[ the a circuit ] | [ literate horse & rider ] | [ 2 slots ]

[uncanny valley]

[[ 3 to a room, all the girls in one and the guys in the other... only 2 beds, so they'll have to take turns sleeping on the floor. x3 Phil has his own room ]]

[astro!]

Ａｌｅｘ Ｓｌａｄｅ
the jumper prodigy ✧ getting ready to ride ✦ tags: everyone
{ "There is a fine line between insanity and genius; I have erased this line." }

The rising sun made the sky a very pale orange that was slowly morphing into blue as Alex tightened Willing's girth; the chestnut horse was bright and alert, which was more than Alex could say for herself. However, leading him out of the tack stall, her spirits were raised; the only people around were grooms walking horses back and forth, or else lunging them in one of the many schooling rings. A light haze, an early-morning mist hung around the grounds, giving the very air a calm quality, but one of suppressed excitement. Willing's hooves clopped on the asphalt path as she led him towards one of the schooling rings and mounted up.
She nudged Willing away from the mounting block, and the stallion responded with a slight swish of his tail; she walked him several laps around the customary three center-jumps lined up in the ring. After a minute of dozing lightly, she nudged Willing into a trot. The stallion's step was, as always, light, springy, and huge; he didn't mean to go fast, it just sort of happened. When Alex had first ridden the horse, he'd been a very cheap prospect at a tiny farm in the middle of nowhere, Pennsylvania. She'd had trouble getting the rhythm right at the trot, and had failed beautifully to jump him around a 3'6" course without almost dying and leaving strides out all over the place. Now, she was as in tune with the horse as if they were of one mind, and they could easily complete courses at the Grand Prix height. Well, not easily; it was never easy. But being on Willing didn't make it harder anymore.
Alex collected the stallion's stride, her grip on her rubber reins supple; Willing tossed his head a bit, fussing, but eventually tucked in his nose, going on the frame and using his hind end more, his trot springier rather than flat but fast. Alex sat back and held him as she squeezed her outside leg slightly, and the horse burst into a wild canter, his strides eating up the ground. "You monster," Alex laughed; Willing's huge stride was difficult to ride, but it was rooted in the power that made him such a talented jumper. She twitched the reins, giving periodic tugs on the outside rein to keep his attention and rock him back on his haunches, more in control. Eventually, Alex had Willing at a nice, perfectly controlled canter; to ask him to walk, all she had to do was take her leg off and sink into the saddle. He responded nicely, and Alex glanced down the asphalt path, waiting for Phil and the others.

{{ just assuming we're timeskipping to morning }}

[Rated R]

[ yeah let's timeskip to horses, but what time of day is it exactly? ]

[uncanny valley]

[[ early morning is cool by me c: I'll post a reply soon ]]

[~stories untold.]

Bella-Hunter Star-Doing: Arriving
Bella moved towards the barn with no sense of urgency given hardly anyone was there. Phil was, the riders of their stables were, but hardly anyone else was there. And that meant it was a perfect time to challenge herself with a task. And by task, she meant ride Blur first thing in the morning. The girl let out a gentle groan, grabbing her bates close contact saddle followed by a simple saddle pad, gel pad, and bridle with a kimberwicke bit. She took another glance around the stable and decided to take Blur out, setting her up on the crossties. Giving the mare a quick check for things that could keep her off and seeing she was clear, the mare was groomed, saddled, girth tightened, and bridle on. But boy she didn't seem happy about it. The mare fussed as Bella gave her an immediate signal morning was not the time for this. Personally, Bella hated when she rode horses that gave her a rough time in the morning; she wasn't always to happy being up at the crack of down and her hatred towards doing such was brought out every time she had to hop on the Hanoverian in the early hours. Mainly because Blur was never feeling it, either. Slowly, the two trudged into an open schooling ring, Bella turning and shutting the gate behind her. "Listen, Blur. I'm not going to go insane trying to ride you. Just getting our lead changes down and popping over some small stuff. Only two foot vertical at most. So you better listen here," She grumbled as if the horse understood her.
Putting her crop in one hand, she swung her body into the saddle, getting her stirrups in instantly. Her mind flashed to the time when she was about twelve. Blur planted her hooves in the ground and to say Bella's dismount didn't go smoothly was an understatement. Broke her wrist quite badly where she couldn't grip the mare's reins and to her, it was the most embarassing thing she'd ever done: had her trainer take her horse for her. It didn't seem that bad really, but to her there was something about it that killed her. She absolutely despised it. She showed the mare one other time since then, just a month or two ago. The mare overall did rather well, gaining her a blue. To be completely honest, she probably wouldn't have brought the are along if she didn't win. Yet now, she was here, and she was going to work for her. Her eyes looked for another rider. Ah, Alex. "How hard are you working Willing this morning?" She called out loud enough so the girl could hear as Blur began to walk.

[Rated R]

♞♘♞♘♞♘♞♘♞♘♞♘♞♘♞♘

NAME; Soren Alchezo
AGE; Sixteen
GENDER; Male
ROLE; Wild Rider
DISCIPLINE; Hunters
DOING; Warming Up
HORSES; Manchester, Diplomat,
Photo Op, and Lingo

♞♘♞♘♞♘♞♘♞♘♞♘♞♘♞♘

It was early in the morning -too early to be exact- Soren felt tired. He had stayed awake long enough the night before, and now he had to ride his horses. He knew he was going to show Diplomat first because Soren believed that Photo Op would need more time adjusting before it would be worth even trying to get him into the practice ring, let alone out of the stables. The gelding had always been shy and skittish, so everything new so suddenly would probably make the showing experience bad for Photo. Unlike Photo, Diplomat had some serious sass and she knew she was all that. Yeah, that winner attitude was exactly what Soren needed this morning. He whistled and put in one earphone in his left ear, with his phone stuck in his jodphurs as he greeted the dapple grey mare and groomed her. He ran his fingers through his messy hair and chuckled as Diplomat nosed him. "No treats for you just yet," he said as he fixed her tack and gave her a good scratch on the withers.

Soren noticed both Alex and Bella had just started their warm-ups as well, maybe 10-20 minutes before him. Oh well, it was more on time than he was on actually arriving to the show grounds. He wore his tall riding boots, jodphurs, and a nice riding shirt. He was not in the mood to put on his hunter jacket just yet, and his helmet wasn't clipped. For Soren, having it just sit on his head was enough trouble; he preferred not wearing a helmet at all. He mounted Diplomat from the ground, and the mare nickered and looked quite alert and up. Once Soren had fixed his stirrups, he urged Diplomat forward into a working walk and, he gave a half smile to the two girls already practicing. "Morning Alex and Bella," he said as Diplomat swished her tail.

Quickly Soren warmed up the anxious mare with some baby jumps so that he could get onto the fun stuff that he knew Diplomat was waiting for. He cantered her around the corner at a steep angle as he headed towards the 3 foot tall jump. "Heads up, 3 footer," he called out to both girls as Diplomat cantered towards it at a steady but energetic pace. She popped over the jump like a bunny, and let out a small buck in rejoice.

[astro!]

Ａｌｅｘ Ｓｌａｄｅ
the jumper prodigy ✧ getting ready to ride ✦ tags: Soren, Bella
{ "There is a fine line between insanity and genius; I have erased this line." }

Alex smiled as Bella and then Soren appeared. In response to Bella, she replied, "I was thinking I'd give him a full work - just to take advantage of the empty ring and stuff." Willing's ears pricked up with interest as he noticed Diplomat sailing over one of the jumps; the hunter mare's form was beautiful over it. Alex felt Willing prance a little, as though he knew what she'd said a second ago and knew that this would be him in a moment.
"Our turn, buddy," she whispered; she collected Willing again before sliding her leg back slightly. He exploded into the canter, but this time his stride was more up-and-down than the strung out canter from before. She turned the jumper towards the same vertical that Soren and Diplomat had just done; Willing's ears flew up, and Alex sat back, holding him in; his strides grew progressively longer, reaching outwards even though it was a small jump for a horse like him. She'd seen her distance from the corner, and she held him all the way to the jump, which he reached in an impeccable distance. His powerful hind legs gathered beneath him and propelled him across the jump; his form had never been very attractive from a hunter standpoint, but that didn't matter, since Willing was no hunter. He lifted his hind legs in an odd way; he didn't kick them out for any jump lower than 4'3" or so. When the stallion landed, he tossed his head a little, and for a moment Alex was worried he was going to buck -- historically, Willing's bucks were among the only horse antics that could ever throw her off balance, since the jumper's playfulness usually meant he would leap six feet into the air and kick out wildly. However, he didn't do anything beyond the head-toss, though Alex did have to hold him in more as they rounded the corner. Unfortunately, none of the jumps in the middle were set much higher, so Alex turned Willing towards the same jump again in a tight, hairpin turn that balanced the horse, the kind of turn that was a hallmark of the jumper discipline. Willing stared at the jump eagerly and took it in stride.

{{ just assuming we're timeskipping to morning }}

[~stories untold.]

Bella-The Hunter Star
Bella smiled in greeting to the other two, giving Blur a big bump to get the mare moving forward at an acceptable pace. As they trotted along, Bella watched as the boy made his way over the jump. "Nice," She beamed towards her competitor. Even though the man was going to be her competition, Bella wasn't going to be rude. Right now, her mind was zeroed on Blur, trying to keep her pace moving along. Blur in the morning was the worst kind f the Hanoverian mare, but after she watched Alex move along with Willing, she turned her head "My turn?" She asked, bringing her reins off the horse's neck and gave a strong kick to the mare, who tossed her head, moving into her extended trot before finally powering through and getting unsettled canter going along the rail while she was waiting for permission to get her horse over the smallest jump in the ring: 2 foot 6. Bella hadn't really pictured Willing as being a horse on the front of a magazine; to her his jump looked awkward and Bella's inner hunter was critiscizing rather harshly, however naturally in her mind she knew that wasn't in Alex's mind in terms of worries. She gave the mare another kick and squeezed both legs behind the girth, looking for a flying lead change. Once the mare did so, she straightened Blur out. "2 foot 6," She said simply, bringing Blur into a tightened opening circle, the mare snorting with as much refusal as Bella would allow. The girl brought her crop to the mare's rump, followed by a kick as she collected her canter. Bella watched the jump with care, counting down her strides from three until the mare took off, giving little to no scope but good form otherwise. Once she landed, the mare gave off a quick out, jerking Bella forward only slightly; after it happening too many times, Bella had gotten used to it.

[Rated R]

♞♘♞♘♞♘♞♘♞♘♞♘♞♘♞♘

NAME; Soren Alchezo
AGE; Sixteen
GENDER; Male
ROLE; Wild Rider
DISCIPLINE; Hunters
DOING; Practicing
HORSES; Manchester, Diplomat,
Photo Op, and Lingo

♞♘♞♘♞♘♞♘♞♘♞♘♞♘♞♘

Soren leaned forward and stroked his peppy mare's neck as she snorted and arched her neck as though she was showing off. He glanced back and chuckled as he saw her tail trailing high behind her. Funny thing about this was, Diplomat didn't have any pedigree from any breed that was known to carry its tail proudly. She just did that on her own. Soren heard a sound after he landed from the jump and smiled at Bella. "Thanks," he said to her as Diplomat trotted in place. Soren watched as Alex's gelding flew over the fence, pumped from excitement his own mare had brought with her. His gaze followed Bella who was careful and precise in the manner in which she executed her jumps. "You two seem show ready," he said, taking his feet out of the stirrups for fun.

His heels pressed gently on Diplomat's sides and he cantered her around the ring without stirrups. Soren needed to stretch his legs anyways and he trusted this mare and his balance to keep him in the saddle. He set up his mare to canter energetically but not quickly towards the other oxer in the ring and he laughed as he went over it. Soren loved the feeling of riding without stirrups over the jumps. His laugh rang out in the crisp morning air amongst the other show noises.

[cheerfierce]

Dylan Vega~Le Causual
Dylan had been late into the ring, yes, athough truthfully he had been at the barn just as early as the others. The only difference was the boy took a great deal of time trying to find out ways to get around wearing his fancy show clothes; it didn't turn out well and was somehow convinced to not wear his fashionable t-shirt and go with at the very least a nice polo. yet at least he knew exactly what he was grabbing for tack and that he was using Phoenix. He saw everyone else's choices for their first ride and it was quick thinking not to add Sharpie into the trouble but wanted to work a mare; V was too much of a complication to be using in the ring with the horses already there. Phoenix would be just fine.
Leading his horse down the asphalt, he took a quick look around until he found the ring, slipping his helmet on. "Opening the gate beautifuls and gent," He addressed the group around him with a light head nod as he slid his way through, his Irish Draught not far behind. Quickly, the boy mounted by just letting his stirrups go longer and hopping up then, adjusting them as he walked a few laps around the ring to get the mare warmed up. He cam in just in time to see Bella hop the smallest jump in the ring and soon after the other male let his stirrups hang, jumping with a laugh. That in itself made the other boy smile "Doesn't that feel weird to have your stirrups flying around?" He joked with his fellow rider. And as he passed Bella, he made his little comment "Why did you jump the smallest you could? You were flawless and you would have been anyway," He said, winking as he passed the hunter, getting the mare into her trot. "Hey dude, can I go?" He asked the other hunter, watching him canter around freely.