round and round in silence [open]

[Deleted]

Luka had brushed out Aleena, and then proceeded to put the black dressage saddle on her, narrowly avoiding the mare's gaping jaws and frowning at her pinned teeth. Seemed the mare was once more in one of her bad moods, and it would mean that despite the cooler weather, and the fact that their training sessions had become so much better, that today was going to be an uphill battle.

He wasn't far from wrong. Aleena had forgotten her the little amount of manners that she had, and as Luka mounted, the mare walked off. He brought her back down to a halt and dismounted, stopping her by the mounting block again. This time she at least waited, so Luka wasn't too fussed. As she mouthed the bit, he walked her with a loose rein to the indoor arena, closing the gate behind them. As much as they both disliked flatwork, Luka preferred to at least do three flatwork sessions a week if he could manage it. He was feeling the loss of an instructor though. The Academy did provide classes, but his disability disallowed him from attending, mainly because of the fact that the students that could hear, would be setback if the class had to stop every few minutes just because of him.

In silence, he tried his best. He and Aleena probably wouldn't advance further than they were already, but his afternoon's were too full in trying to fit in private lessons as well.

Luka collected the mare, and then started working her at an active trot, posting easily to the mare's long strides.

[Elizabeth Toman]

Libby was in a foul mood and used the energy from her mood to brush off of the mud and dust off of Wisp's coat. It seemed that the mare had been swimming in the stream again and had found, or made, a decent area to have a dust bath in. "And I was sure that only birds did that." She muttered as she used the rubber curry comb to get rid of the worst of it. "I know that pigs wallow in mud so that they don't burn. But horses? Why?"

Once the pony was clean, she put the tack on, sure that she had everything right - and asking nearby stable hand to check it all out for her. She then led the mare out of the barn and towards the indoor arena. She wasn't in the mood for working around other people in the outdoor arenas, and figured that while the weather was still good, this one would be empty. "Or not." She growled as she saw that there was already someone working their horse in the arena.

She watched from the gate as the horse in the arena was trotted around, and when she felt that they were a safe enough distance away from the gate, and still heading away, she felt it would be the best time to enter. "Gate!" She called, the grump she was in was still evident in her voice. Swinging the gate open, she led the mare in, secured the gate behind them and walked into the middle of the arena, to keep out of the way of the other horse and rider. She then fussed with the girth and stirrups, before leading the mare over to the mounting block, which was handily inside from the track, and mounted. Taking up the reins, she squeezed the bay Welsh Pony forward.