[open] beautiful day

[Stephen Alexander Hampton]

just another american saturday night

[atrb=border,0,true] [style=width: 250px; height: 290px; padding: 0px 5px 0px 5px; font-family: calibri; font-size: 11px; text-align:justify; color: #333; line-height: 99%; overflow: auto] Steve was finally done with his classes for the day. It had been trying; one student's horse had acted up in his reining class and had caused a chain reaction with all the other horses. Steve had ended up with a hoof a foot from his head and a bite mark on his arm; some of the horses were not nearly so polite on the ground as they were under saddle. He had had to send two kids to the nurse, and nearly sent himself with them, but he wasn't really all that hurt - just didn't want to finish up the day. The promise of riding Chicky once his lessons were over kept him going, and after a quick snack at the cafeteria, he got the chestnut mare out of her stall and stuck her in the cross ties. Today would be good to work a little on rollbacks, he decided, as he brushed the chestnut mare down and tacked her up. Pad, saddle, boots, and bridle; much less stuff than he saw the english riders put on their horses. Chicky didn't need draws anymore, and while he still put a running martingale on her when he worked stops sometimes, she usually just did what he wanted her to do. Steve tied the right rein to his saddle horn and led the chestnut mare by the left to the outdoor arena. With efficient, practiced motions, he tightened both cinches and checked Chicky's mindset by taking up the slack on one rein, then the other. The mare willingly bent her head to each side, and even mouthed at his pocket for the treat he had inside. "Quit, dear, you'll get it later," he said quietly. One more cinch check (exactly as tight as he liked it on this mare) and Steve swung up into the saddle. Chicky walked off immediately while Steve evened up his reins and got settled. She made a whole lap of the area at a fast, free walk before Steve started asking her to bend and flex. Naturally the mare wasn't a big fan of these exercises; she just wanted to get to the fun stuff. It didn't take long to get her responsive, though, and Steve had her in a long trot within five minutes. Although he wasn't an english rider, he did like to get off the horse's back for trot work. That was his excuse, at least. He hated sitting trot, and didn't know how the equitation girls could make it look so damn easy on their big warmbloods. Steve started posting while Chicky moved out underneath him. He liked to think that if he stuck a hunt saddle on her back and a snaffle in her mouth, she would make a pretty good hunter under saddle mare, except for her rather unfortunate size for that division. She sure liked to move, although admittedly she liked lope better. After a few minutes of trot in both directions, Steve sat back and lifted his hand minutely, and Chicky downshifted to walk. He let her wander for a minute before shifting his weight and leg to ask for a lope. As they rounded the corner of the arena, Steve choked up on the reins some and bumped Chicky down to a rather slower lope with more elevation. It was a little more upright than he would ask for at a show, but still good practice. Once they passed the gate and the other corner, Chicky's ears flickered back to outside of the arena. Steve glanced back and saw another rider approaching the gate, but from that distance and in that time he couldn't tell who it was, which horse it was, or even if they were english or western. Of course, he would continue working no matter who it was, but if it was a jumper, it might make things a little more interesting. [/style]

[/style]

[style=width: 450px; background: #CCC; font-size: 8px; text-transform: uppercase; color: #000; letter-spacing: 1px]template by sophia. Graphic by miss vazy.

[/div][/center]

[Isabella Rose Archer]

[atrb=border,0,true][atrb=style, width: 490px; height: 500px; background-color: #000000; background-image: url(http://i.imgur.com/6mnUt.jpg); border: 2px ridge #00A0E0; -webkit-border-radius: 0 30px 0 30px; -moz-border-radius: 0 30px 0 30px; border-radius: 0 30px 0 30px;] I Ain't Never Been nothing but tough, all my edges have always been rough. but jesus loves me anyway. oh backbone, there ain't nothing wrong with a woman that got a little backbone. you just wait 'til you taste her kind of love. you want a shy little thing, a pretty little high heel thing, gonna cry if I don't polish up. tough. ----------------- It had been about two weeks since Bella started here. She felt right at home as she gave directions to the males taking her classes. Gunner and Reese had settled in well and both had taken right away to performing in front of the class. They could defiantly feel the power the held while in the lessons. As the twenty-four year old made her way to the barn she had the idea that a little jumping was in the near future for Reese. As she continued down the aisle the mare was pacing. "Everything alright girl?", the woman talked as if to a human, she knew she would get response. Entering the stall the mare was ready to work again, even though she had just got done a lesson not even three hours earlier. "Well if you insist", her owner chuckled. Walking to the tackroom Bella gathered the jumping tack. Reese was clean from the lesson and so the woman just tacked her up. Placing the green saddle pad on her back and then the black saddle. The mare flared her nostrils and pawed the ground. Steve was finally done with his classes for the day. It had been trying; one student's horse had acted up in his reining class and had caused a chain reaction with all the other horses. "Now stop that!", Bella was harsh with her horses when it came to things like pawing and chewing on things. The last thing she wanted was for her equines to develop a bad habit like that. The mare threw her head upwards and gave Bella a look. "Don't act like that and I won't have to." She continued to put the girth on. This was the horse's least favorite part. Reese's ears flattened to her head and her shot up, the muscles in her neck strained as she flung her head up and down. "All done mare", with those words Bella patted the mare on the neck. Sliding the bridle off her shoulder she pushed the bit gently into her mouth and slid the rest of the bridle over her ears and did up all the straps. Boots!. she thought as she hurried back into the tack room. Retrieving all four, front and hind boots. Placing the green jumping boots on Reese, now they were ready. Grabbing her helmet she led the mare to the outdoor arena. Strapping the black helmet on her head, "Gate." It was common courtesy to let anyone who might be in an arena know that you are there that way it decreases the chances of a horse spooking. "Is it alright if we join you?" The arena was big enough that they could both work. Reese really didn't need to jump but she did need to get some gitters out. Bella could just work her on some simple things. Adjusting her stirrups she moved the equine over to the mounting block and pushed herself up into the saddle. [style=width: 200px; height: 50px; text-transform: uppercase; background-color: #e0e0e0; color: #000000; line-height: 80%; font-size: 10px; font-family: tahoma; text-shadow: 1px 1px 2px #FFF; opacity: 0.7; overflow: auto; margin: 380px 0 0 5px; text-align: justify; border: 1px dashed #00A0E0; -webkit-border-radius: 30px; -moz-border-radius: 30px; border-radius: 30px; padding: 3px;] WORD: 494 Outfit: nothing, i'm just extremely lazy and it isn't the best, my first actual post. Muse: little to none Note: hope it's okay if i hop in NOTE: ISABELLA'S SPEECH ISABELLA'S THOUGHTS OTHER CHARACTER'S SPEECH [/style] Lyrics: Tough by Kellie Pickler; Template by Paige @ CAUTION

[Stephen Alexander Hampton]

just another american saturday night

[atrb=border,0,true] [style=width: 250px; height: 290px; padding: 0px 5px 0px 5px; font-family: calibri; font-size: 11px; text-align:justify; color: #333; line-height: 99%; overflow: auto] Steve felt Chicky relax as she was put to work. She was never the kind of mare who took kindly to extended warm-ups, and Steve's philosophy was usually to give the horse some choice in how she wanted things to be done. He had known horses who wanted to walk and bend side to side as a warm up; he had also known horses who preferred to bend in trot or lope. His pleasure horses were a little bit more restricted, but only in that he wanted a few minutes of uninterrupted long trot and extended canter before he collected them up. Reiners got to pick their own way, for the most part, with the notable exception of Chicky, who thought she was ready to do a pattern straight out of the stall. Steve asked for a little more speed as they came down the long rail and around the far corner, so he could get a proper look at their new companions. It was another teacher; one of the few females here. Bella taught one of the english classes, and although Steve could never keep all the different kinds of jumping straight, he did know that he liked the horse she had out. "Is it all right if we join you?" she asked across the arena. Steve nodded, then realized she probably couldn't see that from the distance. "Yeah, you're fine. Plenty of room for all of us. You can jump if you like, too; I was just gonna work rollbacks," he replied. Chicky seemed good to go after another lap. It was time for some harder work. Steve twisted in the saddle to pat her on the neck to reward her for a good warmup, since she really had more trouble with that than with the hardest maneuvers he had thrown at her. Steve picked up his reins in two hands and bumped only the inside rein, very softly, to let Chicky know. The mare dropped her head and suppled to the inside, so Steve could just see her eye and nostril. "Good girl, honey," he murmured to her before straightening her out and putting some leg on. The mare gathered herself for half a stride and launched into a fast canter down the long rail. Steve picked up his reins rather heavily and backed her off; he did not ask for that much speed, just a little extension so he would have a nice quiet stop. Chicky grunted and tossed her head, which would have got her a kick in the ribs if she didn't also immediately shift down to a canter in between her current speed and a lope. Halfway down the rail, Steve shifted his weight slightly to the inside and his hands to the outside, putting a light neck rein on and opening his outside hand. Chicky dug into the ground and spun into the rail, ending up going the other way at exactly the same canter. This would be a good workout, Steve could tell. [/style]

[/style]

[style=width: 450px; background: #CCC; font-size: 8px; text-transform: uppercase; color: #000; letter-spacing: 1px]template by sophia. Graphic by miss vazy.

[/div][/center]

[Isabella Rose Archer]

[atrb=border,0,true][atrb=style, width: 490px; height: 500px; background-color: #000000; background-image: url(http://i.imgur.com/6mnUt.jpg); border: 2px ridge #00A0E0; -webkit-border-radius: 0 30px 0 30px; -moz-border-radius: 0 30px 0 30px; border-radius: 0 30px 0 30px;] I Ain't Never Been nothing but tough, all my edges have always been rough. but jesus loves me anyway. oh backbone, there ain't nothing wrong with a woman that got a little backbone. you just wait 'til you taste her kind of love. you want a shy little thing, a pretty little high heel thing, gonna cry if I don't polish up. tough. ----------------- Sitting forward in the saddle the twenty-four year old squeezed the mare’s flanks lightly and the crossbred took off at a tense pace. The equine’s head flung up and down quickly show casing her discomfort. With every new horse the mare acted differently and obviously she didn’t know what to think of the other mare in the arena. ”Thank you, and I might just take you up on that offer.” Bella said with a smile. Having been warmed up before her legs were stretched out but just to make sure Bella took her half of the arena and pushed for a collected trot. The slowly paced gait allowed the blonde to sit taking a few rounds on her part of arena the rider basically let the horse have a loose rein at the extended trot, the mare’s most favorite gait from what Bella could gather. Although she didn’t have a pushy nature while someone wasn’t on her but when under the saddle the horse is ready for any next. Feeling a canter come on Bella sat in the middle of the saddle and slowing her back to a trot. Eying up the man in the arena she knew he worked her and from what she could tell he worked on the western side of things, but his name just slipped her mind. Bella was never good with names, faces yes, she knew that she knew a person by looking at their faces, but matching it to a name was another story. Looking over the jumps they had been the ones that were there for the past couple days. They would have to do for now, they were about the level the mare was used to if not lower. She assumed one of the students used them. Making a twenty meter circle, Bella let Reese take up her canter once more and circled a few times before heading off in the direction of the jumps. They were really no more than three feet and a few wooden cavalettis laid across the ground. Those were like walking for Reese, they were extremely simple and the mare was probably laughing in her mind as the pair approached the first jump. Clearing the first jump it was only thirty inches and that was all it took for the mare to focus. Stepping with a certain grace over the three cavalettis strategically placed on the ground like it was as simple as walking. Taking flight a few more times Bella let the mare have her head. Making sure to stay to the rail Bella watched as the man worked with his horse. The name flickered like a light in her mind, Steve. Letting the hoof beats fill the air for a few more seconds the twenty-four year old quickly spoke. ”So Steve what classes do you teach?” Although she wasn’t one for small talk during working out her horse, Reese was getting her breathe back and so was Bella, getting to know her co-workers wasn’t the worst idea in the world. [style=width: 200px; height: 50px; text-transform: uppercase; background-color: #e0e0e0; color: #000000; line-height: 80%; font-size: 10px; font-family: tahoma; text-shadow: 1px 1px 2px #FFF; opacity: 0.7; overflow: auto; margin: 380px 0 0 5px; text-align: justify; border: 1px dashed #00A0E0; -webkit-border-radius: 30px; -moz-border-radius: 30px; border-radius: 30px; padding: 3px;] WORD: 506 Outfit: nothing, i'm just extremely lazy and it isn't the best, my first actual post. Muse: eh.. Note: sorry it took so long NOTE: ISABELLA'S SPEECH ISABELLA'S THOUGHTS OTHER CHARACTER'S SPEECH [/style] Lyrics: Tough by Kellie Pickler; Template by Paige @ CAUTION