Stretch Your Legs, Babe

[Chase Valentine]

Chase rose early on Saturday. You might say he rose earlier than usual, but there was no "usual" for him. Either way, it gave him time to fix Babe's braids. That's just what he did. He started at the forelock, then down the rest of her mane, and then her tail. He groomed her coat and paid special attention to her feathers. He was starting to consider braiding those, too, at the rate bedding got caught in them.

He had a quick break for lunch. When he made it back, it was just after noon. The weather was mild and Babe was energetic, so a trail ride seemed appropriate. He took his time tacking her up and leading her out to the mounting block.

"What do you think, my girl? Meadow trail?" He clicked and she started walking at a leisurely pace.

Once they made it out to the meadow, he clicked three times and she moved into a canter. Since the meadow was so open, he let her have her head and she took off as fast as she'd ever go. He didn't like to go fast, but he held on anyway and let her go. She even jumped over the narrow stream. "Whoa! Okay, that's enough!" he said in a shaky voice. He pulled her down into a trot and tried to steady his nerves. "Where did that come from?" he asked the mare, leaning forward to pat her neck with both hands.

[Hänsli Hochstrasser]

Hans yawned as he picked yet another spec of dirt off of Pandora's body. Sadly, he had made the unfortunate decision to turn the mare out last night. Shaking his head, he silently reprimanded himself for doing something so stupid.

Quickly, he got the mare tacked up in her everyday wear, and he led her outside of the barn. The mare jigged and paced next to him, and though he did his best to get her to behave, she was much too jittery to do so. Pulling down the stirrups and tightening the girth, Hans mounted onto Pandora. Sure, he did have a show this weekend, and he should be practicing with her, but the mare had earned at least one day off this week.

Tightening the reins, he nudged the mare forward towards the meadow trail. He let the mare out into a canter, until he noticed a boy up ahead having some slight trouble with his horse. Hastily, he trotted up to the pair until he was about 10 feet behind and to the right of the both of them. Then, he walked and noticed how nervous the boy seemed. "You okay?" he asked, not loud enough for the horse to spook, but loud enough so the boy could hear. For once, there was genuine concern in Hans' eyes.

[Chase Valentine]

At the sound of a voice behind him, Chase jumped and pulled Babe into a walk. He must have pulled harder than he thought, because she stopped and even took a step back. He apologized under his breath.

"Just fine, thanks." he said, his voice still shaking. He realized he might have sounded a little rude. "My mare got excited. I don't like to go fast, and I've never jumped before." he blushed as he admitted that.

[Hänsli Hochstrasser]

Hans watched as the boy was startled by him, instantly feeling somewhat regretful. Not too much, though. "Sorry for startling you." He said as he urged Pandora into a faster walk so that they were next to the pair. He just nodded when the boy said he was fine. "That must've given you quite the fright, I bet." He stated, thinking about a particular time when Pandora spooked. "The name is Hans, by the way. It's a pleasure to meet you."

[Chase Valentine]

"It's alright. I'm fine." he said. He was calming down now, so his voice wasn't as shaky. "Chase. Likewise." He smiled politely at the rider and glanced at the horse. It was a little bigger than Babe. "Some kind of warmblood, am I right? Lovely color." Although he preferred Friesians.

[Hänsli Hochstrasser]

He gave the boy a pleasant smile as he said he was okay. "Nice to meet you, Chase." He replied. Normally, he would have extended his hand for Chase to shake, but as Pandora seemed to be acting naughty today, he didn't want to take the risk of doing so.

Hans beamed with pride as Chase addressed the mare. "Pandora is a Bavarian Warmblood. Registered as a dark bay, I do believe." He took a second to look over the other boy's horse. "Friesian? What do you two do together?"

[Chase Valentine]

Chase felt that same old pride swell up in his chest. "Dressage, like my father and his friesians. This is Babe, my favorite mount." He patted the mare. "What about you and Pandora?" He thought about his sister's Warmblood and her aspirations for eventing. That was what he knew about warmbloods. What else were they used for?

[Hänsli Hochstrasser]

Hans saw how proud Chase was of his sport, and he gave a small smile to himself because of it. When asked what he and Pandora competed in, he simply nodded. "We do mostly hunters and equitation. She has been trained in dressage too, though, so sometimes we dabble in that a bit." He shook his head as the mare threw her head up and pranced to the side, luckily away from Chase and Babe. Straightening her out, he then looked back over at the boy. "What barn is she located in?" Hans asked, motioning to his mare.

[Chase Valentine]

"That's nice. Like, I said, I don't like jumping, but my sister does. My father's really big on dressage. I guess I take after him." In fact, he was the only one out of three kids that specialized in it.

When the other mare started acting up a little, Babe turned her ears toward her and also tossed her head, but she didn't prance around. Chase was grateful for that. "She's in Red Willow. What about yours?"