In hot Water (open)

[Cara-Jean Kitchi]

Cara circled her shoulder as she headed toward the White Oak Barn, her shoulder ached and the heat radiating off it was almost burning - she didn't pay any attention to it though, as pain was nothing new to her.

Walking into the barn, she headed down to the stall that housed her newest horse. It still made her laugh, as she now owned two horses, not ponies. "Hello, beautiful." She said as she grabbed the mare's halter from the hook and entered the stall. "No!" She growled in a deep tone as the mare laid her ears back and snaked her neck toward the girl. She rubbed the mare's neck as Kettle pulled her head back and just looked at the girl.

The mare was still a mystery to the girl, as her attitude and her personality didn't match, and all Cara could put it down to was the narrow nostrils were a sign that at eight years of age, she was lacking mental development.

After the mare was groomed and saddled, the girl led her toward the indoor arena. The Morgan kicked up a little fuss about going into the building but was fine once she was in the arena itself.

Pulling the girth down, the girl vaulted into the close contact saddle. "Easy, Love." She cooed as the mare bolted off as soon as she was sitting on saddle. She didn't even bother to try an find the stirrups as she got the mare to settle down. Finally the bay mare slowed down to a choppy trot and then a walk, which was when the small rider took the chance to find the stirrups. Once she had convinced the mare to halt, she tightened the girth and once again asked the mare to walk forward.

[Rose Hoff]

Rose had decided to dedicate her weekend to working with her new horse, Eleanor. The mare had arrived at Blue Ridge in the middle of the week, and with all her classes and preparing for the show with Vintage, she hadn't had time to work with her much at all.

She made her way down to the Barn, and greeted the mare by stroking her neck softly. Although she hadn't been able to ride her, she had spent a bit of time each day with the mare, trying to get her used to her. Eleanor was very nervous about everything, it seemed, and when Rose had first met her, she'd been very anxious and didn't want to go near her. Since then, she'd been getting better around Rose, and the girl was pleased with her progress.

Once she stepped into her stall, the girl began to rub her hands over the mare's body, and spent quite a while doing this, until she felt the mare's muscles relax. She'd done this the day before for a bit, and it seemed to have worked, since Eleanor was less scared this time. Once she had finished, she grabbed a brush box and started to groom the mare. Eleanor seemed fine with this now that she was used to Rose, and Rose was very glad of this. She hadn't met the swedish warmblood before buying her, and had only seen her online. Her father had payed a high sum for the mare, and Rose hoped that she was just nervous about new people, and not the actions themselves. This seemed to be true as she began to tack Eleanor up, and the mare was fine with it.

Once done, she led Eleanor out, and had to stop quickly once they exited the building. The mare immediately froze at the sight of all the new surroundings and acitvity going on around her. Rose pressed her hand to Eleanor's neck in comfort, before getting the mare to lower her head and walk her back inside.

She headed towards Benedict's Arena, where she thought Eleanor would be less scared, and stopped by the rail when she saw Cara working inside with a horse she found to be only vaguely familiar. She waited by the gate, not wanting to interrupt the girl's riding without permission, or if it was going to disrupt. If it was going to be an issue, she could very well take Eleanor outside and try to get her used to the surroundings. Her other worry was that Eleanor would be nervous around the other pair, which was also something the mare would have to get used to for when Rose started using her in lessons and showing her, which was, of course, why she had bought her in the first place. By the looks of it, they had a little ways to go before To the Nines joined Rose on the Equestrian Team.

[Ryan Gallahill]

Ryan headed towards the Red Willow barn, looking up at the grey clouds with some worry in his eyes. He had been hoping to work with Sunny a little bit, to get used to the Western saddle and the mare herself, but it seemed like their work would be in the indoor arena today. He walked into the barn and stopped by the tack room, grabbing Sunny's sea-green halter and then walking towards the mare's stall.

After grooming the mare, he started tacking her up in the unfamiliar Western tack. He had used it for his beginner western class, and a few trail rides here and there, but he had found he preferred Daredevil and her English saddle for the most part, but he knew avoiding the mare would never bring his comfort level to where it should be. After a bit of a struggle with the mare not wanting to take the bit, he finally finished tacking up the mare, and then grabbed her reins and led her away from the cross ties.

As he approached the indoor arena, he could see Cara in the arena on an unfamiliar mare, with Rose standing by the gate with another mare he hadn't seen around before. He briefly wondered what was with the new horses everywhere, then took his mind away from that and looked at Rose, who seemed unwilling to enter the arena, to Cara, who was inside, working her new horse. He smiled slightly at Rose, then led Sunny into the arena, calling out, "Gate!" He walked Sunny briskly into the center of the arena, then checked her cinch and mounted up, then brought the mare against the rail, leaving room between Cara and himself.

[Cara-Jean Kitchi]

Cara allowed the mare to walk forward as she took the time to get used to Kettle's stride. She was get used to the mare and then ask her to really begin working. She sat lightly in the saddle, only deepening her seat when the mare decided to snatch at the reins.

Once she was ready to start working the mare, the small rider tightened her abdominals and deepened the seat. Keeping upper body straight, she closed both calves on the mare's side. Maintaining rein contact, but yielding slightly when Bunny walked forward, she relaxed seat and calves, and followed the mare's movement at the walk.

When the horse was walking, the girl's hands moved with the mare by maintaining elasticity in the elbows. As the flaxen chestnut's head moved forward and down, the elbows opened. When the her head came back up the elbows closed. This allowed for a consistent, soft contact with the mare's mouth. Thus hoping to result in a fluid, pure walk where the horse would be swinging through the back.

However, if wishes were horses, poor people would ride, the arrival of someone at the gate caught the mare's attention and she swung her hindquarters out and stood looking at the gate. In reaction to this, Cara growled lightly and applied her legs against the mare's sides and Kettle walked forward, unwillingly.

Trying it again, Cara tightened her abdominals and deepened the seat. Keeping upper body straight, she closed both calves on the mare's side. Maintaining rein contact, but yielding slightly when Bunny walked forward, she relaxed seat and calves, and followed the mare's movement at the walk.

Again though the arrival of another person distracted the mare and she walked along the rail with her hind quarters swinging on and off the track. Cara was beginning on having doubts whether the mare had had any dressage training. "You can enter, Rose." She said as they sauntered passed the gate, and sauntering was the only way to describe how the mare was moving.

She reined the bay horse into the centre of the arena and let out a vexed hiss, angry that she couldn't get the mare to co-operate with her. She glanced over at Ryan and the horse he had arrived on. She didn't have time to be thinking about the other horses though as she once again squeezed the mare forward. She would the mare to do a pure walk even if it killed her - her being Cara, not the mare.

[Rose Hoff]

Rose opened the gate, calling out "Gate!" and then closing it behind her. Once inside, she led Eleanor into the center so that they wouldn't be in the way and tightened her girth a last time, talking to the mare as she pulled down the stirrups and mounted her. Eleanor didn't seem to have an issue with this, and Rose was glad that the mare seemed to be getting used to her. It had been promised that she was well trained for her age, and could be easily molded into an eventer or dressage mount.

Rose gathered Eleanor's reins and sent her out to the rail at a walk, feeling how the mare moved. As promised, the swedish warmblood's strides were even, smooth, and long, flowing across the ring beautifully. Rose was not used to riding a horse of her height, as she was a hand taller than Vintage and Fallon as well.

Keeping her heels long, and seat deep, she walked Eleanor for a while longer, wanting to get a true feel for the mare. Although she was behaving nicely now that she'd gotten used to the indoor ring, she was still paying an awful lot of attention to the other horses in the ring, ad Rose whispered to her softly to try to get her attention back. Eleanor was obviously made nervous by anyone or anything unfamiliar, and Rose knew that in the near future she would have to start working to desensitize her to avoid dangerous situations.

[Ryan Gallahill]

Ryan focused on checking Sunny's cinch and mounting up, cursing that he still had to use the mounting block. He had seen so many people simply hoist themselves into the saddle, or vault into it, but he couldn't do it yet, and he didn't exactly want to try in front of a girl he knew to be a wonderful horsewoman, as well as another girl whom he didn't know all too well. He heard Cara tell the other girl, Rose, apparently, that she could enter, followed by the call of 'Gate', as he squeezed his legs around Sunny's barrel and walked her around the arena. He could see the girl that had just entered, walking on a seemingly-well-trained horse, and Cara, on the horse he hadn't seen before. Tearing his attention away from his companion's mounts, he asked Sunny for a trot, or a jog, in Western terms. He had learned the in Beginning Western Class. A small smile flashed across his face as he realized how much he had learned in this school, and how distant the days of moving around every year were.