(open)Amateur or Professional?

[Cara-Jean Kitchi]

Amateurs practice until they get it right. Professionals practice until they can't get it wrong.

Dressed in white breeches, brown polo shirt and matching fleece vest, and her Ariat field boots, Cara had her Charles Owen helmet on her head and fastened under her chin as she led Ember out to the arena.

She was planning on doing some serious training by herself - for as long as she had the arena to herself as only staff members could reserve the arena. The little mare had developed a problem of rushing her fences and Cara's mission was to find out if this was because she was being asked to jump over what she was comfortable jumping - so she was rushing them to make sure she felt she had the speed to propel herself over them, or if she wasn't being challenged enough so she was rushing them because she didn't have to thing about what she was doing.

Cara had been out to the arena before she had collected the mare and had set up a small course of eight fences - all of them doubles - a simple vertical at various heights and then a simple oxer four strides after the vertical and then a good eight to ten strides between each double. The oxers varied in distance, the smallest being two feet and the widest four feet. None of the fences were higher than four feet, which the mare could easily jump.

Leading the mare into the arena, the girl tightened the girth, pulled the stirrups down and vaulted into the saddle. One of these days she would use the stirrups just to prove to people that she could use them if she had to. She squeezed her forward as she pushed her feet into the stirrups and began her well worked out warm-up. She would make sure that the mare was flexed, supple and listening before she would even think about taking her near the fences; and to do this, she worked the spirited pony through lead changes, sepentines, figure eights and a few other dressage figures.

When the mare finally felt ready, Cara tightened the girth once more and then they rode toward the first, and lowest, jump. She kept an even contact with the mare and as soon as she felt Ember try to break out of the trot, she asked for a half halt and they went over the first vertical at a trot and then the small rider asked for a canter as soon as the mare touched the ground and they flew over the oxer and cantered on to the next fence.

Ember did well until the third double when she started to anticipate what was going to happen and her canter got choppy as she tried to fight her rider for control and Cara pulled the mare out from the jump and sat deep as the pony went into a hissy fit of rearing and bucking, which Cara sat to as though they weren't happening and then rode her in a decreasing spiral before an increasing spiral and the mare was suddenly over her issue and ready to listen again. Rather than taking her to the jump they had pulled out from though, Cara started the pattern over again, starting with the trotting verticle.

[Leonardo Jacobs]

Leo hummed quietly to himself as he quietly made his way into the barn. Field boots were slipped on over a pair of beige breeches and casual tee outfitted his frame nicely. The boy let out a soft smile as a velvet nose stuck out of one of the stalls. The brunette walked over, holding out his hand to the animal before smoothening down the hair from her forehead to her muzzle. Avi snorted impatiently, ready to go for a ride. Leo let out a quiet chuckle at his horse. “Oh Avi…” he said, a hint of knowingness in his tone. He had worked with the excited mare far too long to be alarmed by her antics.

Rolling the horse’s stall door open, Leo moved in, holding a sky blue halter. Avi snorted, practically shoving her head into where it was supposed to go as the boy led her out. He clipped her smoothly into the cross ties before beginning to work on the mare’s coat. Grooming was always one of his favorite and most relaxing things to do, especially in a hectic time period as he was these days. The new school was causing the boy to lose a little bit of his usual calm demeanor, though he doubted it would last long.

Leo was simply one of those kids who knew who he was and would always come back to who he was. After about half an hour, the mare’s coat shined under his soft brush and her hooves were picked to perfection. The brunette always made sure his horse was in top shape. He felt it was all he could do in order to pay her back for carrying him and causing him many happy moments. The boy sighed as he played around with her forelock. Avi of course bobbed her head around to make it difficult, but Leo didn’t mind.

It took him only a few minutes more to grab her tack and place it on, talking softly to her as she immediately placed her ears back at her girth. He knew she had some issues with that, though it had never led to anything above making mean faces towards him. Leo would tighten that when he got the arena. The boy made a hopeful face as he led his horse out to the main outdoor arena. He really wished to have an empty ring due to his problems with other people. He really didn’t need more teasing for his quietness and “sissy” behavior as he did in his old school.

Leo’s blue eyes glimpsed as a girl was riding her horse over various fences. He kept his face straight, and managed to yell out a warning before he opened the gate. He hadn’t been over jumps in a while, though he was capable. Leo was here for dressage however, and he was going to work over the flat whether there was another rider or not. The boy kept these thoughts circulating through his mind as he tightened Avi’s girth and pulled her stirrups down. The sound of hooves against dirt caught his attention as the girl’s pony bucked and reared. The girl stayed on easily however and Leo quickly realized she had a nice seat. The boy shook his head to focus back on his own horse before sticking a foot into the stirrup and mounting. Carefully, Leo’s eyes looked over the arena, trying to figure out a way to warm up without interfering with the girl’s ride.

[Cara-Jean Kitchi]

Cara had taken the mare over the first two combinations when she circled her away from the third. She was happy with the way the mare had calmly cantered over the three fences and rather than her start rushing again she wanted to keep the mare thinking and would circle back to that combination.

As she canter the mare in a neat figure of eight, asking for a counter canter as they made the second circle and then asked for a flying change as they crossed the diagonal again. It was now that she noticed that the tall boy who had entered on stunning black Thoroughbred, and just watching him let her know that he wasn't going to share her fences. Reining the mare back to a trot, she did a circle before asking for a walk and then halting the silver dun. Patting her next, Cara dropped her stirrups and swung out of the saddle. "I will clear you some space, Sir." She said as she left the mare ground tied - the main reason she rode her mounts in an Irish martingale - and quickly dismantled two of the combinations so that she was only using half of the arena. She would alter the heights of the two combinations she had left so that the mare still had a vertical she could jump at a trot.

With the poles put away in the holder outside the arena and the jump stands put away as well, she entered the arena again and after checking the girth, which needed to go up another hole, she vaulted back onto the mare's back, took up the reins and squeezed her forward. "Settle." She breathed as Ember bunched herself up and kicked out, which Cara rode through as though it never happened and they started their warm-up routine all over again, though this time starting from a trot, not a walk, just so the mare didn't go straight back into jumping.

[Leonardo Jacobs]

Blue eyes looked over the small girl carefully as it took her a moment to realize he had entered. The boy was happy about that fact, hopeful she wouldn’t notice him at all. Of course, this was completely ridiculous to think as he was sharing an arena with her at the moment. Leo looked over at the pair as they complete a flying lead change, doing a figure eight. Memories came back to him on the old farm, he had performed the exact exercises before. Doing flying lead changes was always fun. The boy’s attention whipped out of his thoughts and to the girl’s voice reaching out as she hopped out of the saddle.

Leo looked down guiltily, was she leaving? The boy glanced back up to see with relief she was only going to clear part of the arena. He gave her a thankful look though he was slightly intrigued by her classical tone. Having internal fight whether to correct her or not, the nonexistent impulsive side of him won as he responded in an equally soft voice, if not even softer “Thank you.” He then added in an even smaller voice “Leo.” The boy hoped she would get that he was referring to her calling him Sir. Leo was most certainly not even close to a sir.

The boy then went on with his ride- that is until the girl’s horse kicked up. Avi snorted excitedly, bringing her head up. Leo firmly pushed her forward before doing a circle with her on the side of the arena the girl had cleared for him. “Easy.” he said in his known deep, comforting tone. Leo continued to work her around the circle, sitting deep in the saddle and letting his long legs stretch down. The point of this was to get her attention as well as warm the both of them up.

After another minute of flexing and collecting, Leo pushed the horse back up to a trot, this time letting her out of the circle and doing an exercise of lengthening and shortening her stride. Avi responded obediently, as this was all pretty easy stuff for her. Leo smiled down at the horse and did a trot-halt transition just to keep her smooth and attentive. Avi made little to no protest as he flexed her to the inside, expecting her little kick up of annoyance. The mare was a bit antsier than usual today. Leo sighed; hopefully his deep seat would keep her relaxed enough for the duration of the ride.

[Cara-Jean Kitchi]

Cara bowed her head in acknowledgement to his gratitude. She reined the mare back to a walk and easily brought her onto the bit before asking for a trot and then asked her to collect and extend her stride, rubbing the pretty mare's withers as she did as she was asked. "See, you can do dressage when you put your mind to it." She told the pony as she asked her to stretch out her neck at the trot.

When she was happy that Ember was supple and relaxed, Cara circled her and they trotted toward the first jump and the mare easily flew over it and with a gentle cue from the girl as she landed, the mare quickly transitioned into a canter without pausing for thought and they flew over the next jump.

Keeping her even and balanced, Cara circled her away from the next combination and they cantered around their half of the arena before she turned the mare back toward the combination they had circled away from - again making sure the mare was calm and not rushed. Two strides away, she gave the mare her head and they flew over the vertical and cantered toward the oxer. They were three strides out when Cara knew that something was off and she sat back in the saddle as she tried to get the pony to stop, she knew that they couldn't go over the jump. Just as Cara thought that the mare was going to take the jump, Ember slammed on the brakes and crashed into the jump and her rider went flying over her head.

Cara hit the ground hard and gasped for breath as she rolled over. Even though she had the wind knocked out of her and was struggling to breath, she forced herself to get to her feet as she hurried back to the mare who was standing in the middle of the jumps, looking completely baffled as to what had happened. "What have I done?" The girl squeaked as she got closer and saw that the mare was standing with her near fore leg in the air.

[Leonardo Jacobs]

Leo focused dutifully on his mare as she was quite a handful if he wasn’t on his toes all the time. While the mare was somewhat flighty, the boy had grown used to her antics. She was far too valuable as a dessage horse to ever even think of selling. The fact she was his first self-owned horse probably had a large part to do with his refusal to ever even think of leaving the mare. Or vise-versa. The brunette smiled as the horse proved to her dressage potential, using her hindquarters to her powerful chest. There was most definitely power and energy in her, which was what the boy loved the most.

Quickly giving his partner another glance, he noticed she was trying to do the same thing with her own mare. It seemed as the animal wasn’t as happy to practice dressage as her owner was. Leo smiled softly at Avi, remembering how she had acted the same way toward jumps. The mare wasn’t an adrenaline junky, or a bold horse by any means. Rather, she jumped too high first and then became insecure, stopping right before the next jump so the rider could take a flying lesson. After all these falls and rolls Leo had received, the boy had decided to keep the mare with her true passion, dressage.

Still the boy didn’t mind watching others jump. Blue eyes curiously glanced up as the girl and her mare went to go take another round of jumps. They had skill; he had to admit, though the horse looked a bit uneven. The boy frowned, a mild fear starting in his mind as the realization hit her rider. After this, there was the attempt to pull her out of the jump and then the refusal. Leo watched as the tiny girl flew off as the horse crashed into the jump. Well, he couldn’t say he hadn’t been in that situation before. In his rather calm nature, Leo dismounted off Avi and ground tied her.

He walked up to the girl, forcing his shyness to evaporate into worry as the horse was obviously injured. Leo sighed, the poor girl had just fallen off and realized that her horse was hurt too. If that wasn’t one of the worst feelings in the world, then he didn’t know sadness. Leo decided he perhaps was needed in this situation and walked closer to the horse. “Easy…” he said softly, trying to calm her down before taking a closer look at the fetlock. It was swollen a bit. The boy then looked up to the still wind-blown girl, looking her over as well. “Are you alright?” he asked softly, walking up to her and holding out a hand. A hard fall like that was sure to leave a nice mark.

[Cara-Jean Kitchi]

There was a pounding in Cara's head that was causing her to take longer to process what was happening and she lifted a and to her head to rub her temples when she remembered that she still had a helmet on. Shaking her head she realised that the boy who had been riding was now at Ember's side and then he took a step toward her. She took a step back and shook her head in reply to his words. "I will be fine." She said, not paying attention to the fact that that age old injury in her shoulder had come back for a vacation and she couldn't move her left shoulder.

She finally managed to catch her breath, even that hurt, and stepped up to Ember. "I'm sorry." She said as she offered the pony her hand before she ran it down Ember's silver neck and then down the injured leg, asking her to bend it at the knee, so she could get a good look at her fetlock. There was obvious swelling around the joint and the heat was radiating all the way up her cannon. The girl's face was crestfallen as she had just ruined the mare's day... and that wasn't even thinking about the fact that Ember was her mount for the equestrian team.

Gently lowering the leg back to the ground, she glanced over at the boy, Leo he said his name was. "I am sorry for interrupting your ride, Sir, and I thank you for coming to her aid." She said, her voice no louder than earlier. "I shall take her back to the barn." She knew the walk would be slow, and the amount of pain she was feeling wasn't going to help. However, the need to tend to the mare would help her push her own problems to the back of her mind. What she was most afraid of, was confessing to the barn manager what she had done; as she would need to speak with both Ms Carr, as Ember was an Academy mount and Ms Crellos, who was standing in as the Manager for Red Willow, the barn that Ember resided in.

Before she took the mare to the barn though, she needed to remove the mare's saddle - to lighten the load, so-to-speak - She ran the stirrups up with little problem as she could do that with only one hand. She lifted the saddle flap and gritted her teeth, trying to ignore the fact that her left arm didn't want to cooperate. Tears of pain trickled down her cheeks as she tried to undo the tight girth.

[Leonardo Jacobs]

Shyness certainly did restrain his need to help the girl, though the calmness Leo always carried caused the boy to assess the girl over. She most certainly wasn’t fine after the fall that much he could tell. The brunette raised his brow slightly as the girl waved off his concern for her. Leo decided she was simply trying to focus on her horse before she took care of her own injuries. Blue orbs looked down at the mare’s swollen fetlock as the girl rand her hand down the horse’s leg. Leo let out a soft breath air, the horse would need some kind of medical attention for sure; though he was still trying to figure out if the girl needed it as well.

Leo gave the girl a small nod as she thanked him for getting to the horse. He didn’t think he actually deserved it though because he hadn’t really done anything. A small wave of curiosity hit the boy as she yet again called him “Sir”. He wondered why she did that because he certainly wasn’t too much older than her and he was a fellow student. Still, the boy was too shy to actually correct her in his name once more. It didn’t feel like the appropriate time for that. Leo bit the inside of his cheek as the girl announced that she was going to take the horse back into the barn.

The boy got a sense to go with her and his mind struggled with how to put it. He was just about to turn away to his own horse before the girl attempted to take off the horse’s saddle. Leo shook his head at himself; he should’ve known the girl was bluffing. Having yet another argument, the boy finally built up his nonexistent parentish side and moved quietly over to the girl, taking her hand in his and moving it away.

Then opening his mouth, he attempted to explain for his sudden drive for her to let him take care of it. “I- um…” Leo started out meekly, not used to this at all. He bit his lip, cleared his throat and started again “I think, no, I know that you are hurt and it is not going to help you or the horse if you don’t let me help you.” he said, his voice becoming quieter with each second. Finally taking a deep breath and turning around, the boy easily pulled the buckle on the girth off before moving around to the other side. He did that as well and finally picked it up; and set it over on the door. The boy then quickly went over to his own horse and pulled her stirrups up before grabbing the saddle and her reins. Finally he motioned to the petite girl “Erm… Do you think you can lead her into the barn?” he asked softly, referring to the girl's horse. He knew he couldn't manage two horses and a saddle all at once. Leo gave the girl a tiny smile in hopes it would show her he was trying not to be too awkward; though he was still incredulous to his attempt at telling someone what to do.

[Cara-Jean Kitchi]

Cara was concentrating so hard about forcing her nerves and muscles to respond to her commands that she jumped as a large hand closed over hers and moved her away from the girth buckle. She lowered her head and nodded at his words as she didn't have the strength to do it herself, or fight him about it. She moved to the mare's head and ran her right hand down the large pony's nose as she allowed Leo to remove the saddle.

While Leo took the saddle away and went to his own horse, she carefully moved the poles away from the mare, giving her arm no choice whatsoever but to cooperate and she bit down on her tongue to stop herself from crying out in pain, as the poles were a lot heavier than they looked.

She nodded about being able to lead the pony, as she would never confess to the fact that she was still struggling to breath - but she knew that this was because she hadn't allowed her body enough time to recover after the fall, as it happened much too often at gymnastic meets. She gently closed her hand around the mare's reins and clicked her tongue, encouraging the mare to step forward. And step by painful step, they headed toward the Red Willow Barn

She led the mare into the wash bays and setting the water to cold she began to hose down the leg. She looked at Leo. "Thank you for your help." She said. "I am sorry I interrupted your ride. If you put the saddle down, I can put it away once I have her settled." Her chest was now hurting less and less as her body got over the shock of hitting the ground, even if her left shoulder was a burning mass of pain.

[Leonardo Jacobs]

Leo sighed, he knew the girl was probably in a lot more pain then she let on. Whether he had the heart to force her to rest her aching body, and let him help her, he was not sure. When the girl simply nodded to his failed attempt of ordering her to move away from the saddle, a breath of relief burst out of his lips. He honestly didn’t have the courage or ability to argue against the girl. The only person he had ever been able to attempt to tell what to do confidently had been his little sister, but now, even that was gone. Leo sighed and rid his head of the thoughts by focusing back on the girl.

A wince twisted his lips as he saw her move the poles with the obvious pain in her expression. He didn’t want her to do that, though he figured he had pushed her off enough. Leo sighed and begged Avi to behave in his grasp. The boy knew he wouldn’t be able to deal with her ridiculous mare moods holding a saddle and trying to tug a six hundred pound horse. Leo thanked the horse as he set the saddle finally down on an open saddle rack in the barn. He then quickly put Avi into the cross ties he had used before moving back to the girl and her horse.

The boy looked down as she hosed off the mare’s injured area with cold water; that would definitely help the swelling, though he wondered if it would help her own injuries. He knew she had impacted hard, and there had to be a part on her body that was hurting quite a bit as the shock wore off. Leo made a hesitant shake of his head as the girl offered to put the saddle away. “It’s alright, I can do it. Just tell me where.” he said in a voice just above a whisper, his usual tone. He carried the saddle easily, ready to take it to its place.

[Cara-Jean Kitchi]

Cara kept the constant stream on the mare's leg, keeping a careful eye on Ember's head, and silently counting the seconds down.

As she spoke in no more than a whisper herself, it was easy to catch Leo's softly spoken words. She knew that she didn't have the energy to argue with the boy about the mare's saddle, so she just sighed. "Her registered name is Silver Fire, there will be a saddle and and bridle rack in the tack room with her name." She would go and give the saddle a clean after she had put Ember away and called the vet.

At least concentrating on the mare was giving her something else to think about then her shoulder. She was going to need to think about it at some point though as she was going to need to get it functioning again before she headed to gymnastics.

After a ten minute soak, she led the mare back to her stall where the girl removed the bridle and returned it to the tack room. Walking into the feed room, the girl returned to the mare's stall with ointment and an ice boot. "I am so sorry, Ember." She told the mare as she knelt down by the mare's injured leg and gave the fetlock area a good inspection. Now that it had been hosed, the swelling had reduced a little, but there was still a large amount of heat coming out of it. She applied the natural remedy cream onto the area and then put the ice boot around the mare's leg. Rising to her feet, she fished her cell out of her pocket and sent a text to Dr Carr asking her if she was free for a phone call.

After getting text back, she pushed the button to call the woman. "Dr Carr, I stuffed up... I was working on Ember on not rushing her jumps... She crashed through a jump... Yes, Ma'am, she injured her near fetlock... I have hosed it, put cream on and now its being iced... I... Yes, Ma'am, I will contact you in the morning with an update." She pushed the phone back into her pocket and curled her arm around her stomach, leaning forward slightly as a wave of nausea washed over her. The vet had been very nice, and hadn't yelled at all, but she still had to face the head groom and the head barn manager.

After all she had been through throughout her life, Cara had never worked out why she had never been able to handle stress. And this thought flowed through her head once again as she battled between breathing and trying to push down the urge to throw up.

[Leonardo Jacobs]

Leo watched the girl carefully as she sighed in quiet tiredness. He nearly let out a smile at this due the fact she was probably felt the same way about arguing as he did. The brunette didn’t possess much ability to win arguments, nor did he have the energy or effort to. With a only a nod in reply to her explanation of where the saddle would go, Leo whisked away toward the spacious tack room in which he searched for “Silver Fire”. The name stood out easily to his blue orbs and he placed the tack where it should belong. The paper next to the tack caught his eye and he sighed sadly, no wonder the girl was feeling terrible; Silver Fire was an academy horse. Still, he doubted they would be mad at her.

Accident happened in the equestrian world as did the real world, and Leo would’ve thought that the staff or more experienced would realize this as they considered the injured horse. Feeling somewhat responsible to make sure it was taken care of for some reason; Leo reappeared next to the girl as she apologized to the horse. The brunette noted the horse’s barn name in his head for future reference as his attention returned to the petite girl.

Leo watched silently from a distance as the girl put ointment on the horse and called what he assumed to be a vet. There was no doubting the absolute guilt in her tone and the brunette made it his mission to try and help. He looked closely at the things she had done to the injured area, a bit impressed with the girl. She looked as she knew what she was doing. Finally he stood back up and nodded to her “How bad is it?” he asked gently, hoping that it wouldn’t last too long.

A frown crossed the boy’s face as he noticed the girl beginning to look quite sick. He stepped up to her motioning to his nearby tack trunk as a seat. “Here, why don’t you just go sit down there and I’ll bring you some water? You’ve done the most you could with your horse and it’s not going to help if you’re not going to treat yourself as well.” he said quietly but somewhat firmly. Something gave him the thought that this girl was one that would work herself hard from the way she had bravely pushed her injured body to attempt to un-tack her horse.

[Cara-Jean Kitchi]

Cara's eyes flew open, the thought that she had company had slipped her mind. "The swelling isn't as bad as it was, though there is still heat. Dr Carr told me I needed to write up a report for the mare's file, and call her in the morning with a progress report." Swallowing hard she shook her head about sitting down. "No thank you." She said as she exited the stall. She knew that she still needed to tend to the mare. Ember needed her feed and the ice boot needed to come off, she needed to clean the mare's tack and then she needed to go an talk with Ms Carr.

The thought of speaking to the barn manager was all she needed when the nausea grabbed hold of her again. "Excuse me." She raced passed Leo and into the girls' bathroom where she emptied her stomach of what she had managed to forced herself to eat that day. She sat on the tiled floor of the toilet stall and leaned her head back against the wall, feeling washed out.

Getting to her feet, she walked over to the basins, opened the cupboard that was beside the mirror and took out her toothbrush case and toothpaste. She knew what her nerves were like, so she had the necessary equipment in both barns. She washed her hands, brushed her teeth and washed her face, trying to feel slightly human again. With a tired sigh, she exited the washroom.