A Break in the Weather (Stern)

[Cara-Jean Kitchi]

Cara stood in the barn, her bay Morgan mare in the cross-ties in the grooming stall. The small girl was dressed in beige breeches, a burgundy long-sleeved polo shirt, a bark coloured vest and her Ariat field boots. She picked up a handful of clean sawdust and used it to wipe the excess lavender oil off her hands, the bitter yet sweet scent of the oil filled the small space of the stall. She then began to tack the mare up and eventually led her out to the arena. The weather had been pretty nasty over the past week, but yesterday morning the sun had risen is a clear blue sky with only a slight smattering of clouds and the good weather had continued on when she had left the House that morning.

The girl tightened the mare's girth and then vaulted into the saddle as she nudged the horse forward and they continued to the arena, where the girl leaned down and opened the gate and then pulled it closed behind them.

Her session with the mare in the dressage arena a week earlier had made her think, and she wondered if the mare was like she was because she really was lacking the mental stimulation she needed, and because of this, down the long side of the arena, in from the track, she had set up the most simplest of grids and was going to try the mare over them to see how she reacted.

Before she even thought about showing the mare the fences though, she wanted to get her warmed up, supple and relaxed. And, to do that, she worked the mare in only one half of the arena, so that they didn't go anywhere near the grid; starting with a cavaletti and then followed by three very simple verticals.

[Ryan Gallahill]

Ryan left his empty room, glancing over at Fox's empty bed. His roommate had been called away from the school for an unspecified period of time, and Ryan had found that he missed the somewhat odd boy, and his rather loud bird as well. The room seemed too quiet, so Ryan had been spending as little time as possible in it.

Walking out towards the barns, he spotted a rider on a bay horse, with a few verticals visible in the outside arena. Deciding that a bit of company would be nice, he headed inside and started tacking up Daredevil. He had gotten more confident with jumping, he still wasn't comfortable jumping alone. He hoped that whoever was in the arena wouldn't mind another rider in with them.

After preparing Daredevil, he grabbed his helmet and the mare's reins, leading her out towards the arena. When he drew closer, the bay horse revealed that it had a very familiar figure on its back. Ryan felt his cheeks heat up a bit as he realized that it was Cara, and the mare he had seen her on before. He considered changing course to the indoor arena, but knew that hiding from her would not help at all. He paused for a moment, hoping to control his expression, before he called out, "Gate!" He led Daredevil into the arena and checked her girth, then mounted. While he was settling into the saddle, he mustered his courage and ventured, "That's a pretty horse, Cara."

[Cara-Jean Kitchi]

Cara had the mare trotting on a nice collection without holding the Morgan back. She was impressed with how the mare was moving without the girl trying to get her to do anything other than asking her to move forward at the floating gait.

The mare's beautiful outline vanished as a voice came from the gate and Cara shook her head at the mare as she sat deep and once again asked the mare for her concentration - which wasn't so hard to get - and before too long, Kettle was once again trotting forward nicely, her head bent just so as she accepted the collection.

Cara's head turned at the sound of a voice and she gave the boy a ghost of a smile. "Thank you." She said as she bowed her head. "I just wish she wasn't so difficult to understand." She blew a breath out between her teeth as she asked the mare to do a three loop serpentine and shook her head as the mare's hindquarters fell into the circle. "How is Daredevil?" She quite liked the mare that Ryan was riding, and had ridden her often before the boy had arrived at the Academy.

She stopped trying to ask Kettle to do things she knew the mare struggled on and rode her toward the grid she had set up. "Easy." She breathed soothingly as the mare stopped, her forelegs spread as she looked at the jumps, her ears flickering as though she didn't know whether to run or not. "Walk on." She squeezed the mare forward, closing her hand away from the jumps on the rein, and Kettle walked forward, turning in the direction she was asked.

It took another few tries, but no matter what she did, Cara couldn't convince the mare to get any closer to the jump standards.

[Ryan Gallahill]

Ryan saw Cara's smile and returned the favor, glad that she hadn't ignored him, and noticing that she had stopped with the overly formal mode of address that she had used the first time they had met. He remembered that day, and how he hadn't exactly made the best impression that time. He nodded as she commented on her mare, "Did you get her at the auction?" He had heard of the auction that was held in Blue Ridge, but hadn't gone, since he liked the horses he was ridinflg, and knew he couldn't keep a horse past his senior year anyway.

As she asked about Daredevil, he grinned, "She's a wonderful horse, I know I've learned a lot from her already." He rubbed the mare's shoulder before he moved her towards the half of the arena that Cara had just vacated. As they walked, Ryan focused on keeping his back straight and in the right positions, as Ms. Carr had often reminded him in class. As the mare walked around, Ryan kept watching Cara when she was in view, how she was trying to get the mare to approach the jumps that she had set up. He asked Daredevil for a trot as Cara worked with her mare.

[Cara-Jean Kitchi]

Cara nodded, riding a difficult horse was the best kind of teaching tool, keeping quiet as the boy began to work the mare he was riding.

She finally rode the mare away from the jumps. She needed to get the Morgan to calm down again and go back to being relaxed, and this wasn't going to happen if she rode her too close to the fences. She sat deep as they trotted around, asking for the mare to stretch out her neck long and low - even at the trot - as they worked in a circle.

Once the bay mare had relaxed again, Cara halted her and dismounted. She ran the stirrups up - almost as though she were intending to end their ride - and unclipped the reins from the bridle. She then worked with the mare, running her hands all over Kettle's body, one hand starting where the other had finished. She was following the ritual that a dam would with her foal at birth, and in doing this she was letting the mare know that no matter what, the mare would always be safe with her. She then walked away from Kettle, and with no line attaching them, the mare happily followed the girl.

Happy that the mare was listening to her, Cara happily strolled toward the fences, not looking at them, but looking where she was going. She kept the speed the same, as though she didn't have a care in the world and grinned toward Kettle as the mare's nose bumped into her shoulder, but the mare kept pace with the girl. Cara zig-zagged through the jumps until she had gone around them in both directions with the mare happily following. Cara then walked away from the fences, stopped, turned to face the horse and rubbed her forehead. She then walked away, hoping the mare would still follow. When Kettle's nose touched her shoulder again, the girl picked up the pace and jogged around the area they were using and nodded when the bay horse picked up a trot. Cara then jogged toward the jumps and popped over the first vertical in the grid, followed by the second and turned to jog backwards, clapping her hands lightly when Kettle flew right over the two low jumps. "Clever girl!" She praised as they walked away from the jumps. Where she connected the reins again, pulled the stirrups down and smoothly mounted the mare.

[Ryan Gallahill]

As Ryan kept Daredevil walking around the clearer side of the arena, he kept watching Cara out of the corner of his eye. He still didn't feel comfortable jumping, as they hadn't covered it yet in class, and while he looked forward to learning it, for now, the pair of them was stuck to flatwork.

After a few moments of walking Daredevil around, stretching out the mare's muscles, he asked for a trot. He could see Cara walking on the ground, with her new horse following behind her. He raised an eyebrow at the technique, but as Cara actually jumped over the rail herself, he did his best to stop a laugh, which he only barely suceeded in. He shook his head and asked Daredevil for a canter, not wanting Cara to notice that he had been watching her session with the mare.

As he worked on settling into the mare's stride, he thought about the girl in the other half of the arena. He really did enjoy being in her company, although he wasn't sure about her feelings. She was always rather reserved, so he couldn't be sure either way. He wondered about what he could do to spend more time with her, running through the choices for a 'date' that wasn't too obvious. Finally, he decided to ask her to see a movie in town. He glanced over at where Cara was mounting up, and decided to wait until she wasn't stuck in working with the mare, so that he didn't break the horse's concentration.