A Moment's Silence (open)

[Katherine Carr]

Katherine smiled as she led the large Drum Horse out of the barn and into the arena, she halted him in the middle of the arena and rubbed his large nose before she tightened the girth, pulled the stirrups down and then led him over to the mounting block. She knew that it would be easy for her to mount Belarus from the ground, but it would be easier on her and nicer for the gelding to use the mounting block.

Once astride the large horse, and she was happy with her stirrups, she squeezed him forward and they made their way around the arena, the gelding happily plodding along. A smile touched the woman's lips as she thought about the fact that she had been planning to ride while lead reining Tonka, but once she had settled on a mount that plan had obviously changed, as she could just imagine the tiny elderly horse trying to keep pace with her mount's large stride - even if he was just plodding.

Belarus was the perfect beginners' mount, and Katherine would have no problem putting a complete beginner on him without the need for a lead rein, in fact the gelding may as well have been a mare for the way he doted on novice riders - like a mother hen.

The weather was quickly growing warmer and warmer, showing that, even this early in spring, it was going to be a scorching summer. The woman shed the jacket she was wearing and draped it over the gelding's wither, knowing that it wouldn't bother him. Had it been windy though, she would have dismounted and put it aside carefully.

Just as she was about the asked the gelding to pick up his walk she heard a voice at the gate, and allowed the gelding to keep at his ambling pace while whomever was at the gate entered.

[Deleted]

It had been about a month since Aaron arrived at the academy and not many students, or anyone else that took a residence at Blue Ridge, had come to him in that time. Figuring he probably wasn't going to be needed in the next hour Aaron headed out to the Red Willow barn. Not stopping when Lulu stuck her head out of her stall. Both her and Coal seemed to be settling in nicely, the gaited mare was still bossy and the spotted gelding was still his bomb-proof self.

Returning from the tack room with Lulu's blue halter and lead rope the man let himself into her stall and haltered her. Moving the horse into the cross ties, the thirty year old slid off her blanket and made an assessment about her cleanliness. For the most part the Walkaloosa was clean a few patches around her eyes and down her legs, her barrel was just dusty.

Currying her off quickly, Aaron took the brush and took all, or at least what he could, of the dirt and dust off. With each flick of his wrist a new cloud of particles collected in the air. Even though he was used to the hay, bedding, and dirtiness that came with owning or being around horses the thirty year old always did sneeze when too much of it flew up his nose. Leaving the mare again he made his way back to the tack room where he gathered Lulu’s equipment. Sitting the saddle, saddle pad, and cinch on the rack, he proceeded to put her bridle on. Pushing his index finger into her mouth and pressing it on her tongue allowed him to slide the bit up into her mouth without clanking anything of her teeth.

Luckily she was lenient with her riders and anyone who handler her that she really wouldn’t mind it all that much. Aaron had seen some horses that bit and threw their head if they didn’t like what was being done to them, which was probably more or less half the time of their life. Saddling the mare up he was happy that he decided to put some sliding shoes on Lulu because that was exactly what he planned to do today. Buckling up the splint boots on her front cannons and skid boots on her hind fetlocks. Now they were ready to go, "Ready girl?" Aaron stroked Lulu's velvety muzzle and unclipped the cross ties.

Her cinch wasn't tightened all of the way, but it was good enough that the large Western saddle wouldn't slide around while she walked. Figuring that it really wasn't all that cold out, Aaron led his mount to Roscoe's arena. Seeing that Katherine Carr. the White Oak barn manger and one of the someones he answered to, riding a draft-looking horse already occupied it, he entered anyways. "Gate!" His deep voice rang through the arena. After he closed the gate he tightened Lulu's cinch and asked, "Would it be alright if I join you?" The thirty year old knew what the answer she would give him would probably be yes, but it was a nice gesture to ask anyways.

[Katherine Carr]

Katherine smiled as she turned in the saddle to look toward the owner of the voice. "Of course, Aaron." She replied. "We'd be happy for your and Lulu's company." She knew all about the mare's superiority complex, but she also knew that the gelding she was riding wouldn't take any nonsense from the mare. Sure, Belarus was a huge push-over when it comes to his riders, but he was old enough not to take any flack from other horses - though he did know when to be submissive.

Once the farrier and his horse had cleared the gate, she returned the attention to getting the horse she was riding to begin to pick up his pace. After asking him to pick up his walk a little more, she then asked for a nice gentle trot, which she sat to easily - one of the good things about this gelding being an ex-parade horse was that his trot was smooth with enough rhythm that he seemed like he was floating along the ground, something that one wouldn't think would be possible from a horse his size.

Katherine kept her hands light on the reins and gave enough pressure with her legs to keep up the gelding's momentum, smiling as the horse's head dropped slightly as he relaxed into the pace his rider had set. She rubbed the large gelding's neck as he continued to float around the inside track of the arena, leaving the outside track free for Aaron and Lulu.