Fire and Fly (open)

[Ω-Admin-Cara-Ω]

Katherine managed to find a spare moment to her self - an entire morning in fact! She wrote out a note that she was going out to the cross country course and stuck it to her office door in case anyone wanted to get hold of her, she slipped her cell into the hidden pocket on the inside of the waistband of her charcoal coloured jodhpurs, slipped her black body protector on over the top of the grey and white sleevless polo shirt she was wearing, popped her Charles Owen helmet onto her and fastened it under her chin. She then headed down to her black Latvian's stall and slipped the red halter over the pretty mare's nose.

Once she had given Fly a thorough groom and saddled her up with her Bates close contact saddle and Crosby Crown Relief bridle, she lead her out of the barn and swung her slim form into the saddle. "I know girl." She said as she rubbed the mare's neck as Fly pawed at the ground, her shod hoof making a metallic scraping noise on the ground. "It has been too long." She gathered the reins and squeezed the mare forward.

It didn't take them long to arrive at the schools well maintained cross country courses. The more advanced courses took the horse and rider deep into the trees and joined up with a couple of the trails before coming back out onto the field.

The woman then took her time warming her spirited mare up and making sure that she was soft and supple before asking her to ride closer to the jumps so that Fly could get a good look at what they would be covering.

Katherine looked around to see if anyone else was nearby. Sure, she wanted the chance to have a good ride, but she would never say no to some company.

[sepia]

Philip had planned for this quite carefully. Doodle had been thoroughly ridden throughout the week, Philip assessing his every mood, and being very pleased at the fact that his nutcase of a Thoroughbred definitely seemed to be relatively calm. Alright, so he'd thrown a fit on Thursday for no discernible reason, but other than that, he'd been as good as gold, obediently doing dressage and a small bit of jumping. And so, Philip had decded to take the plunge, and ride the chestnut out on the grass.

Tacked up neatly in their GP saddle and standard bridle, both of smart black leather, with Philip wearing dark blue polo shirt and fawn breeches, the pair made quite a striking sight as they headed out of the barn, Doodle groomed to a gleaming shine, advancing with his head up and his ears flicking, somehow knowing something slightly different was going to be happening today. Mounting with the aid of the block, Philip turned his beloved horse's head towards the cross-country fences, wanting to give the chestnut a chance to look at them.

Their first few paces on the grass were fraught with excitement, Doodle doing his usual 'Oh-wow-grass-does-this-mean-I'm-racing-again?' before remembering where he was, and what he did these days, and calming down again. Somewhat, anyway, as the tightly strung ex-racehorse didn't do calm particularly well. Prancing along in a free, swinging walk, they made rapid progress, and it wasn't long before Philip could see, quite clearly, Katherine and Fly.

"Hello," he called, when they were close enough that they could have a conversation without having to yell, Doodle eying the black mare in a sort of fascinated wonder, as though he could barely belief there was another horse out here. Twit, Philip thought affectionately as he ran a calming hand down his horse's neck. "Are you jumping? I'll be out of the way in a moment, just giving Doodle here a bit of an adventure out of a paddock."

[Ω-Admin-Cara-Ω]

Katherine sat back as her mare sniffed around the water jump, she rubbed Fly's neck as the mare flattened her ears and stepped away from the drop jump. "It's okay, little girl." She whispered as she held the rein loosely enough so that the mare could step forward again, this time with more confidence.

Turning the mare away, they headed back toward the start box. "Easy." She said as the Latvian's head shot up, her ears pricked forward as she looked toward the horse that was approaching them. "Hello." She returned the greeting with a smile. "We are thinking about it. Depending on how brave Fly here is feeling." The manager knew that once the mare got moving there would be nothing to stop her short of something jumping out at her.

[sepia]

Nodding, Philip gently flexed his fingers, the slight pressure it put on Doodle's mouth keeping the chestnut's attention on him, and not on what was going on elsewhere. "She looks like she'll go over anything," he offered, admiring the strong movement of the Latvian mare, "I take it your training her for Eventing? That's what I'd like to do with Doodle, here, but I think the day when he'll be sane enough to allow it is a long way off."

As if to prove his point, the Thoroughbred took this very moment to leap sideways, startled by the rattle of wings as a heron took off from a significant distance away, ears flicking straight upwards as he curvetted to the right, springs beneath his hoofs as he felt the grass. Bunching his muscles, the chestnut almost took off, deciding at the last minute that Philip's solid, steady weight on his back, and the actual lack of a threat meant that he didn't have to, and abruptly he settled, all four feet stolidly back on the ground as he blew a thoughtful whuff of air through his nostrils.

Philip smiled, ruefully as he scratched Doodle's shoulder with two fingers, knowing the spot just beneath his withers on his shoulder that usually calmed the horse. "One day, I'd love for him to prove me wrong," he commented.

[Ω-Admin-Cara-Ω]

Katherine laughed when asked if she were training the mare. "Before coming to work here, Fly and I did quite a bit of eventing." She explained. "I've known her since before she was born and I did all the training myself." Sure, she was boasting, but she was still proud of all the work she put into the mare.

She rubbed the black horse's neck. "It just that since we've been here, Fly hasn't had all the attention that she deserves." It brought the question of selling the young mare to mind. Fly had so much to offer someone who had the time to offer the mare the attention she deserved.

She looked at the gelding that Philip was riding. "You never know, jumping might just be the distraction that Doodle needs. And the dressage training will give him something else to put his energy into. And there's nothing more fun than roaring around a cross country course."

[sepia]

"She looks lovely to work with," he commented, wondering just how long the pair had been working together, not being the best at aging horses on the fly. It was difficult not to hear things about the head Barn Manager and English Riding instructor, after all, and he'd overhead several students talking covetously about her horse, and the way she rode, as well as extolling the previous eventing career they'd had. "It would be a shame if you had to give her up," he added, guessing at the track of the other teacher's thoughts, "After everything you've done together." Call him a romantic? Yep.

"He does like to jump," Philip agreed, "When he's not worrying about poles eating him, anyway, he's reasonably good, and his patience with dressage now as opposed to when I first began to work with him is fairly wondrous. He does learn quite quickly, actually... when he's in the mood to concentrate." Looking around at the jumps dotting the grass, he nodded, unconsciously. "At least he'd probably think that cross country happens at the right speed - though I think for today we'll stick with getting used to the whole concept of grass, and open spaces."

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Katherine gave a soft smile as she ran her fingers through the mare's tangle-free mane. "Yes, it would be sad to see her go." She agreed. "But I feel that it could be what's best for her. She deserves so much more attention that I can offer her. Unless of course, I can find a student here who wants to take her on full-time."

She listened as the man spoke about his own horse, she could imagine how difficult it must be to try and contain the Thoroughbred's energy at the best of times. "Don't forget about the novice course. There are enough logs that are spaced out enough that you could just trot him over them should he need something else to distract him while out in the open." On the rare days that she managed to get Percy out for a hack, they quite often trotted over the logs that were around the novice course just for something to do when the gelding was looking like he was getting bored. And if he was really bored, he'd just step over them.

[sepia]

"You'd think with the number of horse-mad students we have running around, you'd manage to find someone who'd be willing to take on an experienced Eventer," Philip mused aloud. "Or maybe you could work a loan system out, with a student who isn't sure about taking on a horse full-time. It would see her getting some more attention and exercise, but she'd still be yours." He shrugged. "Just a thought." He wouldn't want to interfere in her business, or anything, but he couldn't see any harm in putting forth a slightly alternative option, in case she hadn't considered that path.

"A novice course with logs sounds just about the right thing for us, doesn't it?" Doodle, unaware that he was being talked about in his continued interest in his surroundings, didn't deign to give him an answer. "It'll keep his mind off monsters that might be hiding in the bushes, anyway, which can only be a good thing." Of course, they'd then have to worry about monsters hiding behind the logs they were trying to trot over, which was a whole other kettle of fish.

[Ω-Admin-Cara-Ω]

Katherine nodded at Philip's suggestion. "That's actually not a bad idea." She mused. In fact, it was a brilliant idea! This way she could keep an eye on the mare's training and if anything went wrong, she could easily take the black horse back. "Hush you!" She said to the horse herself as Fly kicked out, showing how sick she was of standing still for so long when she wanted to be out jumping the fences that she knew weren't too far away.

"If you're worried about him being worried about their being monsters on the other side of the logs, get Doodle to trot around the log before you jump over it." She rubbed her mount's neck. "I'm sorry, but if you'll excuse us, Fly wants to have a go around the course."

[sepia]

"I'll let you get back to it, then," Philip replied, "We'd probably best get moving again too." Doodle, indeed, was beginning to shift impatiently in a way that Philip recognised as his 'Please-get-moving-now-or-I-may-be-forced-to-do-something-to-force-you-to-move' little shuffle. "Nice chatting to you," he added, deciding as he spoke that he really needed to make more of an effort to get to know his fellow staff. Entering a well established teaching body was always a trifle difficult, but he was well used to being the newcomer by now, and had become quite good at making himself new friends - he just needed to put those skills into practice.

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Katherine grinned as she pushed Fly forward into a walk. "It was nice chatting with you too." She said. "You even brought a few things into prospective for me, and gave me a reason not to have to send my baby away. So I thank you." Too often the senior manager had been told that her job was too important to her - more often than not by her own children - and that she didn't leave the barn often enough and get to know the people around her.

Once they had walked a good distance away from the other horse and rider, she pushed the mare into a trot and allowed her to warm up again before she asked for a canter and pointed the mare toward the first jump - a simple log that the could just see over the top of - which the mare flew over with ease and they thundered on to the next...