her. G.G. put on some weight and most of the cuts had healed but she was still shy and skitterish. Tory could now get a halter on her and lead her. Tory sometimes took G.G. into the mare field and let her loose with the other horses but G.G. kept her distance from them and didn’t play with them. They seemed to respect her shyness and because of her size, left her to herself. G.G. always seemed a bit relieved to have Tory come back and lead her back to her own private paddock. Clara said G.G. would never be a real jumping or show horse, but she thought Tory might one day be able to get a saddle on her and ride her on trails.
In the meantime, Tory had lots of work to do getting herself ready for the show. At the end of every summer, just before school started, there was a big show jumping event at the local arena grounds. Most of the girls at Meadowlands had been in lots of shows. They claimed this one was the most fun and signaled the end of the summer. Clara encouraged Tory to enter a few classes. Clara said Tory was ready and this would be an easy introduction to the show world. Tory was nervous but excited at the same time.
Tory was startled from her daydreaming by Grandma Nan. She was pulling up the driveway in her pinkish truck. The back was weighted down with bags of oats. Tory ran to help unload before supper. As Tory reached Ole’Pinky, as the truck was affectionately called
, Grandma Nan stuck her arm out the open window and waved some papers in the air, “I’ve got the entry forms for the show,” she called excitedly.