Vanessa's POV:  

It seemed to take forever for Saturday to arrive.  And when it did, it seemed to take forever for it to march towards noon.  

Finally Tessa texted me.  

Tessa:  About thirty minutes out now, we'll probably stop somewhere to get lunch.    

I texted back as I walked down the hall. 

Vanessa:  You can have lunch at Vantage Point.  I can have it brought from my house, it's just across the road from the stables.  

Tessa:  Are you sure?

Vanessa:  Of course.  Just give me your orders so I can tell the cooks.  

Tessa:  Okay...  What's available?  

Vanessa:  Pretty much anything you want, including drinks.

Our cooks were experts at whipping up anything and everything.  

Tessa:  I'll take your word for it.  Give me a moment while I get everyone's orders.

After a few minutes she texted me a pretty simple order.  Her dad wanted a steak, and everyone else wanted pizza, except for her.  She wanted popcorn shrimp.  

Vanessa:  You want shrimp?

Tessa: Yeah, you said anything.  Is that a problem?  

Vanessa:  For our cooks, no.  It just surprised me.

I gave the order to the cooks, then went to my room to change.  I picked my one of my best sleekest casual riding outfit.  A Lemuix Musk top with gray Freya breeches and my Charles Owen helmet.  

I'd be lying if I said I wasn't trying to intimidate Tessa with my expensive outfit, the ability to provide a rich lunch at the stables, and of course the stables themselves.    

But Tessa didn't have such insecurities, as I quickly found out.       

20 minutes later, Tessa's POV:      

"There it is!"  

Lacy's squeal brought my head up from my book.  "What?"  

She threw me an irritated look.  "Get your head out of that boring dressage book Tessa,  Vantage Point is just ahead!"  

I was tempted to reply that it might be this 'boring dressage book' that had gotten us here in the first place.  It had seriously helped in my training of Challenger.  But I settled for rolling my eyes and shutting the book to peer out the windshield of the truck.  

Sure enough, just ahead were the iron gates that lead into Vantage Point.  We were passing fields of white fencing and green grass with beautiful horses, all of them clearly well taken care of.  Ahead I could see a huge barn with a steeple on top.  It looked just like the pictures on the internet.  

My hands clenched at my breeches as excitement and nervousness swelled in me.  Challenger and I were way out of our league here.  I highly doubted any of the horses here were Appendixes like he was.  

But then I reminded myself that luxury does not necessarily equal comfort for a horse.  

Vanessa's POV:    

I pulled my blonde hair back and up into a high ponytail, then put a cap over it.  Simple, casual, but I liked the look of it.  When it was time to ride I could easily switch it to a low ponytail.  

 I could see two pick-ups attached to trailers traveling up the road.  I recognized one as Tessa's, and assumed the other was her friend Lacy.

I tapped my foot impatiently as the trucks made their slow way up the road.  Couldn't they go any faster?

Finally they reached the gates and turned up the drive.  I could see Tessa sitting in the back with another girl, whom I assumed was her friend Lacy.  A man was driving who I faintly remembered as her father.  

Lacy was exuberantly pointing to everything behind me.  Tessa was nodding and just looking, taking everything in quietly.  She spotted me and waved, then tapped her friend on the arm and pointed to me, no doubt introducing me as Challenger's buyer.

I waved back, then punched in the gate number to let them in.  The big metal wrought gates slowly swung open, and the trucks began going through the opening. 

As the trailer drove past I spotted Challenger looking out the window, his ears pricked.  "Welcome to your future home," I murmured.  

Next to him another gray was peeking out, but this horse was flea bitten and not dappled like Challenger.  

After that came another truck and trailer, with two woman in the front who were talking.  I saw one of them as Tessa's mom, but the other I didn't recognize, so I assumed it was Lacy's mother.  Looking out of this trailer was a chestnut, I also assumed this was Lacy's horse.  

I had texted Tessa directions as to where to park, so there was no confusion there.  I stayed back until they shut the trucks off.  

As I walked up I could hear Lacy's chatter.  "Look at that cross country course Tessa!  That water complex looks amazing!  And over there-"  

Tessa was patiently listening to her friend's chatter, that is, until she spotted me.  "Hello Vanessa."  

Lacy cut off as her eyes came from Vantage Point to me.  "Oh, hello.  I'm Lacy Beston."  

"And this," said Tessa as her father came round the front of the truck, "Is my dad."

He held out his hand.  "Good to meet you Vanessa."  

I shook it, feeling the strength in his grip.  "You too, Mr. Wellen."  

I turned back to see the two women from the other truck walk up.  "This is my mom," introduced Tessa.  "And Lacy's mom, Mrs. Beston."  

I shook both their hands, then stepped back.  Other people might have felt awkward at this point, but not me, I was completely used to it.  

"If you guys want to unload your horses, we can put them in stalls while we tour the stables," I said crisply.  

I raised a hand before they could protest.  "Yes, yes, it's not an inconvenience and we do have the space."  

Tessa and her mom glanced at each other.  "Well, okay, if you're sure."  

I stayed to the side while they unloaded.  First Tessa's mom unloaded her horse.  The mare was calm and looked around herself with mild interest.  Mrs. Wellen stroked her and said to me, "This is Shocker's Dare, aka Shocker."  

I nodded as I ran my eye over her.  She was a well built sturdy mare, with it seemed a level head.  Not bad.  

Lacy came walking over leading a beautiful chunk of a liver chestnut.  "This is The Day It Began, aka Russo," she said fondly.  "But I think you've already seen him."  

I nodded again.  "Yes I have, at the event show."  

Just then Challenger came flying down the tramp with Tessa following him, holding on to his lead rope.  "Whoa boy, calm down."  

I watched enraptured as he pricked his ears at her voice and stood still, looking around with his head as high as it could go.  He let out a neigh that pierced my ears and sent several other horses to neighing.  His muscles rippled underneath his shiny coat as he stepped to the side.

Tessa shortened her lead line.  "Good lad."  She locked eyes with me.  "He's very excited at new places."  

"Yes, I see," I said breezily.  "Follow me, I'll show you to the stalls."

They followed me inside the barn, and with that began their tour of Vantage Point.   

AN:  *Squeals*  Here it begins!  Am I totally going to be living my luxury dreams through Vanessa?  Absolutely.

What would a luxury stable look like to you?  For me, it looks like a huge indoor arena that's heated and air conditioned XD  Plus, a mega XC course and as many jumps as I want.    

Once again you guys get a double update, I'm not sure how long I'll be able to keep this up, but I'd like to try.

Let's move on to the next chapter --->