Who Needs It?

[Deleted]

Raenn left Choo and Ellie in the pasture, but walked Wyllo to the barn to groom her. She hadn't had as much time to spend with the mare as she might have wanted, and while there wasn't really enough work to justify keeping the younger mare, especially since she hadn't had the ethic for vaulting after all, she couldn't exactly part with her either. The right home hadn't come along yet, a home that would keep her busy, but wouldn't keep her trotting for circles on end, so the mare stayed with Raenn, at least for the time being.

After grooming the mare, she tacked her up in a simple snaffle bridle and a bareback pad. None of her horses were strangers to the saddle, but she preferred riding them bareback anyway, even when they weren't in vaulting gear. She led the mare out of the barn and then vaulted on, pulling herself up and settling into her seat. She pointed Wyllo in the direction of the arena, and arrived to find it nice and empty.

She had to dismount to open the gate, but as soon as it was closed behind her, she was running and jumping onto the back of the mare again. As they trotted around the arena, Raenn went back to musing about what she could do with the mare, since this wasn't the life that was in her best interest.

[Megan Sims]

Megs stood in Red Willow giving her mare a thorough groom before she tacked the horse up. She was tempted to just ride her bareback, but as the woman didn't ride as often as she used to, she was worried that riding the mare bareback would result in her not being able to walk the next day, which would make it a little difficult to teach, or at least get to class.

As she led her Oldenburg mare toward the indoor arena - which she assumed would be emptier compared to the outdoor arenas - she once again considered leasing her pretty mare out. The grey had a lot of talent, much more talent then to be left to her own devices until her owner could find time to ride.

Lost deep in thought, it wasn't until she was unlatching the arena gate did she realise that there was already a horse and rider within. "So, I'm not the only one with that idea today." She said to her mare as she looked at the other rider, who was sitting on a bareback pad. "The only difference, she didn't just think about doing it." She led the mare into the centre of the arena so that they were out of the way of the track. "Do you mind if we join you?" She asked as she rubbed her greying mare's nose. Many people argued the fact that the young horse was not a grey, but there again, no one would believe that she was chestnut at birth either.

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Raenn was about to ask Wyllo to notch it up a bit, to a trot, when she saw someone coming into the arena. She hadn't heard the call of 'gate', but then, she hadn't exactly been paying attention either, so she wasn't going to say what had happened there. Luckily, they had been at the far end of the arena, and thus, there wasn't a chance of collision, but Rae knew that she would have to pay more attention now.

As the other woman asked if they minded them sharing the arena, Rae shook her head, gesturing at the large arena, "I know Wyllo's a huge beast, but you can try to squeeze in." She grinned, showing that she meant it as a joke, knowing that she would respect the woman's space as much as she hoped the other would hers, "Of course not."

She looked at the woman's horse, an interesting mixture of colour, "What do you call her colour? I don't think I've seen something like that before, it's a stunning effect, though." The horse looked like a grey, but the mane didn't match, like a chestnut, and Rae was as far removed from equine genetics as it was possible to be. She enjoyed vaulting, and genetics and colours didn't overlap much into that field.

[Megan Sims]

Megs grinned at the other rider's words. "I'm sure Eclipse and I can find a spot to squeeze in around your giant horse." She replied. Looking at the other horse she could see that the mare was indeed taller than her own mare, but not too much taller.

She tightened the girth, pulled the stirrups down and easily swung into the saddle. She smiled at the woman's comment about her mare's colouring. "She's greying out." She replied easily. "She was born a chestnut, when she turned two though, she started to turn a rusty colour and now at six, this is what we have. I think in another year she'll be completely grey." She looked at the other mare again. "She's a pretty grey. How old is she?" She could tell that Wyllo would grey out as she got older from the pale grey on her face, but didn't want to go into colour genetics. "I'm Megs and this is Eclipse." She had the Oldenburg out on the track by now and had her walking out, keeping half an arena between her and the other horse. "What do you do with her?" Even as she asked the question, she hated the words as they reminded her of so many catty girls in her past, though those girls would have their noses curled as they looked down them at the other horse. In the hunter-jumper world it was all about having sleek models, not that the other mare wasn't sleek.

[Deleted]

Raenn smiled as she heard the brunette's response, glad that the woman had taken it in stride. That would bode well for their time in the arena together, after all, there was nothing like spending time riding with someone that couldn't be bothered being nice.

As she heard the response to her question about the mare's colouring, she nodded, regarding the mare again, "That's pretty interesting, she's a beautiful colour." She didn't really know too much about the whole greying out thing, and while one would have to press her hard, she could admit to herself that she had thought that only black horses greyed out. Learn something new every day, right?

As the conversation turned to Wyllo, Raenn smiled, "Thank you. She's five years old, give or take a month." She nodded as she took in the woman's name, and her mount's, then responded, "I'm Rae, Raenn if you want, and this is Wyllo." She pronounced the name as was common, willow, despite the odd spelling, "Well, I bought her for vaulting, but she's not really happy with it, so I might be looking for a new home for her sooner or later." She paused, then clarified, "I'm the vaulting coach. So what do you and Eclipse do?"