"But pouring rain? No."

[alexandra helio desmino]

[font=georgi& I WAKE UP EVERY EVENING 
WITH A BIG SMILE ON MY FACE
( and it never seems out of place )

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Dum dum, dum dum. Hoof beats pounded on the even sure footing on the outdoor arena. Quick hoarse breath, and the smell of sweat reeked the air. 2‘6 was nothing to her, but the green four year old deserved much praise for the nearly flawless take off and landing. “Good boy, Clef.” Said a calming voice, the realization that it had been her‘s came after she realized how perfect he had slid over the jump. In the time working with Clef had been one of the best green horses Alexandra had ever worked with, Clef was a small horse, barely 15 hands, so Alexandra had to be careful about how she sat on him. She was used to big jumpers and strong-bit warm bloods. Alex squeezed her lower calf into the lazy horse, wearing an idiotic smile half way around the ring until it vanished and she worked Clef back into a frame, facing a pole. Clef cantered over it with ease, digging lightly into the corner, his ears forward. Alex lightly moved her hands side to side and back and forth, barely noticeable from outside the ring, the horse lowered his head, rounding out his back and completing the circle around the arena with grace of somewhat. Sighing, Alex pulled her leg back, remembering her position, and leaned back slightly muttering “ho.” under her breath. It was around four in the evening, and Clef had been working for nearly twenty minutes, but no swear had broke from his neck yet. Alex had promised that she would give Clef short rides, and resist her urge to jump him higher until he was completely ready. She smiled, stopping the horse completely and giving him a pat, a uttering “good boy“ under her breath, but not really sure if she had said anything at all. Her hands moved back to make sure that her hair was still in its bun located behind her GPA titanium helmet, smiling she fingered the reins, gathering them up, and giving Clef a light squeeze, as he lifted into a trot. No more jumping today, she thought to herself, just a light hack and then a trail ride, and I‘ll put you into the pasture, she concluded. Clef breathed in response, eager to pick up the left lead, and have a go once more at the fence, but Alex pulled him away from the rail, performing a somewhat decent figure eight, and asking him for the right lead as they faced the barn. “Easy boy.” she said in slight haste, pulling her inside rein up as Clef bounded into his right lead. Alex attempted to collect him once more, but did a less satisfactory job of it. Evening out his stride, Clef took the turn, waiting for his rider to give him the signal. Alex pushed her leg on Clef, raising her inside rein and setting his body up for the change. A single flourish of his legs as they separated, switched and then fell arithmetically back into single motion of forward movement. Alex released her breath, turning Clef‘s head to the corner, riding on the barn‘s side, and giving Clef the signal to trot. Another “good boy“ muttered under her breath between gasps and sweat rolling down her face, the heat of the afternoon sun pounding down on her face. Sighing once more, she gave the now sweat soaked horse a pat, another praise and a kiss on the neck. The smile didn‘t vanish as she nudged the horse once more into a trot, dropping her stirrups to perform an exercise to strengthen her leg. Clef moved into a perfect trot, not to fast but not to slow, pointing his toe at the end of his stride and rounding out his neck, using the most of his reins. Alex rose and fell in a perfect rhythm of a trot, her leg would have burned if she hadn’t been repeating this exercise since she was very young. Three times around the railing, and a quick figure eight, and Clef seemed to be completely “pooped“. Alex stopped him in the middle of the ring, his rump facing the gate, so as not to develop “gate hunger“ and backed him up, something that he could at times have trouble understanding. His feet moved slowly as he backed up, head down in annoyance at the “trick“ he despised, the only thing he didn‘t want to cooperate with, but he completed his turns and stopped when asked. Alex gave him a pat and another praise, standing up in her left stirrup and swinging her leg over, and then dropping to the ground with ease.

The sound of a click! came to her ears as she slid her stirrups up her saddle. Alex slowly swung around, to face her personal groom Theo. “Miss?” He said in a small timid voice. Alex slowly spun around, Clef‘s reins dangling from her hands. “Yes?” She said. Theo had been hired for her nearly 3 months ago, but still insisted on calling her miss, and yet through the time he had spent as her employee, he still hadn't seemed to want to have a conversation with her. She kept wondering if she wasn't as attractive as most put her out to be. Theo smiled, moving towards her and reaching to pet Clef. "There is a lesson girl for you." He said with a nod, swinging his head back to motion at the small girl in britches behind him. "Oh yes, my five o'clock lesson. I didn't realize it was so late." She said with a swift moment to check the time on her watch, satisfied, she turned to the small girl, and her large white pony. "Hello Jessica. How is Bolt? Doing well?" She asked, with a breeze smile. Theo looked back to the small girl, Jessica and then back at his boss. "Miss, do you want me to wash Clef for you?" He motioned once more the the girl. "Yes, thank you. Don't clean the tack however, I'll have time to do that myself." She placed Clef's reins in Theo's outstreached hand, the gelding hesitated to follow the groom for a split second, before leaving his main rider. "Oh, Theo? Could you please call me Alex, not Miss? You make me feel old." She said with a slight laugh, the groom didn't get the joke. But he didn't answer, instead he just walked on. Alex sighed, she hated the feeling that her groom disliked her, but what was there to do? She turned back to Jessica and her grey pony Bolt. She was agusting her stirrup straps, swinging her leg over the ponies fat side. She smiled at Alex, but didn't say anything as usual. All the people at this barn seemed to be so quiet, Alex didn't really like that. "Ok dear, just do your simple warm up. Nothing fancy today, Bolt hasn't been worked in a week." She nodded, moving the pony towards the rail, pushing him into a brisk walk. The pony pinned his ears back, opposing the work, but eventrually moved into a smooth trot. Jessica moved rythically with his trot, pinning her leg to his side, but forgetting to thrust her heel downwards. "Remember to put you're heels down, Jessica!" Alex had to slightly scream from the other side of the arena. Jessica instantly made an effort to put her heels down, making her posts more even and slower. Jessica hadn't been riding long, but had potential to be a wonder jumper equtation rider, and Alex quite liked her, even though she was slighly quiet. Jessica completed her figure eight, doing a reverse, Alex had to remind her about her diagonal, but other than that, Jessica had riding down. "Lets save jumping for another day, after I get on and ride him. I think its best, you know he can be a little fresh sometimes." Alex said, Jessica didn't really look disappointed, Bolt could be a bit of a handful at times, and wasn't fun for a beginner to jump, however Alex loved to run around a 2'6 course with the beautiful pony. Jessica nodded, squeezing the pony into a smooth canter, she needed to work on her leg, but her body position wasnt bad. " Go deeper into your corners, remember to hold your outside leg and bend with your inside." She said as Jessica and Bolt passed her. A slow smile formed on her face, she had worked with Jessica for a couple weeks now, and she could see an inprovement. Alex hated to think it, but she was proud of herself.

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’words;; word count
’tagged;; for Brittney or anyone <3
’outfit;; [url=http://www.theequestriancorner.com/store/1825774/uploaded/33coolmaxlowriseshowcircuit-100308-317.jpg
]CLICK[/url]
’music;; I like that - static avenger ’notes;; I love Alex.
’template;; by PANIC! ITS LAUZ of CAUTION[/size]

[elizabeth aylin williams]

theres a thunder in our hearts baby

so much hate for the ones we love

TAG: ALEXANDRA ONE LAST THING: oh my, this was much overdue.

The morning dawned bright and beautiful, if not a little hot for Elizabeth's taste. She woke and was slightly disoriented for a few moments, having never stayed in her uncle's home before. She was extremely pleased that Sam had agreed to let her stay until she got on her feet. Granted, it wasn't her ideal living conditions; Sam was constantly encouraging Elizabeth to introduce herself to the other riders at SEC but she had no interest in things like that. She would have much preferred to just stick to herself and ride Manny as best as she could. Of course, she would've been stupid to think that no interaction between her and the other riders and barn staff would've been possible, but it was wishful thinking. Liza figured she should get up and see how Manny was coping with the move to SEC; he would be worked up at first most likely, but he'd relax after a week or so. That's what she hoped, anyways. She pushed herself off the bed, yawning as she did so. She glanced out the window and caught a glimpse of the large, luxurious barn that was now home to her darling and she smiled lightly; she was extremely lucky that she had somebody like her uncle as a family member. Liz glanced around the room, not quite remembering where she had stuck her bags. She spotted them then, in the corner nearest the window and walked over to the pile to retrieve some clothes to ride in that day. She attempted to wake early enough that she'd be able to beat the heat, but it was clear that she had been unsuccessful; the tank top she had slept in was clinging to her in an uncomfortable way. She pulled a pair of thin tan jods out of a bag, along with a heather grey tank top that would keep her the coolest out of all of her shirts. She rummaged around for a pair of knee-high socks for a few moment until she discovered a pair then, after carefully laying the clothes on the bed, she made her way to the shower.

After the refreshing twenty minutes spent in the shower, Elizabeth pulled her thin clothing on and combed her auburn hair in a low ponytail that laid just on the nape of her neck. She would prefer to keep it off her neck completely, but her helmet restricted her hair placement quite a bit. Before leaving, she grabbed a small tote bag from her room and stuffed in a bottle of water, a granola bar, and her cell phone (turned off, of course). Liza stepped out the door and into the incredible heat. She almost regretted not being far enough from SEC to drive, but because she was on the property, she would walk. Once she arrived at the barn, she was pleased to step into the shadows that made it almost cool enough to be comfortable. A smile lit up Liz's face as the familiar scent of horses and leather met her nostrils. The scent was familiar and reminded her of home; and in truth, she was at home among these animals. They provided her with the comfort and trust that other people had never been able to give her. She slung the strap of her tote more securely over her shoulder and made her way down the long, freshly swept hallway until she reached Manny's stall. The gelding shoved his giant head out through the feed door of the stall to see who was bothering him and was greeted with a "Hello Manny," murmured softly to him. She slid open his stall then and walked inside the roomy thing to give him a pat and get him on the cross-ties. Liza reached a hand outside the stall to retrieve a large leather halter and proceeded to slip it over his head. She led Manny out of the stall and clipped a cross-tie to each side of the halter. The gelding looked around with ears pricked but did not fuss much, for which Elizabeth was grateful. She quickly undid the straps on his fly sheet and slid it off of him, folding it into a neat square to be placed in her highly organized tack trunk. From that, she retrieved a tote full of every grooming tool possible and began her work on his nearly spotless coat.

After about twenty minutes of rigorous grooming and quite a bit of fly spray, along with some fuss about getting an ear net on Manny, she was finally leading him to the massive outdoor on the facility. The gelding was swinging his head this way and that to catch a sight of everything going on around him. When they reached the arena, Elizabeth frowned slightly. It seemed a young girl was having a private lesson at that moment. Liza looked to the center of the arena and saw that the girl giving the lesson looked a bit young; certainly younger than her. She seemed to know what she was doing though, and Elizabeth's judging ended there. Instead, she clutched the braided leather of Manny's bridle tighter in her gloved hand, and watched the girl on the gorgeous white pony move smoothly around the ring. The girl was an excellent rider, definitely young, and Liza saw some great potential in her. She listened to the rhythmic drumming of the pony's canter and smiled a little to herself. She didn't necessarily want to wait for the girl's lesson to be over (who knew how long that would take) but would at least wait for her to drop back down to a walk before taking Manny inside.

tell me that we both matter dont we

TEMPLATE BY: THERE CAN BE ONLY ONE MIKEY ! @ CAUTION.