Then a tall man with salt-and-pepper hair and a reputation for winning everything from dressage to showjumping steps forward. His name is Cole Harrington. Everyone knows him.
He looks Julian up and down, eyes lingering on the wheelchair, then turns to Thunder. "Impressive animal," he says, though his tone is anything but impressed. "I'm curious to see if your connection is as real as the media claims."
Julian tries to keep his voice steady. "Thunder's the best partner I've ever had," he says.
Harrington smirks. "Horses like him don't bond overnight. Sometimes what you see in the ring isn't what you get outside it."
Julian feels the eyes of every trainer on him, waiting for a response. He forces himself to meet Harrington's gaze, refusing to back down. "We put in the work every day. What you saw wasn't luck."
Harrington shrugs as if the conversation is beneath him. "We'll see at the festival," he says, already turning away.
Julian's cheeks burn, embarrassment and anger mixing in his chest. He wants to scream. Instead, he wheels away, Thunder following close behind, nostrils flared.
Back at the hotel that night, Julian can't sleep. His phone buzzes with texts from Caleb: "You got this, man." And encouraging messages from his mom. But Julian can't ignore the gnawing fear. What if he messes up? What if the critics are right?
He closes his eyes, replaying every ride, every stumble, every triumph with Thunder. He thinks about why he started riding, how horses never judged him, how Thunder saw past the chair and the scars and only cared about who Julian was on the inside.
As dawn breaks, Julian makes a promise to himself: he won't let fear or critics control his story. Thunder needs him. And deep down, he needs Thunder just as much. Tomorrow, they'd ride for themselves—not the cameras, not the headlines. For the boy who believed in impossible things, and the horse who believed in him.
Julian always thought the hardest part was behind him. After all, he'd survived the accident, the long months of rehab, and the loneliness that came with being the kid in the wheelchair. He'd faced down Thunder's wildness when everyone else said to give up.
But as the State Horse Festival draws near, Julian realizes there are battles that don't leave visible scars, and sometimes those are the hardest to fight.