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Rosewood Studs' No Arena Show Bareback Beach Race TEC Tasmanian Devil Ridden by April Sanders

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Story: (1150 Words)

    Jasper arrived at the parking lot turning left and parking as close to the exit as possible. Apollo sounded very eager to get out of the horsebox and simply wasn’t a fan of the new horse, unlike April who had a wide smile plastered on her face. “Calm down, you’ve got to register first and make sure there’s any space in the guest barn”. Entering the Rosewood Studs’ No Arena Show was a rather last minute decision from the Tbilisoba Equestrian Centre team. Ryan Jacobs who had been helping April get used to Apollo at the KhanCohban Farm mentioned it in passing a couple of days ago and he left for the showjumping phase the day before. Sure, she’d be missing the discipline she was training for but Rosewood Studs’ was so nearby and there was still the cross-country phase but, more importantly, a bareback beach race! Bareback or tackless was April’s forte and she had every intention of showing off her Australian Warmblood stallion. “Jasper. Why did we bring Apollo?” It had only occurred to her that Apollo would probably get spooked by a leaf if he was entered to do cross-country and April couldn’t ride two horses at once in the bareback race. There was no way in hell Jasper or Mirka would get on mr. scaredypants bareback. She could always count on a friendly scowl from Jasper! It wasn’t entirely her fault that she was too distracted by her buttermilk buckskin to think about what classed Apollo could enter.
    *
    Apollo settled in his stable after some help from Tess who happened to be checking out the horses in the guest barn. The stall was big enough to move around but luckily not quite large enough for the thoroughbred to throw a fit. Next to Apollo was a mealy silver dun stallion evidently woken up by Apollo’s antics. Jasper stayed outside leaning against the barn holding a lunge line attached to Brym’s headcollar who was happily munching on the grass surrounding the barn. “You have a good two hours before you have to be at the beach race. I think the cross country is still going on if you want to go watch”, he shouted at April who nodded her head and jogged to find the nearest staff member leaving Jasper to brush her horse. “If it were up to me, you wouldn’t have this stupid bow in your forelock”, Jasper mumbled to the stallion. He couldn’t care any less as long as he was given attention and some green grass.

    A very chunky stallion leapt from outside the forest just as April had found where the crowd was gathered. Chills went down April’s arms, even in this hot weather, after seeing the buckskin’s ears pinned firmly back on his neck like a threat to whoever might try to beat him. She had made the right decision not entering the cross-country. It was more about having fun for their first show together. A voice came from a loudspeaker in the distance stating that that had been the last participant – their speed was a lot better than she would have expected from a draft-cross. What if they’re doing the bareback beach race. She really hoped they weren’t. Meanwhile she had time to kill so made her way slowly around the different stalls of horses and talked to some of the participants, seeing a few familiar faces and names that she knew she’d be competing against in shows that she registered for.
            *
            Brym picked up a brisk trot and broke into a canter through the forest, clearly excited by the sight of the horses, two of which were already having a blast and trying to run off towards the sea. The breeze was refreshing but not quite cool enough to combat the heat. April brought her buckskin to a halt and hung her T-shirt on a tree branch at the opening to the dunes and revealed a sports bra that matched Brym’s neck rope. Do we get bonus points for going matchy-matchy? The familiar voice from the loudspeaker came from somewhere near the water. “Everyone who’s entered to do the beach race and those who haven’t but want to participate, please make your way towards the dunes… without your saddles! We will be starting in five minutes. There will be a five second countdown so hold on tight.” April leaned back on Brym’s back, taking in the sunshine and letting the stallion grab a few mouthfuls of the grass. A few moments later she looked back and found two young guys cantering towards her. One beaming on his chestnut horse and the younger one looking very focused on keeping his horse collected and looking professional. I don’t think we fit in very well. Brym looked up at the two horses and went back to eating. It would take a lot more to faze him… yes, like Ryan Jacobs on Port, for example. Brym swung his quarters inwards as a bay thoroughbred whizzed past, laughing and waving at April. “Whoever is on the beach, please return to the starting line. We will be starting in a moment.” While Ryan walked Phontos back with a sheepish smile on his face, a few more riders approached. Mikayla Turner had the right idea and was wearing what looked like a very comfortable bikini and leading a familiar roan mare by a leadrope on her neck. She definitely wasn’t missing the opportunity to get a tan! A few more familiar and unfamiliar faces appeared and a second later they were off.


  The quick start and thunder of hooves flung a couple of riders backwards, but all were able to recover quickly. April kicked Brym on to get the first spot from the beginning, failing by a long shot because the leggier horses overtook them almost immediately. She was currently fourth, but she’d take that. There were bigger horses behind her, and her main aim was to survive. They were about half way up the beach, the horses at the front were beginning to lose some stamina and slowing down while some of the horses from the back were approaching creating a compact horde of riders. One of the horses had clearly had enough and stopped randomly in front of April, forcing Brym to break into a trot to move around them carefully. It was the very serious rider from earlier, now hanging on for dear life on his horse’s neck in hopes of pushing himself back into the saddle. April glanced back sympathetically only to find the boy’s team member fly over his chestnut horse and onto the grey. April would have to check the rules later to see whether or not you could win by finishing the race on a horse other than the one you entered to ride… For now she had to focus on pushing Brym into the lead.

Featured:
Cherise on Lecter
Chris on Jax
Jarin on Violet

Description

Rosewood Studs' No Arena Show Bareback Beach Race TEC Tasmanian Devil Ridden by April Sanders

Extra Image

Story: (1150 Words)

    Jasper arrived at the parking lot turning left and parking as close to the exit as possible. Apollo sounded very eager to get out of the horsebox and simply wasn’t a fan of the new horse, unlike April who had a wide smile plastered on her face. “Calm down, you’ve got to register first and make sure there’s any space in the guest barn”. Entering the Rosewood Studs’ No Arena Show was a rather last minute decision from the Tbilisoba Equestrian Centre team. Ryan Jacobs who had been helping April get used to Apollo at the KhanCohban Farm mentioned it in passing a couple of days ago and he left for the showjumping phase the day before. Sure, she’d be missing the discipline she was training for but Rosewood Studs’ was so nearby and there was still the cross-country phase but, more importantly, a bareback beach race! Bareback or tackless was April’s forte and she had every intention of showing off her Australian Warmblood stallion. “Jasper. Why did we bring Apollo?” It had only occurred to her that Apollo would probably get spooked by a leaf if he was entered to do cross-country and April couldn’t ride two horses at once in the bareback race. There was no way in hell Jasper or Mirka would get on mr. scaredypants bareback. She could always count on a friendly scowl from Jasper! It wasn’t entirely her fault that she was too distracted by her buttermilk buckskin to think about what classed Apollo could enter.
    *
    Apollo settled in his stable after some help from Tess who happened to be checking out the horses in the guest barn. The stall was big enough to move around but luckily not quite large enough for the thoroughbred to throw a fit. Next to Apollo was a mealy silver dun stallion evidently woken up by Apollo’s antics. Jasper stayed outside leaning against the barn holding a lunge line attached to Brym’s headcollar who was happily munching on the grass surrounding the barn. “You have a good two hours before you have to be at the beach race. I think the cross country is still going on if you want to go watch”, he shouted at April who nodded her head and jogged to find the nearest staff member leaving Jasper to brush her horse. “If it were up to me, you wouldn’t have this stupid bow in your forelock”, Jasper mumbled to the stallion. He couldn’t care any less as long as he was given attention and some green grass.

    A very chunky stallion leapt from outside the forest just as April had found where the crowd was gathered. Chills went down April’s arms, even in this hot weather, after seeing the buckskin’s ears pinned firmly back on his neck like a threat to whoever might try to beat him. She had made the right decision not entering the cross-country. It was more about having fun for their first show together. A voice came from a loudspeaker in the distance stating that that had been the last participant – their speed was a lot better than she would have expected from a draft-cross. What if they’re doing the bareback beach race. She really hoped they weren’t. Meanwhile she had time to kill so made her way slowly around the different stalls of horses and talked to some of the participants, seeing a few familiar faces and names that she knew she’d be competing against in shows that she registered for.
            *
            Brym picked up a brisk trot and broke into a canter through the forest, clearly excited by the sight of the horses, two of which were already having a blast and trying to run off towards the sea. The breeze was refreshing but not quite cool enough to combat the heat. April brought her buckskin to a halt and hung her T-shirt on a tree branch at the opening to the dunes and revealed a sports bra that matched Brym’s neck rope. Do we get bonus points for going matchy-matchy? The familiar voice from the loudspeaker came from somewhere near the water. “Everyone who’s entered to do the beach race and those who haven’t but want to participate, please make your way towards the dunes… without your saddles! We will be starting in five minutes. There will be a five second countdown so hold on tight.” April leaned back on Brym’s back, taking in the sunshine and letting the stallion grab a few mouthfuls of the grass. A few moments later she looked back and found two young guys cantering towards her. One beaming on his chestnut horse and the younger one looking very focused on keeping his horse collected and looking professional. I don’t think we fit in very well. Brym looked up at the two horses and went back to eating. It would take a lot more to faze him… yes, like Ryan Jacobs on Port, for example. Brym swung his quarters inwards as a bay thoroughbred whizzed past, laughing and waving at April. “Whoever is on the beach, please return to the starting line. We will be starting in a moment.” While Ryan walked Phontos back with a sheepish smile on his face, a few more riders approached. Mikayla Turner had the right idea and was wearing what looked like a very comfortable bikini and leading a familiar roan mare by a leadrope on her neck. She definitely wasn’t missing the opportunity to get a tan! A few more familiar and unfamiliar faces appeared and a second later they were off.


  The quick start and thunder of hooves flung a couple of riders backwards, but all were able to recover quickly. April kicked Brym on to get the first spot from the beginning, failing by a long shot because the leggier horses overtook them almost immediately. She was currently fourth, but she’d take that. There were bigger horses behind her, and her main aim was to survive. They were about half way up the beach, the horses at the front were beginning to lose some stamina and slowing down while some of the horses from the back were approaching creating a compact horde of riders. One of the horses had clearly had enough and stopped randomly in front of April, forcing Brym to break into a trot to move around them carefully. It was the very serious rider from earlier, now hanging on for dear life on his horse’s neck in hopes of pushing himself back into the saddle. April glanced back sympathetically only to find the boy’s team member fly over his chestnut horse and onto the grey. April would have to check the rules later to see whether or not you could win by finishing the race on a horse other than the one you entered to ride… For now she had to focus on pushing Brym into the lead.

Featured:
Cherise on Lecter
Chris on Jax
Jarin on Violet