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MERRY CHRISMAS *NativeHorseStables !

This is my Christmas present to Native! She asked for a western flatwork lesson with 9-year-old Elsie Lewis and her Colonial Spanish Mustang mare, Pansy.

We got into a whole huge RP with this (it's such a cute story!) so here's the beginning of the RP:

STORY TIME!!! Written by both my self and Native.

Elsie was a little nervous as she unloaded the little Colonial Spanish Mustang, who she had temporarily donned Pansy, from the NHS trailer on Pebble Creek Stables ground. Pansy circled her handler nervously; she absolutely hated any sort of vehicle, including trailers, so the ride to Pebble Creek had been interesting, at best. “I swear Pansy, if you make me fall off in front of Ms. Rosco I’ll never ride you again,” she grumbled. She didn’t mean it, though. Even through all of Pansy’s silliness, she loved the sweet little mare and hoped that after she was trained, someone would love to give her a forever home.
“How’s she doing?” her sister asked, reaching out to stroke Pansy’s chocolate neck.
“She’s nervous. Super, super nervous,” the 9-year old replied, jumping out of the way as Pansy spooked at a car starting.
“I’ll take her, why don’t you go find Ms. Rosco,” Kianah advised, taking the antsy mare’s tri-colored lead rope and leading her in small circles.
“Okay,” Elsie agreed, stepping away from the pony and entering Pebble Creek. The stables were absolutely beautiful. All of the horses looked very content and curious, and she gently stroked every nose that poked out of a stall, being careful to watch their ears for any sign of malignancy towards humans. Finally, she reached the office and, seeing someone inside, she knocked on the closed door softly.
Stacy looked up from the computer screen, smiling when she saw the young girl's curious face in the office door window. She opened the door and put her hands on her hips. "I suppose you must be Miss Lewis!" she grinned, reaching out to shake Elsie's hand. The girl hesitated, but shook Stacy's hand anyway. Stacy smiled to herself. "Did you bring your pony?" Elsie nodded, smiling a little.
"She's outside with my sister," Elsie said quietly. Stacy nodded to her.
"Well, let's go out and get her, then!" The pair walked out of the office, headed outside to Pansy and Kianah. Elsie noticed that Stacy took such large strides, she had to skip or jog to keep up. They finally found Kianah outside, struggling with a very distraught, very panicked Pansy.
"You're a bit of an idiot, you know that, I rarely even have this much trouble with Lucas, Castiel, and Cronus, and they're generally the most insane creatures-" Kianah paused in chastising Pansy when she saw Stacy Rosco standing by the trailer with her little sister. "Sorry," Kianah apologized, brushing some loose hair out of her face. "I'm Kianah, Elsie's sister, you must be Stacy," she said, slightly out of breath from trying to control Pansy.
"That's right," Stacy confirmed. She glanced at Pansy and smiled. "She looks like she's a bit of a handful," she noted.
"She's not like this at home," Kianah promised, stroking the little brown mare when she finally stood still, curious about the new person. "This is only the second time she's ever been trailered, and she really hates them."

Stacy chuckled. "Oh, trust me, we've all been there. Why don't you take her in, and I'll help you two get her all set to ride."
Elsie slipped back next to her sister. "Kianah, I'm a little scared. Pansy is being so crazy."
Kianah smiled. "Don't worry. You'll be just fine. Stacy is a great trainer, and if you need to she can always put you on a lunge line." That seemed to console Elsie a bit, and she ran into the barn after Stacy, leaving her sister trailing behind with a fidgety mare.
Once they got Pansy into the barn and cross-tied, she seemed to calm down. Stacy was in the tack room, getting some equipment together. "Did you guys bring your own tack with you, or would you like to borrow ours?" she asked.
Kianah had gone to get Pansy's grooming stuff, leaving Elsie alone with Stacy. The 9-year old blushed; NHS really didn't have any western tack, and she felt a little silly asking for a western lesson when they didn't have western tack themselves. "Could we borrow some?" Elsie asked, embarrassed.
Stacy peeked out of the tack room and smile. "Of course," she replied, pulling out a rather fancy looking saddle; Elsie basically only seen western tack before in magazines and movies, so it was quite intriguing to her.
Stacy supported the saddle's pommel on her hip, and looked at Elsie. "Let's see, what color would look good on your little Pansy here..." she said, grinning to Elsie. The girl jumped a bit, excited, and yelled "PINK!!" Stacy slid a rectangular pink saddle pad out of a corner. Within minutes, Else had groomed her pony and they had her all tacked and ready to go.
Elsie admired Pansy now that she had calmed down, and she looked great in her pink saddle pad. She got her helmet from Kianah and followed Stacy into Pebble Creek's indoor arena. It was very spacious; it was hard for Elsie to believe that there could be so much space indoors. Pansy looked around curiously and Elsie tensed, expecting her to be spooky in the new place. However, she seemed much more intrigued than frightened, and within a few minutes of Elsie walking her around she was ready to mount up.
Stacy dragged a big, wooden mounting block over to Elsie, and stopped in the center of the arena. Elsie walked Pansy over to the big block and patted her neck. "Stand, girl," she whispered to the pony, and she cocked an ear back lazily to show that she had heard. She swung up onto Pansy's back without a problem, and Stacy looked impressed. She sat down on the top step of the mounting block, and watched Elsie as she carefully guided Pansy around the arena. She was already responding quite well to neck-reining, but had trouble getting back on her haunches and taking it slow, so Stacy started there. "Okay, Elsie, she looks great, but she's leaning forward a bit too much. Do you feel how she's dragging her feet? That's because we need to get her to lean back so she'll slow down and pick her feet up. So I want you to shorten your reins just a little, and lean baaaack... That's it, good girl!"
Like magic, she felt Pansy's front end lighten and slow as she made the adjustments that Stacy asked her to. "Whoa! She's never felt this good before!" she noticed ecstatically. Although they were only moving at the walk, it was impossible for Elsie not to feel the difference. Pansy liked to stick her nose out and pull herself around on her front end, but she had finally stopped resisting Elsie and was instead listening to her rider's cues.
"That's because she's not pulling on you anymore," Stacy pointed out, smiling. "Now, why don't you ask her to pick up a jog?"
Elsie nudged Pansy with her heels, and she tossed her head around for a bit. She finally settled into a nice, steady jog, and Elsie grinned from ear to ear.
"That was good, but she tossed her head because you lost your position a little. Just remember that she's very sensitive, and with her only a little squeeze will get her to jog. Why don't you bring her back down into a walk for a few steps, and ask her to jog once you turn the corner?" Elsie did so, and the difference was astonishing. "Very nice! What you did there, tricked her into thinking that you were done jogging, and when you asked her again you were forcing her to think about what you were asking her to do."
Elsie couldn't believe it. She swore that Stacy was magical. "She's never really listened to me before," Elsie told her trainer, pulling back on the reins a little as Pansy sped up around the next corner. She remembered what Stacy had told her and sat back again in the saddle, and once again Pansy went back to her normal jog. But when they passed a particularly colorful jump, Pansy took fright at the bright flowers and leapt to the side, taking Elsie slightly by surprise since she was behaving so well prior.
Stacy giggled. "She's just getting a little nervous at those jumps, so sit really deep and pull her back if she tries to run," she reassured Elsie.
______________
Twenty minutes later, Pansy had settled down and was jogging around the ring looking like a pro. Stacy was impressed, and once she felt confident that Elsie was controlling Pansy well, she decided it was time to speed up a bit.
"Okay, I think you're ready for a lope this time. She might get a little antsy if you act like you're going to make her lope, so just pretend like you want to keep jogging. Then right around this corner, move your outside leg back a bit, sit real deep and kiss to her."
Elsie did as Stacy asked her to, and Pansy broke into an effortless, collected lope. Elsie couldn't help but grin, and she laughed as she breezed around the ring.
Elsie felt like she was flying on Pansy. In fact, she didn't even feel like the tense, upright Pansy anymore! She felt like Addy or Koda, her two well-seasoned hunters. When she brought Pansy back down to the walk she showered the little seal mare with love. "I feel like you made her a new horse!" she told Stacy with a gigantic smile. Stacy smiled back and approached Pansy, who pricked her ears at her new friend. "She's a great little horse, it's just that you have to ride her with confidence," she assured her student.
Stacy smiled back at her. "Just practice that whenever you ride her, and she can be like that all the time. You just have to remember that she's easily scared, so no sudden movements or she'll go right back to being all stiff on you," she replied. "Why don't you cool her down, and I'll have Aubrie help you untack her. You can put her in an empty stall, and give her some hay and water, and you and Kianah can meet me in the lounge for some lunch and hot cocoa?"
"That sounds great, thank you," Elsie agreed, sliding off of Pansy and landing lightly on the ground. Since Elsie had near zero knowledge of western tack, Stacy had to help her loosen Elsie's girth and re-adjust the stirrups to a normal length. "Thank you so much for the lesson," Elsie said with as much gratitude as she could express. Stacy smiled.
"Not a problem, I had a good time with you two," Stacy replied, leading Elsie back to the stable. Once inside, she introduced her to Aubrie, then went to go join Kianah in the lounge.
Aubrie and Elsie untacked Pansy in mere minutes, and once Aubrie had helped her carry the heavy saddle to the tack room, the two threw a Pebble Creek cooler over Pansy's back and put her in an empty stall next to Kasey, a big Paint mare. Aubrie tossed her a flake of hay, and Elsie gave her a big hug around the neck. "You did great, Pansy," she whispered in the pony's ear.
As she exited the stall and closed the sliding door, Aubrie smiled at her. "What do you say to some hot cocoa?" she asked Elsie. The girl nodded, and they both headed out the stable door and to the lounge.
It felt nice to walk into the warm tack room after being in the chilly barn for so long. Elsie took off her coat and hung it neatly on the coat rack, then joined Kianah on the couch, where Stacy offered her a fresh mug of steaming cocoa. "You and Pansy looked great out there," her sister said. "I've never seen her so calm." Elsie smiled.
"Stacy knew exactly what to do to help her," she replied, glancing up at the trainer.
"She's like some horses I ride, they just misbehave because they don't quite trust the rider yet. But once the rider gains control, they're much more comfortable to they perform better."
"I'll have to keep that in mind for all of our horses," Kianah noted, listening intently to Stacy's advice.
"It's usually the same for our horses too. Especially the young ones. You have to take it slow, or they'll be messed up for life," she replied, smiling. "We have a young mare that we're training all around, and she is a perfect example of that. She hates adults, and she's really just good for kids. So we have our younger competition riders take lessons on her, and she's an absolute angel for them," she mused.
Aubrie laughed from across the room, punching some numbers into the microwave and pressing start. "Kasey? She's a firecracker. I can't ride her anymore, she threw me three times last week!"
"I would ride her!" Elsie blurted. Kianah glanced at her discerningly and opened her mouth to reprimand her for wanting to ride someone else's horse without being offered, but Elsie kept speaking. "I rode a mare like that in Cobra Farm's Hunter Derby," she continued. "Her name is Honey, she's owned by Woodland Ridge Stables. Mr. Alec, her trainer, asked me to ride her because she likes kids better. And I like crazy ponies, that's why I like riding Pansy... most of the time." she finished with a smile.
Stacy grinned. "Really? That's great! We've been looking for someone to ride her, since Kendall is much more English-oriented. I know it's a long drive for you, but while you're in the area, feel free to stop by and try her out, as long as one of the trainers is here. That shouldn't be a problem though, since Melinda lives here."
Elsie squealed. "Really?! Oh, thank you, thank you so much!" Without thinking, she sprung up and hugged Stacy around the waist. Stacy hugged her back, and Elsie ran over to her sister. "Kianah, we HAVE to stay for a few more days! Can we? PLEASE?"
Kianah sighed. "Elsie, we're not even staying the night. Where would we stay? I sure as heck don't have the money for a hotel," she said, exasperated. Stacy sat down next to her.
"I'm sure Melinda wouldn't mind you staying in the guest house. There's no one there right now except our interns, and they're very friendly. If you want, I can call Melinda and sort something out," she said, not wanted to crush Elsie's dreams.
Elsie looked up at her older sister with her huge hopeful doe-brown eyes. "Pleaseeee, Kianah? We have to!" Kianah sighed. Elsie was generally a star with other people's horses, and she loved riding them.
"If Melinda doesn't mind, then maybe we'll be able to," she decided.

TO BE CONTINUED...

Description
MERRY CHRISMAS *NativeHorseStables !

This is my Christmas present to Native! She asked for a western flatwork lesson with 9-year-old Elsie Lewis and her Colonial Spanish Mustang mare, Pansy.

We got into a whole huge RP with this (it's such a cute story!) so here's the beginning of the RP:

STORY TIME!!! Written by both my self and Native.

Elsie was a little nervous as she unloaded the little Colonial Spanish Mustang, who she had temporarily donned Pansy, from the NHS trailer on Pebble Creek Stables ground. Pansy circled her handler nervously; she absolutely hated any sort of vehicle, including trailers, so the ride to Pebble Creek had been interesting, at best. “I swear Pansy, if you make me fall off in front of Ms. Rosco I’ll never ride you again,” she grumbled. She didn’t mean it, though. Even through all of Pansy’s silliness, she loved the sweet little mare and hoped that after she was trained, someone would love to give her a forever home.
“How’s she doing?” her sister asked, reaching out to stroke Pansy’s chocolate neck.
“She’s nervous. Super, super nervous,” the 9-year old replied, jumping out of the way as Pansy spooked at a car starting.
“I’ll take her, why don’t you go find Ms. Rosco,” Kianah advised, taking the antsy mare’s tri-colored lead rope and leading her in small circles.
“Okay,” Elsie agreed, stepping away from the pony and entering Pebble Creek. The stables were absolutely beautiful. All of the horses looked very content and curious, and she gently stroked every nose that poked out of a stall, being careful to watch their ears for any sign of malignancy towards humans. Finally, she reached the office and, seeing someone inside, she knocked on the closed door softly.
Stacy looked up from the computer screen, smiling when she saw the young girl's curious face in the office door window. She opened the door and put her hands on her hips. "I suppose you must be Miss Lewis!" she grinned, reaching out to shake Elsie's hand. The girl hesitated, but shook Stacy's hand anyway. Stacy smiled to herself. "Did you bring your pony?" Elsie nodded, smiling a little.
"She's outside with my sister," Elsie said quietly. Stacy nodded to her.
"Well, let's go out and get her, then!" The pair walked out of the office, headed outside to Pansy and Kianah. Elsie noticed that Stacy took such large strides, she had to skip or jog to keep up. They finally found Kianah outside, struggling with a very distraught, very panicked Pansy.
"You're a bit of an idiot, you know that, I rarely even have this much trouble with Lucas, Castiel, and Cronus, and they're generally the most insane creatures-" Kianah paused in chastising Pansy when she saw Stacy Rosco standing by the trailer with her little sister. "Sorry," Kianah apologized, brushing some loose hair out of her face. "I'm Kianah, Elsie's sister, you must be Stacy," she said, slightly out of breath from trying to control Pansy.
"That's right," Stacy confirmed. She glanced at Pansy and smiled. "She looks like she's a bit of a handful," she noted.
"She's not like this at home," Kianah promised, stroking the little brown mare when she finally stood still, curious about the new person. "This is only the second time she's ever been trailered, and she really hates them."

Stacy chuckled. "Oh, trust me, we've all been there. Why don't you take her in, and I'll help you two get her all set to ride."
Elsie slipped back next to her sister. "Kianah, I'm a little scared. Pansy is being so crazy."
Kianah smiled. "Don't worry. You'll be just fine. Stacy is a great trainer, and if you need to she can always put you on a lunge line." That seemed to console Elsie a bit, and she ran into the barn after Stacy, leaving her sister trailing behind with a fidgety mare.
Once they got Pansy into the barn and cross-tied, she seemed to calm down. Stacy was in the tack room, getting some equipment together. "Did you guys bring your own tack with you, or would you like to borrow ours?" she asked.
Kianah had gone to get Pansy's grooming stuff, leaving Elsie alone with Stacy. The 9-year old blushed; NHS really didn't have any western tack, and she felt a little silly asking for a western lesson when they didn't have western tack themselves. "Could we borrow some?" Elsie asked, embarrassed.
Stacy peeked out of the tack room and smile. "Of course," she replied, pulling out a rather fancy looking saddle; Elsie basically only seen western tack before in magazines and movies, so it was quite intriguing to her.
Stacy supported the saddle's pommel on her hip, and looked at Elsie. "Let's see, what color would look good on your little Pansy here..." she said, grinning to Elsie. The girl jumped a bit, excited, and yelled "PINK!!" Stacy slid a rectangular pink saddle pad out of a corner. Within minutes, Else had groomed her pony and they had her all tacked and ready to go.
Elsie admired Pansy now that she had calmed down, and she looked great in her pink saddle pad. She got her helmet from Kianah and followed Stacy into Pebble Creek's indoor arena. It was very spacious; it was hard for Elsie to believe that there could be so much space indoors. Pansy looked around curiously and Elsie tensed, expecting her to be spooky in the new place. However, she seemed much more intrigued than frightened, and within a few minutes of Elsie walking her around she was ready to mount up.
Stacy dragged a big, wooden mounting block over to Elsie, and stopped in the center of the arena. Elsie walked Pansy over to the big block and patted her neck. "Stand, girl," she whispered to the pony, and she cocked an ear back lazily to show that she had heard. She swung up onto Pansy's back without a problem, and Stacy looked impressed. She sat down on the top step of the mounting block, and watched Elsie as she carefully guided Pansy around the arena. She was already responding quite well to neck-reining, but had trouble getting back on her haunches and taking it slow, so Stacy started there. "Okay, Elsie, she looks great, but she's leaning forward a bit too much. Do you feel how she's dragging her feet? That's because we need to get her to lean back so she'll slow down and pick her feet up. So I want you to shorten your reins just a little, and lean baaaack... That's it, good girl!"
Like magic, she felt Pansy's front end lighten and slow as she made the adjustments that Stacy asked her to. "Whoa! She's never felt this good before!" she noticed ecstatically. Although they were only moving at the walk, it was impossible for Elsie not to feel the difference. Pansy liked to stick her nose out and pull herself around on her front end, but she had finally stopped resisting Elsie and was instead listening to her rider's cues.
"That's because she's not pulling on you anymore," Stacy pointed out, smiling. "Now, why don't you ask her to pick up a jog?"
Elsie nudged Pansy with her heels, and she tossed her head around for a bit. She finally settled into a nice, steady jog, and Elsie grinned from ear to ear.
"That was good, but she tossed her head because you lost your position a little. Just remember that she's very sensitive, and with her only a little squeeze will get her to jog. Why don't you bring her back down into a walk for a few steps, and ask her to jog once you turn the corner?" Elsie did so, and the difference was astonishing. "Very nice! What you did there, tricked her into thinking that you were done jogging, and when you asked her again you were forcing her to think about what you were asking her to do."
Elsie couldn't believe it. She swore that Stacy was magical. "She's never really listened to me before," Elsie told her trainer, pulling back on the reins a little as Pansy sped up around the next corner. She remembered what Stacy had told her and sat back again in the saddle, and once again Pansy went back to her normal jog. But when they passed a particularly colorful jump, Pansy took fright at the bright flowers and leapt to the side, taking Elsie slightly by surprise since she was behaving so well prior.
Stacy giggled. "She's just getting a little nervous at those jumps, so sit really deep and pull her back if she tries to run," she reassured Elsie.
______________
Twenty minutes later, Pansy had settled down and was jogging around the ring looking like a pro. Stacy was impressed, and once she felt confident that Elsie was controlling Pansy well, she decided it was time to speed up a bit.
"Okay, I think you're ready for a lope this time. She might get a little antsy if you act like you're going to make her lope, so just pretend like you want to keep jogging. Then right around this corner, move your outside leg back a bit, sit real deep and kiss to her."
Elsie did as Stacy asked her to, and Pansy broke into an effortless, collected lope. Elsie couldn't help but grin, and she laughed as she breezed around the ring.
Elsie felt like she was flying on Pansy. In fact, she didn't even feel like the tense, upright Pansy anymore! She felt like Addy or Koda, her two well-seasoned hunters. When she brought Pansy back down to the walk she showered the little seal mare with love. "I feel like you made her a new horse!" she told Stacy with a gigantic smile. Stacy smiled back and approached Pansy, who pricked her ears at her new friend. "She's a great little horse, it's just that you have to ride her with confidence," she assured her student.
Stacy smiled back at her. "Just practice that whenever you ride her, and she can be like that all the time. You just have to remember that she's easily scared, so no sudden movements or she'll go right back to being all stiff on you," she replied. "Why don't you cool her down, and I'll have Aubrie help you untack her. You can put her in an empty stall, and give her some hay and water, and you and Kianah can meet me in the lounge for some lunch and hot cocoa?"
"That sounds great, thank you," Elsie agreed, sliding off of Pansy and landing lightly on the ground. Since Elsie had near zero knowledge of western tack, Stacy had to help her loosen Elsie's girth and re-adjust the stirrups to a normal length. "Thank you so much for the lesson," Elsie said with as much gratitude as she could express. Stacy smiled.
"Not a problem, I had a good time with you two," Stacy replied, leading Elsie back to the stable. Once inside, she introduced her to Aubrie, then went to go join Kianah in the lounge.
Aubrie and Elsie untacked Pansy in mere minutes, and once Aubrie had helped her carry the heavy saddle to the tack room, the two threw a Pebble Creek cooler over Pansy's back and put her in an empty stall next to Kasey, a big Paint mare. Aubrie tossed her a flake of hay, and Elsie gave her a big hug around the neck. "You did great, Pansy," she whispered in the pony's ear.
As she exited the stall and closed the sliding door, Aubrie smiled at her. "What do you say to some hot cocoa?" she asked Elsie. The girl nodded, and they both headed out the stable door and to the lounge.
It felt nice to walk into the warm tack room after being in the chilly barn for so long. Elsie took off her coat and hung it neatly on the coat rack, then joined Kianah on the couch, where Stacy offered her a fresh mug of steaming cocoa. "You and Pansy looked great out there," her sister said. "I've never seen her so calm." Elsie smiled.
"Stacy knew exactly what to do to help her," she replied, glancing up at the trainer.
"She's like some horses I ride, they just misbehave because they don't quite trust the rider yet. But once the rider gains control, they're much more comfortable to they perform better."
"I'll have to keep that in mind for all of our horses," Kianah noted, listening intently to Stacy's advice.
"It's usually the same for our horses too. Especially the young ones. You have to take it slow, or they'll be messed up for life," she replied, smiling. "We have a young mare that we're training all around, and she is a perfect example of that. She hates adults, and she's really just good for kids. So we have our younger competition riders take lessons on her, and she's an absolute angel for them," she mused.
Aubrie laughed from across the room, punching some numbers into the microwave and pressing start. "Kasey? She's a firecracker. I can't ride her anymore, she threw me three times last week!"
"I would ride her!" Elsie blurted. Kianah glanced at her discerningly and opened her mouth to reprimand her for wanting to ride someone else's horse without being offered, but Elsie kept speaking. "I rode a mare like that in Cobra Farm's Hunter Derby," she continued. "Her name is Honey, she's owned by Woodland Ridge Stables. Mr. Alec, her trainer, asked me to ride her because she likes kids better. And I like crazy ponies, that's why I like riding Pansy... most of the time." she finished with a smile.
Stacy grinned. "Really? That's great! We've been looking for someone to ride her, since Kendall is much more English-oriented. I know it's a long drive for you, but while you're in the area, feel free to stop by and try her out, as long as one of the trainers is here. That shouldn't be a problem though, since Melinda lives here."
Elsie squealed. "Really?! Oh, thank you, thank you so much!" Without thinking, she sprung up and hugged Stacy around the waist. Stacy hugged her back, and Elsie ran over to her sister. "Kianah, we HAVE to stay for a few more days! Can we? PLEASE?"
Kianah sighed. "Elsie, we're not even staying the night. Where would we stay? I sure as heck don't have the money for a hotel," she said, exasperated. Stacy sat down next to her.
"I'm sure Melinda wouldn't mind you staying in the guest house. There's no one there right now except our interns, and they're very friendly. If you want, I can call Melinda and sort something out," she said, not wanted to crush Elsie's dreams.
Elsie looked up at her older sister with her huge hopeful doe-brown eyes. "Pleaseeee, Kianah? We have to!" Kianah sighed. Elsie was generally a star with other people's horses, and she loved riding them.
"If Melinda doesn't mind, then maybe we'll be able to," she decided.

TO BE CONTINUED...