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[Aria Lockhart]

Aria Lockhart
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Fairytale Ending

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Aria smiled as she walked into the ring, her Pinto-Warmblood mix walking lazily beside her. When he saw the many jumps in the ring, he lifted his head and perked his ears. He knew what he was here to do, and was becoming excited. This made Aria chuckle and she patted her horse's neck lovingly. He was such a silly boy. "Now you stay here while I set the jumps up, okay?" She flipped the reins over his neck so they rested on this withers. She looked at the jumps and whistled, catching Quill's attention. He started following her, and she patted his cheek. "All right, you can come." But what she was really looking at was the sheer height of the jumps. Nearly every one in the ring was set at five feet tall. Aria had only ever schooled up to four feet, six inches, and was sure Quill could handle five feet, but the size intimidated her.

She walked around the ring, lowering the jumps. She made sure that none of the jumps would exceed three feet, six inches and none of the oxers were wider than two feet. It wasn't that Quill and Aria couldn't handle higher, Aria just wanted to make sure that Quill was settled into this new place before she rose the jumps' height up. While she lowered the jumps and moved the standards around, she wondered to herself with a shake of her head how tall she would be able to get away with Disney. He had schooled up to two feet, but in a new area she might have to bring the jumps down to one foot, maybe eighteen inches if he was calm enough. Once she had created her ideal course, she walked Quill to one of the wall jumps and climbed on. She rolled down her stirrup and stuck her foot in, mounting.

She took her silver crop (which matched Quill's silver saddle pads and polos) from her back jean's pocket and strapped her helmet on. She made sure all her hair was tucked neatly in her helmet and that her yellow polo was pulled down so it wouldn't ride up while she was going through the paces.

Bringing Quill out to the rail, she brought her heels to his side in a gentle squeeze and pushed him into a trot. His trot was foward, and his strides long. His hooves left the ground as quickly as they met it, and he curved his head elegantly, working himself into a frame. "Good boy," Aria whispered to him. He was being very well behaved, which truthfully she wasn't expecting. But apparently, going to the amount of shows that they did really helped with bringing him into new situations. So Aria continued on bringing him through his trot pace. She brought him through the center and changed directions frequently, turning the jumping ring into one large figure eight. When he was feeling loose, she slowed him to a walk and gave him a well-deserved pat on the shoulder. "Good boy," she repeated, rubbing his neck. "Goodboy."

After a quick break, Aria gathered her reins and sent Quill into a canter. The large Warmblood cross did so spiritfully, immediately going into a bright, extended canter. As they went around the ring, Aria collected him and extended him, and had him bend and counter bend around her leg as they went through the turns. Quill really was impressing her with his emaculate behavior. When they had gone around a few times, she slowed him to a walk, gave him a quick pat and walked him through the middle, changing directions. After a minute, she asked him to pick up the right lead, and the two began trekking left. She went through the same extending, collecting and bending excercises as she had going to the left. When he was lose and warmed up on the right, she let him walk. After a two minutes or so, she picked up the canter and began doing figure eights through the ring.

After two minutes of that, she brought him to a walk and gave him many pats on his neck, murmuring words of upmost praise. Now, after a quick break, it would be time for jumping. For starters, Aria had made sure that she made a single cross rail toward the front of the ring. She sent Quill into a trot and pointed him toward it. He perked his ears, but only trotted over the small jump, not even making a move to jump properly. Aria frowned and brought him to it again, this time to no avail. Finally, she resolved to use her crop and leg. Two strides before the jump, she gave him a big squeeze and a tap on the shoulder. Quill's pace immediately brightened and he hopped over the small cross rail with ease. "That's a good boy," she murmured to him, giving him a pat. The next few times, they went to it at a canter, and then switched directions through the middle and went over it the same.

She slowed him to a walk and let him have some rein to stretch his neck down. While he relaxed and took a breath, she went over the jumps with her eyes, planning a course in her mind. When she had it, she gathered her reins and brought him to the entrance to the ring. She sprung him into a canter, circled him once and brought him to the first jump.

The first jump was a two-foot-high vertical with bright orange flowers underneath it. Quill didn't bat an eyelash at the small jump and soared over it with ease. This jump was part of a gymnastic line. The second jump was two feet, three inches tall, another vertical. Again he soared over it, and as soon as they landed, Aria pushed him foward. The height of the last vertical jumped up to three feet, and Quill would need more momentum than he had for the past two. The Warmblood cross picked up Aria's signal and the two soared over the last jump in the line smoothly. She then turned him on the diagnol to a small square oxer. It was only three feet tall, one foot wide. A nice start-off, in Aria's opinion. Quill lifted off a little long, and Aria was a bit thrown off, but she was able to collect herself over the jump.

The jumps started to get higher after the oxer. The next jump was a three feet, six-inch tall brick wall. Aria tapped Quill with her crop and he moved his pace up and extended his stride. "Good boy," she murmured as they landed and turned abruptly. The next jump was a rollback swedish oxer. At it's middle, the jump was two feet, nine inches, and it's width was two feet. Coming to this jump, however, Aria got distracted and Quill got nervous and steered away. Aria clung her legs to his side and threw her weight to the side opposite the jump. She didn't tap him with the crop, it wasn't his fault that she wasn't ready. She just brought him round in a circle and back to the jump. This time, the jump was unsteady, but they cleared it and were able to continue onto the rest of the course.

The next jumps consisted of two three feet, six inch verticals and the finishing jump was a three feet, nine inch oxer that was spread two feet apart. It was higher than Aria had intended to go, but Quill was moving beautifully, so she added the jump for a last effect. That jump wouldn't be part of her future courses today.

She slowed Quill to a walk, gave him a lot of rein and a big pat on the neck. "Awesome job, boy!" she praised excitedly, rubbing his neck. "That's my good boy." She kissed his neck and wiped the sweat off her brow. Boy, it was warm out today, the first warm day that Quill and Aria have had in a while since New York. Maybe they'd go through two more courses, possibly three, before they went in. She didn't want to stress him out with the new weather.