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Volt-Draws — Close call
#digital #horse #harpg #art #equine
Published: 2019-11-21 04:30:16 +0000 UTC; Views: 765; Favourites: 20; Downloads: 0
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Description
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Stable: Narrow Mountain Farms
Story
Charlie and Lad's point of view
Sky tacked up her eager partner with a huge smile on her face. "I feel pretty good about today, don't you boy?!" Charger perked his ears in response and looked towards the stable exit, hinting that he was ready to get zooming. *Let's goooo* Charger thought to himself, stomping his hooves as loudly as he could. Sky laughed at how excited he was. "I know boy, I'm moving as fast as I can." She reassured giving him a pat on his neck. "There are a lot of new sights and sounds so make sure you get familiar with your surroundings before you focus in on the course." Sky finally finished tightening his bridle and getting him tacked up. She pushed the stall door open, only to see her mount walk out without her. "Charger! Wait for me!" She shouted trying to grab his reins before he dashed away. Stretching as far as she could, she latched onto the reins and held on with all her might, till he stopped in his tracks. Charger froze at the sudden jolt. Finally snapping out of his fixation, he looked towards her. *Why are you way back there? We have a course to own!* Sky squinted at her horse "Where did you think you were going anyway? You don't even know the directions to the cross country course you silly goose." Seeing that he was feeling his oats today, she figured she ought to keep a tight grip on the reins till they safely made it to the cross country course.
Sky decided that it would be best to walk him out for a while before mounting him. Hoping it could aid in helping him calm down a bit. Strategically choosing the longer way to get to the course, as it seemed to have less traffic and less people on it. The longer way meant that they would be passing by the show jumping grounds. Charger perked his ears intensely when he saw the horses springing over jumps in the show jumping arena and the warm up area. Though they were pretty tall jumps, Charger wasn't impressed. *Pffft, show jumpers. Controlled environments and close quarters. Most of those horses wouldn't last a day in a rugged cross country course! Even less on the one my girl is taking me to!* Sky smiled at how interested Charger seemed by the concept of show jumping. Thinking maybe she would let him dabble in it a bit one day to see how he fairs. She looked over to the show jumping arena and the clouds that were above it. Then something moving along in the clouds caught her eye. Apparently she had been so caught up with Charger and avoiding people that she didn't notice that the event had hired an aerial advertising service to fly over the event grounds. She admired how the aircraft matched the event's theme with it's shark inspired color scheme and shark bitten banner edge.
Suddenly they walked by a large white tarp that was flapping in the wind. Sky looked away from the aircraft for just a moment to acknowledge the placement of the tarp when she heard the aircraft fly closer. She looked at it but, her attention was pulled away from the aircraft now right over their heads when Charger spooked and broke free from her grip. He was following his owner's bad example and stopped keeping an eye on his surroundings as he judged the jumpers and was caught off guard when something in the environment changed. Sky fell forward, almost losing her balance. Regaining her footing just in time to see that her horse was running straight for a show jumper leading his horse out of the arena. "Charger! No, no, no!" she yelled, running as fast as she could to catch up to her horse. Sky knew she was nowhere as fast as a horse, but she hoped that she could somehow intercept what she felt was a embarrassing moment inbound.
The show jumper happened to look up just in time to avoid being mowed down. Quickly moving him and his horse out of harm's way, then reaching over to grab Charger's reins in a way that would slow him down without dislocating his shoulder. "Whoa, whoa. Easy!" He said to the red dun standardbred he had just caught. Sky saw that she was too late to intercept and began walking as slow as she could, thinking about all the different ways this could play out, and rehearsing what she would say that will make the upcoming conversation short and simple as possible. Now that the show jumper and his horse were no longer in danger, the man had time to asses the situation. Putting two and two together, the man figured the horse had gotten spooked, and ran from it's owner in the commotion. He then started darting his gaze around the show jumping grounds for anyone who looked like they've just been horse deprived. It didn't take long for him to lock his eyes on an horse deprived looking redhead walking towards him. She had a bit of distance left to cover, giving the man's horse time to get acquainted with the runaway. *Spook at a little aircraft noise? Seems scary at first, but you'll get used to it after a bit of exposure.* Charger looked at the bay with anger in his eyes *Quiet, Show Jumper! I just got a little caught off guard is all.* The bay was slightly offended at the rudeness. *Yes, I'm a show jumper. Why do you fling that at me as if it's a form of disrespect? The jumps I face daily takes pure precision and power to clear. Show jumping is not for the faint of heart.* Charger pinned his ears *Heart?! I have more heart than you could ever dream show jumper! You'd be running yourself crazy on a cross country course if you weren't in the safety of your closed arena!* The bay snorted at the standardbred, and the red dun attempted to strike at the Kinsky in return. The man put a little distance between the two of them till the redhead could get a little closer to reclaim her horse.
Sky ran through several different scenarios and picked out one that would be most effective. "Okay, I'll just go up to him and say "Thanks! Sorry," then turn around and walk away. No need to go any further with talking after that." Sky finally arrived to the man holding her horse. She held her hand out putting on the best embarrassment covering smile she could muster."Thanks! Sorry!" She said, holding her hand outward, hoping to receive the reins quickly and without incident. The man looked at her, and gave a warm smile. "I'm guessing this guy is yours. He get spooked by the tarp or the flyover?" Sky began to get nervous. This wasn't part of her plan, nor the scenarios she had thought up! In a panic, Sky lifted her pointing finger upward. "J-jet." She didn't mean to sound primitive, but it was the best she could muster before falling into a sea of ruin that her social anxiety was brewing up. The man seemed confused at the reply. He squinted at her for about two seconds before following the direction of her finger. His eyes met an Aerial Advertising craft. "That? No, Jets are propelled using jet engines, hence the name. If an aircraft is propelled without a jet engine, and is instead propelled by a set of, or pair of propellers, we call that a plane. Judging by the characteristics, she's a Cessna 172." Sky didn't know how to react. All of this was unscripted, and she desperately wanted it to get back in line with her pre planned scenario. She had to say something right? Otherwise she'd come off cold. Cold is bad, and rude. "Um, wow! I c-can't believe it! A Cessna, like, that's so amazing!" Sky shut her eyes in embarrassment, regretting that she decided it was a good idea to open her mouth. She obviously went a little overboard in the delivery of her excitement. The man looked at her again before looking back at the plane. "Seems like she's sporting a few modifications too. If you look closely at the tip of the wing you'll be able to spot her STOL kit. That helps to make landing safer and easier."
"Sir, I just want my horse back..." She thought to herself, trying to find a way to kindly stay on a schedule and walk off. She had no idea what she was doing to give off signals that she wanted to hear more and more about plane facts. She and Charger had a cross country course to be at! One thing was for certain, it was proving to be quite tough to get away. She was frozen and couldn't seem to open her mouth. Why did Charger have to get her into this situation?! The man noticed that she became rather quiet and turned to look back at her. Noticing she had on eventing gear, he quickly handed the reins to her. "Oh sorry, you must be on your way to the cross country course, didn't mean to keep you. Do your best out there, kid. Don't forget to have fun, and stay in school! Maybe I'll see you in the industry when you grow up." Sky put on a big, nervous smile as she gently grabbed the reins and walked away as fast as she could. "Charger, I'm so mad at you right now! That was soooo embarrassing! I told you to pay attention!" She scolded on their way to the course.
She and Charger were up next, and left off to a good start. Charger bought his A game, but Sky couldn't get her mind off of the embarrassing encounter from earlier. She replayed the event in her head and thought about different ways she should have handled it. "I could have told him that I'm actually 28 when he called me kid...but then he would have felt embarrassed, and I would have felt embarrassed, then the whole thing would have been awkward, and the conversation would have never ended. Yeah, I just didn't say anything because I didn't want to make him embarrassed, and I had more important things to get back to. That's it!...But I could have done it another way probably..." They came to the shore and had to go over a shark head obstacle. Sky was so caught up about that encounter that she forgot to prep herself for the jump, and almost made Charger off balanced going over. She quickly fixed her position and Charger was able to make a recovery. With that jolting her out of her daydream, she decided it would be best to play regret, after their run, not during it. "Sorry Charger, I'll pay attention now. That was a close call!"
Word count: 1,744 words
In case you were wondering who the show jumper and bay were, it was Charlie and Co-Pilot at the show jumping arena.
