Equine Ballerina [Sebastian Stan AU]

Chapter Nine

I performed a few canter circles around the middle of the arena focusing on getting the mare to stay on the track and using the correct leading leg.

As I came around for the next time I looked over and saw Sebastian walking over to the edge of the arena with Terrence and Carol following behind. I tried to focus my attention and gaze forward again, as the mare decided at that moment to kick out slightly causing me to lose my balance for a moment.

I quickly composed myself, bringer her down into a slow trot before slowing down into a walk, heading back over to where the small group were standing alongside the fence.

'Same mare as earlier right' Sebastian called out, a smile appearing on his face as I nodded toward him.

'Are we doing another session' I asked, looking over at Terrence, who was flipping through a page of the script with Carol looking over his shoulder, before he could respond, I saw Jacob and Alice walking down my two geldings, each also holding a helmet for the actors to put on.

'Luke and I thought it might be best to have you actually demonstrate as they ride alongside you, might help them to work out what they have to be doing' Jacob called out,opening the side gate and walking into the arena.

I nodded, not happy about this new arrangement, I would be riding alongside the two actors, whilst Jacob explained to them what was going on and what they needed to be doing to get the horse to move appropriately under them.

'Guess i'm riding cranky pants here then' I said, noticing Sebastian feeling a little uncomfortable as Jacob handed over the helmet to the brunette. I reached down to pat the mare, hoping she would behave now, I didn't want to look like a mess out here now that I actually had to demonstrate in front of Sebastian and Carol.

Sebastian reached out to pat Soldier before Jacob held the gelding whilst he mounted up. Once Sebastian was settled Jacob went over to help Alice with Carol and Patriot, she chose to leave the arena, and went to stand alongside Terrence, leaning over the railings.

I was standing in the middle of the arena, Amber was doing a few more laps of the arena, doing her best to calm and cool down the mare she was currently riding. I looked over and noticed Sebastian fiddling with his reins so I called out to him,

'Nudge him forward a little and try to get him to walk over to me' I said, motioning with my hand to get him to come forward.

Sebastian got Soldier to start walking forward, the look of concentration on his face was astonishing, I could see he was feeling tense, which only got worse when Jacob called out to him.

'Hey Sebastian, wait up, tell Soldier to halt'

' I told him to do it, it's fine Jacob' I called back out, ignoring his shaking head, as he helped Carol fix her feet in the stirrups.

'He needs someone to stay with him whilst he is still learning the basics' Jacob replied, his tone becoming slightly sharper and more annoyed as he walked alongside Carol coming into the centre of the arena next to me and Sebastian.

' I think we should go over the basics from this morning and then I want us to start focusing on trot, because we'll have to work our way up to canter hopefully by the end of the week " Jacob rattled off, turning around to face all three of us in arena.

I started getting frustrated as it was clear Jacob was starting to take control of the session, with very little I could do seeing as I was on the back of a horse, I just nodded along for now, putting a mental note in my brain to pull him aside later when we wouldn't have an audience.

I watched as both Sebastian and Carol performed the basic movements correctly, walking and turning the horses in various locations of the arena before coming back into the centre along side me, before Jacob could speak up, I started speaking to both Carol and Sebastian.

'So a trot is a two beat gait, so literally it's just a one-two, One-two motion' I explained, looking between them both to see if they understood the concept behind the trot. 'Now it's going to feel very bouncy for you both to begin with, don't worry after this session you're going to start getting use to that up and down feeling' I said, focusing on the positive aspect, a lot of people found trotting pretty full on, with the bouncing motion, and found it very hard to not feel overwhelmed.

'Main thing is to remember is so keep looking forward, and you want to keep the same position with your legs and body as you go up into the trot' I said, looking down at my own position, and noticed Carol and Sebastian trying to mirror my own position in the saddle.

'Now before you go up to trot you shorten your reins slightly, and as you go up into the trot, on the very next stride you're going to have to start rising up in the saddle on every off beat' I added, trying to think of the best way to explain it, 'here I'll give you a demonstration'

I asked the mare to move forward ,a few steps in walk and then nudged her forward again, her trot was off slightly, but I accepted it anyway, sitting for a few beats and then rising, not worrying about being on the wrong diagonal for the rise at this point, Carol and Sebastian just needed to learn the basics of each gait for now, and then we could start nitpicking in the following sessions.

I slowly came back to a walk after trotting around the group a couple of times, I halted next to Sebastian, noticing his look of admiration at my riding.

'You make this look so easy' he said, smiling over at me, his hands tensing up over the reins.

'Don't worry you'll both be pro's soon enough' I responded, looking across at Jacob who was just glaring at me now. 'Why don't you focus on that with Carol and I'll ride along side Sebastian for now' I said, not waiting for his response as I started turning my horse to walk away from him, and I saw Sebastian didn't wait either as he followed me to the opposite side of the arena, giving us some space from  Jacob in particularly.