An Unfortunate Accident (Avery)

[Peter Holden]

Peter hadn't been riding with Avery as of yet, which was sort of odd, considering their school. In fact, the only time he'd seen her with her horse was when he'd met her on the trails. Today they were meeting on the cross country course, as it was a discipline they shared. Cross country was Peter and Thimble's worst phase in eventing, and it could always use work, so he was glad for the practice they were sure to get in. He tacked Thimble up using the crimson equipment in her stable color and put on his helmet and protective vest under his jacket.

Leading her out to the mounting block, he mounted and walked her out to the cross country courses where he and Avery were planning on meeting. He could feel a bit of a bounce in Thimble's step that wasn't normally there, but he wasn't really worried. She wasn't off, and he'd felt it before. It was more likely her response to the colder weather. It was normal for her to be heavier on her forehand, and he just hoped she'd work out of it. Thimble was known to get a little irritable in the colder weather, and he wouldn't be surprised if she threw a few minor bucks.

He was careful to keep light on her back but stay back so that he wouldn't be unseated if she did decide to buck. She was certainly feeling strong, which would be good as long as she didn't get too full of herself. When he reached the courses, he began to warm her up, trying to work her out of whatever she had in her hind end.

[Deleted]

The brunette smiled as she played absentmindedly with Dev’s upper lip. The horse snorted finally and Avery figured her short five seconds of staying still were over. Still, she didn’t mind too much. She had scheduled to hang out with Peter on the cross country course, and Avery was rather excited. Even Dev could feel her excitement for going and was already dancing around in the cross ties. Due to the horse being under a blanket, he was for the most part clean and the girl didn’t have a hard time getting his coat shiny. Just a few weeks earlier, she’d had a very aggravating time clipping the eight year old. It was most definitely worth it however and she was thankful for his now sleek, shiny coat.

Puffing out in his usual fashion, Avery couldn’t the girth up much. She shook her head at the horse before pulling her own helmet and safety vest. After checking Dev’s boots to make sure they were all set and protecting his legs, she slipped on his bridle and led him out to the mounting block. Avery didn’t have to do much to make the horse walk with purpose and before she knew it, they were already at the cross country course.

Dev was very excited at the prospect of going to the cross country course and Avery couldn’t help but grin at his antics. Cross country was their strength in eventing, because both her and horse loved it. Her grin grew larger as the familiar head of a certain British boy caught her attention. “Ello.” she raised a brow at the obvious excitement in his horse before looking down at her own. “They’re both dancing.” Avery pat Dev’s neck before tightening her girth and fixing her stirrups. With that she warmed up a bit to get Dev into focus and listening to her. As they came back down from their canter, Avery looked over at Peter. “Shall we get started?”

[Peter Holden]

Peter kept his focus on Thimble who was still feeling odd and rather full of herself. He'd been riding her long enough to know when something was different from her normal changes, and something was definitely up. She definitely wasn't off or going lame, so he wasn't worried about her hurting herself, so he saw no reason not to ride her today. She was still throwing in a little extra step once in a while while he was warming her up, and he was just careful not to let her get her head too far down, and keep attentive.

He was so focused that he didn't realize it at first when Avery showed up, and he missed her first greeting. He caught her second comment however, and smiled grimly. "Hello Avery." Yes, Thimble was dancing. It wasn't a spooky thoroughbred sort of dance, but stronger, almost as if she was trying to prove that she was being hard to handle today.

Once a little bit happier with how she was moving, and satisfied that she was warmed up, he brought her back down to the walk and stopped her a respectful distance from Avery and Dev. At her question, he answered "I believe we shall." He wiggled Thimble's reins, trying to keep her focused on him. He thought for a moment about how they should go about this before speaking again, "Would you like to take a couple of jumps at a time rather than running the whole course? We could take the log and the coop first and then stop so that we can watch each other."