◊ female ◊ seventeen years ◊「Rose Mizuki」◊ west indoor arena ◊ with: koda ◊
Rose huffed out a deep breath as the big arena door swung shut behind her and her skewbald mare, Koda. Although the morning was relatively mild, considering it was winter, Rose was glad to be inside and away from the cold - the weather made Koda even friskier than usual, and in any case, the mare (who had been clipped earlier that season) was shivering intermittently at the chill.
The jumps she'd set up in the big, airy building earlier that morning were still in pristine condition (and, since the sand around them was still undisturbed, she could tell no-one had used the course yet, which was nice). As much as Rose loved being in a big barn like this, with lots of other people, there was nothing like having the whole arena to yourself once in a while, and Rose was determined to get some decent schooling done.
Koda was still having trouble concentrating in dressage, and her turns in showjumping weren't getting any better despite the rising jump heights Koda was able to clear; with Running Bear's next eventing competition looming ever closer, Rose knew that just nailing the cross-country stage wouldn't be enough to save them from below-average rounds in dressage and SJ.
Resisting the urge to bite her nails, Rose shifted her grip on the mare's reins and led her towards the mounting block on the southern wall. Koda's ears were pricked and her head high as she looked keenly at all the new things in the arena - despite the fact that Rose tried to school jumps as often as she could while going easy on Koda's joints, most of their jump work was done in the outside arenas with the more permanent jump wings, the indoor arenas mostly reserved for dressage. Since Koda tended to be more reactive and fizzy when it came to new things and new surroundings, though, Rose had decided to change things up a bit and see if that would help her concentrate (or have the opposite effect - you could never quite tell with Koda).
Slipping her left foot into the stirrup, Rose swung into the saddle, and started Koda on an easy warmup walk around the arena's perimeter, pointedly ignoring the jumps for now and forcing the mare to focus on her whenever she became distracted. The mare was going pretty well, considering how full of beans she was, and Rose asked for a canter when they hit the east wall.
Word Count: 413
◊ mare ◊ eight years ◊「Koda」◊ west indoor ◊ with: rose◊
Koda's ears pricked forward as she and Rose cantered past all the new equipment in the arena. The mare was absolutely itching to inspect all the intricate patterns and waving flags of the jumps, but her rider was apparently going to insist that she focus on where she was going. The mare let out a grumbling sigh but acquiesced, cantering deep into the southeast corner of the arena and shifting down to an unbalanced, wilful trot at a soft command from the bit.
'Come on, now,' said the human in a soft, yet stern tone, and Koda's gait steadied as they rounded another corner onto the long, western edge of the arena. The skewbald mare fidgeted, playing with the bit. When were they gonna start jumping already? Going around in circles was the most boring thing she could imagine doing right now.
Koda could swear she felt the human smile at the mare's behaviour, but her surly attitude evaporated as Rose nudged her back up into a canter towards the first of the jumps on the eastern side, a simple cross-pole balancing on two feed drums. Finally! The mare sprang into a gleeful, bouncy canter, and couldn't resist throwing a tiny buck in her excitement.
The human rode through the buck and goaded her further towards the cross-pole and oxer behind it, and the mare tossed her head, bearing down on it as furiously as if it were ten feet tall.
Word Count: 241
((Dragon, Sorli, and Penny are open for newbies to work with, and Tiggy is in his stall so feel free to visit him uwu))