|
|
Post by Ayesha McMillan on Jun 20, 2010 4:12:45 GMT -5
Wind Dancer jumped the skinny with ease and Ayesha smiled to herself. Walking the cross country trail had paid off, as she had been able to direct Dance just right to take the obstacle without breaking her stride. The mare hit the ground running, and for a moment Ayesha allowed Dance to run as much, and fast, as she liked, offering the barest minimum of directions Dance needed towards the hedge that was the next obstacle on the course. As the wind brushed over her face, Ayesha almost laughed out loud from the sheer joy she felt emanating from her mount. Dance loved to run, and she loved it when Dance enjoyed herself and came fully alive. It was a pleasure they could both share and it were moments like this when she was very much ready to believe the Bedouin legends that god had created the first horse from the south wind by giving the wind physical form. But despite her enjoyment of the moment, she knew it had to end soon, so she urged Dance to slow down a little after they cleared the brush fence, and a little more as they approached the next obstacle. Behind the fence was just a little bit of flat ground, and behind that a water-filled ditch. Running into that headlong, at full speed, wouldn't work. She could feel Dance's reluctance to slow down, but the bay mare still did what she was asked to. They had known each other for years and had come to trust each other implicitly. Dance cleared the fence and came to a complete standstill. Ayesha was tossed forward against the mare's neck, only to find herself violently thrown back again when Dance reared. A second later Dance came down, only to pivot and rear again. With a loud splash Ayesha found herself thrown off her horse and into the ditch. By the time her head cleared she found her horse standing a little to the side, at the edge of the ditch and eyeing her. "Dance!" Ayesha protested. "What's gotten into you?" She reached down, to push herself up, when a sharp pain shot through her right hand. "Ouch!" Ayesha raised her right arm out of the water and examined it, flexed her hand and fingers, then reached down again to put a little weight on that hand. In an instant the pain returned and she flinched. Nothing was broken, of that she was certain, but that sprain would be with her for a while. Ayesha reached for the edge of the ditch with her left and pulled herself up, shaking her right hand and muttering a few choice curses under her breath, as Dance trotted closer and nudged her shoulder. "It's alright, dear," Ayesha said and stroked her horse's face. "It's alright. But what on Earth has gotten into you?" she asked. She nestled with the straps of her water-soaked helmet for a moment, before she discovered that it was rather difficult to take it off using only her left, and decided that it was more important to get out of the way and clear the course. She took Dance's reigns and led her to the side of the obstacles and into the grass aside the cross country trail, then sat down and took a deep breath. Her legs felt wobbly all of a sudden, and she could feel her heart beating fast, as the shock of her sudden fall set in.
Outfit |
|
|
|
Post by dylancooper on Jun 25, 2010 0:28:53 GMT -5
Dylan really did to curse his luck.
The fact that he clearly had the worst luck in the world was the only way to explain why the first time he tried to tackle the cross country course with Gazel he came across someone who had an accident. Ok, even Dylan could admit that was a completely horrible thought but seriously the complete lack of peace was getting a little bit ridiculous. He couldn’t even eat without having someone talk to him and the paranoid part of his brain was half convinced that it was a ploy to mess with his mind and make him hit someone. Luckily Dylan knew how completely ridiculous that was. It didn’t stop the slight annoyance, or the thought of just riding off and leaving the person there. Yeah, even he knew that was bad.
Dylan had not had the best luck on the cross country course, he hadn’t seen the trail before so he was unsure and Gazel could clearly sense that. For a horse as jittery and nervous as Gazel it was not a good thing to be unsure. He had only made the smaller jumps and avoided the larger because he didn’t want her to freak and throw him.
He didn’t see it happen, but it was clear something did. The first thing he noticed was the horse it was only secondary that he saw someone sitting down, looking both wet and slightly shaken. ”Slow down girl” He said to Gazel as he pulled on the reins gently to get her to slow down.
Dylan fought the urge to say something snarky, it really was in his nature to do. He wasn’t exactly sure what he was supposed to say, are you ok seemed like a stupid question. ”Uh, do you need some help?” Was probably another stupid question and Dylan was hoping that she would tell him no and demand he go away. That would make life much easier.
|
|
|
|
Post by Ayesha McMillan on Jun 25, 2010 9:08:12 GMT -5
Ayesha looked up and the first thing she noticed was the horse. Clearly an Arabian, and rather tense, that much she could see immediately. It took her a little longer to focus on the rider and recognize his face. What he had just said was the longest sentence she had heard from Dylan so far. During classes he had given her - and everyone else for that matter - the silent treatment.
"I am more or less alright, Mister Cooper." Keeping her voice level took a little effort. She felt drained and frustrated, as she just couldn't understand what had gotten into Dance to throw her off like that. Ayesha looked at her horse, who had her eyes and ears directed at the newcomers.
"Wait a minute," she muttered, far more to herself than Dylan. Ayesha moved closer to her horse and reached for Dance's right forward leg, the one she had just noticed the mare didn't put much weight on. "Let me see that."
She reached for the horse's leg with both hands and urged Dance to lift her hoof, to discover a stone - shaped like an almost perfect pyramid - wedged deep into the mare's hoof. "You poor thing. You landed on this just when we came over the fence, didn't you?"
Dance snorted softly and bumped her nose against Ayesha's helmet, as if to tell her 'thanks for noticing', but perhaps she was reading too much into the mare's behavior. Maybe it was just the sound of a familiar voice that had drawn Dance's attention.
"I am afraid I will have to trouble you for some help after all, Mister Cooper," Ayesha stated, letting go of Dance's leg for the moment and looking over her shoulder at the young rider.
OOC: Hope you are okay with what I wrote about Dylan's behavior in class. I can edit, if need be.
|
|
|
|
Post by dylancooper on Jul 3, 2010 9:58:28 GMT -5
The minute the person, who once she spoke he recognised as his English teacher. He wasn’t the biggest fan of her, mainly because she wanted everyone in class to speak (of course that did mean Dylan would actually talk) her choice of books didn’t help. If she wanted a book with a war theme why not Catch 22? Why some crappy book he had no interest in reading. He was ready to leave the second she was ok, either she was in fact ok or she was just stubborn, and if she was stubborn that was her own problem. He wasn’t going to stand around and force help on her. Just as he was about to leave with Gazel she spoke and he sighed.
She hadn't spoken to him, she either spoke to herself or the horse. He wasn't sure but he quickly gathered something was wrong with her horse, yeah she clearly was gonna need help. He quickly dismounted from Gazel, taking a second to attempt to calm her down. He was probably better off walking the now tense horse back rather then riding her anyway.
It was then she spoke to him again. "Yeah, I kind of figured' He said, she really was pointing out the obvious. Though the way she called him Mr Cooper, it kind of made him cringe a little. He hated being called by his last name. "So what do you need me to do" he asked waiting for instruction.
|
|
|
|
Post by Ayesha McMillan on Jul 3, 2010 22:42:34 GMT -5
Ayesha smiled when he dismounted. For someone who kept to himself he was ready enough to help. That surprised her a little, but it was a welcome surprise. She already knew there was more to Dylan than met the eye, but helpful hadn't been on her list yet. Willow Brooke was a small school, so she could actually delve into the background of her few students, talk or email with some of their previous teachers, get some background details on the students she thought would give her the most trouble - and Dylan certainly fell firmly into that category.
"What I need you to do is pull a stone from Dance's hoof." She rose and flexed her right hand a little, flinching when the pain of a wrong move shot through her wrist. "I'd do it myself, but I am afraid I sprained my hand a little."
Ayesha rose and placed her left on Dance's nose, stroking the mare's neck with her right, trying to keep the horse's attention firmly fixed on her, distract her from the newcomers. It also kept her from doing more with that hand than she should.
"But what I would like you to do is approach slowly and carefully first. Dance isn't dangerous or aggressive, but she tends to shy away from strangers. Give her a moment to get to know you, before I pull her leg up again."
She leaned a little closer to Dance and smiled. "Don't worry, dear, he's gonna help you. There's nothing to be afraid of." Looking over her shoulder at Dylan and his horse, she added: "You have quite a beauty there. I think I've seen her in the stables, but I can't quite recall her name right now."
|
|
|
|
Post by dylancooper on Jul 10, 2010 22:28:23 GMT -5
”Uh, how exactly do I do that?” Dylan asked, it was probably a stupid question and probably as simple as just pulling it out but he never had to pull a rock from a horse so he wanted to be careful, not wanting to hurt the horse further. He took more care with animals then people after all. He had always been better with horses then people anyway. It probably said a lot that Dylan preferred horses to humans but also put more of a trust in horses then human. Which didn’t say much since there was no one in the world Dylan trusted. It really wasn’t just horses either; he didn’t mind most animals and would pick them over humans any day.
"Uh yeah, Gazel" He said, he almost said something about her being 'the crazy horse' but that wasn't how he saw the horse and he couldn't exactly talk. A lot of people probably thought he was a bit crazy, he hadn't gotten into much trouble yet though. Ok, he freaked in the cabins and started throwing his stuff but no one was there at the time and he cleaned it up before anyone saw it. Though he was sure most of the staff new his history, so they knew about his temper and probably other things he wished they wouldn't know.
He understood the need to be careful approaching a horse, hell Gazel wasn’t exactly the easiest horse to approach. He lead Gazel to the side, if someone else came it was better to have Gazel out of the way. She was already tense enough. That was probably another reason he approached so careful, because if her horse freaked he was sure Gaze would. He approached the dance slowly, watching the horse reaction. "Don't worry, I'm here to help" He said soothingly to the horse as he got close to the horse, something he usually wouldn't say with someone else around. Acting human, even to a horse was not a good thing.
|
|
|
|
Post by Ayesha McMillan on Jul 10, 2010 23:35:59 GMT -5
Dance turned her head at Dylan and her ears flicked up, listening to his approach and his words. She tried to take a sideways step away from him first, then a backwards step, but each time Ayesha held her back as good as she could with one firm and one soothing hand.
Ayesha was certain Dance would have pawed the ground by now, if not for her injured hoof, despite Dylan's soothing tone. Perhaps the mare was still nervous from recent events, despite an outwardly calm appearance only a moment ago. So she added her own calming words to Dylan's, her voice a low, softly rolling melody of Arabic. While she basically just told Dance to calm down and trust Dylan, sometimes the rhythm of Arabic worked better to calm her mare than English words.
After a moment Dance quieted down. She still kept her attention on Dylan, but stopped her attempts to edge away from him.
"There, that should do it," Ayesha said, to both horse and man. "I'll lift her leg, then you can pull out the stone." She kneeled down and lifted Dance's leg again, trying to hold it as firmly as she could despite her injured hand.
"Hold her hoof with one hand, then just pull the stone out with the other as fast as you can. Don't hesitate to pull strongly. Best it comes out completely at the first attempt."
|
|
