A Horse Show for Hermione
Saturday, October 3rd, 1998
Before long Hermione's early morning alarm was going off, followed by her mum knocking on the door to make sure she was awake.
"Good morning. We will be heading down to the stables to leave in 15 Minutes."
"Okay. I'll be ready."
Hermione pulled her hair back into a quick bun, knowing she would have to fix it later. She was thankful they had an established dress code at shows, black breeches, and their polos which had the stable name, and logo on the back, with her name on the front.
She had the same polo in a multitude of colors. Today she had chosen to wear her hunter green polo, which she knew would pair well with her warm puffer vest. Her vest also had the stable name, and her name on it, but they were both on the front.
Now ready for the day, Hermione grabbed her bag, phone, and heavier jacket before she went to meet her parents downstairs.
"Good morning." Hermione said to her parents as she walked into the kitchen.
"Good morning." They both said in return.
Her mum was wearing nearly an identicaI outfit, but had opted for a purple polo instead. Her dad, who was joining as the lorry driver, and lead cheerleader, wore khaki pants, and a matching black polo.
"Here Hermione." Her mum said as she passed Hermione a scone.
"Thank you!"
"Of course sweetie. We will grab actual breakfast on the road."
"Sounds good to me. What is the plan for today? Who is going in which vehicle?"
"Well dad is driving the lorry of course. Liz, Becky, and Robert are following in the truck. I figured you and I would go with dad."
Hermione nodded her head in agreement, then the family of three made their way down to the stable.
As they walked up they saw the grooms, Liz, Becky, and Robert. Liz, and Becky were walking off the Iorry, and Robert was closing up the back. The three grooms were dressed similarly to Hermione and her mum. The only difference was all three were wearing black polos, like her dad.
"Good morning."
"Good morning Emma."
"Sorry we are a little behind. Any issues loading up?"
"None at all." Liz, who was the lead groom, responded. "Mercury, and Ruby loaded like a dream!"
"That's wonderful. So I figured we would get right on the road then stop for a quick breakfast in an hour or so. Any objections?"
As expected, no one objected.
"So the plan for today is Liz, Becky and Robert will follow behind the Lorry in the truck. Dan is going to drive the lorry. When we get to Bicton, Hermione, and I will take the horses paperwork, and get checked in. Once we are checked in, and given stall assignments we will get Mercury, and Ruby settled."
Everyone nodded in agreement. Dan traded keys with Liz, as he had the keys she needed, and vice versa. Hermione threw her bag into the back of the lorry, then the group of six hit the road.
Saturday, 7:30 am, arriving at Bicton.
Hermione was excited as the group pulled into the Bicton show grounds. They made their way to the area where the lorries parked, then her mum reiterated the plan to everyone.
“Alright, Hermione and I are going to take the paperwork to check in. In the meantime, can the four of you get Mercury, and Ruby out for a little grazing, and stretching?”
“Of course.” Liz, the lead groom said.
“Hermione, do you have the paperwork?”
“Yes mum.” She said as she showed her mum the folder of paperwork she was holding.
Hermione and her mum headed over to the check in tent, where they received their stable assignments. This was also where the vetting for the horses would be validated, as the organization always wanted to be sure the horses were safe to be around other horses, and medically cleared to compete.
At check in, Hermione also received all of her start times. That’s what was different about eventing. Eventing is a style of equestrian competition that didn’t have a singular discipline as the focus. Each horse, and rider pair, had to compete in dressage, show jumping, and cross country to get a finishing place in the standings.
Since she was competing with two horses, it was important her team knew the times so they could make sure the horses were ready at the appropriate times.
Today she had dressage on Ruby at 10:30 am, and Mercury at 1pm. Then she had show jumping on Ruby at 3:45pm. Tomorrow, show jumping on Mercury was at 9:45 am, and cross country was in the afternoon for both horses. Ruby ran at 1:15, then Mercury at 2:45 pm. If Hermione managed to pIace, the awards ceremony was at 3:30 pm.
By the time she, and her mum returned to the lorry, Mercury, and Ruby were out stretching their legs, and grazing.
"Any issues?" Dan asked.
"None. All of the times, and stable assignments were as we had hoped."
"Awesome." Liz said. "Can I get the time from you so we can have them ready."
"Of course." Mum said, as she shared the times, and stable assignments with Liz.
Hermione went with Liz, and Becky to get the horses settled into the stables, while Robert, her mum, and dad stayed to get camp set up.
She was leading Mercury, and Becky had Ruby as they walked to the stables. Mercury was doing amazing, and ignoring all the distractions. It wasn't long before they were both settled in their stables.
Hermione checked the time, and started to panic slightly when she realized it was already 8:30 am.
“I see the look on your face, Hermione. Don’t you worry. I’ll have Ruby ready and back by the lorry at 9:15. Now you need to go and get ready.”
“Thank you Liz!” Hermione said as she ran from the stables back up to the lorry.
As she returned, her parents could see that she was in a panic.
“Are you alright dear?” Her mum asked.
“Yes mum, I’m fine. I just realized the time, and rushed back to get ready.”
Her mum looked at the time confused. “Sweetheart, you have nearly 2 hours until dressage. You’re perfectly fine!”
“Mum, I need to change, finish tacking up Ruby, then warm her up before then!” She said panicking.
“Hermione, deep breath. You’re not alone here. You have a team. You’re not going to be late.” Her mum coached her through her panic attack.
As she started to calm down, she let out a quiet “thanks mum,” before heading into the lorry to change.
She went into autopilot, as she often did before shows. Her show gear was all together in one bag. Getting dressed in her show outfit, it felt like she was putting on her Hogwarts uniform, and slipping into the character required to fit the uniform. Now that she had on her gear, gone was the nervous, worry wart. She was now the confident equestrian woman she looked the part of.
Show jumping, and dressage had the same uniform, and Hermione was even allowed to wear color if she chose. Today, she was wearing a navy blue show coat, with gold buttons on the front, and near the wrists. Her jacket had their stable logo embroidered on the left chest. The jacket was paired with tan breeches, a competition standard white shirt with the required neck tie. Her hair was fixed into a bun at the nape of her neck, and held into place with a hair net that matched her hair color.
Putting her show boots on, and grabbing her helmet completed the outfit. She now felt ready to compete. Stepping out of the lorry, Hermione was greeting with Ruby getting tacked up.
“See Hermione, nothing to worry about. We are early.” Liz joked.
Hermione checked the time, and laughed when she realized it was only 9:05.
“Okay Liz, you were right.” She laughed, walking over to where Liz, and the team were working with Ruby.
Robert was tacking Ruby up, getting the saddle pad, and the saddle set on her back. He was making sure it was set in the proper place on her back before tightening the girth, that would hold the saddle in place. Before they put the bridle on, Hermione checked the bit to make sure they were using the appropriate one. This was a habit of her mum’s that Hermione had always followed.
At 9:20, Hermione mounted Ruby, and the group headed towards the warm up area. Becky and Robert went to the stable so they could check on Mercury.
The warm up was simple. She went through the dressage test multiple times with Ruby just to make sure she remembered it. As this was Hermione’s first competition on Ruby, she wanted to be certain there was nothing in the area that would spook Ruby during the test.
As always, Ruby was a rock. Nothing bothered her. This helped Hermione settle, and release some of her nervous energy.
At 10:20, the group moved closer to the dressage ring where she was competing. At 10:30 on the dot, Hermione received the sign the judges were ready for her. She trotted up the outside of the ring, entered the ring at A, then went through her entire test.
In the blink of an eye, the dressage test was over, and Hermione was saluting the judges. After she saluted, she gave Ruby the biggest pats ever, and made her way out of the ring.
“I swear I blacked out during that.” Hermione said to the group.
“We couldn’t tell.” Her mum said in return.
“Hermione, that looked great.” Liz said, reassuring her.
“Good Job kiddo.” Her dad said.
The group started to head back towards the lorry. They needed to untack Ruby, and put her back in the stable.
Time passed quickly, and before Hermione knew it she was back in the warm up ring with Mercury, ready to do the same thing again. At promptly 1:00 pm, she trotted into the dressage ring with Mercury. Much like her early test, she completely blacked out until her final salute.
“How did it look?” Hermione asked her mum.
“That looked great as well, I didn’t see any major mistakes.” Her mum answered honestly.
Again the group headed back to the lorry with plenty of time to spare. At 1:30 pm, they were back, and working on untacking Mercury who was quickly returned to his stable. They had 1 hour and 45 minutes before it was time to warm Ruby up for show jumping. With the little time they had everyone made themselves sandwiches at the campsite they had set up around the lorry.
Before they knew it, they were preparing Ruby for show jumping, then making their way to the warm up ring. Ruby again, warmed up like a dream.
At 3:45, they were announced into the show jumping ring. Now feeling back in her element, Hermione led Ruby around the show jumping ring. The pair cleared every jump with ease, and were easily inside the required time. She gave Ruby all of the love, and praise following their successful jumping round.
“That felt amazing.” She said to the group.
“It looked good as well.” Her mum commended her.
“She rides so nicely, and loves to jump. I can’t wait to have her out for cross country tomorrow.”
“Did you hear them say your dressage score when they announced you into the arena?”
“No, not at all. How did I do?”
“You two are currently sitting in 1st place, with a score of 26.5”
“Oh wow! I didn’t expect that.” Hermione said with surprise.
Dressage scoring for eventing was a little backwards. The closer your score was to zero, the higher you were ranked. A 26.5 was quite a good score at the level she was competing.
“Let's get this horse turned in for the night then we can run by the main arena, and check the standings fully.”
“Sounds good.” Hermione agreed.
Sunday, 6:30 am.
Hermione was up early Sunday morning. She went down to the stables with Liz, Becky, and Robert to check on the horses, muck stalls, and give them breakfast. She threw Mercury on a lead and led him out to graze while Robert mucked out the stall. Fifteen minutes later she put him back in the stall, with fresh food and water.
When they made their way back up to camp, around 7:30, Dan already had breakfast ready for everyone. Feeling nervous for cross country day, Hermione opted for fruit, and a small scone.
Mercury had show jumping at 9:45 this morning, so it would only be a few hours before they were starting their events for the day. Hermione and her mum checked standings at the main tent before they turned in the night previous. After dressage Ruby was sitting in 1st with a 26.5, and Mercury was sitting in 2nd with a 26.8. This put Hermione into a good mood going into day two.
By 8:30 Mercury was at the lorry getting tacked up before show jumping. After some stretching, and a solid warm up, the pair were ready to compete. Like Hermione had with Ruby, she jumped clear, inside the time to maintain second place going into cross country.
There was a discussion between Hermione and the three grooms about what would happen as she finished cross country on Ruby. There was only a little over an hour between finishing cross country on Ruby and starting on Mercury.
They decided that Robert would be in charge of Mercury, who he would have tacked up, and properly stretched to go into the warm up. Hermione would help Liz, and Becky cool off Ruby before running off to warm up Mercury.
This was the best possible plan they could come up with, which would make sure both horses get the care they deserved at the appropriate times.
At noon, Hermione changed into her cross country attire before warming up Ruby. Hermione was wearing black breeches, a burgundy long sleeve shirt, her riding boots, a body protector, black gloves, and helmet.
Ruby warmed up fantastically for the third time. When they walked up to the cross country starting box, she was raring to go. When she was given the okay to start from Hermione, she took off like a bat out of hell. The pair sailed through the jumps with ease, and made it to the finish line clear, inside the time, and without a single fault.
As much as she wanted to celebrate, now was not the time. They needed to cool the horse down before getting her put back up in the stable.
Hermione quickly pulled the saddle and pad off Ruby, while Liz and Becky started dousing her in water. She put the saddle in the cart they brought, pulled the bridle off, put her halter on, then made sure she had a bucket of fresh water to drink.
“You need to go to Mercury, now Hermione.” Her mum said.
“We’ve got this. You did a great job. Now go do the same on Mercury.” Liz said, reassuring Hermione.
“Got it. Thank you.” Hermione said, rushing off to Mercury with her mum, and dad following.
She found Robert quickly, and immediately started checking the tack. She tightened the girth before she got on, then started warming him up.
Just before their 2:45 pm start time they made their way towards the start box. Mercury was keen to run, and didn’t want to stand still while waiting for the go ahead.
Once given the okay to start Mercury took off, running through the course like he knew it already. He was much more careful in his movements in comparison to Ruby, but still finished clear, inside the time, and without faults.
When she finished, she showered Mercury with praise, but like Ruby the celebration was short lived, as priority number one was cooling off her horse. As the tack came off the grooms doused him with water to cool him off. By the time they had finished cooling him off, the last two riders had finished the course, and standings were being announced.
Hermione had managed to finish in first place with Ruby, and second place with Mercury. This meant they had to stay, and have the horses prepared for the awards ceremony at 3:30. Now in a rush, the group worked together to make sure the horses, and Hermione were properly prepared for the awards ceremony.
Hermione had to change back into her show jumping clothes for the awards, and Liz had to get dressed up to lead Mercury, as Hermione couldn’t be riding both horses at once.
The awards ceremony went as expected. The top five finishers received rosettes, and recognition. It was also announced that the top three finishers for this event qualified for Badminton in May of next year.
At 4:30 pm, all of the pomp and circumstance was finally over, and the group of 6 could finally take the horses home.
The lorry was packed, both horses were prepared for travel, loaded and the group was ready to go. They made sure everyone had snacks for the road, and just after 5pm the group started the nearly 4 hour drive home.
4 hours later they arrived at home.
Ruby, and Mercury were immediately pulled off the trailer, and put into their stalls. Everything that could be unloaded from the lorry was including all of the tack.
Hermione and her parents didn’t make it back to the house until 10:30 pm. By that time she was ready to crash, and was thankful she cleared returning in the morning with the Headmistress.
The last thing she was determined to do before she went to sleep was shower. Car rides always made her feel grubby, and she didn’t want to get into bed feeling that way.
Following her shower, she got into bed and set her alarms. She had planned to meet the Headmistress at 7:45 in her office, as her portkey was cleared to take her through the Hogwarts wards. From the moment her head hit the pillow she was out.