Afternoon Workout [open]

[Kayla Brentwood]

<sup>Kayla stretched lightly after the teacher dismissed her world history class. Thank god that was over and she could head down to the barns and ride Petri for the first time here. She had been planning it all day, and it would take a serious problem for her to give it up.

Kayla walked to her dorm and changed from a skirt to more barn-appropriate attire. Within a few minutes, she had thrown her hair into a ponytail, pulled on pants, and changed into boots. The baling twine spur straps holding her spurs on was fraying dangerously, which she'd have to fix before she rode, but that would be easy.

She walked, with a new spring in her step, down to the barn. With quick, practiced movements, Kayla haltered Petri and brushed him off in his stall, removed his tail brace, and organized her tack. She paused for a moment to cut the frayed baling twine off her boots, get some new lengths (in blue this time, instead of boring tan) and tied her spurs on again. Was it a bit... welfare? Absolutely. Kayla didn't mind. A few minutes later, Petri was tacked up in a western work saddle, polos, the lighter or the two leather ankle rings Kayla owned, a martingale, and his working snaffle bridle.

Kayla led Petri out to the indoor arena and flipped both sets of reins over his head, taking a moment to untangle the two reins from each other. As always, the flat bottom rein got fed through Petri's running martingale and the laced top rein was left free. Kayla took up the slack on her reins from the ground, asking Petri to set his head and listen to her before she even swung up.

Once aboard, Kayla asked immediately for a walk and let Petri stretch out and down. As they were meandering around the arena, Kayla pondered her new surroundings. Would there be anyone who understood saddleseat? She had been assured that Willow Creek would be good for her career, but saddleseat wasn't very common at all.

From the far end of the arena, Kayla noticed someone new coming through the gate. She didn't know anyone yet, but this would be the moment of truth.

tagged: open!
words: 373
outfit: here
notes: lalala</sup>

[Blair James Benson]

The bell rang over head as he began to pick up his books and placed them into his book bag before getting up from his desk and heading out of the door. He placed his black felt cowboy hat back apon his head as he walked out of the double doors to the outside world. Brown eyes looked around the school yard and sighed alittle as he began walking toward the barns.

Once he entered the barn he put his backpack onto his tack trunk and looked at the sorrel overo gelding in the stall. The gelding let a small whicker escape his muzzle as Blair opened the stall door and rubbed the sorrel gelding. Blair grabbed the lead off the stall door and cliped the nylon lead to the halter. He tied the gelding up before grabbing the brushes and brushing the gelding down.

After brushing him down Blair grabbed the western saddle off the stall door and tacked the gelding up. Blair grabbed the geldings sliding boots and working boots and velcro them on before grabbing the snaffle bit and slipping it into his mouth. Blair took the split reins and walked the gelding out of the stall door and down the barn door toward the indoor arena. Blair stopped at the gate noticing a girl riding in the arena already and smile alittle. He opened the gate and lead the overo gelding into the arena and shut the gate after him. Blair placed both of the reins over the gelding neck before stepping onto the gelding Blair checked both of the front cinch and back cinch then stepped onto the gelding. Blair took both reins into his hand and looked over toward the girl and smiled herway.Hello,Mind if I ride?

### - 459
WHATCHA THINKIN? - NONE
OPEN/TAGGED FOR - Kayla
COMPLETE/INCOMPLETE - Complete
THIS - ]OUTFIT
I WALK THE LINE - JOHNNY CASH - LYRICS
RENSKII @caution - TEMPLATE BY

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[Kayla Brentwood]

^{Kayla gathered the slack on her reins and slowly worked Petri back into her hands, starting on the direct rein and only using the martingale rein to finesse him into elevating his front end. "Oh, absolutely!"}

[/color] she called down to the newcomer. Western rider, maybe a reiner by the looks of the sliding boots on his back legs. It had been ages since she'd seen reining, and even longer since she'd seen it in person.

Petri shook his head at a fly and Kayla adjusted herself so she was in proper position. Steady contact through the thigh and knee, lower leg slightly off Petri's side, back ramrod straight, elbows at a ninety degree angle. She had a few (well, more than a few) equitation ribbons, and it was for a reason. Petri was still young, though, and he didn't have half the experience Kayla did.

"I'm Kayla, and this is Petri. I'll try to stay out of your way, but he get kind of freight-trainy sometimes,"[/color] she told the other rider before cueing for a trot. Kayla sat a few beats before she began to post, carefully picking her reins to get Petri working correctly off his hocks. After a few laps and more than a few circles, Kayla glanced down at Petri's shoulder and was glad to see that he was getting his forearm near level, even with the weights on his fetlocks.

Another circle, this one to check that he was using his hip fully and really stepping under himself. "Oh, good job, sweetheart,"[/color] she said when Petri was absolutely spot-on. They returned to the long rail and rounded the corner before Kayla loosened her reins a fraction of an inch, put her leg on, and clucked softly. Petri was obviously waiting for this, and he exploded forward in a park trot. Kayla couldn't restrain a wide smile, until she realized that while Petri was still engaged properly, he was completely ignoring her hands.

"Dude, seriously?" she growled at the chestnut, increasing pressure on the inside martingale rein until Petri was finally, finally circling. While he was still bulging his should to the outside, he was now listening (kind of). "Sorry. He kind of gets in the zone and motors down the rail. We're working on it," Kayla explained to the other rider.

tagged: Blair
words: 400
outfit: here
notes: I know a horse exactly like this. It's super annoying.[/sup][/size][/font][/blockquote][/blockquote][/blockquote]

[Blair James Benson]

Blair smiled toward the girl as he took ahold of the reins and moved the gelding away from the girl and her horse. Wimpy nickered toward the other horse, but Blair moved him off so that the gelding would be paying attention to him instead of his surrounds. Blair grinned toward the girl as he began to get his gelding toward the rail for a warm up.Thanks, Oh I'm Blair and this is Wimpy.He grinned alittle.

Once on the rail Blair moved the split reins through his fingers getting the right amount that he wanted along his fingers and then asked for the gelding into a trot. He wanted to get him in his extended trot to get him moving before working on the jog. A lot of guys from his home state that Bliar was on the werid side because he loved riding horses. It was just a passion that Blair couldn't hide as he just loved doing it. Now he didn't walk around school wearing a "I love horses" t-shirt. No, that would never happen to him unless someone tricked him into wearing it. Wimpy worked the extended trot around the arena, which Blair had to pick up on him a couple times as the gelding wanted to get into a lope and drive at the sametime with his legs as the gelding wanted to do alittle prance around the arena.

Blair used his outside leg as he sat down in the saddle and moved his hand alittle and asked the gelding into a lope. Wimpy's lope was really different than most horse's. Wimpy was two horse's in one. Blair could get him to do a working lope or a show lope which was much slower and shorter like a western pleasure lope. Blair moved his leg and asked for the working lope and off they went into a quicker speed around the arena. Blair couldn't help but smile as the overo paint went around the arena. Green eyes watched for Kayla and her horse Petri as he came into the middle to bring the gelding into a trot just incase they needed more rail room and not to stop in the middle of the rail.

### - 459
WHATCHA THINKIN? - Scattered Brain...I have no idea where I WAS GOING with this post. Sorry It SUCKS!
OPEN/TAGGED FOR - Kayla
COMPLETE/INCOMPLETE - Finished
THIS - ]OUTFIT
I WALK THE LINE - JOHNNY CASH - LYRICS
RENSKII @caution - TEMPLATE BY

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[Kayla Brentwood]

<sup>Kayla sneaked a peak at Blair and his horse once Petri was under her full control again. From her experience at local open shows and the stock breeds there, Wimpy was a decent mover, but then again, Kayla wasn't really sure what she was looking at. The gelding was moving at a nice clip around the arena, but it still took Kayla a moment to realize that it was an extended trot. She shook herself out of a moment of longing for her home barn.

She cued Petri up into a slightly less flashy trot and put him on the rail again, keeping more of a contact on her martingale rein to prevent another ready-for-takeoff style ignoring of the aids. Kayla noticed Blair pulling to the center of the ring and gave him a quick smile, thanking him silently for the courteous ceding of the rail.

Everything was going well for an entire lap. Then Petri remembered that he was four years old and thus inexperienced and prone to bad decisions. At the far end of the arena, in front of a window, Petri discovered that he was terribly scared of something outside. He practically teleported sideways twenty feet, and Kayla just barely kept her seat by clinging with her inside leg. Kayla quickly took a hold on her outside direct rein and brought Petri in a tight circle, preventing any further outburst, and got him trotting again in just a few seconds.

Unfortunately, when they came back around to the same window, Petri stopped dead and started backing up. Slowly at first, but as Kayla applied more and more leg to get him going forward, he sped up, despite his rider having looped the reins during the first few steps. He was running backwards, it felt like, for most of the long side before Kayla gave up on a direct approach and just spun his shoulder around and took off trotting the opposite direction.

"Not your best day, huh?" she asked Petri, shifting her hips to guide him into a circle that would hopefully get his brain back on her. "He's, uh, he's new. To everything. Sorry, again," she continued, babbling in a very uncharacteristic fashion. Spooky horses were really getting to her, apparently.

tagged: Blair
words: 387
outfit: see above
notes: That's fine! I have that issue all the time.</sup>