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Description
Show: HCL DRESDEN ~ Show Journal

Featuring:
TEAM: Falcon Five
Rider: Andres Falk www.deviantart.com/badazal/art…
Horse: Dandelia www.deviantart.com/badazal/art…
Representing the team/riding as an individual: TEAM

Andres was salty about Dabriel being asked to represent the Falcons when the Championship League needed a new rider. Now, Dabriel was asking him to take his place. Ashamed of his previous jealousy, his face turned red as he stammered out an answer.
"Of course I will take your place Dabriel, but why would you ask me? I thought you were ready to join the team with Peanut Butter?"
Dabriel looked over his shoulder towards the barn where his special stallion awaited his dinner. "Yes, I was thrilled to be invited, but Peanut has been acting strangely recently and I don't want to risk anything, especially since this entire offer came out of the blue and we haven't been doing much showjumping recently. You and Dandi have been training non-stop for months now so I thought you would be a better option than me. I hope you don't feel pressured to do it if you don't want to."
"Oh! Absolutely not!" Andres said, perhaps with a little too much gusto. "I mean... I would be delighted to take your place, and I think Dandelia and I are certainly prepared to take on the giants at this show!"
Dabriel smiled, he knew how much this meant to Andres and was happy to see it pleased him. "Well then it is settled, Andres, you will now be part of the Falcon Five! I wish you the best of luck and will be there rooting for you!"

The plane trip to Dresden didn't take very long and Dandi handled the transport quite well. The days leading up to the Dresden leg of the show passed quickly and were filled with getting to know the team and practicing as often as possible. Dandi very clearly had some nerves about being around so many new horses but as usual, the patient and friendly mare handled it better than most horses would and soon became calm about the entire situation. Andres, however, was not quite as smooth. He had always had problems fitting in as he tends to be a bit too proud of himself. Now, sitting with some of the best riders in the world, he suddenly felt very unimpressive and this scared him. Thankfully his new team was wonderful and made him feel very welcome and included and slowly he warmed up to the idea of participating in team outings and meals. The experience was wonderful and Andres could only hope that he could remain friends with these wonderful riders for a long time.

Eventually the day came that the teams would face off and Andres felt like the world was resting on his shoulders. The rest of the team had already done 3 events and Dresden was the second to last show that would determine their placing.... and Andres was representing the team in both shows. No pressure...
Dandi, unaware of their pressure just thought it was another day of practice and was behaving wonderfully. Thank goodness, thought Andres as he trotted her around the warmup ring. Some of the other horses were getting out some nerves, throwing light bucks and being excitable. Andres did his best to focus on prepping his mare and not worry about everything else. Some of these horses were incredible though, how on earth could he ever compete against these riders.
"Calm" he mumbled under his breath. "Just stay calm, you have been training for this just like everyone else."

It was about half way through the show and Andres was called to the start. He patted Dandi on the neck. "Here we go girl, let's give it our best." He took a deep breath, tapped the mare into a canter, and entered the huge grass arena.

This was a ton of fun! I am so grateful to have been invited to participate!
And I wanted to include a greyscale version of the image since I am very proud of the contrast in this image <3 I almost like the greyscale better haha!

sta.sh/07nyjkhjk8g

Oh and I sorta decided to go for something more atmospheric rather than realistic since I thought it would be more interesting and pretty, I hope that is okay. I really wanted to emphasize the color of the horse/sky and how they interact and the lovely Sho taught me a few composition tricks to make Dandi really pop out. Super grateful for that <3 Oh, and I designed my own jump even though I loved the examples, just cause I didn't want the jump to interfere with the horse or distract from her. I hope that is okay as well ^^ Still sad I didn't get to use those golden horses Anyway, I hope I did everything correctly! This is my first time competing with you guys so I am still trying to get a hang of things (lol with one show left...better late than never ) Thanks so much for letting me participate!

References/Credits:
HCL (backgrounds, logos, and jump)
Horse: (Hand to Eye) knocked-rail.tumblr.com/post/1…

Description
Show: HCL DRESDEN ~ Show Journal

Featuring:
TEAM: Falcon Five
Rider: Andres Falk www.deviantart.com/badazal/art…
Horse: Dandelia www.deviantart.com/badazal/art…
Representing the team/riding as an individual: TEAM

Andres was salty about Dabriel being asked to represent the Falcons when the Championship League needed a new rider. Now, Dabriel was asking him to take his place. Ashamed of his previous jealousy, his face turned red as he stammered out an answer.
"Of course I will take your place Dabriel, but why would you ask me? I thought you were ready to join the team with Peanut Butter?"
Dabriel looked over his shoulder towards the barn where his special stallion awaited his dinner. "Yes, I was thrilled to be invited, but Peanut has been acting strangely recently and I don't want to risk anything, especially since this entire offer came out of the blue and we haven't been doing much showjumping recently. You and Dandi have been training non-stop for months now so I thought you would be a better option than me. I hope you don't feel pressured to do it if you don't want to."
"Oh! Absolutely not!" Andres said, perhaps with a little too much gusto. "I mean... I would be delighted to take your place, and I think Dandelia and I are certainly prepared to take on the giants at this show!"
Dabriel smiled, he knew how much this meant to Andres and was happy to see it pleased him. "Well then it is settled, Andres, you will now be part of the Falcon Five! I wish you the best of luck and will be there rooting for you!"

The plane trip to Dresden didn't take very long and Dandi handled the transport quite well. The days leading up to the Dresden leg of the show passed quickly and were filled with getting to know the team and practicing as often as possible. Dandi very clearly had some nerves about being around so many new horses but as usual, the patient and friendly mare handled it better than most horses would and soon became calm about the entire situation. Andres, however, was not quite as smooth. He had always had problems fitting in as he tends to be a bit too proud of himself. Now, sitting with some of the best riders in the world, he suddenly felt very unimpressive and this scared him. Thankfully his new team was wonderful and made him feel very welcome and included and slowly he warmed up to the idea of participating in team outings and meals. The experience was wonderful and Andres could only hope that he could remain friends with these wonderful riders for a long time.

Eventually the day came that the teams would face off and Andres felt like the world was resting on his shoulders. The rest of the team had already done 3 events and Dresden was the second to last show that would determine their placing.... and Andres was representing the team in both shows. No pressure...
Dandi, unaware of their pressure just thought it was another day of practice and was behaving wonderfully. Thank goodness, thought Andres as he trotted her around the warmup ring. Some of the other horses were getting out some nerves, throwing light bucks and being excitable. Andres did his best to focus on prepping his mare and not worry about everything else. Some of these horses were incredible though, how on earth could he ever compete against these riders.
"Calm" he mumbled under his breath. "Just stay calm, you have been training for this just like everyone else."

It was about half way through the show and Andres was called to the start. He patted Dandi on the neck. "Here we go girl, let's give it our best." He took a deep breath, tapped the mare into a canter, and entered the huge grass arena.

This was a ton of fun! I am so grateful to have been invited to participate!
And I wanted to include a greyscale version of the image since I am very proud of the contrast in this image <3 I almost like the greyscale better haha!

sta.sh/07nyjkhjk8g

Oh and I sorta decided to go for something more atmospheric rather than realistic since I thought it would be more interesting and pretty, I hope that is okay. I really wanted to emphasize the color of the horse/sky and how they interact and the lovely Sho taught me a few composition tricks to make Dandi really pop out. Super grateful for that <3 Oh, and I designed my own jump even though I loved the examples, just cause I didn't want the jump to interfere with the horse or distract from her. I hope that is okay as well ^^ Still sad I didn't get to use those golden horses Anyway, I hope I did everything correctly! This is my first time competing with you guys so I am still trying to get a hang of things (lol with one show left...better late than never ) Thanks so much for letting me participate!

References/Credits:
HCL (backgrounds, logos, and jump)
Horse: (Hand to Eye) knocked-rail.tumblr.com/post/1…