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Description

Official Storyline art.

Featuring:
Jarin Jackson and 021 NRR Hakuna Matata
Lukas Romanov and Jack-O-Lantern Acetoma
(thank you for coming to ride with the boi)

“Like this,” Jarin smiled and took the mare’s strands of mane back into his hands. He chuckled at Lukas’s attempts at trying to braid. Jarin didn’t mind. He was a slow learner, himself. Countless times had he been scolded for things he did wrong or inadequately. And while he was taking lessons under Dave Burton , that was mostly everything he did…
But from his time spent braiding his stallion, Abe's , hair to braiding Dave’s very own mounts at competitions, dare say, he was pretty good at the craft. So when Sophie had asked him to be his braiding buddy at the Winter Cup (Budding Nudist ), Jarin was proud to take on the task. And from there, he found out Lukas was looking to enter into the HCL tournament as well. Naturally, Jarin extended the offer for Lukas to come over to North RidgeRunner where he was spending a good portion of the winter to take lessons under Dave on his son’s horse, Hakuna. He could teach him more braiding techniques and share the jumping lessons!
He smiled sweetly and handed the braid back over to Lukas to continue to try, “I’m gonna do something really cool with her tail! I looked it up online last night so you keep working on her mane and I’ll do her tail! It’ll be so cool! Just you wait!” Jarin stepped behind her with hair detangler and a plastic comb to work out every kink or knot possible; a task he was VERY used to doing.
The sound of expensive boots came clacking down the aisle. A man of distinguished step. A Mr. Dave Burton, HCL veteran, 3rd in individual of the entire first season, the dad himself peered into the stall, stroking his mustache before clasping his hands behind his back. His cold eyes scanned the stall, “Mr. Jackson. As you are." He had already passed Hakuna's stall and saw he had been groomed and tacked for the lesson so he left the boy be.
The other though, he gave a polite smile, “Mr. Romanov. Good morning to you. I’ve been told you’ll be joining in on this morning’s lesson with Mr. Jackson. While that is all fine and dandy, I must inquire some further information if I am to include you into my plans and still obtain the goals I expect to meet today. You are quite the three-day eventer, were you not? Before you started under Acetoma not too long ago as a rider and instructor? What do you wish to gain from today’s lesson?”
Jarin had looked up from braiding Jacky’s tail again and stared at Dave, impressed. Did he really just know everybody? His jaw hung loose as he looked back over to Lukas, still braiding away without looking; it was just second-nature to him by now.
Lukas looked up from his awful braid, hairs splaying in all directions, there may have been a knot..and up to Dave, he’d heard of Dave a while ago but he wasn’t really one to pay attention to other stables. At least until he started to make friends in them, “Yes Sir, I used to ride for my family's old stable ‘Белый Сад верховой Академии’” he paused and translated, “White Garden Riding Academy. I was a top level junior Eventer, and my sister was the Highest Ranking Dressage rider in Russia for a time before we sold everything and came to America.” he added some history, “As for the lesson I’d appreciate some refreshing, honestly, it’s one thing to coach someone else but being coached helps yourself and your students.” he added, short, sweet, and to the point.
A grin twitched under Dave’s mustache, “Well worded, Mr. Romanov. I do appreciate an open and willing mind. I can understand how you were top level with forward thinking like that.” He gave a nod for them to resume as they were and headed to the outdoor arena to have stable hands set up his course for the lesson.
Jarin gave a grin over Jacky’s butt over to Lukas, “Wow! You were really that famous!? That’s awesome! I’ve never been the top of anything before!”
Lukas nodded and watched him leave before being startled at Jarin’s question, “Famous? I think my sister was more famous than I was” Lukas chuckled and groaned, “This braid looks awful. It looked way better before you handed it to me. How to the hairs even-where do they even go, is...is that a knot?!”
Jarin fanned his troubles away, “Don’t worry about it! There’s always ways to save it!” He twirled the bottle of detangling spray that worked miracles on any strand of hair it touched! He could fix up Jacky’s mane as soon as he finished his project on her tail. Through many bands and braids later and a little wrap with laces, Jarin pulled it tight around her tail and tied it off in a little bow. He gave it a gentle pat to make sure it was all solid and wouldn’t come apart the first time they even cantered.
It was perfect!
“Lukas! Come see what I did! I think it’ll be perfect for her! You’ll never have to worry about her tail hitting any jumps or her stepping on it!” Jarin showed off the nifty trick he had seen draft horse owners and baroque masters use to keep their horse’s tails out of the longlines and harnesses. A simple idea but perfect for what Lukas needed if he wasn’t going to cut her hair. “What do you think!?” Jarin asked excitedly, for once taking pride in something he had done with his own hands!
Lukas stared at his handiwork in awe, “How did you get all of her tail in that tiny little braid?? I can barely pin her tail up without a hair explosion!” Lukas grinned “I'll take a picture of it to show Sophie, maybe we can make it Jacky's style” he brought out his phone and snapped a photo before nodding toward the chimera's mane, “If you can get that knot loose you'll be a braiding superhero.”
Jarin was so happy to see him approve of the style change. "No worries, Lukas! I'm on it!" Jarin grabbed a hold of what Lukas thought was a knot and worked his magic on it. Where Jarin failed everything else in life, braiding was a true calling in life!
With their mounts finally looking decent to begin their lesson, the boys made their way to the outdoor arena where they were given enough time to warm their horses up. Jarin had multiple lessons with Hakuna and bonding through a relay race and a 3DE event. They were starting to really work well together. He was looking forward to going to HCL with him! He'd be just as cool as the other top riders! He wondered what team he'd be on! Any of them would be a dream! He smiled as he warmed up, keeping his focus on his ride before he got chewed out by Dave for not paying attention.
Dave watched both of them with a hard a scowl. (Really just his resting face but he did seem like a weathered man, worn down through time and children.) Once they were warmed up, he gathered them for the main hull of the lesson and that was; focus.
"Mr. Jackson, your biggest weakness is your focus. You've been doing...better but with your friend here, I daresay today will be a challenge for you. Your challenge is to remain focused while you run similar patterns to each other." Dave explained the jumping course to them. Essentially they ran the same course, only one of them ran it backwards. "This is an excellent exercise as you will both need to have your heads up and paying attention to not only where you need to steer your horse and stride but also to what the other rider is doing so you don't cross paths. Now, in the case that you think you may collide, for the love of all things sacred on this planet, please stop." He gave a long, hard stare at Jarin especially. The boy didn't have a reputation of...grace.
Jarin nodded nervously. He was on his best behavior! He would never let Hakuna get hurt! Lukas gave a curt nod toward Dave to acknowledge him, Jacky let out a protesting neigh before accepting her fate.
Dave returned to his raised observer's platform in the middle of the ring and let out a stressful sigh/groan. Lukas...he hoped for humanity his had more intelligence on a horse than Jarin did. He was a good kid but so much as shine something bright in his eyes and all focus went out the door. A horrible trait in an equestrian especially in a packed warmup arena with multiple horses going. This was good practice before sending him to qualifications. This boy was not cut out for the big leagues...Maybe Lukas would be better off, though.
As the boys performed their respective halves of the course, Jarin kept his head up at all times. It was getting dodgy as their paths intersect at times. Jarin would squeal and pull Hakuna up as Jacky just narrowly zoomed in front of them. Jarin at his neck another time as they cleared a jump but Jarin had been looking at his next jump and not the horse he was about to run into. Hakuna hit the brakes and veered to the side hard, plowing Jarin's face into his braid. Dave rubbed the bridge of his nose. As he feared. The boy was used to riding in the ring on his own and fell to pieces as soon as another distraction was present. How did he expect to face up to the throngs of people and horses at an event like HCL? "Jackson, call out where you're going!"
Jarin flinched, hearing the disappointed tone in Dave's voice. He was a patient man but a demanding one at that. "O-Okay! Fence 8!" Jarin didn't see Lukas around it so it must be clear! He was so worked up in his tunnel vision; focus, focus, focus!!
"Eyes up!" Dave called. Jarin was too busy on his own ride he didn't see Lukas coming from behind to the same fence! This was where Dave feared running this exercise. Had Jarin stayed on course without all of his shenanigans in between, he would have been long passed this jump! Now it looked like they were going to hit it at the same time! He sorely hoped Lukas was at least paying attention!
“Fence 8?” Lukas mumbled in thought, Oh shoot he was headed there too! He pulled Jacky up and moved her to the side Jarin WASN’T on, how did she drift over there anyway?, just as he came up on Hakuna. Mid-heartattack or not Lukas took the opportunity to pull some cheesy BS of course; he threw up a hand as they jumped together, grinned and simply asked Jarin, “Come here often?”
It was stupid, but it was Lukas.
And all of Jarin's focus shattered in an instant, just as Dave predicted. Just as Hakuna's hind legs dug into the sand and launched forward. Jarin snapped his eyes over to the side of him, about crapping his pants, hearing a voice next to him. As soon as he recognized the smile, he burst out in laughter as they sailed over the jump. How could he have not seen him there! And how was he so relaxed about it!? He looked so cool just casually hopping over the jump while waving at him.
Jarin landed on the other side of the jump all giggles, his mind completely wiped of the rest of the course he was supposed to be doing. He had to stop and catch his breath to calm his laughter, "Lukas! How'd you do that!?" Jarin would have crashed into him for sure. Dave was right, he was definitely the top of his game for a reason!
“I waved, while jumping, I guess it's kinda easy since I've ridden one-handed before…” he shrugged. “Buuut I think I got you in trouble...Dave doesn't look happy…”
Dave was not impressed at all. Several new grey hairs shined up that afternoon as he stewed in frustration. He might have survived that moment by sheer luck and the fact that Lukas actually steered around him, but there was no way he would survive a high-caliber class. That much, Dave was sure of. "Mr. Jackson, let's have a talk, shall we..."
(2097 word count)

And Lukas didn't go home to great news either:
But it did spur a slumber party later on:

Dras's definition of, "quick and simple training image" in follow up of:
Finishing my half of the jump training :''D <3 The boingo bois! AKA: How to minimize the most background and jumps I have to draw by making them share a jump xDD
Jarin and Dave are gonna have the father to not-son talk if he thinks he's good enough to try HCL. BUT LOOK HOW CUTE HAKUNA AND JACKY ARE <3 <3 <3 BLESS.
Their riders... xD Such opposites in terms of style; Jarin is cold af over in Oregon and Dave demands he wear a helmet. While resident Russian, Lukas, totally chill in t-shirt and hat.

Jarin/Hakuna/Dave © Drasayer
Lukas/Jacky © Acetoma
No specific refs used.
Whoops. Except the pattern for the glorious cacti pants: www.freepik.com/free-vector/ca…

SAI/Photoshop CS6

Description

Official Storyline art.

Featuring:
Jarin Jackson and 021 NRR Hakuna Matata
Lukas Romanov and Jack-O-Lantern Acetoma
(thank you for coming to ride with the boi)

“Like this,” Jarin smiled and took the mare’s strands of mane back into his hands. He chuckled at Lukas’s attempts at trying to braid. Jarin didn’t mind. He was a slow learner, himself. Countless times had he been scolded for things he did wrong or inadequately. And while he was taking lessons under Dave Burton , that was mostly everything he did…
But from his time spent braiding his stallion, Abe's , hair to braiding Dave’s very own mounts at competitions, dare say, he was pretty good at the craft. So when Sophie had asked him to be his braiding buddy at the Winter Cup (Budding Nudist ), Jarin was proud to take on the task. And from there, he found out Lukas was looking to enter into the HCL tournament as well. Naturally, Jarin extended the offer for Lukas to come over to North RidgeRunner where he was spending a good portion of the winter to take lessons under Dave on his son’s horse, Hakuna. He could teach him more braiding techniques and share the jumping lessons!
He smiled sweetly and handed the braid back over to Lukas to continue to try, “I’m gonna do something really cool with her tail! I looked it up online last night so you keep working on her mane and I’ll do her tail! It’ll be so cool! Just you wait!” Jarin stepped behind her with hair detangler and a plastic comb to work out every kink or knot possible; a task he was VERY used to doing.
The sound of expensive boots came clacking down the aisle. A man of distinguished step. A Mr. Dave Burton, HCL veteran, 3rd in individual of the entire first season, the dad himself peered into the stall, stroking his mustache before clasping his hands behind his back. His cold eyes scanned the stall, “Mr. Jackson. As you are." He had already passed Hakuna's stall and saw he had been groomed and tacked for the lesson so he left the boy be.
The other though, he gave a polite smile, “Mr. Romanov. Good morning to you. I’ve been told you’ll be joining in on this morning’s lesson with Mr. Jackson. While that is all fine and dandy, I must inquire some further information if I am to include you into my plans and still obtain the goals I expect to meet today. You are quite the three-day eventer, were you not? Before you started under Acetoma not too long ago as a rider and instructor? What do you wish to gain from today’s lesson?”
Jarin had looked up from braiding Jacky’s tail again and stared at Dave, impressed. Did he really just know everybody? His jaw hung loose as he looked back over to Lukas, still braiding away without looking; it was just second-nature to him by now.
Lukas looked up from his awful braid, hairs splaying in all directions, there may have been a knot..and up to Dave, he’d heard of Dave a while ago but he wasn’t really one to pay attention to other stables. At least until he started to make friends in them, “Yes Sir, I used to ride for my family's old stable ‘Белый Сад верховой Академии’” he paused and translated, “White Garden Riding Academy. I was a top level junior Eventer, and my sister was the Highest Ranking Dressage rider in Russia for a time before we sold everything and came to America.” he added some history, “As for the lesson I’d appreciate some refreshing, honestly, it’s one thing to coach someone else but being coached helps yourself and your students.” he added, short, sweet, and to the point.
A grin twitched under Dave’s mustache, “Well worded, Mr. Romanov. I do appreciate an open and willing mind. I can understand how you were top level with forward thinking like that.” He gave a nod for them to resume as they were and headed to the outdoor arena to have stable hands set up his course for the lesson.
Jarin gave a grin over Jacky’s butt over to Lukas, “Wow! You were really that famous!? That’s awesome! I’ve never been the top of anything before!”
Lukas nodded and watched him leave before being startled at Jarin’s question, “Famous? I think my sister was more famous than I was” Lukas chuckled and groaned, “This braid looks awful. It looked way better before you handed it to me. How to the hairs even-where do they even go, is...is that a knot?!”
Jarin fanned his troubles away, “Don’t worry about it! There’s always ways to save it!” He twirled the bottle of detangling spray that worked miracles on any strand of hair it touched! He could fix up Jacky’s mane as soon as he finished his project on her tail. Through many bands and braids later and a little wrap with laces, Jarin pulled it tight around her tail and tied it off in a little bow. He gave it a gentle pat to make sure it was all solid and wouldn’t come apart the first time they even cantered.
It was perfect!
“Lukas! Come see what I did! I think it’ll be perfect for her! You’ll never have to worry about her tail hitting any jumps or her stepping on it!” Jarin showed off the nifty trick he had seen draft horse owners and baroque masters use to keep their horse’s tails out of the longlines and harnesses. A simple idea but perfect for what Lukas needed if he wasn’t going to cut her hair. “What do you think!?” Jarin asked excitedly, for once taking pride in something he had done with his own hands!
Lukas stared at his handiwork in awe, “How did you get all of her tail in that tiny little braid?? I can barely pin her tail up without a hair explosion!” Lukas grinned “I'll take a picture of it to show Sophie, maybe we can make it Jacky's style” he brought out his phone and snapped a photo before nodding toward the chimera's mane, “If you can get that knot loose you'll be a braiding superhero.”
Jarin was so happy to see him approve of the style change. "No worries, Lukas! I'm on it!" Jarin grabbed a hold of what Lukas thought was a knot and worked his magic on it. Where Jarin failed everything else in life, braiding was a true calling in life!
With their mounts finally looking decent to begin their lesson, the boys made their way to the outdoor arena where they were given enough time to warm their horses up. Jarin had multiple lessons with Hakuna and bonding through a relay race and a 3DE event. They were starting to really work well together. He was looking forward to going to HCL with him! He'd be just as cool as the other top riders! He wondered what team he'd be on! Any of them would be a dream! He smiled as he warmed up, keeping his focus on his ride before he got chewed out by Dave for not paying attention.
Dave watched both of them with a hard a scowl. (Really just his resting face but he did seem like a weathered man, worn down through time and children.) Once they were warmed up, he gathered them for the main hull of the lesson and that was; focus.
"Mr. Jackson, your biggest weakness is your focus. You've been doing...better but with your friend here, I daresay today will be a challenge for you. Your challenge is to remain focused while you run similar patterns to each other." Dave explained the jumping course to them. Essentially they ran the same course, only one of them ran it backwards. "This is an excellent exercise as you will both need to have your heads up and paying attention to not only where you need to steer your horse and stride but also to what the other rider is doing so you don't cross paths. Now, in the case that you think you may collide, for the love of all things sacred on this planet, please stop." He gave a long, hard stare at Jarin especially. The boy didn't have a reputation of...grace.
Jarin nodded nervously. He was on his best behavior! He would never let Hakuna get hurt! Lukas gave a curt nod toward Dave to acknowledge him, Jacky let out a protesting neigh before accepting her fate.
Dave returned to his raised observer's platform in the middle of the ring and let out a stressful sigh/groan. Lukas...he hoped for humanity his had more intelligence on a horse than Jarin did. He was a good kid but so much as shine something bright in his eyes and all focus went out the door. A horrible trait in an equestrian especially in a packed warmup arena with multiple horses going. This was good practice before sending him to qualifications. This boy was not cut out for the big leagues...Maybe Lukas would be better off, though.
As the boys performed their respective halves of the course, Jarin kept his head up at all times. It was getting dodgy as their paths intersect at times. Jarin would squeal and pull Hakuna up as Jacky just narrowly zoomed in front of them. Jarin at his neck another time as they cleared a jump but Jarin had been looking at his next jump and not the horse he was about to run into. Hakuna hit the brakes and veered to the side hard, plowing Jarin's face into his braid. Dave rubbed the bridge of his nose. As he feared. The boy was used to riding in the ring on his own and fell to pieces as soon as another distraction was present. How did he expect to face up to the throngs of people and horses at an event like HCL? "Jackson, call out where you're going!"
Jarin flinched, hearing the disappointed tone in Dave's voice. He was a patient man but a demanding one at that. "O-Okay! Fence 8!" Jarin didn't see Lukas around it so it must be clear! He was so worked up in his tunnel vision; focus, focus, focus!!
"Eyes up!" Dave called. Jarin was too busy on his own ride he didn't see Lukas coming from behind to the same fence! This was where Dave feared running this exercise. Had Jarin stayed on course without all of his shenanigans in between, he would have been long passed this jump! Now it looked like they were going to hit it at the same time! He sorely hoped Lukas was at least paying attention!
“Fence 8?” Lukas mumbled in thought, Oh shoot he was headed there too! He pulled Jacky up and moved her to the side Jarin WASN’T on, how did she drift over there anyway?, just as he came up on Hakuna. Mid-heartattack or not Lukas took the opportunity to pull some cheesy BS of course; he threw up a hand as they jumped together, grinned and simply asked Jarin, “Come here often?”
It was stupid, but it was Lukas.
And all of Jarin's focus shattered in an instant, just as Dave predicted. Just as Hakuna's hind legs dug into the sand and launched forward. Jarin snapped his eyes over to the side of him, about crapping his pants, hearing a voice next to him. As soon as he recognized the smile, he burst out in laughter as they sailed over the jump. How could he have not seen him there! And how was he so relaxed about it!? He looked so cool just casually hopping over the jump while waving at him.
Jarin landed on the other side of the jump all giggles, his mind completely wiped of the rest of the course he was supposed to be doing. He had to stop and catch his breath to calm his laughter, "Lukas! How'd you do that!?" Jarin would have crashed into him for sure. Dave was right, he was definitely the top of his game for a reason!
“I waved, while jumping, I guess it's kinda easy since I've ridden one-handed before…” he shrugged. “Buuut I think I got you in trouble...Dave doesn't look happy…”
Dave was not impressed at all. Several new grey hairs shined up that afternoon as he stewed in frustration. He might have survived that moment by sheer luck and the fact that Lukas actually steered around him, but there was no way he would survive a high-caliber class. That much, Dave was sure of. "Mr. Jackson, let's have a talk, shall we..."
(2097 word count)

And Lukas didn't go home to great news either:
But it did spur a slumber party later on:

Dras's definition of, "quick and simple training image" in follow up of:
Finishing my half of the jump training :''D <3 The boingo bois! AKA: How to minimize the most background and jumps I have to draw by making them share a jump xDD
Jarin and Dave are gonna have the father to not-son talk if he thinks he's good enough to try HCL. BUT LOOK HOW CUTE HAKUNA AND JACKY ARE <3 <3 <3 BLESS.
Their riders... xD Such opposites in terms of style; Jarin is cold af over in Oregon and Dave demands he wear a helmet. While resident Russian, Lukas, totally chill in t-shirt and hat.

Jarin/Hakuna/Dave © Drasayer
Lukas/Jacky © Acetoma
No specific refs used.
Whoops. Except the pattern for the glorious cacti pants: www.freepik.com/free-vector/ca…

SAI/Photoshop CS6