Rebound *Book Two*

Chapter Ten

Chapter Ten

Weeks have passed since I rode Star. It is now the 21st, the day before we leave for Rolex! I am internally freaking out like, oh... my... god! Today is a mixture of packing, cleaning, loading, and making final adjustments. It will be a crazy day. Drew, Matt, GiGi, and April are here to help me.

Even Jill is here to help. A few weeks ago Jill approached me and apologized for her actions over the years. I accepted her apology. That was all that I was looking for from her. She offered to help me with Rolex prep and I gladly accepted. I could use all the help I could take.

Mark and Dee are at their houses packing to leave tomorrow. Matt does things ahead of time and he has already been packed for a week! His things are all loaded in the bed of my Chevy Colorado truck.

"So Ali what do you want us to help you with?" Drew asks. They all stand around me, ready to help. My friends are so amazing.

"Um GiGi can you shine my two pairs of dress boots and two pairs of field boots. After you shine them each pair can go in their own boot bag. You can pack the boot polishing kit back in my boot tack trunk. All of the boots, including Rebound's bell, galloping, jumping, and ice boots, and his standing, bandage, and polo wraps can be put in the boot trunk as well. Please load the boot trunk into the trailer after you are done." I instruct her.

She gives me a big smile. "Of course. I am on it." She heads off in the direction of the tack room.

Next, I face Matt. "Matt can you join her in the tack room. I need my dressage, show jumping, and cross country saddles cleaned. Each of the saddles have a girth so if you could clean them as well. After you are done with the girths they can just go on top of the saddles. Please put the saddle covers on as well. I also need my dressage and two jumping bridles cleaned. They can go in bridle bags after. My breast plate and martingale are clean so you do not have to clean them. Please load all of the tack onto the trailer after you are done. Remeber to grab one white dressage, one black cross country, one white show jumping, and one extra white pad on the trailer as well."

Matt grins at me. "Anything for you, babe." He walks in the same direction GiGi headed.

I face April next. "April, I have packed two trunks full of grooming, braiding, and medical equiptment. Please use this eventing check list to make sure most of those items are in the trunks and loaded on the trailer." I hand her the printed checklist form and continue to speak, "I already loaded all of my show clothing items like belts, coats, blouses, polos, helmets, vest and breeches in garment bags onto the trailer so you don't have to worry about that. Then load two coolers and one lightweight blanket onto the trailer."

April walks away and I face Jill. "Jill, Rebound is already body clipped and has his mane pulled. Make sure he has his fuzzy shipping halter, leather lead rope, and shipping boots outside his stall. Also please load his leather show halter on the trailer. After that you can give him a mane, tail, and body bath. Make sure you dry him thoroughly after."

Finally, I face Drew. He is grinning at me. "Drew you get the hard job. I am thinking that we will go through about a bale of hay a day for Rebound. Please load ten bales of hay on top of the trailer and cover the bales with a tarp. Make sure the tarp is secured down. Then please load a broom, pitch fork, muck bucket, a pair of scissors, two water buckets, one hay net, and a bag of carrots into the trailer. Then you can load one bag of Safe And Easy Grain with a measuring scoop onto the trailer as well. The show facility will already have hoses and box fans attached to the stalls. I ordered five bags of shavings so that should last us."

"Ok. Where are we going to store all of this?" He asks.

"I reserved a tack stall right next to Rebound's stall. All of it can go in there." I add, "I will be in the house packing so holler if you guys need me. I should be back down in a half hour to check on things."

"Sounds good." Drew winks at me and walks away.

I sigh to myself. This is going to be so much work, but at least I don't have to do all of it by myself. But in the end, the work will be worth it.

~

Exactly a half an hour later I am back at the barn with two duffel bags of clothes and four coolers packed with ice, drinks, and snacks to pack in the bed of the trunk.

When I am walking over to the truck, I see two familiar people loading suitcases inside.

"Hi Mark. Hi Dee." I say to two of my favorite people.

"Hi Ali." They both say.

"We were just loading our suitcases. Here, I will load the coolers and your duffels for you." Mark says, taking a cooler out of my hand.

I set everything down. "Thanks Mark. You really don't have to..."

I get cut off abruptly by Dee. "Oh yes he does. We cannot risk the injury of our VIP before Rolex now can we?" Mark and I laugh at Dee's comment.

Just then, Matt, Drew, Jill, GiGi, and April all come strutting out of the barn. All of them look exhausted.

"All done!" April sing songs.

"Oh my god you guys are literally the greastest people ever!" I praise them.

"Anything for the star." Matt winks at me.

GiGi smirks, "Group hug!" She shouts. The minute those words drip from her mouth, all of my friends tackle me in a great big bear hug. Even Mark and Dee join in on the occasion.

I am laughing when everyone lets go of me. "I cannot thank you guys enough for all the help and support. I would be no where near the person I am today without amazing people like you guys."

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Thanks for reading this long, boring, instructing chapter. You all deserve a medal for reading it. SO PUMPED FOR THE UPCOMING CHAPTERS!!!

The link to the eventing checklist that Ali gave April:

http://scdcta.com/forms/USEA%20Eventing%20Checklist.pdf