𝐑𝐈𝐃𝐄 𝐌𝐄//𝐏𝐉𝐌 𝐅𝐅

🐴1

"And our gold medalist...Kim Haemi and her palomino, Golden Lion!"

A grin stretches across her cheeks at the mention of her name and her sport partner's show name. Her hand reaches behind her to pat the gentle giant's thick neck as a gratitude for performing excellently as expected from one of the finest warm-blood, a palomino Hanoverian. The golden coated horse has a star on its forehead that only appears when his white fringe sways away and also a small snip at the tip of his nose. With such unique double marking on his face, Lion unfortunately didn't inherit any leg markings but his golden coat and shiny white mane and tail didn't fail to make the animal out stand his breed as warm-blood usually comes in solid colors.

It's not an everyday thing to stumble upon such beautiful creature laying around in the animal shelter labelled as a 'problematic child' but Haemi never seen her palomino portrays any sign of disobedience nor did the animal upset his adopter. As far as she knows, that tall equine beast was nothing but a bubble of love and sweetness that just needed some TLC to spark him up.

The beaming girl held out a fist in front of the beast's nose and he returns it with a light boop of his nose, a gesture both so familiar with after years of strong bondage and friendship. Her smile stretches even more after her four legged best friend returned her fist bump. Even though it's the nth time they've done it, Haemi still cherishes their little fist bumps as pieces of memories she shall carry to her grave.

She steps onto the platform that lifts her higher than the other two runner ups beside her who are holding green and blue ribbons. Adrenaline rushed through her realizing how the presenter is holding a bright red ribbon and she can see the faint printing of her full name on the gold platted medal.

Haemi respectfully bowed her head and let presenter hang the red ribboned medal around her neck where it screams champion to the world. It may be her 11th times winning first place in show jumping and cross-country but the girl is still experiencing tingle all over her body and cheeks aching from smiling too widely when receiving her golden prizes.

"Well done, Ms Kim. As usual"

The presenter smiled warmly when the champion which she bowed again for such kind compliment. He was right about the 'as usual' part. Not to brag but Haemi can't remember the last time she stood at a runner up spot or anything below a champion's throne. She had win tons of competition and red ribbons piled up her tack room as well as her own bedroom.

But none of those is possible if it wasn't for the great horsemanship between Haemi and Lion, her elegant and beautiful warm-blood palomino. The speaker continue to announce the following events but Haemi has her neck tilt to the side where her eyes steal glances at her horse. The beast was quiet and calm but he is being left without a handler like other horses around them so the owner herself has to keep an eye on him, not that he needed one.

Lion was known for his gentle and sweet mannerism towards his owner but not so fond of strangers. People may approach him after seeing how well the horse behaved around the rider but Haemi will always stop them from getting near the beast because she knows very well how her horse's demeanor changes when it comes to new faces.

Snorting, tail swaying, ears perk, subtle stomping and head in the air. These gestures can never be dismissed because they indicate the irritation the beast is getting and it will be seconds before he snaps and buck to shoo the threats away. Which is why Haemi always request for him to be handler-free and does everything herself instead, including the grooming and also the haltering.

"Thank you ladies and gentlemen for participating...."

The girl hopped off the platform and jogged towards her horse after the announcer thanked the crowd and people begin to exit the arena leaving a few riders, vets and trainers behind to have a debrief before heading home only to gear up and train more.