I feel the wind on my face as we leap over a broken tree. We land with a thump, I pat Cougar on the neck. Cougar is one of my horses, I have four horses all together. Cougar, Jupiter, Red, and Lady. Cougar is a 17hh thoroughbred gelding; he is a beautiful dapple grey. Jupiter is a 17.3hh black warmblood cross thoroughbred gelding, Red is a 16.4hh Sabino gelding and his colour is red roan (that's how he got the name Red) and Lady is a 16.3hh dark bay warmblood mare.
I put Cougar into a nice trot then put him into a walk to cool off, I was nearly at the stables when I heard someone calling me from behind.
"Hazel !! Hazel !!" I squint my eyes trying to figure out who it is. It's Hunter ! Hunter is the only male equestrian at our agistment, he is one of my best friends and I love his horse Caesar. Caesar is a 17hh thoroughbred gelding and has a white coat. Hunter also has another horse called Romeo. Romeo is a 16.3hh warmblood gelding and is a dark bay.
He finally caught up with me. "are you death" hunter asked sarcastically, "haha no, I waited for you" I chuckled. "So why the hurry to talk ?" I ask. "Oh yeah, Anita said we have a lesson as soon as we get back. The others are waiting for us in the indoor arena" he exclaimed. "Ok, do you know what we are working on today ?" I ask excitedly. "Um, I think we are training for our Comp in 3 weeks" hunter exclaimed. "Oh yeah, I forgot about that." I giggled. "We better get going" he said. "Beat you there !!" I yelled as I push Cougar into gallop.
We soon go into the indoor arena and meet the others there. "Where were you hazel ?" Skye asks. "I was on a trail ride on Cougar" I replied as I mounted Cougar. "Alright girls ... And boy, sorry hunter" Anita addressed. "That's ok" he smiled. "Today i planned for you to jump from 90cm to 1.40 meters." she announced. "Alright, Skye I want you to go first" she decided. Skye and her horse Cadesh start with a trot once around the arena then a canter. Skye has three horses. Cadesh, Judah and star. Cadesh is a 16hh thoroughbred bay gelding, Judah is a 16.3hh warm blood cross Cleveland bay gelding and star is a 16.3hh black warmblood mare. Skye and Cadesh fly over the jumps like nothing was there but the last jump Cadesh's front hooves Knicks the top pole, but it doesn't come down.
"Very good Skye, um .. April do you want to go next ?" Anita stated. "Yeah sure !" April replied. April and fritz does the same routine as Skye they start with a trot once around the arena and then a canter twice around the arena. April has three horses too. Fritz, Casper and Ruby. Fritz is a 16.1hh thoroughbred bay gelding, Casper is a 15.2hh bay thoroughbred gelding and Ruby is a 17.1hh dark bay Clydesdale mare. April and fritz clear the first couple of jumps but accidentally knocks a pole on the last jump. "Good job April, just remember to loosen those reins a bit more" Anita pointed out. "Ok." April replied with a smile. "Hunter, would you please go next please" Anita proposed. Hunter and Caesar did the same routine but cantered around the arena once, Hunter and Caesar cleared all the jumps really easily. Hunter and Caesar are probably one of the best partners at our agistment, they are meant for each other.
"Excellent Hunter, you're doing well" She exclaims. "Alright, Bec .. Do you want to ride next ?" She asks. "Sure !" Bec smiled. Bec and Astro didn't trot around the arena she just cantered twice around. Bec has two horses, Astro and Buddy. Astro is a 17hh flee bitten grey thoroughbred gelding, and Buddy is a 16.3hh bark bay warmblood gelding.
Jacinta and Astro knock the first pole on the first jump but the rest of the jumps she cleared. It now my turn, I trot around the arena once then canter around once. I cleared all of the jumps.
"Ok, I want you to do something different now, I want you to have the jumps a bit higher and the last jump at 1.50 metres" Anita demanded as she raises the poles a bit higher. "Um .. Ok, why ?" I ask. "I just want to see how you two go" she replied. I did the same routine as Skye and April, a trot around the arena once and then a canter around the arena twice. Cougar and I cleared the first jumps but now I was up to the last jump, the pressure is on. I make sure I make Cougar have one extra stride and lift off, Cougar leapt over the jump. It felt like forever, we land with a huge thump; we did it. I brush my hand through Cougars mane and pat him heavily. "Good job hazel, I knew you had it in you" Anita exclaimed excitedly. Anita is our horse instructor, she is a world class jumper and sometimes we get to see her train; which is really cool because I want to become a world class jumper one day.
"Alright, I think this lesson is over, thanks everyone !" Anita exclaims. "Thanks Anita !" I yelled while leading Cougar into his stall to untack. Hunter led Caesar into the stall next to mine; he starts to loosen the girth of the saddle. "So .. Um .. I was wondering .. I'm going on a ride on the beach tomorrow, do you want to come with ?" He asks. "Yeah sure, I'll have to check with my parents but yeah I'm sure it would be fine" I smiled "ok, cool" he smiled back.
After I had taken off all the tack off Cougar, I led Cougar into the wash bay, hunter follows. I tie up Cougar to wash him and hunter does the same. While he ties up Caesar to wash him too, I got the hose and aim it at Hunter "hey Hunter" he turned around and I pulled the trigger and splash !! All over his face, his shirt and his jodhpurs. I'm laughing when I suddenly see Hunter creep behind me with a bucket. "Oh no !" I think to myself, I was about to turn around when suddenly he tipped the bucket onto my head; water rushes on top of me and I get soaked. "this is on" I say. I grab the sponge from the bucket of water and throw it at Hunter, it misses him but gets Anita right in the face. Opps, big mistake. She's gonna kick me out for sure, I thought to myself. I was too busy thinking about it when wack !! Anita threw the sponge and it got me in the face, After that Anita and I both gained up on Hunter and had so much fun but then it was soon over and she made us clean it all up. "Well that was quite and adventure" I say. "Yeah it sure was" Hunter laughed. BEEP BEEP !! "Oh that's my mum, see you tomorrow yeah" I yelled while walking to the car "yep !!" Hunter yelled back.
