An escape (Sepia)

[Ω-Admin-Cara-Ω]

Cara heard Bear move away, she could pick up the excitement in his stride as they cantered away toward the large fences. "Sorry girl." She apologized to the mare again as she ran her hand down the skewbald's strong neck as her stomach clenched again.

With a small shake of her head the girl sat up straight and concentrated on her breathing. Circling her shoulders, she put on her game face, the state of mind she used in meets where she was expected to pull off a flawless routine with a skill that she had only been introduced to a few days earlier. She needed to stop thinking about what might happen, what Mr Andrews might do to her should he realize that she still owned a couple of horses that he didn't know about. She also needed to stop thinking that she was betraying Phoenix by wanting to jump on another horse.

"Walk on, beautiful." She finally whispered as she squeezed the mare forward. "I'm alright now, I promise." She told the mare who turned around and nuzzled her boot, almost like she was asking the girl if she was sure. "Let's go fly." She squeezed the mare forward again and smiled as Titania moved off this time without anymore hesitations.

Circling the mare, she asked for a trot and then when the Vanner was warmed up again, she asked for a canter and they turned toward the first jump that the girl could see - a rather small log - and Titania flew over it. Keeping in the two-point position, Cara urged the mare on and they headed toward the next fence, a brush fence, followed quickly by a bounce and then another log. The girl looked at the jumps ahead of them and wondered why her instructors had never focused on cross country jumping before, sure they were traveling pretty fast, but there wasn't any less skill needed here than in the show jumping ring. "Steady." She whispered as she sat back as they approached another jump. The jump reminded her of a hogsback, but she knew they didn't have oxers in cross country. Moving forward into two-point again she gave the mare her head as they flew over the jump, making sure she didn't look down as she didn't want to interrupt her mount's balance - Cara knew that she would need to come back and look at the jump again later. "Easy!" She laughed as the mare's head went down as she landed and she threw in a handful of bucks - that the girl sat nicely to - before she settled down again and cantered off and flew over a table.

Cara's breathing was being ragged when she finally sat back in the saddle and circled the mare away from the next fence. "Sorry." She whispered to the skewbald mare who gave a disgruntled snort at being pulled out at the last minute. "How about I get off and you keep going?" She gave a half smile as she rubbed the mare's damp neck as she trotted the mare around before asking her for a walk and letting her walk around on a free rein while she moved her left forward and loosened the girth so the mare could cool out after her run. he girl sat back in the saddle, as relaxed as she got, back still straight and posture just-so.

[sepia]

Glad to see that Cara seemed to have sorted herself out and was pointing Titania towards some of the smaller fences - another thing Lee approved of in regards to Blue Ridge was that they appreciated that everyone rode at a slightly different level, and tried to accommodate for that, knowing that even slightly less experienced riders might like to pop around a few logs out on the grass, and though Cara hardly fit into that category, it was hardly reasonable to expect her to start her cross country career with metre high fences - Lee pulled his attention back to what he and Bear were doing, arcing them towards a sunken road. Bear eyed the rather different jump a little, clearly having gotten used to the idea of going over things rather than down into them, but a slightly firmer leg aid from Lee reminded the gelding that, actually, he'd done all this before, and they were down and up and out of the sunken road in an instant.

Choosing to take Bear over a couple of slightly more difficult fences in their general vicinity, Lee next rode the gelding towards a diagonal corner, keeping his leg on firmly and containing the energy that contained with a steady contact as they approached the jump that frequently caused run-outs. Bear, however, sailed over with only the slightest try at a wiggle out to the side, one Lee decided was more to test him than for any other reason, and they landed in an onward going canter which he directed towards what he decided would be their last jump: an arrowhead, an obstacle that also had to be ridden very straight and positively, followed by a two stride distance into a solidly constructed sheep's feeder.

A few seconds later, and they were over that combination without a problem, Lee bringing Bear back down into a trot and allowing the gelding a slightly looser rein to stretch on, even as he noted that Cara seemed to have finished her spate of jumping as well. Directing Bear towards the other combination, they descended into a walk as they came up besides the paint, Lee offering him a still longer rein as he did so. "Been bitten by the cross country bug, yet?" he asked as Bear stretched downwards, "The pair of you looked like you could definitely do something out on course."

[Ω-Admin-Cara-Ω]

Cara was shaking her head before Lee had even finished speaking. "No thank you." She said with another shake of her head. "I think I will stick with show jumping and dressage. There are too many things that can go completely wrong too quickly on the cross country course." She pulled a tight smile, she had seen those things happen at shows and she didn't want to add to the list of people who could no longer ride due to a simple mistake that could have been corrected should the rider have had time to pull up. She gave a small laugh. "My first riding instructor in Birmingham used to list all the evils of riding cross country courses, the top one also being speed."

She leaned forward and rubbed her mount's neck. "Titania here needs a rider who likes all the jumping she does, but there really aren't any other horses small enough for me or ponies that are in need of me, even Whistler seems to have mellowed out a little, so she's kind of stuck with me until Miss Carr finds another horse or pony that needs my help." She curled her nose a little. "Or as Miss Carr puts it, my magic touch." She looked at Lee. "I don't have a magic touch. Horses still buck with me, they still rear up. It's not like I walk up to them, place my hands on their heads and they are instantly the model animal."

She glanced up at the sky. "Oh, time has flown, we really need to head back to campus. I've still got loads of things to do."