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Description
Show: Anniversary Showcase - loshenka.weebly.com/127881-eve…
Horse: 1715 SDE Blinded By The Sun
Handler: Faye Barlow
Trial #: 1
XP Breakdown: 9 (fullbody) + 1 (shading) + 5 (sponsored show) + 2 (handler) + 2 (background) = 19xp
Lit Breakdown: 20 (base) + 4 (handler) = 24 xp
Total XP: 43 xp

Word Count: 2037
Rider: Faye Barlow
Horse Nicknames: Helios, Helio etc
---

“Breathe. Breathe. It’s just a glorified trail ride. Just a trail ride.” Faye signed, she had her head leaned against Helios’s shoulder as she took some deep breaths. Usually things like this, rides outside and what-not, did not phase her in the slightest. But ever since she pulled Helios from his stall earlier in the morning and his eyes were wide with anticipation, she knew she was in for a wild ride (pun intended).

She was spurred from her thoughts as Helios took a step forward, obviously bored of her nervous antics. Faye let out another weary sigh. Probably time to mount up. The bell will be off soon. She thought.

After a quick glance towards the crowd situated around the mounting block Faye decided for the slightly more difficult route. She hiked one leg up high as she grasped for the stirrup iron, once her foot was secured she hauled herself upright, using the pommel for support.

Before she had even gotten her foot into the other stirrup, her fears were confirmed. Helios took one look at his surroundings, seemingly through new eyes as he now had a rider, and made one large, ungainly leap forward. Faye got shoved to the back of the saddle, her tailbone hitting the cantle of the saddle hard enough to send a shudder through her spine, as she reached aimlessly for her other stirrup. This was not an unusual move for Helios to use, but that made it no easier to sit Faye thought as she grappled for her reins. After his initial tantrum Helios came to a stark stop in the middle of the grass area. Fate could feel the eyes on the back of her head as she asked the golden stallion to walk forward.

“Easy boy, eaaaasy,” Faye growled as Helios took a few tentative steps forward. After a few moments his ears dropped to half - mast and his back lost the original tense-ness that had been lurking since that morning. “Got it all out of your system now, eh?” She muttered.

Helios let out a long suffering sigh, throwing a temper tantrum was such hard work.

Faye finally started to relax as some of the final riders got mounted up. Usually this she wouldn’t be anxious at this point, most of the time once she was in the saddle all of her fears melted away, but this time she knew she would be on her own once she left the start area. Once she realized this, a heavy pit formed in her stomach. Faye glanced around and spotted a few familiar faces she had made the journey from their home stable, Snow Drift Equestrian with. First she spotted Ayla Hale. Ayla was interesting, the cold, harsh woman had seemed to want nothing other than success after coming to the Equestrian Center. But every so often, in the company of only her mare, Godiva, (and Faye as witness) she let out a few smiles. The crack in her somewhat cold exterior. Faye had always secretly hoped for the girl to open up as she had always loved making friends, but Ayla obviously did not. Godiva had gone from her stall early that morning so Fay gathered that Ayla had wanted to get an early start.

The other rider accompanying them on this trip was Eleanor Wright, or Ele, who was one of Faye’s closest friends. Ele specialized in endurance riding specifically, so she had gone off to meet up with another endurance rider from their neighboring stable, Ridgeline Performance Horses.

Helios haad finally come to a stop as he started to graze. No longer affected by the hustle and bustle around them. Luckily, as difficult as Helios liked to be, he never seemed to be all that affected by mares in his vicinity. He was too preoccupied with being stupid in his own way that mares were barely a thought in his mind. Faye watched as the last of the riders finally got on and everyone made their final preparations to start. The tension was getting high. This trial was meant to be a relaxed and non-competitive trail ride but many of these riders didn’t get here by settling for second place.

Helios could tell they were about to start as well. Faye could feel the tension return to his back as the first batch of riders gathered where they were going to start. The slack in the reins lessened as he mouthed at the bit. “Easy boy. Relax, relaaax.”

Faye tried not to let Helios feel her nerves through her seat but as the starting bell rang, she couldn’t help but flinch. Helios lunged forward ahead with some of the other riders, intent on leading. It seemed like an almost fifty-fifty split. Half the riders stayed calm and walked, content with treating this trial as a more relaxed event, as it was intended to be, and the other half seeking nothing less than first through the finish. Ele and Faye both were on the side of finishing first, whether Faye wanted to or not, while Ayla hung back to walk. Ele set off at a controlled pace with the RPH rider close behind, Owen was it? While Faye was more on the side of hanging-on-for-dear-life.

Helios had sprung into a brisk canter, Faye grasping desperately at anything within reach. That was the problem with most loshenkas. No mane to grab frantically as your horse took off.

The pair took off frantically for the trees, leaving many of the other pairs behind.

“Woah bud. Woah-“ Faye managed to squeak out as they bounded around a turn. She glanced behind her and managed to catch the last glimpse of the riders behind her before they disappeared around a curve.

Faye grasped frantically at the reins, slowly starting to regret the simple snaffle that was sitting in Helios’s mouth. She wasn’t one for fixing training problems with fancy bits but this was a great lack of foresight on her and Niamh’s part. “It would be really awesome if we could slow down soon buddy,”

After a few minutes of mad galloping and sharp turns Helios seemed to decide he was done running, for now at least. The pair finally slowed to a bouncy trot.

“If you’re content to stay like this Helio, this is fine by me,” Faye muttered. Once they finally managed to slow, she took a glance around at her surroundings, attempting to gauge how far into the ride they were. One issue. Where are the markers? Faye thought, panic edging her thoughts.

The trail was going to be marked with ribbons to help keep the riders on track but there were none to be seen from where Faye was.

“I… I think we might be lost,” Faye tried to swallow the lump in her throat. “I’ll… I’ll check my phone, try the GPS.”

Still managing to keep up with the stallion’s brisk trot, Faye slipped her phone out of her pocket. Damn it, 4% charge. She signed.

“Might want to save that in case someone texts me or things get worse. We’ll figure it out from here,” She slipped her phone back into her pocket and gathered her reins. “Let’s walk for a bit and then we can canter again okay? Give you a moment to rest.”

Helios just let out a fluttering sigh in response.

A long while crawled by as they walked, finally deciding to pick up a trot for the following 45 minutes. Just as Faye was about to ask Helios to canter her phone buzzed in her pocket.

“Easy bud, walk.” Faye muttered as she checked her phone. A text from Niamh. That wasn’t good. Faye checked the time, it had been almost two hours since they had left the grounds.

Just as she glanced back to see what the text from Niamh was about, the phone screen flickered to black. Dead.

“Shit.” Faye growled. What if something happened to one of the other pairs? What if a dangerous animal had been spotted? What if-? What if-? The thoughts clouded Faye’s mind as she collected her reins. Breathe. It doesn’t matter right now. What matters right now is finding the trail.

She took one long, deep breath and cued Helios into a trot and then a canter.

They had to be nearing the trail, if not the finish line by now. Hopefully.

~~~

After a few minutes of canter Faye saw what appeared to be a flash of neon color amongst the trees. There it was again. A ribbon.

“Yes! Finally, boy. Almost there.” She gasped. The finish must be close. She gave Helios a decisive squeeze with her calves, asking him for more. Seemingly having forgotten the way that the ride has started. She realized her mistake a moment too late as Helios seemed to notice where they were. His ears pricked upright and the usual elevation returned to his stride. He knew the finish was close.

Voices. They could hear voices. Lots of them. Faye’s emotions fluctuated between elation and anxiety as they careened through the trees. Helios barely watched where he placed his feet as they flew along the trail.

Almost there.

And three strides later they popped out of the copse of trees into the open finish area.

“FAYE!” Niamh practically shrieked as they emerged. She, along with Ele, were off to the side of the finish area, obviously having been waiting a while.

Normally, when Niamh shouts her name, Faye shouts back. But in this exact instance she was slightly preoccupied. Helios, who had still not quite realized that they were done with the ride now, was still somewhat careening around the finish area.

“Woah boy. Easy, we’re done now boyo,” Faye sing-songed as she desperately tried to get him back to a walk.

After a few more laps circling the soggy area, the fires up stallion finally managed to calm down to a walk and once he was walking, Niamh and Ele came jogging over.

“WHAT THE HELL HAPPENED!?” Niamh scolded as Faye slipped to the ground. But before she could get any words in, Niamh was off again. “Last any of us see of you, you’re careening into the woods at the front of the group. Then over two hours later after not hearing from you the entire time you come crashing back? What happened? And why didn’t you answer your phone? Ele got back into camp an hour ago and even Ayla, who spent most of the ride just trotting, got back earlier!”

Faye sighed, “Are you done yelling now? Can I explain?”

“Yes.” Niamh huffed.

“Helios took off into the woods like a madman, we really need to work on riding him outside by the way, we galloped for a bit. Once I finally got him to trot I discovered that we were lost. I saw your message but before I could reply my phone died,” Faye paused to take a deep breath. “And we only just managed to find the trail again, where I promptly forgot that Helios had a problem with running off outside which is why we just came careening back. Happy now?“

Niamh glared at her. “No. I’m not happy now. I was worried sick!” This time it was her turn to take a deep breath. “Ele, would you be so kind as to take Helios back to the stables for a rinse? I am not yet done yelling at your friend here.”

Ele smothered a laugh as she flipped Helios’s reins over his head, “Good luck!”

Once she was on her way out of ear shot Niamh glared back at Faye. “Have we learned our lesson about charging our phones before big rides?”

“Yes.”

“Are we going to forget that ever again?”

“Probably.” Faye shrugged. Niamh’s glare intensified. “No. No, we will not forget to charge our phones before big rides.”

“Alright, fine. Let’s get you back to the stables to warm up and check on your sweaty boy,” Niamh muttered, finally satisfied. “We really do need to work on riding him outside, eh?”

“Yes. He’d still be great at cross country, just not sure how I’d stop him at the end.”

“That can be a problem for future-us.”

---

Description
Show: Anniversary Showcase - loshenka.weebly.com/127881-eve…
Horse: 1715 SDE Blinded By The Sun
Handler: Faye Barlow
Trial #: 1
XP Breakdown: 9 (fullbody) + 1 (shading) + 5 (sponsored show) + 2 (handler) + 2 (background) = 19xp
Lit Breakdown: 20 (base) + 4 (handler) = 24 xp
Total XP: 43 xp

Word Count: 2037
Rider: Faye Barlow
Horse Nicknames: Helios, Helio etc
---

“Breathe. Breathe. It’s just a glorified trail ride. Just a trail ride.” Faye signed, she had her head leaned against Helios’s shoulder as she took some deep breaths. Usually things like this, rides outside and what-not, did not phase her in the slightest. But ever since she pulled Helios from his stall earlier in the morning and his eyes were wide with anticipation, she knew she was in for a wild ride (pun intended).

She was spurred from her thoughts as Helios took a step forward, obviously bored of her nervous antics. Faye let out another weary sigh. Probably time to mount up. The bell will be off soon. She thought.

After a quick glance towards the crowd situated around the mounting block Faye decided for the slightly more difficult route. She hiked one leg up high as she grasped for the stirrup iron, once her foot was secured she hauled herself upright, using the pommel for support.

Before she had even gotten her foot into the other stirrup, her fears were confirmed. Helios took one look at his surroundings, seemingly through new eyes as he now had a rider, and made one large, ungainly leap forward. Faye got shoved to the back of the saddle, her tailbone hitting the cantle of the saddle hard enough to send a shudder through her spine, as she reached aimlessly for her other stirrup. This was not an unusual move for Helios to use, but that made it no easier to sit Faye thought as she grappled for her reins. After his initial tantrum Helios came to a stark stop in the middle of the grass area. Fate could feel the eyes on the back of her head as she asked the golden stallion to walk forward.

“Easy boy, eaaaasy,” Faye growled as Helios took a few tentative steps forward. After a few moments his ears dropped to half - mast and his back lost the original tense-ness that had been lurking since that morning. “Got it all out of your system now, eh?” She muttered.

Helios let out a long suffering sigh, throwing a temper tantrum was such hard work.

Faye finally started to relax as some of the final riders got mounted up. Usually this she wouldn’t be anxious at this point, most of the time once she was in the saddle all of her fears melted away, but this time she knew she would be on her own once she left the start area. Once she realized this, a heavy pit formed in her stomach. Faye glanced around and spotted a few familiar faces she had made the journey from their home stable, Snow Drift Equestrian with. First she spotted Ayla Hale. Ayla was interesting, the cold, harsh woman had seemed to want nothing other than success after coming to the Equestrian Center. But every so often, in the company of only her mare, Godiva, (and Faye as witness) she let out a few smiles. The crack in her somewhat cold exterior. Faye had always secretly hoped for the girl to open up as she had always loved making friends, but Ayla obviously did not. Godiva had gone from her stall early that morning so Fay gathered that Ayla had wanted to get an early start.

The other rider accompanying them on this trip was Eleanor Wright, or Ele, who was one of Faye’s closest friends. Ele specialized in endurance riding specifically, so she had gone off to meet up with another endurance rider from their neighboring stable, Ridgeline Performance Horses.

Helios haad finally come to a stop as he started to graze. No longer affected by the hustle and bustle around them. Luckily, as difficult as Helios liked to be, he never seemed to be all that affected by mares in his vicinity. He was too preoccupied with being stupid in his own way that mares were barely a thought in his mind. Faye watched as the last of the riders finally got on and everyone made their final preparations to start. The tension was getting high. This trial was meant to be a relaxed and non-competitive trail ride but many of these riders didn’t get here by settling for second place.

Helios could tell they were about to start as well. Faye could feel the tension return to his back as the first batch of riders gathered where they were going to start. The slack in the reins lessened as he mouthed at the bit. “Easy boy. Relax, relaaax.”

Faye tried not to let Helios feel her nerves through her seat but as the starting bell rang, she couldn’t help but flinch. Helios lunged forward ahead with some of the other riders, intent on leading. It seemed like an almost fifty-fifty split. Half the riders stayed calm and walked, content with treating this trial as a more relaxed event, as it was intended to be, and the other half seeking nothing less than first through the finish. Ele and Faye both were on the side of finishing first, whether Faye wanted to or not, while Ayla hung back to walk. Ele set off at a controlled pace with the RPH rider close behind, Owen was it? While Faye was more on the side of hanging-on-for-dear-life.

Helios had sprung into a brisk canter, Faye grasping desperately at anything within reach. That was the problem with most loshenkas. No mane to grab frantically as your horse took off.

The pair took off frantically for the trees, leaving many of the other pairs behind.

“Woah bud. Woah-“ Faye managed to squeak out as they bounded around a turn. She glanced behind her and managed to catch the last glimpse of the riders behind her before they disappeared around a curve.

Faye grasped frantically at the reins, slowly starting to regret the simple snaffle that was sitting in Helios’s mouth. She wasn’t one for fixing training problems with fancy bits but this was a great lack of foresight on her and Niamh’s part. “It would be really awesome if we could slow down soon buddy,”

After a few minutes of mad galloping and sharp turns Helios seemed to decide he was done running, for now at least. The pair finally slowed to a bouncy trot.

“If you’re content to stay like this Helio, this is fine by me,” Faye muttered. Once they finally managed to slow, she took a glance around at her surroundings, attempting to gauge how far into the ride they were. One issue. Where are the markers? Faye thought, panic edging her thoughts.

The trail was going to be marked with ribbons to help keep the riders on track but there were none to be seen from where Faye was.

“I… I think we might be lost,” Faye tried to swallow the lump in her throat. “I’ll… I’ll check my phone, try the GPS.”

Still managing to keep up with the stallion’s brisk trot, Faye slipped her phone out of her pocket. Damn it, 4% charge. She signed.

“Might want to save that in case someone texts me or things get worse. We’ll figure it out from here,” She slipped her phone back into her pocket and gathered her reins. “Let’s walk for a bit and then we can canter again okay? Give you a moment to rest.”

Helios just let out a fluttering sigh in response.

A long while crawled by as they walked, finally deciding to pick up a trot for the following 45 minutes. Just as Faye was about to ask Helios to canter her phone buzzed in her pocket.

“Easy bud, walk.” Faye muttered as she checked her phone. A text from Niamh. That wasn’t good. Faye checked the time, it had been almost two hours since they had left the grounds.

Just as she glanced back to see what the text from Niamh was about, the phone screen flickered to black. Dead.

“Shit.” Faye growled. What if something happened to one of the other pairs? What if a dangerous animal had been spotted? What if-? What if-? The thoughts clouded Faye’s mind as she collected her reins. Breathe. It doesn’t matter right now. What matters right now is finding the trail.

She took one long, deep breath and cued Helios into a trot and then a canter.

They had to be nearing the trail, if not the finish line by now. Hopefully.

~~~

After a few minutes of canter Faye saw what appeared to be a flash of neon color amongst the trees. There it was again. A ribbon.

“Yes! Finally, boy. Almost there.” She gasped. The finish must be close. She gave Helios a decisive squeeze with her calves, asking him for more. Seemingly having forgotten the way that the ride has started. She realized her mistake a moment too late as Helios seemed to notice where they were. His ears pricked upright and the usual elevation returned to his stride. He knew the finish was close.

Voices. They could hear voices. Lots of them. Faye’s emotions fluctuated between elation and anxiety as they careened through the trees. Helios barely watched where he placed his feet as they flew along the trail.

Almost there.

And three strides later they popped out of the copse of trees into the open finish area.

“FAYE!” Niamh practically shrieked as they emerged. She, along with Ele, were off to the side of the finish area, obviously having been waiting a while.

Normally, when Niamh shouts her name, Faye shouts back. But in this exact instance she was slightly preoccupied. Helios, who had still not quite realized that they were done with the ride now, was still somewhat careening around the finish area.

“Woah boy. Easy, we’re done now boyo,” Faye sing-songed as she desperately tried to get him back to a walk.

After a few more laps circling the soggy area, the fires up stallion finally managed to calm down to a walk and once he was walking, Niamh and Ele came jogging over.

“WHAT THE HELL HAPPENED!?” Niamh scolded as Faye slipped to the ground. But before she could get any words in, Niamh was off again. “Last any of us see of you, you’re careening into the woods at the front of the group. Then over two hours later after not hearing from you the entire time you come crashing back? What happened? And why didn’t you answer your phone? Ele got back into camp an hour ago and even Ayla, who spent most of the ride just trotting, got back earlier!”

Faye sighed, “Are you done yelling now? Can I explain?”

“Yes.” Niamh huffed.

“Helios took off into the woods like a madman, we really need to work on riding him outside by the way, we galloped for a bit. Once I finally got him to trot I discovered that we were lost. I saw your message but before I could reply my phone died,” Faye paused to take a deep breath. “And we only just managed to find the trail again, where I promptly forgot that Helios had a problem with running off outside which is why we just came careening back. Happy now?“

Niamh glared at her. “No. I’m not happy now. I was worried sick!” This time it was her turn to take a deep breath. “Ele, would you be so kind as to take Helios back to the stables for a rinse? I am not yet done yelling at your friend here.”

Ele smothered a laugh as she flipped Helios’s reins over his head, “Good luck!”

Once she was on her way out of ear shot Niamh glared back at Faye. “Have we learned our lesson about charging our phones before big rides?”

“Yes.”

“Are we going to forget that ever again?”

“Probably.” Faye shrugged. Niamh’s glare intensified. “No. No, we will not forget to charge our phones before big rides.”

“Alright, fine. Let’s get you back to the stables to warm up and check on your sweaty boy,” Niamh muttered, finally satisfied. “We really do need to work on riding him outside, eh?”

“Yes. He’d still be great at cross country, just not sure how I’d stop him at the end.”

“That can be a problem for future-us.”

---