An unexpected encounter

A bay gelding cantered through the arena with a steady rhythm. I hadn't felt this good about my riding skills in a long time. I wasn’t perfect, of course, but better than for a while. I smiled to myself and asked Leevi for a relaxed trot.

I glanced at the stand casually, but there was something I did not expect. I had to look again, frowning slightly. What was Grace doing here? I had not seen her in ages so I slowed Leevi down and led him closer to the edge of the arena where Grace was standing.

“Good afternoon, Grace!” I greeted the old lady with a smile. “Nice to see you, how are you?”

Even though I hadn't seen Grace in a long time I had always liked her. She was like a second grandmother to me, always saying the things you wanted to hear. Or if not, at least you needed to hear them.

"I'm fine, thank you", I smiled at her, measuring the look on Grace's face. Hopefully nothing bad had happened. Or was it Jonathan and Thomas that she was concerned about? Although I was curious about it wasn't my place to ask questions about. Maybe she would tell me in the course of the conversation.

"No, this is Amanda's dressage horse Leevi", I explained, stroking Leevi's neck deliberately. "I'm more of a show jumper and compete with Riepu, a grey gelding. But it's nice to ride other horses once in a while."

I got the feeling that Grace had a some kind of intuition with horses. Although I wished Leevi would show his 'wise look' at the stall too.