your light is spent (OPEN)

[Henry Watts]

The morning sun cast the mare's shadow longer than the mare herself, a giant horse projected on the freshly dragged area, unmarked except for her hoof prints and the prints of Henry's boots. Of all the school horses that he'd ridden, Henry was most fond of Dolly, the gentle gray giant with a talent for jumping and a cool head. He generally left the hotter horses for horse trainers and students, especially since very few of them were old enough to handle much jumping. In fact, he was surprised about how generally chill the horses schooled in jumping were at Aspire. He'd ridden quite a few hotheads in his day, but Dolly and the others were far from it.

He swung himself up in the saddle from the ground, a trick which he'd learned years ago. Henry had always loved tall horses, he liked big strides and the way they jumped less vertically. Dolly, a true veteran, stood perfectly still until he nudged her into a walk, grinning in general at the sky and the fact that he had been the first in the newly dragged arena. He'd risen early for this especially, for these few moments of solitude and just quiet schooling.

Most of the students had their own horses, but Henry did not. He was probably alone among instructors for this, but at least it meant that he rode the same horses that his less fortunate students would. He left Dolly on a loose rein, nudging her into a forward walk, letting her stretch out a bit before he moved into anything more complex. He'd never been one to talk to horses horribly much, and the language between him and her was made up more of energy, the way he sat, the way she lifted her head. Dolly knew well enough when an experienced rider was on board, and she rode on naturally with a beautiful curve in her long neck.

After a lap around the huge arena they picked up a fast trot, Henry posting along easily. He reflected that his position was probably not what it once had been, but the motion still came easily to him. A serpentine, a figure eight. Then into a canter, Dolly easing gently off of his outside leg, her large strides eating up the arena. He repeated the exercises, flexing her. Such things were good for school horses, who sometimes forgot to listen to the finer cues. Sauny was definitely the worst in that department, and Henry knew that he technically should be riding her. But he wasn't, mostly because he didn't particularly want to.

He slowed Dolly to a walk, patting her rump with one free hand and looking off at the barn in the distance. He supposed that he'd start on his course in a minute, but he wanted a few moments of peace. There were, after all, other early risers at Aspire, students and staff alike, who were also drawn to fresh arenas. He expected he'd have some company soon enough.

WORD COUNT: 520
TAGS: I don't even care.
NOTES: No formatting because I'm too lazy to pretty it up every time. Yeaah boring old post, bring some interesting things to happen.

[Azraela Mathieus]

[atrb=cellSpacing,10,true][atrb=border,0,true][atrb=style, width: 500px; height: 290px; background: url(http://i545.photobucket.com/albums/hh373/storageimages/table-4.png); background-repeat: no-repeat,bTable]

Azraela walked out of the barn to the arena in silence. She had just arrived that morning, by train, and was still waiting on her stallion's arrival. Smoking Gun was still aboard the freighter that would come later that afternoon. She leaned against the fence, watching the dappled mare as she moved under her riders gentle commands. She didn't know who he was, but he looked too old to simply be a student. Because of his appearance she kept her mouth shut, propping a black, dusty boot on the bottom rail. Of course she was dressed for riding. She was always dressed for riding. After all she had to handle the horses at all times, didn't she? She slipped away from the fence and entered the barn, examining the horses and their charts. " Let's see. . . who hasn't been out today? " She smiled and gave one of the horses a pat on the neck. She grabbed a school halter and slipped it on Cameo, leading him out of his stall and grooming him quickly, she saddled him up and led him out to the arena. Of course the hot-head gave a tiny bit of a fight, tugging towards the fields instead, she ignored him, continuing to walk to the arena. Her methods were. . . unusuals. Ignore the minor disobedience, such as pulling, but stay firm and eventually they'll learn to stop it. Of course if they didn't she'd start teaching them to stop it. But she liked to test the horses she handled first. " Up 'n' at 'em big boy. " She swung up into the saddle and opened the arena gate, easing him in and shutting it again from saddle. She gave a glance around to see that he was on the other end of the arena with Dolly and set out along the edge of the arena, setting Cameo through his paces. He arched his neck, flexing against the bit, and she sat back. Let him exhaust himself. It wasn't like she had much to do today. She was free to work as she pleased for today, seeing's she was meant to be settling in. She made no motion to greet the other rider - people really weren't her thing. Cameo pinned his ears, tilted his head to look at her, and gave a half-hearted buck. She grinned and sat deeper in the saddle, turning his head to her toes to force him into a circle - and disable his bucking. " here is where I talk " " and here are my thoughts " " oh goodness, did you say something? "

ooc;; hope you don't mind