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Post by Zadie Pierce on Jul 13, 2009 3:03:09 GMT -6
Zadie was excited. The butterflies were flying around in her stomach, which she took as excitement, not nerves. She walked over towards the stall in which Gunner was standing. He seemed to be settling in now, she had just returned after leaving him some time to cool down. He was shuffling from side to side, but that was because he had just caught sight of her coming through the door. From outside, Zadie hadn't heard a sound from him. She walked up slowly and approached his door, reaching her hand over it and towards Gunner, who was standing at the back of the stall looking at her cautiously. 'Come on boy.' she said, persuading him to come over. Gunner reached his head out, trying to get a sniff of her, his ears still flat back, before eventually he warmed to the idea and slowly made his way over to her, letting his nose rest on her palm. 'Good boy.' Zadie said, before pulling her hand away slowly and bringing it to the top of the door, which she leant upon. 'We're gonna try and have a ride now, aren't we.' She tilted her head to the side and looked at him. This was going to be a challenge, she was aware of that. Gunner was only 4, and he had only really been trained in Westen Pleasure, but Zadie never really rode Western, so wanted to school him in some English, and maybe try and pop him over a few jumps. The person who sold him to her had said that he had done some jumping, but by the sounds of it, it wasn't alot. Zadie walked away from the door and over to the tack room, picking up her black Wintec synthetic saddle, which she managed to keep when her parents kicked her out, and a black leather bridle with a red browband. It would suit him nicely. She opened Gunner's stable, shutting the door behind her, she didn't trust him to stay there, she knew he would probably make a run for it. Approaching him slowly, she reached out her hand and placed it on his nose. Gunner threw his head up, not liking the sudden contact. Then Zadie walked to the side of him, and caught hold of his head, having to wrestle the bit into his mouth. Eventually, with a lot of trying he let it in and she quickly poked his aers through and let go. As she was going to get the saddle, Gunner reached forward and bit her forearm, quite hard. 'OW!' Yelled Zadie as she swung round and gave him a slap on the nose, making Gunner throw his head into the air. 'You DONT do that.' She shouted at him through gritted teeth. Looking down at her arm she saw that it was infact bleeding, but she didn't have a plaster or anything, so she just wiped it on her jeans and carried on. She hauled the saddle off the door and onto Gunner's back quickly, and he moved his back end slightly towards her. 'Don't you dare. Zadie glared at him and quickly did the girth up, before he had time to react. Then she grabbed hold of his reins and lead him out of the stables and to the outdoor school. This would be interesting.
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Zadie took Gunner alongside the mounting block and stepped up, just getting her foot in the stirrup before he shied away, catching her off balance. Frustrated, she lead him round again, and the same problem happened again. Zadie realised that she was going to end up getting dragged like this, so took him to the corner and decided to mount him from the ground. Succesfully, she got up on to Gunner and sat in the saddle. It had been a long time since she rode, it had taken her a while to find a new horse since she moved out. He felt comfortable, quite chunky because he was a muscular thing. Although he was trying to get away with whatever he could, Zadie knew that once Gunner knew her, he would stop, knowing what he could do and what he couldn't. She just had to get him past the stage of testing her out.
Grabbing her reins, she kept a light amount of contact with his mouth so he knew she was there, but she wasn't pulling. Gunner threw his head up, he was obviously used to being ridden with long reins, but Zadie knew he would have to get used to it if she was going to ride him English. Giving him a light squeeze in the sides, Zadie asked Gunner to walk on. Immediately, he went into trot. 'Slow.' Zadie spoke to him softly, asking him to walk. He did, but she could feel him bouncing underneath her like he wanted to go. She took him round the school a few times on each rein, before stopping him back in the center. As he stopped he brought his back legs in and skidded sending dust flying everywhere. Zadie screwed up her mouth, knowing he was going to be a challenge. All the way round she had to try and keep him at a walk, and was playing with the reins on his mouth just to keep him as quiet as possible. Then, she asked him to go into walk again, and then into trot, in order to make sure he had good transitions. He would have gone into trot straight away but Zadie made sure he didn't. She could tell that he had obviously just been taught to stop and go. Gunner took her round in a quick trot, trying to get into canter whenever possible, but Zadie kept him back. She leaned down and gave him a pat for listening to her, but she was ever cautious because now she knew what this strong stallion could do.
Word count.x 737
Muse.x Good!
Comments.x For anyone who fancies replying. You can just turn up on your own, or with your horse. Zadie won't mind. (: |
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Post by Sammie Moore on Jul 13, 2009 7:41:03 GMT -6
I had arrived at the stables not long ago but now I was finally getting out of my mustang. My aunts had called me and we seemed to lose track of time. Shutting the door behind me and locking it I walked into the stable. I went straight into the tack room and grabbed my English saddle, bridle, pad and his wraps. Walking to Spirits stall I got an excited whinny, he had been in his stall for much to long and wanted out now, walking in I was nudged for a treat, I pulled a mint out of my pocket and gave it to him wail scratching his nose.
I set to work saddling and bridling him which did not take long at all, I was a little worried about how he was going to behave because he had been in his stall for so long that he may be quite a deal spunky today. Opening the stall door I manged to keep him back until I got out. All the way to the outdoor arena he was prancing like an over eager dog. We successfully made it in to the outdoor arena, I noted a girl a bit older then me riding in here but I did not think she would mind if I joined.
Mounting Spirit from the ground up, I patted his neck for standing so still, I picked up the reins and tapped his sides he knew to move off into a walk, we went around a couple times before I collected him to move off into a nice smooth trot, I patted his neck again he was such an amazing horse. Slowing him we came to a stop, Good boy, I looked at the girl and smiled, Hi I'm Sammie and this is Spirit Of The West or better known as Spirit.
Patting his neck again, I asked him to go right to a canter from a dead stop. He collected and moved off into a canter, thats what we needed was jumps hmm, I slowed him to a trot, Can we set some jumps up possibly? I waited for an answer deciding to let him canter again. Going around the arena I was simply waiting for an answer and I had originally be worried about how Spirit would react and he was acting just like a perfect gentlemen.
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Post by Zadie Pierce on Jul 13, 2009 9:25:06 GMT -6
Zadie decided it was time to take Gunner into a canter. Again, she took him into walk first, and then into trot, keeping him in that trot for a while just to make him learn that he can't just go into canter whenever he wanted. Then, once she felt he was calm, Zadie asked Gunner to go into a canter. Gunner took the transition nicely, and Zadie was happy with him, but he started to get faster and faster. Zadie was squeezing on the reins, asking him to stay at a constant speed, but Gunner threw his head high into the air uncontrollably and took off into a gallop, circling round the school. Zadie pulled back hard on the reins and turned his head. If he couldn't see where he was going then he would stop. Turning around in a tight circle, Gunner eventually stopped, his paint body puffing and panting. Zadie thought that she would et him cool down a bit before starting up again. She ran her long finders through her hair again, allowing the reins to drop whilst she re-tied her loose, long ponytail. She sat there, well balanced with no hands whilst the stallion shuffled underneath her, she could tell that he wasn't one for standing still. 'Stand.' she said cooly to Gunner. He wasn't really listening though and was still backing up, and walking forwards. Then she looked over towards the gate and saw this girl entering, and raised her hand in acknowledgement. 'Nice to meet you!' she said, picking up Gunner's reins as she noticed him flatten his ears back at the sight of the other stallion. She didn't want him starting trouble. 'The name's Zadie. This boy is London Gunner.' Zadie gestured towards the impatient stallion shuffling below her. She kept him standing whilst watching Sammie take Spirit around the arena. A chuckled escaped Zadie's mouth as she reached down and gave Gunner a pat. Sammie's stallion was much better behaved, but she knew that when she had developed a bond with Gunner, hopefully he would be the same. Sammie spoke to her and Zadie thought for a second, before replying. 'Yeah sure. I'd love to see what Gunner is like over them.
Zadie took both feet out of her strirrups, leaning forward and swinging her right leg over so she dismounted Gunner. She grabbed hold of his reins tightly and gave a bit of a tug, he wasn't keen on moving. 'Ill set them up, to save you getting off.' Zadie managed to get the reluctant Gunner to walk with her, and she picked up all the separate parts of the jumps and set them up in a rather simple course around the arena. 'Is this height alright for you?' Zadie called out to Sammie. She didn't set the too high, just at about 2 and a half feet, she wasn't going to start too high on Gunner, considering she didn't know what she was capable of.
As Zadie got back on, she looked around at her course, figuring out which way would be best to go over them. She had set up two single parallel bars, 2 cross-bar jumps and a small wall. They didn't look difficult, Zadie had done much more complex before on her old mares, but she wasn't sure of Gunner's experience. She took Gunner into a slow canter, having to hold him back quite a deal to prevent him from bolting, and appoached the first cross-bar, the smallest of all the jumps. She felt Gunner hurl himself forwards, bolting for the jump, and she flew over it, with little control of his speed and accuracy. Zadie bit her lip and decided that it would be better to make him trot, so she asked him to slow down. Taking him round in a trot, she tried the other cross-bar and Gunner did the same again. She knew that this would be a case of a lot of practice. Looking over at Sammie she smiled and shrugged her shoulders, he needed a lot of work.
Words.x 677
Muse.x Good
Comments.x None!
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Post by Sammie Moore on Jul 13, 2009 10:39:36 GMT -6
I brought Spirit into the center of the ring and stopped him just as her horse broke into a frantic gallop, new horses were always a challenge. she got him to stand but not still, I laughed slightly. Its nice to meet you and he is a very nice looking horse. Spirit started pawing at the ground and I nudged his side allowing him to walk around the arena , I dropped the reins and he moved with easy just happy that his feet were moving. I patted his neck waiting to see if she would allow us to set up some jumps. I could feel the tension in Spirit so I grabbed on to the reins and tried to get his head to come up but he was being stubborn, He bucked but I held on, I guess he did not like the other stallion. I made him do circles allowing his mind to focus back on me and I adjusted my set.
Crazy horse, I laughed alright as long as you don't need any help. I smiled and watched as she set the jumps up, they were not tall but it would work for now because I knew this was her horses first time over them, ya they work. I watched as she worked him over the lowest two he bolted through them, she smiled and shrugged her shoulders, Practice makes perfect. thats all I could think about, I decided we should go, I eased him into a canter, working are way to the first jump, we flew over them and the rest seemed to come with just as much easy. I smiled he's use to taller but this is a nice warm up, Slowing him down we came to a stop.
Have you ever thought about you know letting him check them out and then trying it. I was no trainer but sometimes horses just need to see it was not going to eat them and that they could accept it. I sighed and patted his neck, running my fingers through his mane, He truly looks like an amazing horse how old is he. I circled Spirit as his ears pinned at the other stallion, soon enough he was fine and was standing there like a perfect gentlemen. I waited for Zadie to tell me his age, I was simply just curious as to how old he was.
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