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Post by femalefred on Mar 25, 2008 17:56:05 GMT -5
((ohyah. I have the most original titles xD))
Ella had put Duke safely back in his stall and carefully put his tack away fairly swiftly in order that she'd be at the arena in time. She'd have to make a mental note to clean the tack tomorrow, seeing as she hadn't for a few days now and she didn't want the leather to dry out. A new saddle was something she couldn't afford right now.
She'd checked that the lights were on before heading out of the barn, given that the switch was inside, and it looked like all of the floods were working properly. The course was set fairly low, but she wasn't too worried about that. She didn't really know how experienced the girl and her horse were, and the 2 ft fences were probably a good starting point.
Hearing the sound of hooves, she turned and waved to the approaching pair.
"All ready?"[/color]
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DJ
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Post by DJ on Mar 25, 2008 18:54:50 GMT -5
Esteelead the gelding up to the ring. He seemed a bit perturbed that he'd been pulled from his evening hay and warm stall. The arena lights were on and a small course of 2' fences or so were set.
Glow halted easily when asked, and Estee ran down her stirrups, and mounted without a block easily onto the 16 hand high Warmblood. She squeezed him into a walk, beginning to warm him up. After a round in each direction, she moved him into a trot, continuing to warm him up.
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Post by femalefred on Mar 26, 2008 12:42:01 GMT -5
"Seeing as we've not met before, can you give me a heads up on your skill level? And the gelding. I don't think I caught your name either," Ella asked, grinning a little sheepishly when she realised she hadn't actually asked the teenager her name. The pair had obviously been together for a little while, as they both seemed pretty comfortable together.
The warmblood was moving nicely, though it'd be better to see him in a tidier outline but seeing as the pair were just warming up she'd forgive them that for the minute. "And is it just hunters you do?" the young woman asked after a couple of minutes. If it was, it might be nice to put them round one of the faster, bendier courses. Even if hunter courses were fairly slow with long lines between the fences it could help raise the concentration level and communication between the pair if they had to be more aware of where they were headed next.
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DJ
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Post by DJ on Mar 27, 2008 21:38:00 GMT -5
Estee stared into the center of the arena toward Ella, talking to her as she warmed her gelding up. "I was riding 2'6 to 3' courses for a while, but the highest I've ever jumped was a 3'9 course and that wasn't on Glow. Glow," she scratched the gelding's withers, "is a 16 Dutch Warmblood. He's mine. Got him..." she paused, counting, "4 years ago," she commented although it's felt like much longer then that. "Oh, and I'm Estee," she stammered, angry at herself for not introducing herself earlier.
She brought Glow back onto the rail at a walk, and pressed her outside leg against his barrel slightly lifting her inside rein. The gelding picked up a left lead canter smoothly, swooping along the rail. After two circuits, she pulled him to a trot, cutting across the diagonal and continuing the same exercise in the other direction, then pulled him back to a walk.
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Post by femalefred on Mar 27, 2008 21:51:17 GMT -5
Ella nodded. Doing a 2 ft course wouldn't be a problem for them, and she'd probably up it to 3 ft or so once they'd done a warm up round. "Ok then. Once you're sure he's warmed up properly, take him over one or two of the single fences just to warm him up and I'll have a look at your form and see where you can improve. After that, I think it'd be good to try you over a slightly quicker course than a regular hunter course, but I'll see what you need to improve before I get ahead of myself," she said, smiling. The gelding was certainly sensitive enough to his rider's command, taking up a canter on the correct lead from a walk in a straight line - something she wished Duke could do, but then this horse was 16 years old and had a good 11 years' experience on her own.
"For the warm up fences, the crossrail just there and the vertical to the right of it would probably be good."[/size]
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DJ
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Post by DJ on Mar 27, 2008 22:09:22 GMT -5
"Sure," she nodded, finding the crossrail and vertical Ella was gazing at. Moving the gelding into a canter, she circled him in a large oval around the arena rhythmically, pointing him toward the crossrail. The gelding's ears pricked, but he stayed in tempo, following a straight line to the crossrail, easily sailing over it, not feeling the need to exert extra energy to propel himself over the striped cross poles. Over the jump, Estee reminded herself of the harder things, as the basics came naturally. She'd drilled these types of things for the past 4 years so it wasn't hard to look good. Her heels sunk with a slight outward inward, as her toes pointed out. Her release was simple, not throwing her hands onto the gelding's neck as far up as she normally did over large jumps, and her shoulders stayed back, balancing over the gelding.
he landed and she did too, sitting up quickly and applying a strong pressure to move him over, pointing him at the next fence. The vertical was over flower boxes, although the gelding didn't care. He tucked over it easily, and Estee followed, doing the same.
She sat up at the impact of his hooves landing into the sand, and pulled him back as he cantered off. She stroked his neck, turning into the center, facing Ella. Estee wasn't expecting a huge list of criticism, as her basic position was actually quite nice and safe, because jumping was easy for her at this height. When she became scared, at higher heights, her position failed, and she became less mobile, screwing up her jumping for herself and her equine.
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Post by femalefred on Mar 30, 2008 17:18:09 GMT -5
Ella watched closely as the pair approached the first fence. There wasn't any sign that they were going to mis-stride and both horse and rider rose easily over the fence. The girl's changes in position were smooth and neat. The young woman didn't see anything that needed criticism in that, and the same followed with the second fence. The canter was very controlled, and as a jumper that caused a slight twitch in her mind, but this pair did hunter courses. They didn't need to race around at high speed.
"That was very nice. I'm going to put the fences up about a foot, and then I'll direct you a course. Just keep him warm, and we won't be using those two fences in the course if you want to take him over them again. That sound ok?" she asked, turning and increasing the heights without waiting for an answer. If the girl objected, she could easily put them down again. The fences wouldn't all be the same height though. Ella tended to think that varying heights required a little more focus, as a different heights had different take off points, and it was getting the pair to really concentrate together that she wanted.
After a few minutes, there was a course set, varying between about 2'9 and 3'6. She'd set them up in what was usually referred to as Course 2, with three fences down the centre line, a bounce on the diagonal, a one stride on the E long side and a single vertical at B. It was a fairly bendy course, and that was precisely why she'd chosen it.
"I want you two to really concentrate on where you're going with this course. It's probably a lot closer set and bendier than most hunter courses. I don't want you to concentrate so much on your position, but just make sure you've got your striding right. For the course, take a serpentine for these on the centre line, then come round over the bounce there. Come round to the one stride, take the jump at X again and then the vertical at B there to finish off. Got that?"[/size]
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Post by DJ on Mar 30, 2008 20:09:01 GMT -5
"I hope so," Estee mumbled, moving Glow back into a canter in concentration. Keeping a light seat, but not moving very high out of the saddle, she reminded herself to not grip with her knees and tried to soften them, turning her toes out and gripping with her calves. Circling around an oxer, she pointed Glow at the first fence, a vertical toward the lower end of the heights. Most likely around 2'6 or 2'9. Glow altered his stride to the fence, without Estee's asking, although they both cleared it fairly easily. The recovery was a bit slow, but a stride after the fence, Estee pushed herself up, back over the center of her horse.
The next fence was an oxer, but the back fence seemed like a good 3'3 to 3'6. Not jumping a fence that large in a while, especially in an oxer, she sat up, trying her hardest not to wimp out. She pushed Glow over it, although he was happy to jump the fence. Estee grasped the gelding's mane, a bit more than half way up his neck, as Glow lifted off of the ground, over the fence. The arc was clean, but the landing was hard, and Estee was having trouble sitting back up, off of Glow's neck. Unusually, Glow bucked, tossing Estee even farther forward. She pulled herself off of his neck, pulling him back to a walk. She scared herself, riding on his forehand, and she felt bad landing on his neck, almost falling.
"Should I finish the course?" she asked, willing to continue after her breathing regulated.
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Post by femalefred on Mar 30, 2008 20:20:16 GMT -5
Ella frowned, pursing her lips slightly as the pair started off again. Estee's position had stiffened a little, and though it was still good and ought to be fine to get the pair round the twisty course, it looked like it was already distracting her gelding a little. They kept the striding clean as they moved towards the first fence, but both were a tad slow to recover afterwards and that threw them both off for the next. It was clear that the girl was much more nervous about this fence.
Glow seemed to be a forgiving horse and jumped happily even though Ella could see tension throughout the teenager's position. There was much less of the fluid movement than there had been before, and as they landed the 16 year old warmblood apparently took objection, giving a small buck that looked like it was just from disapproval.
"Keep going. Relax a little more and you should be ok, Glow knows what he's doing, and so do you," Ella replied. "The only reason to stop when you're jumping a course is if you fall off," she added, smiling.[/size]
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