Meet the Competition

[Khalid Al-Kuwari]

Khalid woke up extra early to get down to the arena for some jumping practice. No sane person would want to ride just after breakfast on a weekend, so setting all the jumps up before breakfast would ensure a quiet arena. It was hard work getting the standards and poles dragged around everywhere and trying to count distance for striding. Seriously, jump crews were the best thing ever. He set them up higher than what he jumped in class, but he was used to jumping about four feet in Qatar. The tiny two-foot-six and three foot jumps in class were a serious waste of potential. The boy quickly fed his horse before grabbing his own quick breakfast. He was back in the barn grooming Nasr within an hour.

He was a bit surprised to find caring for his own horse rewarding. Sure, it was hard work and trying to remember how much grain and roughage to give was sometimes a challenge, but it was nice to see Nasr's shiny and healthy coat as a product of his own work. Cleaning tack was boring, but a little bit of online research proved that taking care of tack regularly increased its lifespan significantly. Khalid also realized that he got faster at chores, so the first grooming of the day went from taking almost an hour to only fifteen or twenty minutes. Given Nasr's size, that was impressive.

As usual, Nasr walked quietly a pace behind his rider to get from the barn to the indoor arena. It was much too cold to ride outside. Khalid swung easily into the saddle and started his warm up. Walk, trot, canter in each direction, practice circles of varying sizes in both directions, leg yields down the long side, and collection. He turned Nasr towards the single on the quaterline set at 3'3". The gelding had no problem getting over the jump in either direction.

The oxer line was set to 3'6", 3'9", and 4'. The bounce was an easy 3'6". The six stride line was set to 3'9" along with the first element of the bending line.


Jump arrangement, arrows can mostly be ignored
Tag: Indigo Blume

[Indigo Blume]

Indigo woke up earlier than usual, eager to get riding before other people started using the arena. Although she wasn't a fan of being alone, she knew that staff would be around occasionally, and she would have Casper. At least she wouldn't be lost in the middle of nowhere.

She arrived at the White Oak Barn an hour before she wanted to ride, so she could give Casper his breakfast. She fed her horse and spent the time he was eating feeding herself and getting everything ready. The second Casper had finished eating, she led the gelding into the crossties and brushed him down, making his coat spotless and shiny. She tacked him up with a black jumping saddle and his usual black bridle. She strapped on his open front jump boots and led him out of the barn and to the indoor arena.

Indigo was surprised to see that someone else had had the same idea as her. She arrived as a boy warmed up his large warmblood. Upon seeing the course set up, she waited at the gate until the other rider came past the gate.
"Is it okay if I ride in here?" She asked politely, scratching Casper's neck. She noticed the height of the jumps, a few inches higher than what she had jumped before, but she knew that wouldn't be a problem, as she was confident with her jumping ability. Indigo studied the other rider's concentrated face, hoping that she wouldn't see signs of anger or annoyance. She was feeling slightly defeated, as she had hoped to jump in here alone.

[Khalid Al-Kuwari]

Cantering away from the jump, Khalid waited until he was turned towards home before answering. This wasn't a lesson, and it didn't make sense to yell at someone over a rhetorical question. He could feel his horse's body heat against his legs. Nasr was responsive as always and ready to tackle some more challenging jumps. There was no specific course, just a bunch of elements set up. He let Nasr walk a bit in the near end of the arena to avoid having to shout. It was much too early to be yelling.

"No, you can't ride in here. All your effort to groom and tack was for nothing, and clearly it was too much effort to see if someone was using the arena before you got your horse ready."

His tone was heavy with sarcasm. Khalid never understood why people asked permission to ride when nothing was going to stop him. What could he do? Put a force shield around the mounting block that tossed anyone who touched it out of the arena? Frankly, he didn't really care so long as they both stayed out of each other's ways. Call jumps sooner than two strides before, and call changing direction.

"To answer the question you should have asked, my horse is fine around other horses passing or coming at him head on."

Khalid turned slightly in the saddle to look at the whole arena and pointed to each line in turn and gave the striding.

"Three to four, six, bending eight, bounce."

Necessary information out of the way, he turned his horse to canter on the right lead. None of the jumps were on the rail, so he figured her warm up wouldn't disturb his jumping. He also assumed she knew proper arena etiquette or else she did not deserve to ride without an instructor. In the far end, he called out his simple course so she would know what to expect.

"Outside, outside!"

A couple strides before the first jump, Khalid sat back in the saddle to help Nasr get his hind end under him to power the jump. It took them a couple practice rides for Khalid to get used to his gelding and not be jumped out of the tack every time. At least the gelding was in no danger of touching anything, though his jumping style might cost seconds in the air. He sat the line keeping the horse from stretching out too much and trying to make the six stride in five. Nasr jumped the out like it was a four foot.

[Indigo Blume]

Indigo clenched her fist at the other rider's sarcasm. It was unecessary. Wouldn't a simple yes do? Indigo shook her head and waited until the rider had past before she opened the gate. She led Casper into the arena, keeping him on the rail so the pair would be out of the way of the other rider using the arena. Indigo checked her stirrups, tightened her girth and mounted up. She shortened up her reins and squeezed her heels gently in Casper's side. The gelding moved easily into his fluid walk. As they were walking, Indigo watched the boy jumping. She noticed how much higher his horse was jumping than what seemed needed for the jump. Although, after his reponse to the initial question, she kept her mouth shut.

Indigo heard him call out his course, and she looked over the jumps, tracing his pattern to see where he would go. Once he had gone through the first jumps, Indigo trotted Casper on a 20 metre circle to warm him up some more. She did a few more circles in the arena, avoiding both the jumps and the other rider. She trotted for a few more laps in both directions, taking care to stay out of the way, and asked Casper to canter. The gelding obliged happily and the two rolled around the arena, sticking to the rail. Once Indigo trusted that her horse was warmed up, she looked to the 3'3 on the quarter line and called out to the other rider, first checking that he had finished his first pattern.
"Quarterline single side!" Once she was sure that she had let the boy know where she was going long before she turned, she cantered around the arena and turned towards the quarterline, straightening Casper up and sitting tall, keeping him steady as she approached the jump. She rose into two-point as Casper began to lift of the ground. She balanced perfectly over the saddle as her gelding cleared the small jump with ease. She returned the gelding to the rail and slowed him to a walk, giving him a break as well as allowing the other rider to go over more jumps.

Indigo called out to the other rider a few more times as she warmed Casper up over the small Quarterline single, making sure she was comfortable with Casper's jumping style as well as jumping while another horse was in the arena.

[Khalid Al-Kuwari]

Khalid held the outside rein steady to keep Nasr from blowing through the corner. This was practice, not competition, and he wasn't about to let his horse get in the habit of becoming unbalanced through turns. Nasr left from distances that would be considered a bit long by American standards, but the large warmblood didn't have the agility to pick his whole front end up at the base of the jump. Khalid kept the horse on a short rein using his seat to drive Nasr forward and engage his back. Over the oxer, the automatic release was more apparent with an unbroken line between his elbow and the horse's bit. Even over the largest jump, Nasr wasn't even close to rubbing the top rail.

"Six, rollback, bending, outside!"

It was easy enough to avoid the other rider who kept mostly to the rail and the little single. Khalid's jumping style wasn't as pretty as a Hunter two-point, but it was effective. He got his horse to the ideal place to jump from and then promptly got out of his way without sacrificng contact with the mouth. He jumped the single on a slice using his right leg and left rein to keep the gelding from thinking about running out. They marched down the line to jump the six-stride in backwards and collected through the far end in preparation for the next jump.

Even after only a few dedicated jumping rides together, Nasr and Khalid worked like a well practiced team. They both loved the greater challenge of bigger jumps. Landing from the four foot oxer, Khalid let his gelding canter once around before slowing him to a walk. There were no lavish and exaggerated pats for his hard work or coos about what a good he was or promises or treats after. Nasr stretched out his neck and was allowed to catch his breath while Khalid thought up more courses to jump.

[Indigo Blume]

Indigo studied the other rider as she trotted around the arena, deciding what set of jumps to take on. She noticed how high the horse was jumping, and how much time he would be losing if he were doing that in a competition. Indigo thought that jumping them in that style was longer, and maybe even harder than jumping closer to the rail, as Casper was doing. She shook her head and nudged her gelding into a canter.
"Bending 8!" Indigo called out the line a good 6 or 7 strides before the jump, to make sure the other rider knew exactly what she was doing. She rocked with Casper's canter and looked towards the first jump, turning her horse towards it. She lined up so she was heading for the middle, and held her reins and leg equally so Casper wouldn't run out, stop or go too fast. She rose into her two-point and cleared the jump. She turned Casper gently and held her outside rein as she rode towards the second jump. Just like the first one, she kept Casper straight and her aids firm. Once she cleared the second jump, she gave Casper a pat on the neck and some praise. As she cantered along the rail, she glanced at the 3 to 4 line, debating whether she should try it or not. She decided against it, since she wasn't comfortable jumping 4'.

Indigo went over every jump except the oxer line, calling them out before taking them. Once she was done, she brought her gelding back to a walk and gave him a long rein, bending to rub his neck and give him praise. She glanced at the other riding pair and frowned. Why wasn't he praising his horse? The gelding had done well, he deserved at least some sort of pat or kind word. The red-head girl merely shook her head and cooled down her own horse, leaving the other rider to his own devices.

[Khalid Al-Kuwari]

Once Nasr had walked around a couple times, Khalid picked up the canter. Two more courses would be enough for today. So far as he was concerned, Nasr was doing his job. Why give lavish praise for simply meeting expectations? No one ever got a gold star for showing up to work on time, after all.

"Outside, bounce, outside!"

There was only one way to jump the oxer line, and Khalid figured the other rider would know what was going on. He picked up the speed and let the gelding extend his stride some. It looked like they were galloping to the first element and purposefully left a stride out of the lines. It was the rider's job to keep the horse balanced, it was the horse's job to jump and not touch anything. Khalid stepped hard into the outside stirrup through the short end and let the gelding's massive stride take them to the bounce. In the last couple of strides, Khalid shortened his stride to make the bounce fit and rode through it with the ease of a skipping stone. They marched down the six stride line in five. To finish, Khalid picked and easy course that was straightforward.

"Angle, single, bounce, bending!"

Khalid knew his horse could jump higher and do far more challenging courses. Breeding helped, but horses didn't come with hefty price tags for bloodlines alone. Nasr flew down the first line, collected through the corner, and was pressed out of the bounce. Lead change, balance through the corner, slice the line in six. Khalid brought the gelding down to a working trot once around and then to a walk to cool off. So maybe he was being a bit reckless, but his horse could handle it and loved jumping hard and fast. Hot air was rising off the horse's sides, and both horse and rider were sweating. The reins were loosened, but Khalid still didn't give any sort of praise. His horse had a job which he performed, but didn't do anything that was above and beyond expectation.

[Indigo Blume]

As Indigo walked Casper on a loose rein, she watched the other rider jumping. She had to admit that he was good, but she did not at all like how he was treating his horse. His jumping to her looked reckless, and due to the weather, the steam coming off the two of them probably wasn't a good thing.

Indigo gave Casper another pat and shook her head, not looking as the other rider slowed his horse. She halted Casper in the same place, out of the way. She pulled her feet out of her stirrup, lent forward, and swung her right leg back over the saddle. She dismounted gently and swiftly, so she wouldn't pull too much on Casper. She ran up her stirrups and loosened Caspr's girth so he would be more comfortable as she walked back to the barn. As she was leaving, she felt it would be polite to introduce herself to the other rider.
"I'm Indigo, by the way." She called in her usual friendly manner. Now that that was out of the way, she could walk her horse away from the indoor arena and back to the White Oak Barn.

Once back at the barn, Indigo swapped out Casper's bridle for his halter and put him in the crossties. She took off his saddle and set it on the railing with the saddle pad upside down on the top. She grabbed her brush and spent at least half an hour brushing down her horse, since he was a bit sweaty. Satisfied that the horse was cool and no longer sweaty, she led her gelding to his stall, gave him a few treats, and then went back to grab her tack and put it away.