Up The Cloudy Draw [Karina]

[Paige Wilson]

Not given so much to whistling and humming as her sister was, Paige was more likely to show her contentment on her face, and as she descended the stairs from her room and let herself out of the Green Ribbon building, the quiet smile that hung on her lips would have told those who knew her well that, for Paige Wilson, all was well with the world- at least at the moment.

Making her way into the barn, the brunette was quick to tack up. She made sure to slip a note under the barn manager's door as requested before leading her mare out into the yard and swinging herself lightly up into the saddle. Taking up the reins, Paige clicked to the palomino and the two made their way out onto the trails.

Karina Fuchs

[Karina Fuchs]

The sun was shining, the sky was blue, and Karina had decided to forgo practicing in the arena today to a more natural approach. Yes, she was serious about riding, but she knew Ella could use the break, and they would all be the better for a day off, or at least, a day spent practicing elsewhere. Because noone had ever decreed that half-passes could only be practiced in a dressage arena.

So, she groomed and saddled the mare, set up the saddlebags that held her lunch, and left a note for Ms. Carr. Once that was done, she grabbed her helmet, and then mounted and pointed Ella in the direction of the Waterfall trail. The mare's long stride ate up the ground, and Karina had a hard time holding her to a walk - Sense taking over the sheer joy of riding, otherwise she would have happily allowed the mare to run as she wished. However, she did walk quickly, and soon there was another rider ahead of them. Karina called out, "Behind you!" The English came more easily to her now - Practice and all that. Sometimes she still found herself slipping back into German, though.

[Paige Wilson]

Paige kept her face ever so slightly upturned to catch the sun's warmth as they walked steadily along the paths. The mare tugged at her gently, wanting to go faster, but the brunette had never ridden these paths before and she was erring on the side of caution, preferring not to end up in a ditch somewhere on her first time out. The palomino wasn't happy about that, but she was behaving herself.

"In front of you!" the brunette returned somewhat flippantly, nudging Sweetie over to the left to allow whoever was behind her to pass. Paige didn't plan on flying about any time soon- she'd probably do a bit of trotting at some point but she wasn't sure above that- so it only made sense to let the other person past, since they probably knew the place better than her in any case, and she could take a lead from them.

[Karina Fuchs]

Karina smiled at the response she received, and let Ella walk up to pass the other horse. As she was next to the girl and her palomino, she couldn’t help herself, and with a wry tone, spoke again, “Next to you.” She kept some space between Ella and the other horse, but didn’t allow the mare to pull away just yet. She might as well make conversation for a little bit.

[Paige Wilson]

Paige laughed, turning her head to face her unexpected companion. "Likewise," she returned cheerfully, eyeing the girl up and, more importantly, her horse. A nice enough pair, she decided, and her smile widened a little. "I don't think we've met," the brunette began- she knew very well that they hadn't met, but that didn't sound so good somehow. "Hi; I'm Paige."

[Karina Fuchs]

Kari chuckled, glad that the other girl was playing along. As she turned more serious, though, Karina nodded, "We haven't. I'm Karina." She smiled again, "I'd shake your hand, but that'd be really hard right now. What house are you in?" There were effectively only two options, since she liked to think she'd know her own housemates, but it was still a decent question, Kari thought.

[Paige Wilson]

Paige grinned. "We could try it if you like, but it might not turn out so well," she remarked, having visions of falling down the gap between the two horses, which would not be a pleasant experience in the slightest. Of course she'd fallen off before, but being trampled wasn't something that she'd experienced. And she didn't intend to. "I'm Green Ribbon- how about you?"

[Karina Fuchs]

Karina shook her head, "I think I would rather wait until later." She didn't know how comfortable Ella would be with contortionist attempts at shaking hands while in the saddle, and she'd rather not push the mare. She nodded at Paige's answer and smiled, "Blue Ribbon for me." She laughed, "It is almost like those Harry Potter books, is it not? I am almost waiting for the chemistry teacher to deduct points for some nonsense."

[Paige Wilson]

"Fair enough," Paige granted with a grin- she was rather relieved to be honest; it had never struck her as a sensible thing to do in the first place, although when you got right down to it, being on horseback at all was not a sensible thing to do in the first place, especially when one was a Western rider. She nodded with enthusiasm at the brunette's comment- as a lover of the written word, that particular series of books had earned a permanent place on her bookshelf.

[Karina Fuchs]

Karina lapsed into silence, turning her attention more to the trail they were riding along. Different trees from back home, but they were nice - And the weather was nice for spending time outside, too. A bird flew from one of the trees, darting across the trail, and Kari had to focus briefly on Ella, whose head had flown up, ears alert. That was the extent of her reaction, though, and Karina nodded, patting the mare's shoulder, "Good girl." She spoke more for her companion's benefit next, "She is flighty sometimes. Sometimes not. Such a mare."

[Paige Wilson]

The scenery was beautiful around here, the brunette remarked idly to herself, and while it was fairly different to the country that had surrounded her at home, the similarities were still there. And of course she had to remember that she was nowhere near as far from home as her companion was, at least by the sound of it, though she knew she probably shouldn't assume these things. Still, one didn't violent a German accent in Boston. Paige had to confess that she probably wouldn't even have recognised the accent as German had it not been similar to the music teacher's... What was her name, now?

She laughed at the other girl's comment. "But then, riding would be no fun without a challenge, would it? You might as well ride a bike."

[Karina Fuchs]

Karina laughed, "That is very true. I would rather ride a horse than a bike." She didn't really mind Ella's reactions, because they did keep things interesting, but she would hate it if the mare provoked a reaction from the other girl's horse, "Your horse is pretty, on another note. What is her name?"

[Paige Wilson]

"You've come to the right place, then," Paige pointed out with a grin, giving her mare a nudge to get her over to the other side of the track and a little further out of the other girl's way. After all, safety first... and all that jazz. Paige was a big proponent of common sense. "Thank you! Her name's Sweetie."

[Karina Fuchs]

"You mean this is not the bike school?" She gave the other girl a grin, "I think I have. And almost everyone who is here wants to be here, which is a nice difference from the school I attended back home." Where a good number of students had been pushed by their parents, or other expectations. As she heard the mare's name, Kari smiled, "That's a good name. This is Ella, she belongs to the school, but I get to ride her."

[Paige Wilson]

"No!" she exclaimed with a grin. "Yeah, it's always good when people are really enthusiastic about what they're doing and where they are." Paige loved Blue Ridge; she hadn't been there for very long, but she could already tell just how much people enjoyed being at the school, and it was a really nice, friendly atmosphere; of course there were one or two who considered themselves to be a cut above everyone else because their families had more money or whatever, but that was fine. She could ignore them. "It's short for Soldier's Sweetheart, but that's a bit of a mouthful."