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Description
Show: WHA End of Year Show 2022
Horse: BTE Wallaby
Horses Age: 6 years
Handler/Rider Name: Blaine Redfern
Class: Reining
Extra Image(s): No Plz
“No, Jake, this looks absolutely ridiculous!” Blaine called form behind the closed bathroom door, clearly getting frazzled.

“I’m sure it’s fine, Red” Jake replied, not taking his eyes off the TV as he lounged on the couch eating a bag of chips. Honestly, this man never stopped eating.

“No, seriously! I’m going to pop one of these damn buttons! Why are your shirts so bloody tight?” Jake could hear in Blaine’s voice that his best friend was throwing his hands in the air.

“Don’t you dare ruin my shirt!” Jake quickly jumped up off the couch to rush to the bathroom door, fearing for the life of his shirt. He banged on the timber with his fist “I’ll have you know that’s 100% pure Egyptian cotton you uncultured swine!”

The door flew open to reveal an amusingly near-distraught Blaine. Unfortunately, his luggage was lost during their travel from Australia to the US two days ago and the airline still hadn’t been able to locate it. They simply hadn’t had time to go shopping – much to Jake’s disgust – and Blaine couldn’t compete in the t shirt that he arrived in, so he had to resort to the worst thing on earth; borrowing clothes from Jake.

Blaine was about 4 inches taller than Jake and slightly more stocky, which was very evident from the way the buttons of his shirt strained and created ripples across the fabric.

Blaine, very evidently annoyed, stared at Jake with a “I can’t fucking wear this” look on his face. Jake of course, just laughed. He popped another chip in his mouth and chewed loudly.

“It’s the only shirt that I have that matches Wall-E..”

“Wallaby”

“..Right, Wallaby. Besides, it will give me great amusement watching you try to ride in this shirt without busting a button or splitting the seams!” Jake gave a small laugh that could only be described as evil “You’ll look like you’re trying your best not to shit yourself!!”

Laughing, Jake turned away from Blaine to collect his things, still happily munching on his snack.

“I wish Cleo were here…” poor Blaine had a feeling today was not going to be his day.

---
Wallaby walked calmly around the marshalling area as he and Blaine waited for their run in the Reining. Blaine rested one hand on his leg while the other barely held the reins. Wallaby simply walked along on his own, circling the outside of the other competitors.

The young stallion had warmed up well and Blaine was feeling optimistic! That was, until he remembered he’d have to take his jacket off that he was currently wearing to hide the ridiculous shirt he was wearing.
He sighed and reached up to pinch the bridge of his nose. Why does this crap always happen to him? And only when Jake is around? Perhaps his best friend was actually his bad luck charm!

Looking around for said best friend, Blaine spotted Jake sitting among the other audience members who had come to watch the End of Year Show hosted by the WHA. Beyond The Embers had become quite active members with the association in the past year and Cleo was sad she wasn’t able to attend due to other show commitments, so she sent Blaine and Jake in her stead.

After a minute or so of searching, he finally found Jake tucked away in the centre row of the bleachers, totally immersed in the burger and coke he currently held in his hands. Typical. The man was an absolute eating machine and Cleo was always complaining about the food bill when Jake was around.

As the final few competitors before them entered and exited the arena, Blaine was growing increasingly nervous. He usually never got the jitters before competing, but the way things were going currently just created a rock inside of his stomach.

He guided Wallaby to the fence that enclosed the small marshalling area inside the arena and parked the stallion alongside it. With a big sigh, he unzipped his jacket and took it off. While they were inside, it was still bloody freezing. Having come from Australian summer at this time of year, the Montana winter cut right through to the bone. The locals didn’t seem to mind, but Blaine’s teeth were chattering almost instantly.

He asked Wallaby for a couple of circles at the lope just to warm them both up a touch more while keeping an eye on the arena – the team immediately before them were completing their final slide and backup. Blaine waited until they were just about to the gate before passing them and entering the arena to travel down the side at the walk.

From the corner of his eye Blaine could see Jake sit up straight as the announcer called over the speaker that Blaine and Wallaby were up. Jake raised both full hands to give Blaine a double thumbs-up as best he could.

Smiling softly, Blaine focused back on the task at hand. Wallaby walked halfway along the rail of the arena before turning and walking to the centre. Blaine gave him the signal to stop, and the stallion planted both feet and waited for his signal. Lifting his right leg away from Wallaby’s side and moving the reins over ever-so-slightly, Blaine asked for a spin. Wallaby had always been the type of horse who only ever needed the slightest cues – one of Blaine’s favourite things about the stallion. He made it look easy.

They spun both ways, resting for 15 seconds in between each direction. Once his head had stopped spinning, Blaine signalled for Wallaby to pick up the correct lead and off they went, starting their large fast circles.

Their run went well and Blaine was feeling great! Walla did everything as asked almost before it was even asked, and he did it perfectly. They were two slides and roll backs down with the last one to go. They were slow loping at the top of the arena to turn down the side when Blaine heard Jake yell from the stands.

“JUST SEND IT!” Couldn’t take this man anywhere.

Blaine couldn’t help but smile anyway. Of course, he had asked Wallaby for some speed coming into a slide before, but the stallion was still young and still learning. Blaine decided now was as good a time as ever to step it up and see how Wallaby would react. Once they rounded to look down the long side, Blaine leaned forward, gave Wallaby all the reins and asked for sppeeeeeeeddddddd.

The big grey tore off almost so fast it was sloppy. Blaine let him go anyway. When they were approaching the middle of the arena Blaine leant back and pushed his feet forward.

“Whoa!”

Wallaby tucked his head down and slid the furthest and the best he’s ever done. But apparently that wasn’t enough theatrics and Blaine watched almost in slow motion as the bridle went flying from the stallion’s head. The leather had somehow managed to snap at the poll.

Blaine didn’t even have time to react as Wallby began his back up automatically after his slide. Afterall, ‘Whoa’ means reverse, not stop. He backed up quickly while Blaine kinda just panicked, holding on to the reins and trying to lift the bridle from the ground. Of course, Wallaby thought this still meant back up!

“Good boy! Easy mate” Blaine said, adding slight pressure to Wallaby’s sides to ask him to stop, which did the trick. When the stallion was stationery (about 5 or so paces further than where he should be), Blaine hopped off and picked up the bridle from the ground and wrapped it up with the reins, before he couldn’t help but give the stallion a big hug. Leading Wallaby with a single rein looped over his neck they walked down and out of the arena.

“What else could POSSIBLY go wrong?” Blaine asked himself.

Word Count: 1,318 words

Don't mind me, continuing to torture my boys.
This one took a while (hi I spent 2 hours on the dirt alone) but I'm quite happy with it!

Somebody please come get Jake.

Artwork © Beyond-The-Embers
BTE Wallaby, Blaine Redfern & Jake Walsh © Beyond-The-Embers

Description
Show: WHA End of Year Show 2022
Horse: BTE Wallaby
Horses Age: 6 years
Handler/Rider Name: Blaine Redfern
Class: Reining
Extra Image(s): No Plz
“No, Jake, this looks absolutely ridiculous!” Blaine called form behind the closed bathroom door, clearly getting frazzled.

“I’m sure it’s fine, Red” Jake replied, not taking his eyes off the TV as he lounged on the couch eating a bag of chips. Honestly, this man never stopped eating.

“No, seriously! I’m going to pop one of these damn buttons! Why are your shirts so bloody tight?” Jake could hear in Blaine’s voice that his best friend was throwing his hands in the air.

“Don’t you dare ruin my shirt!” Jake quickly jumped up off the couch to rush to the bathroom door, fearing for the life of his shirt. He banged on the timber with his fist “I’ll have you know that’s 100% pure Egyptian cotton you uncultured swine!”

The door flew open to reveal an amusingly near-distraught Blaine. Unfortunately, his luggage was lost during their travel from Australia to the US two days ago and the airline still hadn’t been able to locate it. They simply hadn’t had time to go shopping – much to Jake’s disgust – and Blaine couldn’t compete in the t shirt that he arrived in, so he had to resort to the worst thing on earth; borrowing clothes from Jake.

Blaine was about 4 inches taller than Jake and slightly more stocky, which was very evident from the way the buttons of his shirt strained and created ripples across the fabric.

Blaine, very evidently annoyed, stared at Jake with a “I can’t fucking wear this” look on his face. Jake of course, just laughed. He popped another chip in his mouth and chewed loudly.

“It’s the only shirt that I have that matches Wall-E..”

“Wallaby”

“..Right, Wallaby. Besides, it will give me great amusement watching you try to ride in this shirt without busting a button or splitting the seams!” Jake gave a small laugh that could only be described as evil “You’ll look like you’re trying your best not to shit yourself!!”

Laughing, Jake turned away from Blaine to collect his things, still happily munching on his snack.

“I wish Cleo were here…” poor Blaine had a feeling today was not going to be his day.

---
Wallaby walked calmly around the marshalling area as he and Blaine waited for their run in the Reining. Blaine rested one hand on his leg while the other barely held the reins. Wallaby simply walked along on his own, circling the outside of the other competitors.

The young stallion had warmed up well and Blaine was feeling optimistic! That was, until he remembered he’d have to take his jacket off that he was currently wearing to hide the ridiculous shirt he was wearing.
He sighed and reached up to pinch the bridge of his nose. Why does this crap always happen to him? And only when Jake is around? Perhaps his best friend was actually his bad luck charm!

Looking around for said best friend, Blaine spotted Jake sitting among the other audience members who had come to watch the End of Year Show hosted by the WHA. Beyond The Embers had become quite active members with the association in the past year and Cleo was sad she wasn’t able to attend due to other show commitments, so she sent Blaine and Jake in her stead.

After a minute or so of searching, he finally found Jake tucked away in the centre row of the bleachers, totally immersed in the burger and coke he currently held in his hands. Typical. The man was an absolute eating machine and Cleo was always complaining about the food bill when Jake was around.

As the final few competitors before them entered and exited the arena, Blaine was growing increasingly nervous. He usually never got the jitters before competing, but the way things were going currently just created a rock inside of his stomach.

He guided Wallaby to the fence that enclosed the small marshalling area inside the arena and parked the stallion alongside it. With a big sigh, he unzipped his jacket and took it off. While they were inside, it was still bloody freezing. Having come from Australian summer at this time of year, the Montana winter cut right through to the bone. The locals didn’t seem to mind, but Blaine’s teeth were chattering almost instantly.

He asked Wallaby for a couple of circles at the lope just to warm them both up a touch more while keeping an eye on the arena – the team immediately before them were completing their final slide and backup. Blaine waited until they were just about to the gate before passing them and entering the arena to travel down the side at the walk.

From the corner of his eye Blaine could see Jake sit up straight as the announcer called over the speaker that Blaine and Wallaby were up. Jake raised both full hands to give Blaine a double thumbs-up as best he could.

Smiling softly, Blaine focused back on the task at hand. Wallaby walked halfway along the rail of the arena before turning and walking to the centre. Blaine gave him the signal to stop, and the stallion planted both feet and waited for his signal. Lifting his right leg away from Wallaby’s side and moving the reins over ever-so-slightly, Blaine asked for a spin. Wallaby had always been the type of horse who only ever needed the slightest cues – one of Blaine’s favourite things about the stallion. He made it look easy.

They spun both ways, resting for 15 seconds in between each direction. Once his head had stopped spinning, Blaine signalled for Wallaby to pick up the correct lead and off they went, starting their large fast circles.

Their run went well and Blaine was feeling great! Walla did everything as asked almost before it was even asked, and he did it perfectly. They were two slides and roll backs down with the last one to go. They were slow loping at the top of the arena to turn down the side when Blaine heard Jake yell from the stands.

“JUST SEND IT!” Couldn’t take this man anywhere.

Blaine couldn’t help but smile anyway. Of course, he had asked Wallaby for some speed coming into a slide before, but the stallion was still young and still learning. Blaine decided now was as good a time as ever to step it up and see how Wallaby would react. Once they rounded to look down the long side, Blaine leaned forward, gave Wallaby all the reins and asked for sppeeeeeeeddddddd.

The big grey tore off almost so fast it was sloppy. Blaine let him go anyway. When they were approaching the middle of the arena Blaine leant back and pushed his feet forward.

“Whoa!”

Wallaby tucked his head down and slid the furthest and the best he’s ever done. But apparently that wasn’t enough theatrics and Blaine watched almost in slow motion as the bridle went flying from the stallion’s head. The leather had somehow managed to snap at the poll.

Blaine didn’t even have time to react as Wallby began his back up automatically after his slide. Afterall, ‘Whoa’ means reverse, not stop. He backed up quickly while Blaine kinda just panicked, holding on to the reins and trying to lift the bridle from the ground. Of course, Wallaby thought this still meant back up!

“Good boy! Easy mate” Blaine said, adding slight pressure to Wallaby’s sides to ask him to stop, which did the trick. When the stallion was stationery (about 5 or so paces further than where he should be), Blaine hopped off and picked up the bridle from the ground and wrapped it up with the reins, before he couldn’t help but give the stallion a big hug. Leading Wallaby with a single rein looped over his neck they walked down and out of the arena.

“What else could POSSIBLY go wrong?” Blaine asked himself.

Word Count: 1,318 words

Don't mind me, continuing to torture my boys.
This one took a while (hi I spent 2 hours on the dirt alone) but I'm quite happy with it!

Somebody please come get Jake.

Artwork © Beyond-The-Embers
BTE Wallaby, Blaine Redfern & Jake Walsh © Beyond-The-Embers