Taking it slow (open)

[Cortney Smit]

Cortney smiled as she walked into the equine clinic barn. "Thank you so much Dr Carr." She said, her voice excited but not squeaky as she walked in and saw the veterinarian outside one of the many stalls. "It means a lot to me that you are trusting me with your new mare." Since her first ride on Olé had gone so well in the clinic arena, the veterinarian had said that she could take the bay sabino mare to one of the academy arenas and have a proper ride, as long as she didn't push the mare.

After saddling Olé, leaving the bridle off for now, she put the bridle over her shoulder and led the mare out of the barn and across campus to the dressage arena. She figured that this arena would be the best and quietest to use as the other students used Roscoe's, the jumping or Benedict's arena and she should be able to really get to know the mare's movements and report back to the vet about how the mare moved. Even though this would be the second time she had ridden the mare, she would be sad to see Olé head off to another home.

Arriving at the arena, she replaced the Holsteiner's halter for her snaffle bridle and led the mare into the arena. After pulling the stirrups down and tightening the girth, she placed her left foot into the stirrup and easily bounced up and swung her right leg over the mare's back before gently lowering herself into the seat. "Walk on precious." She said as she tightened her thigh muscles and smiled as the pretty horse flickered her ears backward and then walked forward. "So, we know that you were at least trained nicely." She said as she rubbed the mare's neck.

After a couple of laps of the Olympic sized arena, she asked the mare to move forward into a trot, and the girl sucked her breath in as the mare just floated from one gait to the next. "Wow." She breathed as he moved with her mount, it was like floating on air.

[Amelia DeFoe]

Amelia finished saddling Tommy, but left his headstall hanging over the hitching post for the moment, as she still had to speak to the barn manager about arenas. She had found quite a number on the map that had been handed to her, but still, with her father's restriction in place, she hoped that at least one of the riders would have told Ms. Chevalier which arena they had headed to.

She was in luck, and the girl and dog left the office with a clear directive of where they were going. As odd as it might sound, Ms. Chevalier had suggested that they take a look into the dressage arena, as one of the students had indicated that she would be riding there. The barn manager had allayed her worry about riding in said arena, when she obviously wasn't going to work on dressage, by pointing out that it was one of the most out of the way arenas, and that the student, a Cortney, had been planning on exercising a horse, nothing more.

After putting on Tommy's headstall, Amelia buckled on her helmet and then picked up Wolf's lead again, setting off in the direction that the barn manager had pointed her. After only one wrong turn, Amy found her way to the dressage arena, and approached the fence, careful not to create too much noise, in case the sabino horse was flighty. She fidgeted with Wolf's leash, never one to call attention to herself, waiting for the girl to acknowledge her.

[Cortney Smit]

Cortney was gently working Olé through her paces, remembering what Dr Carr had said about not knowing how long it had been since the mare was last worked properly since she'd arrived with a foal at foot. She was gentle with her hands, but quick to re-direct the mare should she seem to be loosing concentration. She loved the way the sabino moved, even her transitions just flowed from one gait to another without an obvious shift in speed, showing the young rider that the mare had obviously had really good training in the past, and she would make sure to pass this on to Dr Carr.

The girl was so focused on her mount that she didn't notice the arrival of another horse and rider, or the canine, and shot up the mare's neck as Olé came to a sudden stop, her neck arched before she gave a welcoming nicker and trotted forward a couple of steps before Cortney regained her seat and turned the mare away from the fence. "Hi, sorry about that." She said after she had finished circling the mare. "What's up with you?" She asked the mare who had her neck stretched toward the fence and was dancing on the spot. The girl shook her head as she looked toward the fence at the girl and her horse, and then her eyes landed on the dog. "Easy." She said as the mare pawed at the ground and then danced forward. "I think she's excited to see your canine friend. Please come one in." She had hoped for the arena to herself, but it was plenty big enough for another horse and rider, and she wasn't planning on doing any extensive dressage work, so there was no reason not to welcome the other girl. "I'm Cort and this is Olé."

[Amelia DeFoe]

Amy stepped back quickly as the mare stopped, hoping that she hadn't caused too much trouble for the girl riding her. As the girl regained her seat, however, and the mare seemed to show more interest than caution in the trio, Amy stood her ground instead of fleeing quite yet, although that was still an option. She could see Tommy stretching out his neck to greet the horse and tightened her grip on his reins, keeping him from stepping up close enough to the fence.

The girl's apology caught her off-guard, as she hadn't expected to be apologized to, "I'm sorry for distracting her from your work." She glanced around as the girl focused on her horse again, debating leaving to find another arena, since this hadn't been an all too great start. However, then the girl turned her attention back to Amy, and the moment where she could have excused herself was lost, "That's a different reaction from the norm." She glanced down at Wolf as the conversation turned to him for a moment, but the shepherd was standing, his shoulder about level with Amy's leg.

As the girl invited them inside, Amy smiled, "Thank you." She left Wolf in a down position near one of the fence posts of the arena, then let herself into the arena, carefully biting down the urge to call 'Gate', even though no one was moving at the moment. She led Tommy into the middle and checked his girth before mounting, boosting herself into the saddle. As she settled, she heard the girl's introduction and nodded, "I'm Amy, this is Tommy." She nodded at the dog, "He's Wolf."

[Cortney Smit]

Cortney screwed her nose up at the other girl's apology and shrugged her shoulders. "It's not a problem, really. We're not really working on dressage, I just wanted an arena that wasn't popular with the other students. Olé belongs to Dr Carr, the equine vet, and I'm helping out by bringing her back into work, and felt that she might have been stressed out in and arena full of other horses."

She got the mare moving forward again to give the other girl and her horse room to enter the arena. "And you have arrived just in time to stop me from getting to the point of having a conversation with myself." She rode the mare around the outside of the arena while Amy got herself settled, and allowed the mare to do what she had wanted to do since she had first seen the canine, she allowed Olé to go over and have a really good look at the dog. "Wolf is a lovely looking dog." She commented, not at all nosey about why the girl had a canine - after getting to know Sara during the previous year, she had grown used to having a canine around campus.

Once the bay sabino mare had had her fill of the canine, Cortney asked her to walk forward again and got the mare into a nice floating trot and then a rocking canter, sticking to one end of the arena to keep out of the way of the other girl as she warmed her horse up.

[Amelia DeFoe]

Amy nodded as she heard a similar reason from the girl as she had for seeking out the arena herself. It seemed that not too many people knew about the dressage arena, which was good to remember, in case the other arenas ever filled up too much. As she heard that the mare was actually owned by the equine vet, "That's pretty neat." She looked at the mare again, "She's beautiful."

The girl's comment confused Amy for a moment as she worked to find the reasoning behind it, frowning, before she realized it was a joke and smiled briefly as she checked on Tommy, watching Cortney letting her mare, Olé, examine Wolf, although she could see that the girl kept the mare from invading the dog's personal space. She tensed, preparing herself for the inevitable question, which seemed the most common thing after people actually noticed the dog. Cortney, however, went on a different tangent, momentarily catching Amelia off guard as she reined in the curt response she'd had, "Thank you."

After a short glance at Wolf to make sure that the dog wasn't being bothered, Amy gathered up her knotted reins and asked Tommy to move forward in a walk. As they completed a lap of the arena, Amy saw the girl keeping to one side of the arena and nodded, turning Tommy so that they kept to the other side.

[Cortney Smit]

Cortney bowed her head at the other girl's complement to her mount. "Thanks, her colouring is pretty awesome." She agreed.

Once the meet and greet with the canine was over, she began to get the mare to work properly. First she had Olé work on a twenty meter circle and then changed that into figure of eights at a trot and then a canter, even asking the mare to counter canter as they crossed over the diagonal of the figure. She rubbed the tall horse's shoulder as she asked her to do a flying change, which the mare did without hesitation. Pressing her lips together, the girl thought about what she wanted to do with the mare while they were in the arena, but so that she would remain out of the way of the other girl as she didn't want Amy to think that she was taking over the arena.

Talking the mare back to the track, she trotted her around the outside and turned down the centre of the arena at B, so that their arena was thirty meters down the long side and twenty on the short side, which split the arena in half. As they headed down the long side again at E, she had the mare nicely cantering forward, then sliding her outside leg and inside hand backward a little and grinned as the mare gave her a flying change, three strides later she swapped the movement and nodded as Olé gave another change, after another couple of tempi changes she let the mare canter forward on the correct lead once more.

The more she rode Olé, the more she missed her sister, but she no longer felt guilty for riding. She loved the mare that the Academy had assigned her, but Remi didn't make her feel like this. But that was probably because Remi was the same colouring as Myriam's mare.

Still on a high for not only getting Olé to do the tempi changes, but for the fact that she remembered how to ask for them so well, she looked over at Amy, watching the other girl and her gelding. Cortney was a friendly person, but she wasn't sure of their was the right place, or time, to strike up a conversation.

[Amelia DeFoe]

Amy nodded at the girl's thanks and comment, agreeing with it without saying anything more. Instead, she pointed Tommy into the half of the arena that Cortney wasn't using and asked him to walk around the rectangle on a long rein, fixing the midline in her memory that she would remember that her space was halved this time.

After walking the gelding around two rounds each, she started working him on spirals, first at a trot, then at a lope. She circled both ways as they worked, making sure that the gelding didn't get a chance to favour one side over the other. As she worked, she made sure that the gelding responded to her cues, although she didn't have to worry about that too much. The gelding, however else he might be, was a pleasure to ride, one of the main reasons that they did well in Western Pleasure.

Switching tactics to keep Tommy occupied, Amy started having the gelding weave along the diagonal of the arena, making sure that she didn't get into Cortney's way. After a while, though, she felt eyes on her and glanced over, seeing that she wasn't the only one that was curious as to the other's actions. However, she didn't want to strike up a conversation, fear rising in her throat at the thought, and she asked Tommy for an extended walk instead of breaking the silence.

[Cortney Smit]

Cortney felt her cheeks burn in embarrassment when Amy caught her looking and she instantly got Olé working again. The mare floated forward in a nice trot, seeming to know exactly what her rider wanted without Cortney having to tell her, just a subtle cue was all she needed.

Once they reached C, the girl rode the mare in a trot on a 20 metre half circle and then asked for a walk as she completed the circle. Once back a C, the girl asked for a trot again and this time they did a two loop serpentine (two 15 metre half circles), and slowing to a walk, they headed along the outside of the arena back to C. Asking for a trot again, they did a three loop serpentine (three 10 metre half circles). As they finished the pattern, rather than asking for a walk, and having the mare anticipate what was going to happen next, she asked her for a canter and they rode a figure of eight, in two beautiful 15 metre circles to bring them back to C. This time rather than riding a serpentine, the girl rode the mare in three 10 metre circles, which their half of the arena gave them room for, the circles all touching, and then asking for a canter, she rode the mare in a 20 metre circle. As they arrived back at C, she leaned forward and hugged the mare before she sat up and gave Olé a long rein as they walked around the outside of their half of the arena.

Their ride was going so well, but in the back of her mind, there was a little voice that reminded her that the mare wasn't hers and was due to be sold any day now. All she was doing was bringing the mare back into work.

[Amelia DeFoe]

Amy frowned as she saw Cortney turn away, but moved Tommy into a trot, pushing the girl out of her mind. Deciding to work on their turns at the walk and jog, she kept Tommy on the longer side of the rail, walking him up and down along it, making sure that he turned to the inside without stopping, while staying at a walk. She knew that she had the most trouble with the trot, but didn't want to start with that, when they could work their way up to it. She had planned on riding the gelding for at least an hour, practising, but she didn't know quite what to do with herself at the moment.

Focusing on her own cues, and making sure that she kept her reins loose, she worked on turns at the walk until she felt confident with them again, hoping that she wouldn't mess them up anymore, but knowing she'd continue working on the cues for weeks to come. There wasn't really a Western Pleasure class at Blue Ridge, though, so she had to remember what she had learned, and hope that she didn't do anything completely wrong. Deciding that she had had enough of turns at the walk, she asked Tommy for a jog, letting him trot around the halved arena a few times before she turned him, then repeating the process, so that it wasn't always the same section of fence that she asked him to turn at.

[Cortney Smit]

Cortney was riding the mare on a long rein and took this chance to watch the partnership sharing the arena. Even thought Cortney didn't know a lot about Western riding, she could admire the girl's position in the saddle and the horse's movement and the way he responded to his rider's aids. And she could tell that the girl loved her gelding, as the other horse shone with a shared love and respect for his rider.

While Olé moved around their half of the arena, she thought about what she could do with the mare the next time she rode her, what they needed to work on, as she couldn't ask the mare to do any more work today as she was supposed to be bringing the mare back into work, not overworking her. She moved her leg forward and loosened the girth a couple of holes, her way of rewarding the sabino mare for her hard work.

She finally got sick of the silence and decided that it was time to try and strike up a conversation with the other girl. "Do you compete on him much?" She asked, hoping that talking about her horse, would encourage the other girl to talk.

[Amelia DeFoe]

Amy slowed Tommy after a few rounds of the arena. While it was a smaller arena, she had kept the gelding moving for the most part, without any break on his part. She let him walk, loosening her grip on the reins even more until she was holding them just by the buckle, as he lowered his head slightly. As they rounded the corner, Amy saw that the other girl had stopped her horse and was currently loosening the girth. Glad that she hadn't been seen watching Cortney, since the girl hadn't seemed too comfortable with being seen, Amy looked down at Tommy's neck, using the upcoming corner to try and spot her own cues to the horse.

As she was considering stopping for the day, she heard the older girl's voice and decided to stop so that they could talk. After the gelding stood, she turned him to face the general direction of the girl, turning in the saddle for the last bit, "We do a bit of western pleasure or trail, but not a huge amount. I only got into riding competetively about a year ago." She glanced at the bay sabino mare, knowing that it wasn't the girl's horse, "Do you compete on her, or on another horse?"

[Cortney Smit]

Cortney smiled as Amy rode toward her a little and then replied. "Cool." She answered, and meant it. When she had first got back into riding here at the Academy, the first riding class she had taken part in was the trail class. "I'm in the trail class, I've competed in one trail class, but not sure if I'll continue." She was honest, it wasn't that she didn't enjoy the class, but she wanted to get back to the level she had been before she quit, and that meant focusing on dressage and jumping.

She shook her head about competing on Olé. "No, sadly, Olé here is going to go to a new home as soon as Dr Carr thinks she's ready." She gave a sad smile as she leaned forward and hugged the mare. "For classes and competitions here at the Academy, I ride a mare named Remi. She belongs to the Academy." She fiddled with the mare's mane as she thought about how she arrived at the Academy. "I had stopped riding when I was eight and really only just started riding again, so I don't have my own horse to bring with me." She pressed her lips together, not wanting to say any more. "At the last show I competed in I did a bit of everything; Dressage, jumping, trail."

[Amelia DeFoe]

A hint of a smile touched Amy's mouth as she heard that Cortney was in the trail class as well, at least for the time being, "That's neat, maybe I'll see you in class if you decide to keep it up." She didn't really know if she would mind, seeing as it was one of the classes that she actually did share with Serenity, but then, it was always better to know two people rather than one, since neither of the girls had seemed to mind her just yet.

Hearing about Olé's future, Amy nodded, frowning in commiseration as she saw the girl's connection to the mare, "That's too bad." She could feel for the girl, losing the horse that she worked with, but maybe things would work out in the end. They tended to, for most people. As she heard that the girl stopped riding at eight, she nodded. She had stopped around that age, at eleven, as well, so she understood the girl's position, although she hadn't competed before her second time at riding, "I might have seen you at the trail class, then." She paused, thinking back. The girl's name hadn't been called, but then, it was probably a nickname, "I don't remember, though. Dressage and jumping sound pretty interesting, although I've never tried them. What's your favourite part of jumping?"

[Cortney Smit]

Cortney grinned and inclined her head. "Sharing a class will be great, because then I'll have someone to practise with, without having to explain what I'm trying to do." She glanced over at the other girl's canine who was chilling in the shade. "I bet he'd be able to show the horses what to do in trail class." She said with a grin. "I'd bet he could open a gate faster than us too."

She was heartbroken that Olé would be sold on, but she knew that Dr Carr wouldn't just give the horse to the first person who asked though. "I know Dr Carr will find her the perfect owner. I actually feel sorry for the person who's going to buy her." She rubbed the mare's neck. "They will probably have to write out a two-thousand word essay." She brushed off the fact that Amy didn't remember her from the show. "There were loads of people there, and you would have been busy enough just making sure you were where you needed to be." She grinned when asked about jumping. "My favourite part is putting my trust into the horse as I give her her head and trusting her to carry us both over a fence as we fly through the air." Part of her wished that she was actually working the mare she was riding, so that she could take her over a course of jumps, but she knew that the mare wasn't ready for that.