Early Birds (Sepia)

[Ω-Admin-Cara-Ω]

Once she had left the gym and been in to say hello to Pepper, Cara walked into the White Oak Barn. Slipping into the tack room, she collected her helmet, grooming kit and Phoenix's bridle. Walking down to the mare's stall she whispered her a greeting before letting herself into the stall and slipping the bridle over her head, tickling the mare's gums as she willingly opened her mouth for the soft snaffle bit.

Leading her out of the stall, she put her into a set of cross-ties before she went back and gave the stall a good skip. Walking back to the mare she gave her a thorough groom, that took only a few moments and led her out to Roscoe's Arena. she was happy to see that they were the only ones in there - which wasn't too much of a surprise thinking of how early it still was in the morning.

Entering the arena, she walked the mare into the middle. They started the session with the reins over the mare's neck, but the girl remaining on the ground. Cara asked the mare for a forequarter yield by asking her to flex her neck and then doing no more than pointing at the spot right in front of where the girth would be. And then a hindquarter yield by pointing at the mare's hip. The girl then stepped forward and rubbed the horse's forehead. She then turned so that she was side onto the mare and pointed in front of her, with no words spoken, Phoenix walked forward and followed wherever the girl's finger was pointing. With a tiny shake of her finger, she asked the mare to stop. Now that her and the mare were on the same wavelength, she walked up to the mare and vaulted onto her back.

Picking up the reins so that she was holding them, without any contact though, she squeezed with her calves and Phoenix walked forward with her neck stretched out so that her nose was almost touching the sand she was walking on. With the smallest amount of pressure from her inside leg, the mare side-stepped over to the track and they walked around the outside the arena while the mare warmed up.

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Shutting the door to his little room suite firmly in the pleading eyes of his dog - he had walked the animal, whatever he was trying to convince everyone - Lee headed off down to the stables, moving quietly through the silent school. It didn't appear that many people were up yet, which didn't surprise him in the slightest given the time of day. He'd always been an early bird, though, and moving to Blue Ridge had only exacerbated that tendency.

Moving into White Oak Barn, he checked the list of the Academy horses that needed to be ridden, deciding to get started on that aspect of his job early. The riding, after all, was the most enjoyable bit, so he was always volounteering to ride extra horses. Going for the first one on the list, he noted where she was stabled, and went to retrieve the mare's tack from the communal tack room.

"Hello, girl," he was saying a few moments later, lightly dropping the tack on her door, raising an eyebrow at the mare's unusual colouring. He'd never seen a Zorse, before, and had been surprised to see one at Blue Ridge. "How're you today, Cassie?" he murmured, entering the stall and blowing gently into her nostrils so she could get his scent. She snorted back, though watched him warily, and Lee found himself wondering just quite how many horses here had been rescued from abusive owners.

Giving Cassie a quick, but thorough groom, he had her tacked up quickly, and was soon leading her down the aisle, hat fastened on his head and gloves on. After pondering his destination for a moment, he decided to head for Roscoe's Arena. He liked riding outdoors, after all, and though he'd heard that Cassie has a reputation of being skittish, he wanted to try her in a slightly more free atmosphere than indoors.

Deciding that discretion was the better part of valour, he led the mare down to the arena, and was rather surprised to see someone else there already. Well, there was nothing saying that two people couldn't share an arena, after all, so he opened the gate after calling out "Good morning," letting himself and Cassie in quickly and neatly. Leading Cassie to the centre of the arena, gently cooing to the mare as she stared around slightly wide-eyed, it was only as he was mounting that he realised he recognised both horse and rider, and put it all together.

Oh. Oh. The Cara that Miss Carr had waxed lyrical about, who'd been riding some of the school's more difficult horses, was the same Cara that he'd managed to surprise (and apparently terrify) that morning in the dance studio, and the same girl who owned and rode the rescued Phoenix. Oh, well. That both made things rather awkward, and rather interesting. Maybe she was more comfortable when around horses, though? He hoped so, or he'd never be able to get sensible conversation out of the girl.

Settling himself gently into the saddle, he shortened his reins so that he had a reasonable contact, not trusting Cassie enough to ride her loosely like Cara was doing, he contemplated how to speak to the girl as he gently encouraged Cassie forwards into a walk. The mare went, sweetly enough, into a fairly free, forward walk, though her head was high and her ears swiveling at every sound, showing she wasn't at all settled.

"Miss Carr was telling me about your Phoenix," Lee eventually said, as he and Cassie happened to pass close to the other pair in the arena. "She sounds like a sweet little mare." There we go. Talk about horses. That was always a good plan, right?

[Ω-Admin-Cara-Ω]

Cara allowed herself to sink deep into the mare's forward strides - they were getting more forward now that the mare was warming up, and it wouldn't be long before the girl was ready to ask the mare if she wanted to trot.

"Good morning,"

She both heard and ignored the words of another person that floated across the arena as she focused her entire self on the mare she was riding. She was still holding the reins as though they were no more than a piece of string, even though the mare now held her head as though she were on the bit.

"Miss Carr was telling me about your Phoenix, She sounds like a sweet little mare."

The young rider turned her head and then cursed herself as the mare stepped off the track into the direction the girl was looking. Turning her head back she gently squeezed with her inside leg and moved the mare back over again. "Phoenix is misunderstood." She said and rubbed the mare's neck as her ears flattened. "She's been through quite a few homes and never settled. Because of this she was beaten, and she fought back." She tangled her fingers in the mare's mane. "Don't be fooled by that mare. She's not as flightly as she may try to make her rider think." She had never understood why Cassie had been left behind by her owner, but there again she'd never asked why either.

The girl's mind was brought back to her own mount as Phoenix bobbed her head up and down. "If you will excuse us, Sir." She said with a bow of her head. "Phoenix is asking to go a little faster." She sat tall on the mare's back and squeezed with both legs. Phoenix tucked her chin in and with an impish kick of her heels (not toward the other horse, just a happy half-buck) bounced forward into a trot that the young rider sat to without seeming to move on the mare's back.

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Ah-hah! Apparently horses had been the right topic of conversation to choose. Lee mentally patted himself on the back. Maybe he wasn't totally pathetic at this whole talking-to-people thing. He listened closely as Cara talked, murmuring, "I never understand how people can do such things to horses." It both disgusted and baffled him in equal measures. How on earth could anyone do such a thing to a horse?

Nodding with a slight smile as Cara moved off, he watched the pair move for a moment, before Cassie decided to firmly remind that he should pay more attention to her, and skittered sideways as a plastic bag flustered across the ground. Regaining his balance almost instantly, he ran a hand calmingly down her neck, saying as he did so, "I get your meaning, girl. C'mon, let's do some riding ourselves."

Walking for a few more moments, when he judged the mare was ready he gently squeezed her forwards, sitting the first explosive burst of energy that she displayed (leading Lee to wonder when she'd last been ridden) smoothly, letting Cassie get the fidgets out a little before asking her to come back to him and settle into a more rhythmical, sensible trot. She did so quite willingly, clearly recognising that Lee was someone who wasn't going to mess around with her and give her conflicting signals, but would instead respect her if she respected him.

Keeping an eye on Cara and Phoenix - absently and automatically judging how the pair were going as he did so, finding himself impressed with the way she handled the clearly sensitive mare - Lee set Cassie to work with circles and transitions, soon finding that if he gave the mare something to do, she settled down very well, focusing on what she was being asked instead of being skittish and nervous. She had nice paces, he judged after a while, but he could see why she was down as 'advanced rider only', it was quite clear that with someone less confident, her own nerves would only be exacerbated, and he suspected that if she was ridden too dictatorially she would fall to pieces, too. No, she needed firm but sympathetic riding, he judged, and luckily he was able to offer that.

Softly talking nonsense to Cassie, speaking almost under his breath, as they worked, to keep the mare's focus on him and not anything else, he was soon agreeing with Cara's assessment. She wasn't nearly as flighty as she tried to put across - it was all a defensive mechanism, and with the several scars visible on her body, he wodnered quite what she'd been through.

[Ω-Admin-Cara-Ω]

While they were trotting, Cara asked her mare to flex her neck to either side before she asked her to yield her forequarters and then to do a halfpass - all of which was asked for with her holding the bridle anymore than she had been since the start of their ride.

After another handful of dressage figures, Cara sat into the mare's stride and gave the subtlest of squeezes and the mare shot forward into a canter. The young rider made a tsking sound and finally gathered her reins as the mare threw her head into the air. Cara knew that the it was common for the mare to get a little excited when asked to canter - even more so if there were jumps in sight - but she wanted to keep the mare as controlled as possible while they had company.

Phoenix shook her head as the reins were gathered, as she knew that the next cue would be to slow down. She had only just started ti canter so she didn't want to slow down, not yet anyway.

Cara released her hold on the reins and instead used her seat and legs to try and convince the spirited mare to calm down. You see this is where she came to problems in most homes, at times like this when she seemed like she was out of control. Sitting deep, she whispered French words to the mare, she needed to get the mare listening before she went into bronc mode - not that that was ever a problem. She rolled the reins against her forefingers with her thumbs. "Easy." She said as the mare threw her head down and her rear end came up, her way or arguing that it wasn't time to slow down.

Sitting through the bucks, the girl shook her head and gently put pressure on the left rein and sliding her left leg back a little gave a little pressure there too and the mare happily circled at a canter in the direction she was being asked to go, all bucking now forgotten as she settled into a steady canter as they worked through a couple of circles on both reins and a figure of eight before the rider convinced her to make the downward transition to a trot without anymore issues.

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It was rather amusing, Lee contemplated as he asked Cassie for some counter-flexion around a circle, working the mare to get her more supple, that two people could manage to ride in a single arena while barely saying anything to each other. It probably helped if they weren't particularly communicative, like he knew he wasn't and was suspecting that Cara wasn't, either, given her lack of propensity for starting interesting conversations, but it still amused him. Ah well, no-one had ever said that riders had to be talkative, after all.

Putting in two half ten metre circles to change the rein, Lee continued his loosening and flexing exercises on Cassie's other side, asking the mare for some leg-yield, some travers, keeping things relatively simple as he wasn't sure quite how educated she was. The exercises were working, though, the feel of Cassie's paces becoming smoother and more comfortable, the mare also beginning to work herself through her back and hindquarters.

Pleased with their progress, he was about to move things up a notch by asking for some canter work, when Phoenix's little bucking display caught Cassie's attention, and the nervy mare instantly decided that this was cause for panic. Skittering forward and sideways, darkly striped legs prancing across the soft surface of the arena, she flung her head up, eyes wide as she debated where would be the safest place in the arena to be, showing off quite clearly why Blue Ridge kept inexperienced riders off her, as he quick dip-with-the-shoulder-and-bolt-off maneuver would be sure to have many people off.

Lee managed to sit it, however, regaining his balance fairly quickly as Cassie sped up, and gently bringing the mare onto a large circle - noting, without really thinking about it, Cara doing the same thing with her mare - letting her canter out her tension. After a few moments, the zorse realised that, actually, there wasn't anything to be scared off, Lee remaining calm and cool on her back, reminding her that he'd be there to protect her if anything went wrong. Her natural trust reasserting herself, Cassie relaxed, and as Lee gently put his leg on to ask her to remain in canter (might as well use the pace now that he had it) she went forward lightly, showing why - when in the right mood - she was a delightful English pleasure horse.

Continuing to circle her, Lee began to increase and decrease the size of their circles, doing that a few times before allowing Cassie to return to a trot, steadying the initial running pace that he first got using his seat rather than his reins. "There we go, good girl," he praised, running a hand down her shoulder to tell her she'd been good. "Nothing scary about this at all, is there now?" Loosening his reins, pleased to feel Cassie begin to take the offered contact forward and down, Lee let Cassie stretch, but kept the mare in trot, asking her to remain relaxed and loose while having slightly more freedom.

[Ω-Admin-Cara-Ω]

While she was getting her mount to chill out, Cara had noticed Cassie's reaction and inwardly slapped herself. She should have known that the other mare would react like that! she was stupid to have tried to collect her mare while they were no long the only two in the arena. Cara had learned that people using the mouth of the horse to gain control, through different types of bits,each worse than the one before. And because of this, Cara rode the mare through her seat and her legs with no collection at all, the bridle was there for nor more reason than the mare remembering what it was.

Once she had Phoenix trotting nicely again in a perfect frame - something that was beaten into her long before the two of them were teamed up - the young rider had her working in circles again, making them bigger and smaller as they went around.

When they were close enough to the other pair, Cara looked over with a crestfallen face. "Please accept my humble apology for Phoenix's behaviour, and it won't happen again. She's been through a lot in the past few months and I'm just trying to get her back to her old form." She rubbed the mare's neck as her golden ears flattened as they got too close to the other mare - her way of saying she wasn't comfortable with another creature in her personal bubble. The rider shifted her leg and the mare sidestepped neatly away from Cassie, creating more room between them. "Again, I am truly sorry." She wanted to comment on the fact that he had done well not to come off, but didn't say a word as she didn't want to sound condescending - even on horseback, she knew there could be repercussions for saying the wrong thing to the wrong person.

Circling her mount away from the other riding team, she unbuttoned the sleeves of her shirt and pushed them up so that they sat just above her elbows. The day was already hot and she knew that she would need to start wearing shirts with shorter sleeves sooner or later. The reason she wore such long shirts was that the scar running down each arm always drew people's eyes and brought the questions she didn't want to answer.

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"See," Lee murmured, softly, as Cassie began to relax a little, stretching downwards and taking the contact from him, "We can do this whole relaxed riding business, can't we?" So focused on what he and his mount were doing, it came as quite a surprise to him when he heard Cara speaking from close beside them. Looking sideways, he was treated to the most words he'd ever heard Cara say come pouring out of her mouth, and had to admit he was rather thrown by them. An apology was nice, definitely - he knew a lot of people didn't even realise what an affect their horse could have on another - but rather unnecessary, to his mind. Horses were unpredictable creatures, and that was always going to be a fact of life.

"Oh," he said, more on instinct than anything else, "Well, really, there's no need to worry about it. It happens, and I think mostly Phoenix's presence has been good for Cassie. She's more relaxed with another horse around." Indeed, now, with the other mare somewhat closer, the darkly striped horse had relaxed just slightly more, ears swiveling less to catch every potential scary noise and staying more focused on what Lee was asking her, instead. There, that would hopefully reassure Cara bit, right? He got the feeling that she wasn't the sort to just agree that it wasn't her fault, so he'd decided to give her some positive evidence to the contrary, showing that, really, he thought it was good she was riding in the same arena as him.

"I must say," he continued, as Cara's circle brought her back near to him on Cassie, feeling that he should try to keep this going now that they'd actually shared some words, "That if this is what she looks like now," with a nod of his head towards Phoenix to show which 'she' he was talking about, "Her old form must have been amazing. And communicating to her solely through seat and legs makes it even more impressive. " Hidden in there somewhere was a compliment on Cara's riding ability, but Lee had never been the best at out-right saying he was impressed with someone, and wasn't quite sure how Cara would take a blatant compliment, anyway.

His sharp eyes noted the scars running down Cara's arms as the younger girl pushed her sleeves up - which explained, he concluded, why she was in long sleeves to begin with on a day like this - but didn't ask. There were some things, he'd come to realise over the years, that one just didn't bring up unless the time was precisely right, and he didn't want to destroy the rapport he was trying to build with Cara over horses by asking invasive questions. He, after all, wasn't too keen on people asking him personal questions, so he didn't see why anyone else should be any different.

Sitting deeper in the saddle and gently closing his legs, Lee asked Cassie to return to a walk, keeping the reins long so that she would retain the stretch and relaxation she'd gained in the trot, asking almost solely with his seat. After a few considering steps, the mare did walk, and Lee was very pleased when she kept her neck - and by extension, her whole frame - stretched out long, a different picture from the much tighter, shorter horse she'd been earlier.v

[Ω-Admin-Cara-Ω]

Cara bowed her head at his complement. She knew that her riding skills awed a number of people, but she didn't bother with any of the fake modesty that most teenagers her age put on when complemented. "She has a soft mouth, and because of this people have used her mouth in the past to control her - with no avail. So I ride her in a way where I don't touch her mouth if I can help it. She was trained harshly as a youngster so her frame was already built before we were teamed up."

She sat deep and moved her legs forward, a signal to make a downward transition that the mare responded to instantly. She leaned forward and rubbed the mare's shoulder as Phoenix stretched her neck out and blew out into the sandy floor of the arena. "You ride Cassie well." It was more of a statement than a compliment, but she'd allow him to take it however he saw fit.

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Taking the compliment as it was offered, as a statement of fact, Lee nodded, not being the sort to portray false modesty, either. He didn't need people to reassure him that he could ride well as he pretended to turn aside their praise - he wasn't worried about his ego enough to need that kind of boost. And from a fellow rider like Cara, who knew her stuff, too, and who knew she could ride well, such statements were barely even compliments: more like statements of fact, which Lee could well go along with. Having to compliment people simply to boost their self-confidence rather escaped him - he much preferred to stick to the truth, and though he wouldn't be harsh about things, he wasn't the sort to offer false encouragement, either.

"She just needs a rider who gives her the security that she doesn't have to worry about what's going on, or she just gets her brain in a twist. Very sweet, though. I can see why the Academy has her." He shrugged. "I'm guessing you've ridden her before, though, so you'll know that." Lee was beginning to get the impression that Blue Ridge had been using Cara to ride some of their more difficult school horses, which he well understood, but he thought it interesting that someone with horses of their own would be prepared to do that. He put it down as a good sign of a very good character.

Deciding to keep the conversation on the safe topic of horses, something that both of them appeared to be able to converse about fairly easily, he returned his eyes to Phoenix, keeping enough of an awareness of what else was going on to be able to respond if Cassie decided she ought to take offence at something. "Where did you find her? Not that it's unusual, depressingly enough, to find lovely horses that have been mistreated, but I wouldn't have thought that being at school would allow the best chances to rescue such horses." He shook his head, remembering many of the horses his father had dealt with that had often come to them half-starved and beaten. "Least she's in good hands now, though."

[Ω-Admin-Cara-Ω]

Cara nodded to Lee's analysis on the mare he was riding. "Cassie is a really good ride. You just need to work with her. With her, it's all about teamwork, as long as she knows she can count on you if things hit the fan."

She knew that the question about her own mount would come sooner or later. She asked the mare to halt and then, giving the reins the smallest of twitches, she squeezed with her legs and the mare walked back half a dozen steps before they headed forward again. "The riding instructor of Saint Bernadette's Academy had seen her in an auction, he saw the potential that no one else could and brought her. When she was back at the Academy, she was released into one of the pastures and no one could get near her. She was a rouge horse and they were waiting for her to drop dead. I got sick of the way the stable staff trash-talked her so I took the challenge and got her to accept me." She looked off across the arena, traveling back in time. "I spent weeks just sitting in the middle of the paddock. When she got sick of ignoring me, she got curious. I started riding her in secret in her paddock, that's when I first learned she could jump with the best of them." She played with her mare's mane. "The only problem is that I'm the only one she'll let ride her."

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Keeping Cassie at a loose walk, and letting her cool down - he was pleased with what he'd achieved, and didn't see the point in working the mare beyond her comfort zone. To his mind, it was usually better to stop when things were going good - Lee listened closely to Cara's words, storing away the information with his usual efficiency.

"Letting one person ride her seems like a definite step in the right direction," he opinioned when it became clear Cara had stopped (and, gosh, that had to be a record for 'most-number-of-words' from her, that he'd heard anyway). "The rest will come... and if it doesn't, then you have a very dedicated horse that you essentially rescued from death. I can think of far worse things in life." He frowned as a thought struck him. "At least, it'll be fine if you never have to sell her... otherwise there could be a problem."

[Ω-Admin-Cara-Ω]

Cara bit her lip and held her position as the mare she was riding came to a sudden stop. "Sorry girl, mixed signals." She said as she tussled the mare's mane before asking her to go forward again to finish her cool down. "Not long after we first got here, she was sold." She said softly. "It was months before I found her again. Well, another student here found her." She couldn't help but wonder what Seth was up to.

She drew in a deep breath. "My life isn't that easy. I have no control over what happens to me. Or where I am at any given time..." She stopped herself there before she said more than she wanted to let him know about her.

She grabbed hold of a handful of mane as Phoenix bobbed her head up and down. "Nous irons pour une course plus tard, le bébé." She whispered, knowing that the mare wanted to let loose, but the girl couldn't chance the mare's normal spunk with Cassie in the arena.

Translation: We'll go for a run later, baby

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"I wonder what the chances are of finding a horse again like that," Lee mused, mostly to himself, not really expecting a reply to his rhetorical question. Her next words drew his attention, as did the was she suddenly cut herself off, and Lee was left wondering whether he should ask further. Well, perhaps some gentle probing wouldn't hurt, and he could back off if it became clear she didn't want to talk. He well understood caginess, being fairly good at it himself, so didn't object to the fact that someone might not want to talk about matters like family. Still, the opening was there.

"Are your family nor particularly supportive of your riding, then?" He said, throwing out a verbal feeler of the first explanation he could think of for her words. He suspected, though, it was far more than that. Those scars trailing down her arms looked like an almost effective suicide attempt, to him, and from his impressions of Cara he thought it would require something far more than that to get her to go to such lengths.

[Ω-Admin-Cara-Ω]

Cara almost laughed. She knew that she was heading for those questions that were always asked when she brought up the fact that she had no control over her life. She pressed her lips together, trying to think of how to answer it. To be evasive? She could so that, but that would bring even more questions. Or worse, would cause him to ask questions to other people and have everyone talking about her. Sorry, but she didn't feel like being centre of the romour mill. To tell the complete truth? No way! She would get into so much trouble if she let everything spill. However, she could tell him enough to satisfy his questions and hopefully suppress his curiosity.

"I'm sure my parents would not only support my riding." She began softly. "But I would also hope that they would be at the front of the stands cheering me on. Unfortunately, I'll never know." She asked Phoenix to perform a few dressage figures while she spoke, to keep the mare's (and her) mind active. "My parents died in a factory fire when I was a baby, and because none of their families wanted anything to do with a crossbred orphan, I went into the system. I have been in and out of the foster system until I worked out that I had a choice about what I did during school holidays." She pressed her lips together as she finished speaking, not know if she should continue or not. With a mental shake of her head, she remained silent to allow Lee to digest what he had been told, and to ask more questions if he felt so inclined.

Maybe the therapists at the hospital that she'd had to speak to after slitting her wrists were right? Maybe it would be good for her to open up to someone? The only problem was that she didn't know who she could trust. She didn't even trust herself.