Big Hearted Babette | A Nice Horse Story

By: Mary McCandless

Cassie scowled nervously. This horse show was one of the biggest shows she and her horse Babette had ever been in, and important people were watching her. This was part of the culmination of long years of struggle to be noticed by somebody – anybody – with enough money and influence to buy her a world class horse and sponsor her in her bid to make the Olympic team. She grasped the reins just below the bit and pushed Babette forward, walking up and down, up and down in the holding area outside the arena. One more rider to go.

Finally, it was time to check the girth one last time, swing up into the saddle, and wait for the big gates to pull open as her name was announced. If only, she thought, as she had so many times, if only I had a decent horse. She gave Babette a nudge and the little bay mare pranced into the ring eagerly. The jumps loomed massively in a complicated route that Cassie had gone over and over in her head, memorizing every twist and turn and every place where one less stride on a tight corner might save a second on the clock. It was her job to guide her horse exactly, giving Babette the best opportunities to sail cleanly over each formidable jump.

Time she thought as the clock started and she and the horse slid into a brisk canter headed for the first jump. Clean. The second and the third flew by, and Babette settled down to business, heading across the open ring to a huge brush jump.

“No! Not that one!” said Cassie, wrestling with her horse, shoving her leg in and dragging on the bit with all her strength to put Babette at the rail jump confusingly tucked right next to the brush. Babette wrenched her head away, stumbled then pushed over the brush jump, nearly – but not quite – knocking down the top bar.
A collective sigh came from the audience, and Cassie fought back tears of rage as she pulled the horse together and sent her flying dangerously fast at the rest of the jumps. Why even bother she muttered furiously, I’m out now — but still she finished the course clean and fast, determined to show them she could, even if her horse didn’t go where it was told.

Outside the ring, Cassie slid off Babette, slung the reins over a post and sat in stony silence. She’d never hoped to win or even place high riding Babette, but her whole world revolved around that one single hope of being noticed; being recognized as a really good rider. And now, she was just a crazy rider who went too fast and couldn’t control her horse.

“That was incredible!” said a voice next to her ear, and a hand reached out to stroke Babette’s sweating neck, “How’d you make a stupid mistake like that anyway?”

She turned a fierce glare at the other rider. It was John, a long time competitor who owned and rode several horses worth more than Cassie could even dream about.

“Maybe,” she said, “Maybe if I could afford a horse like yours instead of this stupid thing, I woudn’t make stupid mistakes either.”

John stopped stroking Babette and stared at her in astonishment. “What –” he broke off and shook his head, “Cassie, don’t you realize your horse saved the show for you? You were wrong! Babette went the right way!” he said, as she stared open mouthed.

“Babette–” Cassie stopped and swallowed, as she put a shaking hand on Babette’s neck.

“Yes, Cassie. Your rotten cheap little horse wouldn’t let you put her at the wrong jump. Heck, I’ll buy her if you don’t want her anymore,” he said as he walked away.

Cassie turned slowly and looked at Babette. Babette looked at her, then dropped her dark nose in Cassie’s hand. For the first time in all the years of fighting and struggling and pushing, Cassie noticed how soft Babette’s nose was. They stood like that for a long time, long enough for the last rider to finish, for the scores to be computed and for the winners to be called back to the ring for the ribbon presentation. Cassie smiled when she heard her name and number. “C’mon, girl,” she whispered, swung up into the saddle and rode proudly into the ring to collect a fourth place ribbon.

After that, it didn’t seem so important anymore to find someone rich to buy her an expensive horse. Instead, Cassie just kept riding her big hearted little mare at impossibly high jumps and — finally –loving every minute of it.