To see if horses can break his bad habits, Troy's father sends him to a barn.  There, one of the first things he and his friend Foster have to do is get on a horse, bareback and lay down. When Troy does this, he feels connected to his mother, like she’s there.  Because of this, Troy begins riding and taking after Chance.

Not long after a man on the polo team there, Jerome, becomes known as the antagonist, at first picking on Troy.  The boy tries to shrug this off.   As Troy was walking home one day with a polo mallet, the police stop him and jump on him.  He is knocked out and people come to support him, his father furious.  Again he tries to shrug it off but this was difficult.  Soon he kicks a goat, Percy, out of frustration.  His crush sees, was angered, and stopped talking to him. 

Soon Troy was invited to a party.  Of course, Jerome came too.  Jerome started picking on Troy so he tripped the man, giving him shoulder injuries and a limp.  No one saw that he tripped Jerome, it was dark there.  Troy was recruited to the polo team.  At the big game, Jerome pulled Troy off of Chance, even though they were on the same team and Troy could have been trampled and killed. Jerome was of course booted off the team.