Equine Ballerina [Sebastian Stan AU]

Chapter Six

We walked down to the arena, both Jacob and myself leading the two actors around the arena for a few circles, before coming to a halt. I unclipped the lead rope, and Jacob followed, but stood close to Carol, as I stood to stand between the two new riders.

'Ok, so I assume you both are feeling alright at this point?' I asked, looking at them both, and trying to gage how they were feeling. 'We're only going to focus on walking and basic control for this morning anyway'

I noticed Carol tense up slightly, whilst Sebastian looked to be trying to take it all in, whilst his hands started fidgeting with the reigns.

'Ok firstly don't yank at the reigns, even if you want them to slow down or halt, you want to make sure you seat into the saddle slightly, and put a little bit of pressure on the reigns' I said, holding my hands out to try and demonstrate what they needed to do.

'Not to turn, them its not that complicated, to turn right you want to open up the right rein and vice versa for the left turn' I held my hands out as if I was holding reins, 'it's not a pull or yank in that direction, think of it like a door opening, and your arm is the hinge' I said, trying my best to showcase what I meant.

'And at the same time you're going to want to use your opposite leg to push them over in the direction you want them to go as well' I said, looking up and realising they were both looking a little confused, Carol looking a little more overwhelmed.

'Why don't we break off and practice then' I offered, seeing Jacob turn to help Carol out whilst I walked over toward Sebastian. 'Did you get that?' I asked.

He looked down at me, and I could tell he was trying to hide the fact he himself was feeling confused at the first round of instructions.

'Don't stress out too much, we've all been there before' I said, laughing at remembering my first few years around horses. 'It takes everyone a different amount of time to gain the knowledge and experience' I said, trying to make him feel better about the situation he found himself in.

'Besides you're going to have a whole crew to help make sure you look amazing' I said, reaching out to pat Soldiers shoulder, before taking a step back,

'Ready to go?' I asked, watching him nod hesitantly.

'So you don't have to kick him straight out, and to be honest he is going to be pretty responsive, so you want to just squeeze slightly through your calf, and keep your hands steady' I spoke slowly ensuring he heard what I was saying.

Then watched him proceed to ask Soldier to walk forward, he seemed to tense up as Soldier started to side step to walk towards me.

'Hold your left rein out like I showed you and push him over with your right foot, he will listen to you' I said, trying to get Sebastian to push the gelding away from me. Soldier turned his head to face me, still side stepping over towards me.

' Bring him to a halt' I said holding my hands up in a stop motion.

Soldier snorted and came to an even halt, though his face was still turned towards me. I walked up to stand next to Sebastian, holding my hand out to rest it on Soldiers shoulder for moment, using my elbow to push his face forward again.

'Its not personal ' I said, stressing the point that Sebastian wasn't doing anything wrong, 'all horses do it when they aren't sure whats going on, they try and go back to their safe place, which for him , is back to me' I said.

I reached up to hold my hand over his, 'you need to hold you hand open like this' pulling his hand out , as if he was pushing open a door. 'And then you use this leg like this' I reached over to place my hand on his shoes, pushing them forward slightly, 'then you push here, so you're in line with the girth from the saddle'

He nodded, looking down at me, and where I had placed his foot, 'ok that seems pretty easy' he said, leaning forward again to ensure he knew the correct position.

'Not too far forward' I roused on him, 'you should always make sure you butt is in the saddle evenly, otherwise you will send mix signals, and once you're trotting and cantering eventually you need to maintain balance more than ever'

'Ok lets try this again then' he said, his voice making him seem more confident.

'Just a few more loops, then I think thats enough for this session' I said, looking at my watch, we had already been at this for almost an hour, and even I knew that was a lot of time in the saddle for a beginner.

'Ok, when you're ready' I said, taking a few steps back, hoping Soldier would co-operate and not keep coming back to me. This was Soldiers first time working with an inexperienced rider, but I knew that after a few sessions he would start to be ok.

Sebastian pushed him forward into a walk, and for a few strides he focused on going straight forward, before asking Soldier to turn around to start forming a circle. I didn't say anything, just observing Sebastian, and noticed the determination he seemed to have at that moment. Soldier started to side step again, but Sebastian tried to push him back out toward the fence railing, and after a few strides he was able to correct Soldier's position in the arena.

I let him go around me once more time, before I asked Sebastian to bring him to a halt. I smiled at them both as I walked over to them, giving Soldier a quick pat and then looked up to Sebastian, 'Well done'

'Thanks that wasn't as terrible as what I thought it was going to be,' he said, adding, ' the second time, after you explained to me what I had to do and showed me again'

'Aw you're welcome, don't stress, there is a lot to learn, but congratulations you have learned the art of turning and halting' I said, reaching up to hold the reins, realising Jacob had already helped Carol dismount in the arena. 'Ready to dismount?'

He nodded, looking a little unsure.

'You want to take both feet out of the stirrups and then take a moment to help your feet get use to working without the stirrups, and then lean forward and swing your right leg over so you dismount on the right' I said, speaking slower to make sure he understood, dismounting was one of the hardest parts to start with, people worry that they don't look elegant,and then they get caught up in everything else, and don't focus on dismounting correctly.

He leaned forward slightly, as I held Soldier to make sure he wouldn't start walking forward, he swung his leg over quickly, and then he paused for a moment, his mind obviously over thinking everything.

'Just slide down, don't worry about what it looks like' I said, trying to help him out, I reached out to see if I could help him some how.

His feet found the ground quickly, and he turned to smile at me, as if looking for my seal of approval at his dismount.

'10/10' I replied, laughing at the awkward dismount I had just observed.

'Thanks for the confidence boost' He laughed with me, reaching out to pat Soldier.

'you're welcome' I responded, leaning over to run the stirrups up so they wouldn't hit into Soldiers stomach as we walked back to the stabling area. I repeated the same on the right hand side, before coming back around to stand next to Sebastian.

He looked down at his phone, as he pulled it out of his pocket,  'almost lunchtime then'

I nodded, realising it must have been close to midday already, 'I'll take this boy back to the stables and then I'll head over'  I started walking once I realised Jacob had already left the arena, with Carol trailing behind him.