Practice Makes Perfect --

[Beccy.]

Closing the gate to the field behind him, he looked out over the nearest jumps.
Jack was probably the best horse he had had for cross country. He wasn't really built for for show jumping. But for his personal fun, he had decided to take him out
onto the course. She was meant for dressage, and he didn't think she was
very eager to be out in the mud. He smiled as he thought:Well, it will probably
toughen him up a bit, he hasn't been ridden as much as I would have liked He laughed inwardly and patted the gelding's neck as
if he was apologizing. He looked up and stared out into the distance as he
waited for Lily. He sat still for a few minutes, and thought he could feel the
horse falling asleep beneath him. He smiled as he realized that standing around
doing nothing wasn't really going to help much. Kicking him into a fast walk, he
gradually worked his way into a trot. Turning in a few circles, he cantered when
he had warmed Jack up, then carried on trotting until Lily arrived.

[BECKiEE :)]

Lilith had washed down Rose, and now after a rather large tantrum, on the horses part, had gotten
Ace saddled and bridled. He had a sheep skin nose-band now, on recommendation from Kai because
the old nose-band was rubbing Ace's nose. The bit she had on the young stallions was quite strong,
but certainly needed whilst out on the cross-country course. She climbed into the saddle, and adjusted
the girth and stirrups. Making her way down to the gate. She opened it and then shut it again, still
mounted. Then she trotted Ace the rest of the way, to warm him up a bit. Lilith spotted Joewell warming
Izzi up, and trotted over. She nodded a hello, before cantering a circle several times, and then slowing
to a stand. The young horse biting on his bar bit, a light foam gathering where he insisted on
chewing on the metal.''Right then, where shall we go first?''

[Beccy.]

Joe turned to face Lily as she came towards him. He smiiled warmly and said:
Entirely up to you He smiled for a second time. He didn't care where they went.
He just didn't like dressage. He laughed inwardly. He prefered to go crazy on a
cross country course, rather than get all dressed up for dressage. He really
was becoming lazy. When he slowed to a walk, then to a standstill. Turning
to look at her again, he waited until she had caught up with him and then faced
between Jack's ears again. His eyes following her as she made her way forward.
He waited to see if she had any specific place that she wanted to go in the course.

[BECKiEE :)]

Lilith couldn’t really recall the way that Kai had shown her through the cross country
course when he had taken her out to exercise her colt before. She looked around and then
started off at a trot towards a small cluster of trees, where there stood a 3’7 stone wall.
''Lets start over here first'' she said, asking her colt to canter. He did so, and snorted
in a tantrum when Lilith wouldn’t let him bolt for the jump. She approached slowly in a
bouncy sort of canter and then allowed him to speed up as they drew closer. She
automatically paced the jump, and the pair flew over it, though a little untidy, when Ace
stumbled on the mud and slipped sideways in a rather undignified way. The colt
immediately started prancing around, trying to make it look as if he had meant to slip.

[Beccy.]

[ooc - I've changed all my posts on this thread, but for some reason, can't get to my other ones in the other thread =( so can we say that I was rding Izzi in the Outdoor Arena and that Joe is riding Jack now?=/]

He bent down to pat the gelding again, and cantered in a circle before lining up to
clear the jump. As he cantered towards it, Jack's ears pricked up immediatley and
Joe felt the horse lengthen his stride. Still at a controlled canter, he covered the
ground before the jump in a consierable amount of time. As the gelding's head
reached out as he lifted his forelegs in the air ready for his rear to follow in unison,
he landed on the other sid of the obstacle sucessfully and cantered away
from it. Happy that the gelding had not lost controll in excitement of the ride ahead
[as he had done many times before] He slowed to a trot, then finally to a walk.
He came and stopped at Lily's side. He patted the gelding once more, and looked
up at his company and smiled.

[BECKiEE :)]

Lilith plotted her way carefully now, since it was kind of muddy out on the course today.
She looked back, to see Joe clear the wall, and come to reside near her.''Nice
jump!'' she exclaimed brightly, an impressed smile appearing on her lips. The she
turned back and faced the way she whished to go. Nudging Ace forward into a trot, she
gradually worked to a canter, and eventually she let him slip through to gallop. Making
her way up the slowly rising slope, and at the top stood a 2'9 complex, put together by
logs. She approached the summit and then felt the youngster take off, and land, two
strides, and over the last of the two fences. As soon as he took the stride after the jump,
there was a steep hill, with a ditch at the bottom. She cantered down the slope carefully,
collecting Ace as they neared and kept him held back over the ditch. She slowed to a trot
and allowed Joe to catch up with her, before arcing left and towards one of the water
jumps.

[ ooc - heh, im thinking Lilith is gonna fall off at some point, Ace is being too good >:3 ]

[Beccy.]

[ooc - Yeah, lol. I don't know anyone who hasn't fallen off a colt at leats once during a cross-country course 'coz Ace is really a devil! lol]

He smiled and nodded. Patting the gelding again he set off following Lilith
over to the next jump. There was one thing that Jack wasn't too fond of. Water.
He sighed and rolled his eyes as he thought of the last time they had come across
a water jump like this. He sighed and carried on at a canter. Letting the gelding
slip into a gallop after a moment. He caught up with Lily and kept the pace up.
Jack was flicking his ears back and forth. He didn't appear to mind the colt, but
then again he was more or less fine with other horses anyway. He slowed down
as the neared the jump and stayed in a fast canter until he got lcoser, then
gathered the rigns in his hands and kicked him on over the jump. He stopped
suddenly and Joe nearly went flying over Jcak's head. He sighed and tuned the
gelding away from the jump and back around in a circle. He turned into it
for a second time and felt a slight sense of hesitation in Jack's stride. But the
horse still seemed to fly over it. He smiled as he reached the other side, and
patted Jcak's neck as he came to a rest at the near Lily.

[BECKiEE :)]

[ ooc - hrm, i think lilith is gona do
some damage.. like, twist her ankle or fracture it.. In my next post though, I think that
shell have a complication at the next jump >:]]


Lilith cantered down the slowly descending slope to the water jump, devising in her head
her way through the jump. There were several ways to go through it, round the side of it,
through the water and up the two 2'1 steps and away. Through the middle and up the
small step at the far end. Or over the large pile of logs, with a nice big drop on the
other side. She decided that she would take, the easy route through the water, and
splashed through the muddy substance at a canter, Ace trying not to get his feet wet and
jumping with every stride he took. It was a wonder she didn’t come off, the they came
out the other side unharmed, though a little wet. She jumped up the step, and then trotted
to a halt, setting her eye on the next jump in the course, that involved jumping from one
bank, separated by a 2' gap onto a higher bank and then off the other side, maybe she was
getting a bit too ambitious, but she wanted to try it.

[ ooc – you know what I mean by banks, like those two big box things at Severn Vale,
yeah bek?]

[Beccy.]

[ooc - Yeah, the ones near the cross pole at the end? Oh dear... will Joe have to like...put her on Jack...?'Coz he's a good wittle angel ]

He smiled as the colt pranced through the water. He followed her through again, at
a slow pace this time. Jack trotted through the water not even flinching at this point,
and cam out at the other side. Joe watched as he saw Lilith turn Ace into the bank
after the pond of brown water. He thought that seeing as the horse was so
young that maybe it was better not to try it. He shrugged off his thoughts and said
to himself:I don't know what Ace is like, so I'm not in any position to be
thinking whether she is being over ambitious or not. He smiled as his eyes followed
her up to the jump.

[BECKiEE :)]

[ ooc - yeah, maybe. But ya'll have to go catch Ace first xD hrm, the one with the log in
the middle, like in the middle of the field with the water jump bit in, not the house jump..
that 1 ]

She narrowed her eyes as she approached and arced the colt around, and catered a circle
and then headed to the lower embankment, Ace pricked his ears as they approached, and
snorted loudly, as she came closer, she felt Ace become uneasy, and started trotting,
trying to pull away. That’s when she made her mistake and kicked him onwards. He
snorted, trusting his riders decision and continued. But as he got close, he lost his
confidence and cat leaped up onto the bank, Lilith lost both stirrups and pulled hard back
on the reins in desperation as Ace bolted forward, and to her horror the leather snapped,
and came away in her hands, as did the martin gale that was holding her saddle in place.
The saddle started slipping backwards and as Ace came to the 2' gap between the two
banks, he stopped and stood on the dragging martingale, the saddle coming undone and
falling onto the ground as he jumped. She clung to the colts neck as he jumped, and
landed on the second bank, but by now she had no way of getting him under control.
Ace jumped off the second box, and landed heavily, almost rolling head over heals with the
impact and then Lilith went over his head, landing awkwardly on her ankle as she slipped
to the ground and then Ace jumped sideways to avoid her and galloped back towards the
gelding, his herd instinct perhaps luckily kicking in. Lilith pulled her leg towards her
chest and clenched her teeth at the pain in her ankle. She was wearing riding boots, so she
couldn’t see the damage. But she could still feel it.

[Beccy.]

Joe's eyebrows raised slightly as he saw Lilith kick ace into a jump he
didn't want to clear. He still didn't say anything, but his mouth hung open as if the
words couln't come out. He came to a standstill and faced the jump, giving Jack
his head, he was too engrossed in watching the colt to stop the gelding from
grazing at the short, muddy grass. When he saw the saddle slip back from Ace's
backslightly, his forhead moved even further upwards. He gathered his
reigns into his hands, pulling Jack's head up from the ground, the horse's ears
pricked forwards as his head followed the pair up the series of jumps. When
to his absoloute horror, he watched the leather become taught and then finally
snap. The next thing he knew there was the colt galloping towards him,
and Lilith lying on the floor. His instinct told him that the first thing he should
do would be to grab Ace before he ran off over the fields. He gathered his
reigns into one hand, stuck out his other hand suddenly as the colt came to a
canter as he neared Jack. When Ace stopped abruptly, turning in a tight circle that
forced Joe to bend his arm back at an odd angle. Walking Jack quickly towards
a pole of wood, he looped his reigns over it and depated whether or not
to trust Ace to stay there. He hoped that if Jack stayed where he was, then Ace
would do the same. He made sure there was no way that the horses could
escape, then ran over to Lilith. He bent down next to her and asked:Are you okay?
Does it hurt anywhere? A frown creased his brow and he looked at her
closely before turning his attention to her foot. Which she was holding tightly,
as she clenched her teeth.

[BECKiEE :)]

She spotted Joe make sure that Ace wasn’t going anywhere, glad he had attended to the
colt first. She could feel tears welling up in her eyes and tried holding them back as she
saw with blurred vision Joe coming over. Lilith averted her eyes as he spoke, not wanting
to show him she was on the verge of tears from the pain.''Its just my... ankle.. Ow! It
... really hurts!'' she said, telling herself she had just maybe bumped it a bit, she stood
shakily and put her weight on it, as she did that Lilith fell sideways again into the mud.
She wiped the splattered silt from her face, really she just made it smudge even more.
Then she removed the riding boot with difficulty, and then pulled of the ankle sock. Her
ankle was swollen to twice its normal size, and it was already a deep shade of purple.
''I think I’ve twisted it..'' she said in a soft croaky voice, the fall having partly
winded her as well. Lilith looked at her ankle, now that the pain was beginning to lessen
she could see clearly again.

[Beccy.]

He bent lower to inspect her ankle. he drew in a sharp breath between his teeth
as she pulled off her boot. He looked up at her and said:I guess you can't
walk on it then. He was already worrying about how he was going to both
horses and Lilith back to the stables. He bit his lip, and atr the thought of Ace
and Jack, he swivelled around whilst still crouching down to face where he had
left the horses. They were standing where he had tied them up. Jack trying to
bend his head down to eat and Ace watching him. Turning back to face Lily, he
smiled grimly and said:Right, we can both ride Jack, me in front and you
behind. He paused then added Then one of us can lead Ace along behind,
okay? He looked at her and waited to see if his idea was fine with her.

[BECKiEE :)]

''O-okay'' she said, and to stop herself looking at the bruising any more she put the
ankle sock back on. She shakily stood, standing on one leg in the mud, her other riding
boot held tightly in her hand.''How do I get over to the horses?'' she asked,
noticing there were quite a distance away, and with her ankle like it was, the gap was
made no easier.

[Beccy.]

He carried on biting his lip, until he came up with yet another idea. Without
warning, he bent down slightly and picked Lily up. He took a long stride over to
a less muddy area of the jump, and carried on walking over to the horses.
He asked:You okay?He couldn't really say that Lily was heavy, because
she wasn't the reason he was slipping into the mud. It was
basically because
the course was in dire need of a few dry days. He sighed as he nearly fell over.
As he neared the horses, he began to wonder whether or not Ace would
behave if led by him or Lily. And if the colt would walk beside Jack without giving him grief.