Eventing Trials/Practice

[lottii]

Katja watched Darren's warm up, noting the bucks the horse threw in for fun near the start. The horse obviously had lots of exuberant energy to burn, but Darren controlled it well and by the end of the warm up Fuzz was clearly more settled. "Great, do you want to try popping over the small log over there, and then bring her back to a walk, and then head off over those three jumps, the log, the gate and then the trakehner. If she has a problem with ditches I would recommend coming along to a few private lessons to help get it sorted." Katja thought about Fuzz's warm up, she looked like she would have easy, natural dressage paces - without effort she was moving properly warming up. Katja looked forward to seeing the mare jump. If her gentle paces transferred to her jump work, then the jump's themselves wouldn't be an issue, and the mare looked as though she would happily to faster canter work on the course.

[sepia]

"Okay," Daniel nodded his acknowledgment, and gathered Arctic Sun up into a trot, the gelding springing forward eagerly, the pair moving up into a good, forward canter just as easily. As they circled around to take the jump, Artie pricked his ears forward, and attempted to speed up, trying to lengthen his canter stride even for just the single log. Daniel, expecting this, sat firmly, checking his enthusiastic gelding with a half-halt as they approached the inviting jump. Accepting the restriction, the grey sat back on his haunches and collected, springing over the jump without a problem as Daniel rose into a two-point position, allowing Artie to jump as he did so by giving him his head and simply enjoying the feel of the powerful horse moving underneath him.

Artie, typically, chucked his head up after the fence and attempted to run on but Daniel - expecting this just as much as he'd been expecting the initial attempt to charge forward - was ready and waiting, checking the gelding firmly and bringing him back to a trot as he waited both for Ethan and Flay to take the log, and in case Miss Kane wanted to make any comments. Surprisingly, Artie didn't protest against the drop in pace, changing down to an active, ground-covering trot with nary a tossed head of complaint.

Having already been trotting a circle as Daniel and Arctic Sun had jumped, Ethan pushed Flay up into a canter as the pair landed safely and returned to a trot, Flay leaping forward into the faster pace, legs raking out in front of her as she eyed the relatively simple log. He knew that she didn't really look like an Eventer, her decidedly pretty features marking her better for dressage, perhaps, rather than cross country, but that delicate exterior hid a core of iron, and Flay enjoyed her cross country. Perhaps it was a mare's contrary personality of liking to be unpredictable, but whatever the reason, she could take logs and ditches with the best Sports Horse, even if she looked a little incongruous doing so.

As they approached the log on a straight line, Flay maintained the rolling canter Ethan had first asked from her, popping over the slightly over two foot jump with ease, Ethan slipping forwards into the two-point position as she took off, and then remaining in it as they cantered away, pace even and surprisingly steady. Twitching her tail as if to say 'Is that all?' she returned to a trot as Ethan gently reined her back in again, even as Daniel and Artie set off to tackle the little course.

Knowing that his bold horse was likely to take things too fast, Daniel had chosen beforehand to go for the slightly wider, longer lines, which would give him time to rebalance Artie between each jump. As he asked for a canter again, he reminded himself that it was training, not a competition, so giving Artie the best round, as opposed to the most likely to win round, was preferable.

Approaching the first log straight on, Artie leaped big, taking off unnecessarily far away through sheer exuberance, flinging himself over with great abandon, clearing the top of the log by half a foot at least. Luckily, Daniel was used to his horse's antics and so went with the large jump, not unseated by the excessive distance and height covered, though somewhat exasperated that Artie had chosen to do so. Not the best first impression, perhaps. Unsurprisingly, Artie landed very forward going, stride long and pushing for the next fence: no-one could ever say that bravery was a problem with this horse.

Remaining in his two-point position, Daniel set his shoulder back, applying pressure on Artie to slow down and collect himself as he took a wide turn to the gate. Artie protested, attempting to run on through the contact, and so Daniel took a harder half-halt which, though a little inelegant, managed to check Artie in time that they took the jump almost sedately, the gelding jumping it normally and without excessive exuberance, even if he was champing at the bit rather a lot. This more sensible jump set them up well for the trakehner, and they flew over the ditch-and-oxer combination without a look at the potential problem of the ditch lurking below.

"Good boy," Daniel praised his horse as he reined him back in to a trot, and then a walk, though from the way Artie resisted it was easy to see that he'd be perfectly happy to take another thirty jumps. "C'mon, we have to stop now." A little reluctantly, the gelding returned to the group, Daniel grinning slightly, quite pleased with their performance - not perfect, but at least neither had shown too badly, either.

Up next, Ethan and Flay turned towards the first jump of the little course, Flay's ears pricking as she took in the surroundings, but her attention remaining on her rider as he asked for a good, even canter. They jumped the first log with finesse, Flay not expending an ounce of extra energy as she arched neatly over the jump, preforming almost as if she was doing a demonstration round on how to do a controlled cross country course. Ethan had chosen to take the jumps on slight angles, so that they'd almost be jumping on a straight line, as Flay could sometimes get distracted while cornering, losing her balance and throwing off the rhythm of their jumping.

Having adopted the two-point position a few strides out from the first fence, he remained in it as they aimed towards the gate, Flay's smooth strides eating up the distance easily as they hit the fence on a perfectly even distance, the mare jumping easily even as both horse and rider focused on the next jump in the combination. Perhaps she didn't look like she was made for this sport, but she certainly seemed bent on proving that she could compete with the best of them as they approached the trakehner, not balking an inch at the ditch gaping beneath the fence.

Of course, such things are frequently too good to last, and so soon as they touched down after said trakehner - an almost perfect jump, smooth and easy - Flay, for no apparent reason, launched herself into a serious of bucks, kinking her back legs up and to the side as she flung herself forward. Somewhat thrown by this, not having seen or heard anything that could potentially provoke such a display, Ethan scrambled for balance initially, flung to the side by a particularly large buck of Flay's.

He managed to regain his balance, though, and sat deep in the saddle, abandoning two-point as he steered his mare into a circle, saying as he did so, "You idiot. And you were being so good, too. Now come on, cooperate. You're only solidifying the impression that all mares are crazy, you know." Understanding his mare well-enough to know that getting angry at her would do no good, Ethan instead asked his mare for half-pass - and, abruptly, as suddenly as she'd thrown herself into bucking, Flay stopped, preforming the requested dressage movement gracefully, as if she'd never even contemplated acting up.

Knowing he was almost about to sport a blush, Ethan brought Flay back down to a walk and rejoined the group, saying as he did so, "Flay... has her moments, I'm afraid." He shrugged, tone apologetic. "She's getting better at remaining focused on the job, though... usually." But not now, apparently, when she'd decided only after jumping the required three jumps almost picture-perfectly, to act up and be silly.

[lottii]

Callum was just finishing off at the Equestrian Team Trials, when he suddenly realized that the Eventing Trials were taking place. Rushing back to the barn to brush down Champagne and re-do his plaits, Callum hoped the horse wasn't too worn out. He doubted this though, the gelding had unlimited energy! Taking off the General Purpose saddle the horse had been wearing, he grabbed a brush from the grooming kit which was still in the stall from earlier and brushed off the small sweat marks from under the saddle. He changed the shaped numnah the horse had been wearing for a white saddle pad. Removing the black tendon boots Champagne had been wearing for the Equestrian trial, he collected some white brushing boots and white neoprene overreach boots from his tack box and strapped them quickly onto the gelding. Most of his plaited mane was still intact, but one or two had unrolled so he quickly rolled these back up and sewed them tightly. He removed the tail plait that Champagne had in, and brushed it through.

Leading him out of the stables, he mounted him quickly and trotted him down to the Cross Country course - Champagne was still fairly warmed up from his previous trial, so by trotting down Callum would warm up his, not yet cooled down muscles. As he reached the course, he could see a young boy jumping a beautiful Morgan over a series of jumps. Letting himself in the gate he laughed gently at the mare's antics when she finished. He reached the group of horses and riders as the mare and her rider rejoined them. "Well done, she looked lovely jumping those", he commented to the rider, who he thought was called Ethan. Turning towards the teacher, he started with an apology "Sorry I am late, I was at the trial for the Equestrian team, and it over ran slightly. Champagne is already warmed up though. I'm Callum and this is Black Champagne", he said, patting the horse's neck as he finished speaking.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Katja waited until both riders had returned before commenting on how they had gone. "That looked very neat Daniel and Ethan. Daniel, you controlled Artie well, but I think his avoiding contact might need some extra work, sometimes he will have to make a sharp turn on a course, and that could be a big problem. If you like, I am happy to work on it in practice, or you could have some free private lessons to help get it sorted - because in every other sense she seemed wonderful. Ethan, Flay is a perfect example of not judging a book by its cover, or a horse by its breed I suppose", Katja gave a small laugh before continuing, "I am sure she will settle after some more work, as long as she only does it at the end of a course not half way round then its not a major issue for now!" As Katja finished speaking she heard a boy praising Ethan's round, and then listened to his explanation and introduction. "I understand, it was unavoidable. If your gelding is warmed up then please jump over the small log and then follow the course that the two boys just took."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Callum listened to the instructions from Miss Keller, and trotting Champagne in a circle, he moved easily into a rolling canter, approached the jump perfectly, and Callum moved in 2-point-position one stride before the jump. Champagne met the jump correctly, and the perfect jump was a shock for Callum. He was sure it was a fluke that it had gone well, rather than a breakthrough with the horse.

As he slowed him to a trot and turned back towards the group, the horse shied quite violently. Callum sat deep in the saddle and pushed him forwards, knowing in the past he had followed this up with several large bucks. He was happy to find the horse moving forwards again easily as he rejoined the group.

Smiling at the improvements starting to show in Champagne, Callum listened to the comment from the coach, before heading off again towards the small series of jumps. Knowing Champagne was happy with ditches, but not so great with gates, he decided to go for what would most likely be a controversial route. Heading at the first log in a smooth, but strong canter, Callum took up 2-point-position quite early on. Taking the log at quite an angle so that he would be able to jump the gate straight, Champagne would have to do a sharp turn to clear the trakehner afterwards.

Clearing the log easily despite the angle, Callum returned to a more upright position to push the horse on strongly towards the gate. He suspected the horse had a scare previously at a gate jump. Using his legs strongly when he felt the horse hesitate, the horse stood well back from the gate and cleared it by at least a foot. Callum smiled at Champagne's method of staying as far away as possible from the scary jump!

Gently half-halting the horse, Callum sponged the rein to turn the horse towards the last jump. Champagne responded well, completing the turn further away from the jump than he had predicted, so he allowed the horse to move back up a speed into a strong, forward canted and moving into 2-point, slowing him slightly only for the last three strides over the jump. The horse soared a few inches over the highest part of the jump, and landed neatly.

Slowing him down to a walk, as he felt this gave the horse less chance of shying again, Callum returned to the group and grinned at Ethan, the younger boy seemed like he could be a good friend.

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Katja had been watching Callum critically, the horse's spook was fairly unexplained and she hoped it was a one off. After watching him complete the series of jumps she was pleased and told him as such.

"Ok, if everyone would like to find a bit of space and show off some dressage moves. Missy, if you would like to have a go on Misty for another little dressage just so you are not waiting by yourself. Don't worry if you can't do top level movements, just get your horse going well for you and give me an overview of what you can do."


ooc: Yay over a 1000 words.

[Ω-Admin-Cara-Ω]

Andie grinned when they were asked to show off some of their dressage moves, this was where jack was going to shine.

Rubbing the large gelding's neck, she squeezed him forward and they found their own space so that they would have enough room to work on a little more that a 20 metre circle without getting too close to the other horses as she couldn't chance annoying one of the others and getting her mount kicked and ruin their chance to get onto the team with an injury.

Working him as though they were inside an arena, she worked the gelding through his paces; they went from a free walk to a medium walk. Then a very neat transition into a medium trot which she remain sitting to Jack's smooth stride. She knew that this wasn't showing the woman anything so she picked up the reins and worked out which movements they should go through. She nodded once she had come to a decision and leg yielded the gelding to the left. She then asked for a canter, shaking he head when the gelding picked up the wrong lead. Sitting deep she squeezed with her legs, inside on the girth, outside just behind and the gelding threw in a flying change before they went onto the next movement - a three loop serpentine.

They finished off with a change of rein that included another flying change and moved back down the paces until she had the gelding once more working at a free walk on a long rein. She knew that she hadn't shown off too much, other than the fact that the gelding could move with timing and finesse when asked, despite his large size.

[Onzyy]

Darren once again nodded at his instructions. He turned and moved Fuzz off. He asked for a trot and then for a canter. He did a few circles to settle the mare. When he felt she was ready he aimed her towards the log. The mares ears pricked forward and Darren mentally counted strides. He squeezed lightly, and the mare responded by lifting her legs, tucking them neatly underneath her, and popping over the log like it was nothing. As they landed, he patted her neck and worked her down to a trot so that they could both just get a look at the jumps.

Darren then asked for a canter again, and went into the two-point position as his adoptive father had taught him. Something made him feel unstoppable at that point, and he knew that somehow Lory was spurring him on. He counted strides again as they aimed for the log. Four, Three, Two, One and Jump and once again Fuzz cleared the jumps. He kept her in line towards the gate, allowing Fuzz to speed up slightly so that she would have the power to clear it. Fuzz was being fantastic and cleared again.

As they neared the ditch, Darren felt a small hesitation from the mare, but he pushed her forward using his legs. Fuzz cleared it, but pulled up strange. Darren stopped her and dismounted. He undid the velcro straps on the boot and felt for heat. There wasn't anything there, but just to be sure Darren walked her a few steps. It only confirmed that he knew nothing was wrong. He did up the boot again, and mounted. He moved her into a canter again, and went for the ditch again. Fuzz cleared it again, and let out another buck.

He walked back to the rest of the group. The mare wasn't breathing heavily and walked with a lazy air. Fuzz enjoyed the country, but loved showing for the dressage. The two found a lonely spot in the field. Darren took a minute to think about what he was going to do for the dressage. He asked Fuzz for a trot, and sponged on the rein and Fuzz responded by lowering her head to an on-the-bit position. He extended the trot, and once again Fuzz proved people wrong. Appaloosa's were not just western horses, but excelled in the English disciplines.

He asked for a canter, and collected it. Fuzz worked well, but she was tired. Her fitness wasn't the best and Darren decided to call it a day. He slowed the mare to a walk and allowed her to have her head. Darren patted her neck and scratched her wither's praising her the whole way.

[lottii]

Katja watched Andie's dressage display, she noted that although she had not shown many moves, the paces she showed were well performed. She did a beautiful sitting trot, and the leg yield was accurate and the horse clearly enjoyed flying changes. Katja hoped this could be worked on to a higher level. The horse was on the bit easily and without resistance, and had a nice bend on the circle and during the serpentine.

Darren and Fuzz cleared the first jump neatly and sensibly. Pulling her legs up clean, Katja hoped the mare would treat colored poles the same way. Fuzz jumped the log and gate in sequence neatly, moving into more of a cross country pace over the gate. Landing over the jump, Katja felt her heart in her mouth as the mare came down strangely. Watching the boy run his hand down her leg before continuing and re-jumping the ditch, she made a mental note of the mare's hesitation over the ditch. It was not a big problem but it was something which could benefit from a little work.
The dressage which Darren showed was simplistic but effective. The mare could collect and extend well, and had lovely movement. Although she didn't immediatly go onto the bit, it was clearly not a struggle to ask - and effectively get - her to. As the mare and her rider came over to him, Katja asked to check her leg and immediately did so. Removing both boots she could feel no heat or difference in either leg, but advised the boy to take her in and give her the next day off just in case.

[Ω-Admin-Cara-Ω]

Andie kept the gelding moving, hoping that their rather simplistic display of dressage movements hadn't just ruined their chance of joining the team - wishing that she had taken the initiative to hold a mock dressage test and really show off what her Jack could do when the time called for it. The gelding was still learning and she had been holding off training him for this level of work until there was a certainty of there being a team, so she wanted to keep him fresh for the third and final phase of the trails, the show jumping.

She kept him on a loose rein as they walked around, every now and then she gathered the reins and asked for a trot and then a canter before going back to a walk. Her main job was to make sure the gelding stayed warm and supple before the started jumping again. Her tongue pressed against her teeth as she battled over whether or not to ask Miss Keller if they could use one of the small logs that was set ff to the side as a practice jump to keep the gelding limber. The need to keep him jumping won over the fact that she was busy watching the others. "Excuse me, Miss Keller?" She waited until she had the woman's attention before she continued. "There is a small log over there, well out of the way of anyone jumping the cross country fences. May I please take Jack over it as a practice jump before we start with the show jumping?" She laughed as the large gelding pawed the ground and nodded his head as though adding his own comment.

[lottii]

Hearing the girl Katja remembered was called Andie, she turned and listened to her continue on to her question. She has finished her dressage earlier than most of the others, as she had been one of the first to arrive and jump the cross country fences.
"Of course you may, just be careful of course. We will move on to the Show-Jumping shortly, once everyone in caught up and has finished with their dressage." Katja laughed with the girl as her horse clearly showed his agreement with going over the log.

Keeping one eye on the horses and riders who will still working, Katja moved to set up the show jumps. Although most places that the team would compete, the show jumping phase would be indoor, or at least on a surface. But the riders were already gathered outside, and it had not taken too much effort to bring 12 show jumps over in the back of her horse box. Setting them up at 2'3" - the lowest height of eventing that was commonly found - she wondered if anyone would actually be jumping that height. She decided to ask once everybody had finished their dressage what height everyone would be comfortable competing at - there was no point seeing them jump higher than they would compete at the moment, that could be worked on later. She hoped there would be a couple of people willing to compete at 3'3" and above, and the rest would hopefully be jumping over 2'6". If anyone wasn't willing to compete at 2'9", then she would recommend having private lessons, just to bring them up to a similar level as quickly as they felt happy with so they didn't struggle in group lessons at a larger height.

[sepia]

Usually if she's doing something, she's fine," Ethan agreed, deciding not to mention that sometimes, it was impossible to get her focused at all, and Flay would continue to act like a twit, taking offense at absolutely anything. But those days were pretty infrequent now that Ethan had figured out that the way to ride the Morgan was to ask, rather than tell, and that sometimes one had to take a very circuitous route to get to what he wanted.

"Oh, thanks," he added, somewhat nonplussed as a boy he didn't recognise complimented Flay. Apparently, people here weren't too phased by the mare's antics, for which he was glad. "She does have a jump on her." He stopped, then as he continued on to introduce himself, helpfully supplying Ethan with a name, and lapsed back into silence, watching Callum as he took Champagne around the little course, liking the way the horse moved. Returning the elder boy's smile with a rather confused one of his own - had he missed something in that he suddenly seemed to be the choice for Callum to make friends with? - and was quite glad when Miss Keller sent them out again to show off some dressage.

Pressing Flay up into a trot after they'd gained some distance from the other riders, he soon had her working in a very neat working trot, Flay easily on the bit and coming through from behind, hooves flashing across the grass with precision. This was where she looked in her element, suitably dainty that she could make even the simplest dressage movement look like a work of art... as long as she wasn't messing around. Her little display after the cross country seemed to have been her lot for the day, though, and she was responding very well to Ethan's aids.

Asking her for an extension, he pushed the mare into an extended trot, pleased when her stride lengthened without her falling onto the forehand, asking her to return to a working trot after they'd gone what he approximated was the length of a long side. In working trot, he began to ask for lateral movements, displaying the easy way in which Flay could move from leg-yielding to shoulder in and back again, really showing off her balance and suppleness.

Glad that the flighty mare was remaining quiet under his riding, maintaining a very soft, correct outline, he asked her for a canter, putting in a fifteen metre circle to again show Flay's balance, before switching onto a fifteen metre circle the other way with a neat flying change in the middle. Relieved that that had worked - flying changes were a recent thing he had taught the mare - he finished the circle before bringing Flay back to a trot, and, noting that Andie seemed to be winding down her little demonstration, back down into a walk, very pleased with how Flay had responded as he gave the mare a pat.

***
"Yeah, he can often be rather too enthusiastic about things." Daniel nodded. "And this running through the contact thing is something that has to be dealt with, I agree. I'm cool with working on it in lessons... maybe if he continues to do so we could schedule in a few private lessons." Subsiding into silence and watching with some amusement his brother's rather baffled interactions with Callum - ah, never the social butterfly, that was Ethan - he was off instantly when Miss Keller asked them to exhibit how their horses went on the flat.

Though not their favourite discipline, both preferring to be tearing around a cross country course rather than mincing down a centre line, Artie's general boldness for life meant that at least he could give his flatwork a certain flair. With that thought in mind, Daniel set off to do something solid, but not particularly complicated, first asking the gelding for some extensions and collections of his pace, first in walk, then in trot and canter to show that Artie could, in fact, come back when asked.

As these changes in pace were something he used quite frequently to get Artie listening, after an initial little quibble he was soon displaying them beautifully, remaining balanced and in an outline even through the extensions and collections on canter. After having done that exercise on both reins, Daniel went a little more complicated, and asked Artie for some counter-canter, circling right to begin with then switching onto a left circle without asking for a change of lead, before returning to the right circle.

The pair then threw in a flying change, and demonstrated the same in the opposite direction, Artie finding it a little more difficult this way and Daniel having to keep his leg on more strongly. Dropping back into a working trot as they completed their circles, Daniel took a glance around and saw that Andie seemed to be raising the question of jumping a little more in preparation for the show jumping stage of the trials, and so brought Artie back to a walk as he steered him closer to the coach so that he could catch the conversation.

[Ω-Admin-Cara-Ω]

Andie grinned when they got the affirmative reply. "Thank you, Ma'am." She said, almost bouncing in the saddle. "We will be careful, I promise. We'll make sure that we keep out of the way of others who are still working." Doing a little jig while sitting in the saddle, she squeezed the gelding forward and toward the log that she had asked about. The log was quite small, it couldn't be more than just over a foot, and was the perfect height for a practice fence.

They rode right the way around the log, letting the gelding have a good look at the bushy tree that was right next to the log and the purple coloured bush (a bunch of grape hyacinths) that was on the other side. When she was happy that Jack was happy with it, she rode him away from the log, asked him to trot and circled. She asked for a canter as they came out of the circle, she lined him up for the log. She rode the gelding strongly toward the obstacle and rose into a two-point position right before the gelding flew into the air, lifted his knees precisely, arched himself over the log and landed neatly on the other side before the circled around the log, giving whoever else was going to take the jump enough space so they would feel crowded.

[lottii]

Katja watched the two boys doing their dressage display simultaneously. Flay was clearly the one more suited to dressage, everything about her showed off her flair and movement. Ethan managed to show her balance and responsiveness and ability for lateral work. His brother, Daniel, showed much of the same, albeit without the lateral work - but a nice display of flying changes and counter-canter. Artie looked good doing dressage, although with a little less of the wow factor than he had when he had been out on the course.

ooc: Will continue later, but it will be description of SJ jumps etc