[siennacereal]

hey, im so sorry but im going to have to drop out. I wont have time to draw, again im really sorry :S good luck to all who enter ^U^

[Hemalily]

Username: Gandalf the Grey
Horse name: Chagrin
Link to horse: Here ya go!

[noreptiles_]

Username: K~Dog
Horses name and Link:
Blue Moon
Rider Number:
My number is 15
Entry 1:
I hate crayons. Didn't have any colored pencils.
Entry 2:
~Riding One of the Obstacles~
Riding Blue Moon through the course was rather easy until we trotted up to the bridge. She was shivering with excitement and fear. My hand reaches down to pat her neck when she shoots forward at a uncomfortable speed and I get thrown up her glossy neck. The black reins go back and I pull back and whisper whuo. She slides to a stop and stamps her hoof as if to ask What happened, I was just trotting up to it. I laughed and we walked across the bridge with no trouble after that and set off to our next objective.

[cn_spots]

OK we have full entries! You all may now begin your forms and posting. The end date is now posted. Good luck!

[ImmyWimmy1]

Wahooooooooo! Party time, chumps!

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Username:

My name is ImmyWimmy1, but I do allow those closest to me to call me 'Immy' or my real life name. Shouldn't be too had to guess what that is. XD

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Horses name and link:

My chosen horse is Don't Dance With Me. We just call her 'Donna' at home. ^^

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Rider number:

I was given the number '8'.

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Entry 1:

Selecting Donna:

"Cottonwood Extreme Trail Challenge?!"

My younger sister looked at me, eyes wide with astonishment. Of course, I knew why. She was probably wondering how I could abandon her here, back in the UK, whilst I swan off to the US for yet another venture with the Cottonwood Ranch team. I merely stood there, arms crossed and relaxed face, looking into her eyes to show my honesty. "If it's such a big deal to you, you can come to the US with me." I watched as she seemed to explode. "And abandon Maisy and Brutus here?! No chance!" She glared at me fiercely, a look that could kill. "I don't see how you can be so selfish and leave me here to look after everything whilst you're gone! You do this to me all the time, Immy!" I sighed. She was right, I did leave her to do a lot of the work. But I had one little incentive to win her over: "there's prize money."

Suddenly the atmosphere changed. Issy smiled widely and her glare melted away. "Why didn't you say so?! Go on, go to Cottonwood! Go get that prize money!" She ran over and shoved me in the direction of the door. I chuckled slightly at my sister's ulterior motive. "Woah! I need to choose a horse first!" She pulled away from me and looked at me, puzzled. "Hmm..."

We sat down for a couple of hours, going through my list of horses. "How about Leo?" suggested my sister, looking at the sheet carefully. I shook my head in response. "Leo may be a Mustang, but he's still only an eventer. He wouldn't cope." After spending another hour debating over the many horses I had, we gradually kept narrowing the list. Lara? No, she was on a break. Russet? No, she spooked too easily. On and on, my sister and I kept going through the list until we were down to two names: Donna and Lena. I looked at the list, deliberating between them. Then, out of the blue, Issy said "Donna!" I looked up and frowned at her in confusion. "Donna? Why?" Issy grinned playfully. "She's a Western horse and she's named after my favourite Doctor Who companion!" I giggled and shook my head. "I can't believe I'm saying this, but alright: I'll take Donna." Issy laughed. "I knew it!"

And, because of my sister's lack-of-seriousness, Donna was the horse I chose. XD



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Entry 2:

Donna's Fear and How we almost lost out:

We'd made it through the creaky gate. We'd made it through the Junk Yard. We thought we could do anything. We thought we were unstoppable.

We were wrong.

Our next task was to 'Move the Slicker'. We had to pick it up, slalom around some trees, slalom back and hang it up again. Whilst Donna trotted over towards the setting for this task, it didn't seem too difficult to me. I'd seen many other people do it, so why couldn't we? I guided Donna into the centre of the small pen where we were expected to do this next task and brought her to a halt, in front of the crowd of spectators expecting a good show. I eyed up the course carefully from my vantage point. It looked slightly more complicated than I imagined it to be, but it wouldn't be that tough for Donna to handle. It seemed clearly marked and well organised. I looked down at Donna's ears. She was pointing them in every direction, listening to the murmurs of the crowd and the rustling of the leaves in the trees around us. She was probably the most alert of my horses, even surpassing my closest horse, Leo. I gently reached down and drew a small triangle on her neck as I stroked her for reassurance. "Easy girlie," I whispered, her right ear flicking back to pick up my voice. "We can do this." And with that, I told her to go forward.

Donna plodded forwards towards the slicker, her left ear focused on it whilst her right ear kept listening to her surroundings. I eyed up the slicker as we edge closer and closer. Suddenly the wind picked up. The leaves in the trees hissed at us, steady! Steady! The slicker flew up and began waving in the air, like a brightly coloured flag. Donna whinnied loudly at the sight, rearing up manically in fear. Surprised, I had little time to cling onto the reins for dear life. I pulled back on the reins sharply, trying to regain Donna's attention. But, as far as she was concerned, she was about to be eaten by a blue plastic slicker. I could feel her shuddering hide beneath the saddle as she reared up again. The crowd were gasping in awe and worry as the red roan mare's eyes rolled back, showing their whites. Finally, it seemed I had no choice. If I didn't seize control soon, Donna would bolt and our chances in the competition would be over. I raised my hand as she lowered herself to the ground. As soon as she was landed, I brought my hand down upon her neck with a great thwack!

The crowd fell silent as Donna stopped and looked up at me with surprise. My arms are not that strong, so to the muscles of a horse my slap was no more than a tap on the neck. My grip on Donna's reins loosened to relax her. She was breathing heavily. I smiled softly at her, though it was more out of relief to still be on her back and in the saddle. "It's Ok, girl," I whispered to her. The mare stared at me for a couple of seconds before looking back at the slicker. The wind was still waving it about, but Donna merely shook her head. I patted the base of her neck and clicked my tongue. She edged forward carefully as the crowd cheered us on. This seemed to instil confidence in the mare and she trotted forward without a problem.

Everything went smoothly after that. I really do hope that we have done what we needed to do! ^^

[ty_tay]

Username: ty_tay
Horses name and link: Delta's Pride
Rider number: 1
Entry 1: The Junkyard: viewtopic.php?f=33&t=1979284


Entry 2: Slight malfunction: viewtopic.php?f=33&t=1979276

[.FrozenFire.]

Username
.FrozenFire.
Horses name and link
Blazing Little Mistake | "Colette"
Rider number
5
Entry 1
Walking over the bridge
[Riding one of the obstacles]
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Entry 2
The Gate's our end?
[Something gone wrong on the trail]
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Colette and Me just crossed the bridge and I was really proud of her. It was her first real trail ride and my little mare behaved like she had done it for ages. We slowly trotted towards the end, when I noticed that Colette started to get nervous. The closer we got to the fence, where our last obstacle, the gate, waited for us, the slower she got. Ten meters in front of the gate, my mare started to rear and galopped towards the fence. I couldn't get her to stop, so she jumped it and ran towards the woods. It took all of my strenght to get her back to the gate. She wanted to buck, but I got her near to it after a while.
When I touched the gate, however, she jumped aside and I almost fell off her back. Still I couldn't say why she feared it.

It took me about half an hour to get Colette in a good position. When I stroked her mane, she got calm and allowed me to touch the gate. I could open it, and I could push it open, too. Then I closed it again, but still, I had to do that again, because I was on the wrong side. So I turned my little girl around and we approached for the second time - sadly without success. Colette reared up again, but I could stop her this time.
Although I started to get frustrated, I didn't gave up. Stubborn my horse refused to go near the gate. Since I wasn't allowed to walk her through the gate, I had to try further.

Only when I wanted to give up another ten minutes later, Colette decided to listen to me. I could open and close the gate fast and after that I just strived for the finish line. I froze, because it had started to rain and I was soaked through the skin.
We galopped towards the woods, both tired of the day. I took the cut and we jumped an old deadfall.
My mare gave everything and we reached the finish line soon after.
I was exhausted, but happy to have managed the course. A friend of mine handed a towel to me, so I could get dry. She took Colette with her and brought her to the trailer.

After I had discussed with some of the others, because they wanted to know what happened, I walked off to get a shower and some dry clothes.

[SerenWish]

Username: SerenWish
Horses name and link: "Azhar"
Rider number: 2
Entry 1: Azhar and I tackling the junkyard! (going over a hill, which is why you can see the background, also, minor thing, Azhar's eyes are blue actually, but they are black in the picture due to being done with a sharpie marker.)
Entry 2:

We had tackled the junkyard beautifully, with minimal scratches and only one trip from my faithful boy, who was in high spirits. the sky was a beautiful shade of pale blue, and the air smelled so fresh and clean, as it had rained the day before. It felt like we were a perfect team, and all our practice over the past few months was so worth it. Endurance truly was Azhar's speciality, but doing this trail competition was like... well, it was like a fun event. Doing things like stepping over logs (and ducking under them for me), going through the gate, crossing the bridge, all of it seemed like so much fun during practice- and it was even more fun to actually be in the competition!

Azhar, with his wide, sky-colored eyes, and his wavy golden mane and tail flowing, and fine ears pricked, seemed to feel great about it as well. His step was high, his tail like a banner in the wind behind us, and he would, every so often, give a little blow, seemingly announcing that he was doing well and having a wonderful day, thank you! We were approaching the last stretch, a bit of a flat area with a few flags fluttering from the trees, when the hair on the back of my neck stood up a bit. A single heartbeat later, I felt my steed tense up beneath me, his hesitance making my stomach flip-flop. His head jerked up, his nostrils flaring all of the sudden, as he continued to walk, though his gait slowed. I hurriedly tried to glance at whatever would steal his usually focused attention, and found my stomach flip-flopping when I spotted a mare, all by herself, standing right off the trail. She was a rich, dark brown in color, with shaded legs and ebony mane and tail. Her dark eyes were scanning the forest, before looking back at us- with a purple, broken halter half hanging off of her face. She looked rather lost and confused, and I could only guess how she got away from the lot where the trailers were parked, away from her owners and the other humans milling about.

Unfortunately, I was not atop a gelding or a fellow mare- no, I had Mister Casanova himself, Al Safi Azhar. the honey-colored stud who charmed the heart of many a mare, leaving many lovely foals in his wake. That was all find and dandy during breeding season, but this was a competition! I didn't have time for my Romeo hitting on his brand new Juliet! But how could I leave the little mare all on her own? What if she ran off and got lost in the hills around here? What if someone took her? Of course she managed to get lost in the only place where the judges were not around!

Azhar shared none of my concern- in fact, he knew exactly where he wanted to be now! He whickered charmingly to the mare, who pricked up her ears and approached us, looking rather nervous as she did so. She had a pretty little stripe down her face, perfectly accenting her dark pelt, though I noticed that her nose has a few small scratches on them,likely from brambles she encountered in the forest. I told Azhar to wait, not wanting to spook her off, but I needn't worry- she approached us without fear, and walked straight up to... me! She hurriedly sniffed at my leg and then my arm, completely ignoring the fact that I was atop another horse. She seemed eager for human attention, so I gave her a careful little rub, and when she didn't run off, I reached back to grasp onto an extra lead rope I had stuck in my saddle bags.

Sliding the rope through the part of the halter that was still together, I breathed out a sigh of relief. Ever the gentleman, Azhar was still trying to catch her attention, but when I gave him a bit of a nudge, he continued forward, remembering what exactly he was here for. His competitive edge came back, and we trotted from the woods, ending the first day! In a few days the second part would commence, with a brand new horse. I was proud of Azhar- the mare showing up was a trouble, yes, but after a moment he did get himself back in control and focused. No one could be prouder of him than I am now!

Oh, and the mare? She's back with her owners, safe and sound. And you won't believe what her name is... Juliet!


Notes: Hope you like it! <3 I worked hard on it. XD The story isn't my best, but I had fun writing it. The art piece was hand-painted in acrylic with some extra fine sharpie.

[cn_spots]

No it doesn't matter ^-^

[takara]

Username:Vanilla breeze
Horses name and link:Secret viewtopic.php?f=53&t=1962816
Rider number:6
Entry 1: -your horse's fear on the trail X Riding one the obstacles Junk yard:I could feel secret nervously prancing beneath my as I rode towards the junk yard WIP
Entry 2: Riding one the obstacles The Bridge:WIP