Alexa's Lesson

[Ruby Lanelle]

_{Ruby lead Quincy into the arena and sat down on her seat, the grey horse dozing in front of her. She had no need to warm this guy up in fact he needed winding up! Alexa had her work cut out on this guy but once he got going he was a wonderful horse. While she waited for her pupil, Ruby fiddled around with the grey gelding's hanging bottom lip.}

[xx Onii-Chan ♥]

<sub>As usual, she was late. But Alexa always followed her mother’s quote. ‘Fashionably Late’ and that she wasn’t late, everyone else was, quite simply, early. Her instructer, Ruby, had already taken the horse to the arena, so all she had to do was arrive. She wore a white jumper, with blue splats printed randomly on it, and white jodhpurs. On her feet she had black small boots and baby blue half chaps. Ok, so maybe her outfit wasn’t the right thing to wear to a riding lesson, but at least her hair was tied back in a tight bun, and if she fell off, the stuff could easily be dry-cleaned.

She walked down the lane and into the arena, closing the gate behind her. “Hey, I’m Alexa,” she introduced herself. She made her way to the grey horse in the center and patted him, “I take it your Ruby? And this must be Quincy.” She added, “What do you have planned for today?” She wondered. She liked to have an overview of what she would be doing in a lesson before it started, so as to ensure she would know what she was doing.</sub>

[Ruby Lanelle]

_{Ruby smiled at the girl's bluntness. Well, I reckon we do a warmup then get straight into some jumping. All the horse's are fit so we don't need to waste the lesson warming up. OK? She handed the reins over and sat back on her seat. You do a quick warm-up, walk, trot canter then we'll get going.}

[xx Onii-Chan ♥]

Alexa mounted the grey from the ground and pushed him into a walk. He was a wee bit slow to start, but soon got up to pace. She walked him halfway around the arena, then pushed him onward into a trot. When she got round to B, she changed the rein from B to E, passing through X. When she got to E, she kicked him into a canter. Her movements were swift, as were his, even if he was a bit slow in changing gates.

[Ruby Lanelle]

_{After a few minutes of warming up, Ruby called to the girl. Ok. Bring him in at F and halt. I'll put up a few jumps. She put up a cross pole, then a spread, then a straight bar, all around 3ft in height, a few strides apart from each other. Ok. Come down after C and pop him over them. Do it twice.}

[xx Onii-Chan ♥]

The lass began to canter the horse from F to C, where she turned in toward the jumps. Quincy took the cross pole gracefully. Alexa loved to jump; it was one of her passions. She especially loved cross country. Making for the spread, Alexa didn’t feel the horse tense up for the jump, which worried her a bit, but she leant forward anyway and he took it in his stride, popping over sweetly. The straight next. He lefted his muscular body over it and landed with a soft thudding at the other side. Alexa sat up, happy with herself and the horse. She slowed him down and patted him on the neck. “That was sweet,” she commented on his riding, meaning she had enjoyed herself and that she liked his pace.

[Ruby Lanelle]

<sub>Ruby smiled. Very good. Just try and get a little more energy from him, he was a bit slow over those. Right. She crossed the large arena and quickly assembled a small course. Then she instructed the pupil.

Ok. Turn down after A and jump the cross pole and the straight bar. Turn across the diagonal after M and jump that spread.Then you gotta turn pretty sharpish to the left and jump that narrow bar. Then all the way round to C, turn and jump that parallel in the centre. Got it? Ok off you go. She gave Quincey a quick pat as they trotted away. Remember to keep letting him know you're there, by your legs and your voice. he gets scared and won't jump it alone.Her advice came from being thrown countless times, when she forgot to stay with Quincey.</sub>

[xx Onii-Chan ♥]

_{Doing as instructed, Alexa made the turn at A, toward the cross pole. She kicked Quincy into a good-speeded canter over the cross and straight, then made a diagonal toward the spread. Quincy glided over it in a canter, and landed softly and gracefully at the other side. Alexa turned him sharply as she was told to, but Quincy didn’t like that. He tensed up to jump the Narrow, and Alexa kicked him onward. He was just approaching it, and she gave him a soothing word, but he turned away from it in a refusal. Alexa sighed, and patted his neck anyway, and turned him toward it again, and sent him back into his canter. “C’mon, boy,” she urged him, and he glided gently over it. She led him to the outer track and cantered him to C, toward the parallel. She kicked him on toward it, and approached it with caution, slowing himself down, and stopping in front of it, despite her constant nagging for him to jump and ‘c’mon’. Alexa rolled her eyes. She supposed that it wasn’t all the horse’s fault; she was to blame as well. It was her first time riding him, so they were both getting used to each other. Maybe she was doing something wrong? She suspected that maybe she wasn’t giving him enough leg signals, probably because she was still getting used to his bumpy strides. She turned him away from the jump, and led him back to C, so she could backtrack from there. “Geeup, boy, come on Quincy,” she urged him, as she catered once more toward the parallel, leaning forward into her position as he took off. Floating. Landing. And the jump was over. Alexa moved him toward the outside of the arena, and kept him in a walk so he could loosen up a bit, and awaited further instruction, and a complaint or two about her riding. That was the thing with teachers and instructors, they never told you when you done something good, they only commented on the bad points…}

[Ruby Lanelle]

_{Ruby moved over to the pair and patted the horses neck. Well done. That was great riding for your first time on him. Now, for next time you need to keep kicking every stride as you approach, giving him more leg just before take off. if he is slowing down on approach, give him a little tap with your crop, on his shoulder. Ruby took a step back as Quincey strode forward. Where're you going then? She laughed. If he feels like he's going to run out, and I know its hard to tell, just keep your reins even and legs on hard! But seriously, that was great riding. If you wanna cool him off now then. She strode back to the fence, as the horse moved off.}