Nine Levels of Hell

[Elizabeth Toman]

Just as the school year was coming to a close, things had been working out really well with Storm. They had finally managed to find a balance - when working on the ground - between her getting things done and him letting them happen. However, with her being away at gym camp for two and a half months, it seemed that everything had reverted back to the way it had been when she had first purchased the horse - and that had been done as a payback for last year's gym camp.

After what had felt like the battle of the decade, Libby rubbed her hip as she led the gelding toward the dressage arena. She gave a nod when she saw it was empty, and if it hadn't been she would have entered anyway. Swinging into the saddle, she cued the gelding forward and opened the gate to let them into the arena and closed it behind them.

Giving the gelding a loose rein, they began to walk around the outside track. When she was sure that he was going to remain walking calmly, she dropped the reins all together and stretched her arms out to the side and drew circles in the air with her index fingers, remembering her early riding lessons, concentrating on using her seat and legs to keep the Quarter Horse walking in a straight line - which wasn't too hard when they had a fence on one side of them. She then went through other exercises: touching poll and dock and then touching her toes.

[Deleted]

    Fitz had spent a decent portion of his summer back home, but now he'd returned to Blue Ridge and had to get back to his training with Corvus. He hadn't been gone for too long, but he knew that Corvus would still be horrific the first time he rode him. He'd ridden at his home barn when he'd been at home, and his mother had figured out ways to have him try a multitude of horses who just happened to be for sale, but Fitz wasn't really interested. He knew that his mother didn't approve of Corvus since the gelding was a tough ride and had a nasty attitude, but he was perfectly content with the current challenge of getting along with Corvus. When he and the gelding succeeded, it was much more rewarding than riding a perfectly trained horse. Nonetheless, riding pleasant horses who didn't fight him had been a nice break, and he knew that transitioning back to Corvus would be a bit of a shock. 

    After grooming the gelding and tacking him up in his dressage tack, Fitz donned his helmet and led Corvus out to the rings, mounting before approaching the dressage ring. It took him a moment to recognize the rider inside, whom he'd met a few times, and grinned a charming smile when he caught her eye. "Gymnastics even on horseback?" he queried, referencing the stretches she was doing on her gelding. He'd heard the talk about her being a big deal or something in gymnastics, not that he knew much about it. "You won't mind me joining you?" he questioned, opening the gate and entering. 

[Elizabeth Toman]

Libby straighten up from her stretching, shooting the owner of the voice a scathing look as she picked the reins up again, but a smile lit her face as he began to enter the arena. "Sure, why not." She said, the sarcasm evident in her voice. "It's not like you're going to wait for my answer anyway." Her smile frosted a little, but remained in place as she collected her gelding and squeezed him forward into a floating trot that was so easy to sit to, making him a great dressage mount. moving him onto the inside track.

"I don't care what you're doing." She said to the boy who had entered the arena. "I have rules that you will follow. We share the arena as a whole - none of this you use that half and I'll use this crap. And you will follow proper arena etiquette. We can either work in the same direction, or opposite directions, I'll let you pick which." She had picked this arena because she knew it would be quiet compared to the other arenas used for flat work, and being quiet would allow her to work on her bond with the gelding, since she had been gone for the past three months and she knew that her gelding wouldn't have been properly schooled in that time. She was just thankful that he had been worked