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Post by Lucas Blackwell on May 25, 2011 20:40:33 GMT -8
Snapshot was already tugging on the halter before Luke could get him in the cross ties. "Hey, easy boy. We're not even ready to go yet. You're going to need to save that energy for later," Luke mumbled softly as he attached the ties to Snapshot's halter and began to brush the gray horse with a curry comb. A quick check of the hooves and extra brush off and Luke knew the Snapshot was ready for the saddle and bridle. He rushed to the tack room and pulled out Snapshot's newly shined tack. In a few minutes he had Snapshot fully tacked up, but he left the halter on for now and pulled out the lunge lead. For the beginning of their time he wouldn't be riding his horse. He needed to work on setting a good pace before he would even consider getting on Snapshot's back today. Yesterday he had nearly run them both out of the arena and he didn't want to risk that again today. He attached the long lead to Snapshot's halter, making sure to wrap the extra rope around his wrist before they set off to the arena together.
"No funny business today, okay, Snapshot? We still need to work on that speed of yours, and I'm sorry, but tiring you out before we get started is the best way to do it for now." Luke knew some people thought it was stupid for him to talk to his horse, but really it was what made all the difference in his opinion. Talking to horses like they were friends made them more comfortable around you. That, and it kind of forced you to be nice to them since you were using kind words around them. Snapshot seemed to be responding well enough. Ever since he had come into Luke's hands, the stallion had been a lot calmer than before. At least he wasn't biting or kicking anyone anymore.
The pair finally reached the outdoor arena. Luke picked up the whip someone had left behind at the edge of the arena (he didn't understand why people didn't clean up after themselves, but at least it was convenient this time) and headed towards the center of the arena. He loosened a bit of the lunge line before he gave Snapshot a light tap with the whip as a way of saying walk. Snapshot was obedient this time. He took meandering steps in a circle around Luke, but his head was low and his ears were to the sides. Luke shrugged. At least Snapshot wasn't trying to tear his arm off today. He loosened the lunge line a bit more to give Snapshot a larger circle to walk in. Instantly Snapshot responded by breaking off into a fast canter, but he wasn't quick enough to catch Luke off guard. The young man tugged the lunge line in, bringing Snapshot into a tighter circle until he was forced back into a walk. "Not today, Snapshot," Luke said triumphantly. He was getting better at being able to predict his horse's moves. He just hoped he could stop using the lunge line on him after awhile. He knew that Snapshot could be ready for the next step forward if only he could bring himself together.
[/left] Read more: violetstestboard.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=general&action=display&thread=1&page=1#1291567894#ixzz17G1P9Id3 |
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Post by California Leone on May 26, 2011 8:21:23 GMT -8
 
The day was perfect. The sky was a beautiful, bright blue with little to no clouds flitting across it to flaw it's wonderful perfection. The sun shone high in the sky, a lovely orange and yellow ball of light giving its warmth to the living creatures of the planet named Earth. Animals were alive and everywhere, and one could clearly tell that the season was spring. Three squirrels ran around a fallen tree, the two in the back fighting often, symbolizing that the other must be female. Birds, hidden away in the thick branches of the trees, chirped loudly to one another, the males singing their beautiful mating songs. A large farm sat in the middle of all this perfect spring weather, and because it was filled with horses, it made the place that much more beautiful. The farm was more like a school, for there were dorms and classrooms and such, but you could have your own horse there. That was one of the many good things about Aspire Equine Academy. Or at least, that's what California Hope Leone thought, anyway.
California Leone was a beautiful young lady of about seventeen years of age. Her hair was a beautiful light blonde color and her eyes were bright blue. She stood at about five feet, six inches and weighed no more than ninety-eight pounds. A skinny thing she was, but she was an excellent rider, and she rode at the Aspire Equine Academy with her horse Dust In The Wind. On this beautiful, spring morning, she wore her black breaches, a hot pink tank top, and her black riding boots to the barn. She didn't feel comfortable changing in the locker room yet, and so she changed in her home before arriving at the barn. Her hair was pulled back in a loose, messy bun, but her make-up was done to perfection.
As she arrived at the barn, her light pink convertible rolled to a stop before dying as she turned the engine off. The ride from her home to the stables was tremendously short, and sometimes she wished that it was just a little longer. She loved the barn and rider, there was no doubt about it, but her horse, Dusty, was a very rowdy mare that didn't really like to be caught and ridden. Dusty had never truly been taught that humans were okay, and so she ran from them in the fields, and hardly ever let someone get close to catching her. That was one reason why California tried to keep her in the stall. Though she still tried not to get caught, she wasn't as hard to catch, and she couldn't easily move in the stall. Although, trying to catch a wild horse in a stall is a very dangerous thing to do, and it would probably be better for California to just leave her in the fields at night so that it was less life threatening to her if Dusty tried anything.
The young blonde sighed and climbed out of her convertible, not bothering to shut the top, for there was nothing in the car for someone to steal. Pushing the door shut, she walked into the barn, moving straight to the tack room. She walked straight to where she knew Dusty's halter would be hanging, and grabbed the aqua halter and lead off of the hook before moving over to her saddle and bridle. Throwing the bridle, halter, and lead over the saddle, she picked up everything and walked out of the tack room to one of the cross-tie stalls and slinging everything over the side of the stall. Grabbing the halter and lead rope, she walked slowly to her mare's stall, peeking in at her. She was surprisingly calm in her stall, and she stood in the back corner, her large brown eye looking up only for a moment at California before looking away.
The blonde girl walked easily over to the door and undid the lock, keeping the door tightly closed. When Dusty didn't move, California opened the stall door and slipped inside, shutting it tightly behind her. California took a step toward her mare, but as soon as the horse saw the halter, she reared slightly, kicking out at the stall. Cali cooed softly to her, but she continued to kick out at the stall. Continuing to coo gently, California took a step closer to the mare. Dusty reared again, this time kicking out at Cali. "Easy girl... Easy..." She said, taking another step toward the mare. She reared again and moved swiftly around the stall in a circle around California, rearing several times as she did. A loud whinny came from the horse's throat, and she bucked, kicking the side of her stall. "Bloody hell Dusty! Settle down!" California all but shouted at the mare in her British accent. For a moment, she quieted down, and then she reared again and moved swiftly in a circle around the blonde again. California just let her be rowdy, trying to make her lose her energy so that she could be caught.
A long while later, Dusty finally settled down, having only her ears pinned. While she had the chance, California quickly haltered the mare up and led her out of her stall, happy to have her under control at last. Of course, as soon as they got out of the stall, the mare reared, making California turn sharply and get out of the way. Dusty landed hard, shorting loudly with her ears pinned in irritation. Cali rolled her eyes before leading the mare to the cross-tie stall and tying her up there. California moved quickly, brushing the horse swiftly and checking her hooves for rocks while she was still too worn out to move. By the time all that was done, though, the mare had found her energy again, and started to rear slightly in the stall. Cali shook her head and threw the aqua saddle pad and black saddle on the mare's back, and she immediately quieted.
California finished tacking up the mare, having little to no trouble after she got the saddle on her, and led her out of the stall and out of the barn, hanging Dusty's halter on her stall. The mare was relatively calm as they walked toward the outdoor arena, but as soon as she saw the stallion, her hooves picked up into a prance. Cali rolled her eyes at the horse and led her into the arena, taking caution in avoiding the stallion on the lunge. Dusty was still prancing as Cali led her to the far side of the arena, away from the stallion. The blonde stopped the mare and tightened her girth quickly before swiftly mounting her with practiced ease. As soon as Dusty felt the extra weight on her, she reared. California balanced easily on the mare and tapped her easily with the crop. That only angered her more, and as Cali pulled back on the reins to try and steady the mare, she turned completely in a circle, rearing again. The blonde gave another tap of the crop, this time much harder, and the mare reared again, spinning in a tight circle. "You bloody horse!" Cali all but shouted, and the horse reared high, making the girl lose her balance and fall to the ground, landing hard on her butt.
Dusty reared again, and California stood quickly, moving out of the way of flying hooves before grabbing the reins of the bridle and just holding the horse there, staring at her with a disgusted look. "My oh my, Dust In The Wind... I think you're gonna have to be sold... I don't know how much more of you I can take..." She said, shaking her head at the mare and sighing lightly. California reached her hand up and rubbed the horse's nose, knowing that she would have to be sold sooner or later if she kept throwing Cali off. The blonde gave the mare a quick pat on the neck, before turning and looking for the guy with the stallion, wondering if they had been effected by Dusty's bad behavior.
"talking like this"
think like this
[/size] been a long cold 1352 words. lonely winter finished. feels like years Lucas Blackwell. since its been clear ]too lazy to make an outfit. slowly melting sorry for the horrid post... definitely not my best.. its alright REAL SLIM SHADY !? @ caution 2.0 [/color].[/blockquote][/size] [/center] |
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Post by Lucas Blackwell on May 27, 2011 14:41:22 GMT -8
After a few minutes, Snapshot began to get the message that moving in a circle was not a race to see how fast he could make Luke dizzy. Luke smiled at the progress they were making and loosened the line a little more so that he could get Snapshot to canter comfortably without dropping his shoulder. Snapshot easily took the urging to move a little faster and began to canter in a smooth, slightly fast pace. As Luke turned around again to follow his horse, he noticed that they weren't the only ones in the arena anymore. Another girl, probably California, but he wasn't too certain at the time, was leading her mare into the arena. She took care not to intrude on his training, but he couldn't help noticing that she was having trouble with her horse. He kept an eye on her as he slowly began to pull Snapshot in on the line. The gray thoroughbred snorted his discontent but followed Luke's commands and began to slow his pace as he got closer and closer to his partner. Soon they were standing side by side as they watched the other horse and rider in the ring. Luke watched each struggle between California and Dusty with keen eyes for what was going wrong. To him, it looked like the mare might be whip shy. It wasn't that uncommon, and considering how rowdy this mare was, he wouldn't be too surprised if she was. He didn't make a move to help or anything just yet, though, because he knew enough about the pride of riders. They simply hated to be told that they were doing something wrong. He had been yelled at enough times when he was younger for trying to correct other riders, anyway.
Suddenly the mare reared and California fell off. This was definitely not good. Luke wrapped the lunge line around his wrist even tighter so that he would have control in case Snapshot tried anything stupid. By the time he looked up to see if California was okay, she was already back up on her feet and scolding her mare. He couldn't hear too much, but the word sold hit his ears clearer than daylight. He wrinkled his nose as he thought about how awful it was for horses to be sold, especially when he looked at the mare that was in California's grip. He knew she had potential, and she shouldn't be given away just because she was bucking around a bit. Luke made his way over to the pair, but he kept a tight hold on the lunge line around his wrist just in case Snapshot tried to do something funny.
"Hey, are you alright?" Luke said as he walked up. "That fall didn't look like it was very fun. Is there anything you need help with?" He wasn't going to mention anything about her saying that she needed to sell the horse. As much as he disliked it, it wasn't his decision to make. Still, he could always give a little influence, and maybe helping her out was the best thing to do.
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Post by California Leone on May 29, 2011 10:17:24 GMT -8
The perfect day was starting to turn into a nightmare. With Dusty acting up -like she did every day- California was becoming more and more stressed out. The pair couldn't even have a simple workout anymore without the mare acting up. Dusty had so much potential, and yet she wouldn't even let Cali on her back enough to get some practice in for the shows. Dusty was a beautiful horse and she performed with graceful ease in the arena, but Cali could never get on her enough in the practice arena to know exactly how high the horse could jump. Shaking her head, the blond turned to lead Dusty out of the arena so that she could find the times of the next auctions and sales. As soon as she turned around, though, she heard a voice, and Cali looked up to see the guy and his stallion standing near them. California couldn't help but to be slightly embarrassed that he had saw her fall and thought to come over and help her. Cali sighed and looked over at Dusty, who seemed to be trying to get the stallion's attention in some way.
Shaking her head Calif0rnia looked back at the guy and sighed again in defeat. "Are any falls ever fun? But, yes, I am fine, and no I don't think there is anything that I need help with. I can't deal with her anymore, so I'm probably just going to sell her... As sad as that makes me... But um... thank you anyway..." Her accented voice travelled out of her throat, sad and hurt. It would kill her to get rid of Dusty, but it would literally kill her if she kept the horse. There was no way to win. Besides, hiring a trainer was terribly expensive, and if the trainer couldn't do anything with the mare, then it would just be a bunch of money going down the drain. Dusty needed an owner who could control her and love her at the same time. California could only love her, and that wasn't enough for the mare. Smiling sadly, Cali turned her horse and led her to the gate of the arena. Stopping there, she looked sadly at her horse and hugged her gently, letting a small tear flow from her eye. No horse could ever replace Dusty, and no horse ever would.
Of course, after losing her grey gelding to a large jump in the arena, letting Dusty go would be that much more difficult. Where would Cali go next? It would be like losing her magnificent gelding all over again, and that was a pain that California could never come in contact with again. Looking into the mare's large brown eyes, Cali realized that she couldn't go through the pain of losing another horse because of her own mistakes and stupid decisions. Squeezing her eyes shut, she took a deep breath to steady herself before opening her eyes and turning back to the guy. "Actually... Is there anything that you can do to help me get her under control? She's just... wild, really..." She said, glancing over at Dusty before looking back at the guy and his stallion.
"talking like this"
think like this
[/size] been a long cold 530 words. lonely winter finished. feels like years Lucas Blackwell. since its been clear ]too lazy to make an outfit. slowly melting well it's definitely shorter than the last post.... its alright REAL SLIM SHADY !? @ caution 2.0 [/color].[/blockquote][/size] [/center] |
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Post by Lucas Blackwell on May 31, 2011 15:16:02 GMT -8
Luke could feel Snapshot tugging lightly on the lead as California talked. His free hand reached over to give the stallion a pat on the neck as California mentioned selling Dusty. His eyes shot over to the mare that had just finished up a temper tantrum only a few moments before. She didn't look like a horse that needed selling. In all honesty, she just looked like she could use a slightly firmer hand and a little less frustration, something that both horse and rider could work on. If Luke knew anything about training, it was that the horse wasn't the only one that needed to learn how to work. He muttered a quick "You're welcome" to her thank you as he continued to think about Dusty and Cali. They didn't look too bad together, and from the looks of her, Dusty's breeding was not something to be easily dismissed. Selling a horse like that would be quite a shame. Besides, being transferred from owner to owner could be quite the challenge for a horse, something that Luke believed should be avoided as much as possible.
Luke immediately stopped his pitying thoughts at Cali's mention of help. He looked up at Snapshot, then back at Dusty. In all honesty, Snapshot had been just as foul-tempered as Dusty when he first came into Luke's hands. The horse had been put in too many claiming races to count, each lower in price than the last. The horse had speed, but his temper was easily something to match. Yeah, he could do this. He knew he could handle Dusty. He just had to try a few things out, figure out where her problems were, and start making a plan to fix them. Really, it would just be an experiment for him to see if training Snapshot wasn't just some sort of fluke, that he had potential in this area.
"I'd be happy to help," Luke said. "Actually, I can work with Dusty on the lunge line for a bit just to see where she's at, if that's okay with you. Snapshot's kind of worn out already, so if you want to take him around the arena a little bit I'm sure he won't mind. Just watch out for his pace, though. He really likes speeding up." He gave his tall stallion a pat on the neck, but the horse merely snorted and dropped his ears to the side as if to say that Luke's words couldn't be true. A soft laughed escaped Luke's lips. Sometimes his horse could be quite odd.
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Post by California Leone on Jun 24, 2011 8:21:01 GMT -8
California sighed and pat her horse on the neck. She really was a good horse and she did great in the jumping arena at shows, but it was a pain to get her to be nice when they were just practicing. Dusty reared again, and California pulled her down hard, trying to say that Cali was the boss in their relationship, but it only made Dusty more angry with her, and she tossed her head, bucking a little. Cali pulled on the rope, leading the mare back toward the guy and his horse. Glancing at her mare, she sighed again and looked back at the guy. "Just be careful because she is not a big fan of strangers... Or the lunge line for that matter. I think she gets bored with it because she is just going in a circle." California said, shrugging and looking over at her mare with a small half smile. Again, she looked back at the guy with his stallion, looking a little uncomfortable with the mention of her handling his horse. "Umm... Actually I am not very comfortable with stallions... riding them or just handling them. I actually don't like male horses at all. I had a bad experience with my gelding, and I just don't want that to happen again..." Her British tones floated out of her throat as she looked sadly at the guy, remembering her beautiful gelding that had died because of her mistake. "I'm California, by the way..." As she spoke, she held out her hand for him to shake, smiling at him.
"talking like this"
think like this
[/size] been a long cold 262 words. lonely winter finished. feels like years Lucas Blackwell. since its been clear ]too lazy to make an outfit. slowly melting i hate not having museeee!!!! sorry dear!. its alright REAL SLIM SHADY !? @ caution 2.0 [/color].[/blockquote][/size] [/center] |
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