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Description

Alice makes her way to Aldergate Academy !
Ref by strangervinyl

-=-=-=-

Glenside is all Alice has known when it comes to horses. They had taken her from completely uninterested in riding, simply a first-time job for a young teenager, to competing at high levels on even Glenside's most complicated ponies. Whether she wanted to admit it or not, she had fallen in love with riding and all of the learning that comes with it.

The opportunity to move on was something unexpected and extremely difficult to settle on. Glenside was practically Alice’s family, but ever since Megan sent Tiger's main competition horse away behind her back it hasn't been the same. Tiger and Klaus were a package deal and so in order to avoid Megan, they would only come to do their chores and ride before 9am or after 9pm. Cas was off on tours a lot and Flick was on a different shift than her. Things simply weren't the same and truthfully, it became lonely.

Tigerlily had been offered a job working as a dressage instructor at Aldergate Academy which had recently reopened its doors. Due to the environment at Glenside, it was a no brainer. When Alice heard of the school that could help her reach her dreams of studying science at the highest levels combined with tailored ridden training, she also found it hard to say no.

She knew that eventually, she would come back to Glenside as it would always be her secondary home but it didn't make it any easier to say goodbye. What softened the blow though was that she was given the opportunity to bring along Spider, her heart horse by a long shot. Cas was the one that looked into and encouraged the move to Aldergate for both Alice and Flick for this academic year and he knew that Alice would never leave Spider, nor would Spider be happy going on an indefinite break therefore he offered Alice to take him with her and continue competing as she is now on her final year of 148s.

In theory everything sounded fine, but the penny didn't truly drop until she was walking Spider off that trailer. Staring out into the huge space. Alice was arriving the week before classes started to allow settling time, although judging by how busy the academy was, she was late.

Spider spun around towards the trailer, then back again to the stables, snorting with every step. He was on his toes, head high in the air as he took in the new atmosphere around him; either that or he was just really showing off his pink travel boots. Alice sighed, struggling to hold spider together while she tried to figure out where she was supposed to go. She could practically hear Cas telling her to “redirect his energy” so she did just that.

She focused her attention to Spider’s hind quarters, sipping herself down towards his back end and asking him to move his back end to the left with her body language until he complied. “Good job, buddy. Other side now” she sighed in relief as Spider began to bring his head down and relax his body.

Finally, she managed to figure out where the stable block was and could then lead a much calmer Spider to his assigned stall. The excitement began again when she walked him into the block. Alice couldn’t help but yawn, silently begging her pony to give it a rest. As she continued along the stable block where was greeted by another student who introduced herself as Alexandra, “Oh you look exhausted! Let me help.” She says with the brightest smile, grabbing the lead rope off of Alice and attempts to lead Spider forwards.

“it’s okay he’s not fond of others.” Alice winces as she tries to grab the lead back but Alexandra insists it’s okay and she’s happy to help.

Alice nods and walks towards stall 8, beginning to unlock it; however as she turns back towards the horse, she is greeted by his front hooves in the air. Spider snaps the lead rope in half, landing and then scrambling backwards. “Easy Spider it’s okay.” Alice tries to reassure him but it was no use as the pony spins and bolts out of the doors.

Alice apologies to Alexandra before jogging after him. He was never usually this skittish, but in fairness he did just travel 8 hours on a box and then get taken into an unfamiliar place, probably completely embarrassed to be dressed head to hoof in pink.

At first Spider was nowhere to be seen, the grounds were huge and large buildings covered every corner so it became a guessing game as to where he could be. Eventually though the sound of hooves emerged along with a tan, tall man holding the remaining threads of the lead rope.

“Lose something?” The man asks with a sarcastic smile, walking towards Alice who was now out of breath. “I’m Hassan, and you are?”

“Alice.” She smiled awkwardly, “I’m sorry. Thank you for grabbing him! Definitely not the way I expected to start the academy but he needs to be handled in a certain way and someone tried to help me out but it just made him anxious and he ran…”

“I understand, well you seem to know him well enough so maybe keep him to yourself until he settles. Let me know if you need a hand with anything, I’ll be in the staff barn.” Hassan handed Spider over and walked off in the opposite direction.

Alice silently cursed Spider as she would now have to use her backup lead rope until she could go out and buy a new one, also for giving her a less than shining impression on the first day - although she couldn’t expect anything less.

She walked him back into the stables, this time much more relaxed. He walked calmly into his assigned stable, awkwardly smiling at Alexandra on the way past.

“I’m so sorry I didn’t have a better hold of him, I didn’t mean to let him go. I hope he wasn’t too much of a hassle to catch?” Alexandra frowns anxiously as she sees Alice again.

“Oh god no you’re okay, I am the one who is sorry that my pony is a little psycho..” Alice reassures her. After some conversation about the situation and each other's horses, Alexandra helped Alice move Spider's tack, grooming box, rugs etc into the tack room along with her storage unit that sits just on the outside of his stable. When all of her equipment is moved in, Alice thanks the girl profusely for her help before heading out alone in an attempt to find her dorm room.

Alice felt her eyes begin to droop, she was completely exhausted from not only the total shit show that was moving in her pony, but the long journey. She took out a wrinkled piece of paper from the back pocket of her jeans, attempting to read the writing Tiger had left for her.
“Marengo block - left from your barn, right, right, left and first building on the right.

Don’t forget to sign your paperwork too. Then call me (if it’s passed 11am, i ain’t working yet)”

Alice attempted to follow what she believed the correct directions were and to her surprise, it successfully led her to the dorm rooms after a few minutes of walking. She found her room on the first floor, still empty meaning she had moved in before her roommate. She declared victory for herself and chose the bed which seemed in a more convenient spot with plug sockets right beside it, whereas the other bed’s plug sockets sat by the lower bed frame.

She also chose her wardrobe, although she had no intentions of unpacking yet therefore just stuffed her first bag inside and left the rest on top of her duvet. She sat down on the edge of the bed and took a minute for everything to sink in. So many new people, new places, new horses to experience. Things were going to be very different for a while, and she was so far from home. She was extremely grateful that Tiger, who is like a sister to her, would be coaching here meaning that between her and Flick, she would still have some familiar faces around.

Flick was moving in the next day so she only had to survive a single afternoon and evening without a friendly fellow student. For now, Alice made it her mission to explore every building she had access too. She walked around the entire grounds for the rest of the day after she collected her uniforms and signed the necessary paperwork.

She started simple by exploring close to her dorm with the tennis courts, football field, gymnasium etc before weaving her way through all of the arenas, stable blocks, cafeterias, cross country fields, before finally settling on the library which wasn’t technically open until classes did, but with an open door she figured she couldn’t get into too much trouble by picking up a few books.

‘I think I’m going to be okay here’ Alice sighed out, sitting on a chair by the book shelf and slowly scanning through pages of Centred Riding by Sally Swift.

Description

Alice makes her way to Aldergate Academy !
Ref by strangervinyl

-=-=-=-

Glenside is all Alice has known when it comes to horses. They had taken her from completely uninterested in riding, simply a first-time job for a young teenager, to competing at high levels on even Glenside's most complicated ponies. Whether she wanted to admit it or not, she had fallen in love with riding and all of the learning that comes with it.

The opportunity to move on was something unexpected and extremely difficult to settle on. Glenside was practically Alice’s family, but ever since Megan sent Tiger's main competition horse away behind her back it hasn't been the same. Tiger and Klaus were a package deal and so in order to avoid Megan, they would only come to do their chores and ride before 9am or after 9pm. Cas was off on tours a lot and Flick was on a different shift than her. Things simply weren't the same and truthfully, it became lonely.

Tigerlily had been offered a job working as a dressage instructor at Aldergate Academy which had recently reopened its doors. Due to the environment at Glenside, it was a no brainer. When Alice heard of the school that could help her reach her dreams of studying science at the highest levels combined with tailored ridden training, she also found it hard to say no.

She knew that eventually, she would come back to Glenside as it would always be her secondary home but it didn't make it any easier to say goodbye. What softened the blow though was that she was given the opportunity to bring along Spider, her heart horse by a long shot. Cas was the one that looked into and encouraged the move to Aldergate for both Alice and Flick for this academic year and he knew that Alice would never leave Spider, nor would Spider be happy going on an indefinite break therefore he offered Alice to take him with her and continue competing as she is now on her final year of 148s.

In theory everything sounded fine, but the penny didn't truly drop until she was walking Spider off that trailer. Staring out into the huge space. Alice was arriving the week before classes started to allow settling time, although judging by how busy the academy was, she was late.

Spider spun around towards the trailer, then back again to the stables, snorting with every step. He was on his toes, head high in the air as he took in the new atmosphere around him; either that or he was just really showing off his pink travel boots. Alice sighed, struggling to hold spider together while she tried to figure out where she was supposed to go. She could practically hear Cas telling her to “redirect his energy” so she did just that.

She focused her attention to Spider’s hind quarters, sipping herself down towards his back end and asking him to move his back end to the left with her body language until he complied. “Good job, buddy. Other side now” she sighed in relief as Spider began to bring his head down and relax his body.

Finally, she managed to figure out where the stable block was and could then lead a much calmer Spider to his assigned stall. The excitement began again when she walked him into the block. Alice couldn’t help but yawn, silently begging her pony to give it a rest. As she continued along the stable block where was greeted by another student who introduced herself as Alexandra, “Oh you look exhausted! Let me help.” She says with the brightest smile, grabbing the lead rope off of Alice and attempts to lead Spider forwards.

“it’s okay he’s not fond of others.” Alice winces as she tries to grab the lead back but Alexandra insists it’s okay and she’s happy to help.

Alice nods and walks towards stall 8, beginning to unlock it; however as she turns back towards the horse, she is greeted by his front hooves in the air. Spider snaps the lead rope in half, landing and then scrambling backwards. “Easy Spider it’s okay.” Alice tries to reassure him but it was no use as the pony spins and bolts out of the doors.

Alice apologies to Alexandra before jogging after him. He was never usually this skittish, but in fairness he did just travel 8 hours on a box and then get taken into an unfamiliar place, probably completely embarrassed to be dressed head to hoof in pink.

At first Spider was nowhere to be seen, the grounds were huge and large buildings covered every corner so it became a guessing game as to where he could be. Eventually though the sound of hooves emerged along with a tan, tall man holding the remaining threads of the lead rope.

“Lose something?” The man asks with a sarcastic smile, walking towards Alice who was now out of breath. “I’m Hassan, and you are?”

“Alice.” She smiled awkwardly, “I’m sorry. Thank you for grabbing him! Definitely not the way I expected to start the academy but he needs to be handled in a certain way and someone tried to help me out but it just made him anxious and he ran…”

“I understand, well you seem to know him well enough so maybe keep him to yourself until he settles. Let me know if you need a hand with anything, I’ll be in the staff barn.” Hassan handed Spider over and walked off in the opposite direction.

Alice silently cursed Spider as she would now have to use her backup lead rope until she could go out and buy a new one, also for giving her a less than shining impression on the first day - although she couldn’t expect anything less.

She walked him back into the stables, this time much more relaxed. He walked calmly into his assigned stable, awkwardly smiling at Alexandra on the way past.

“I’m so sorry I didn’t have a better hold of him, I didn’t mean to let him go. I hope he wasn’t too much of a hassle to catch?” Alexandra frowns anxiously as she sees Alice again.

“Oh god no you’re okay, I am the one who is sorry that my pony is a little psycho..” Alice reassures her. After some conversation about the situation and each other's horses, Alexandra helped Alice move Spider's tack, grooming box, rugs etc into the tack room along with her storage unit that sits just on the outside of his stable. When all of her equipment is moved in, Alice thanks the girl profusely for her help before heading out alone in an attempt to find her dorm room.

Alice felt her eyes begin to droop, she was completely exhausted from not only the total shit show that was moving in her pony, but the long journey. She took out a wrinkled piece of paper from the back pocket of her jeans, attempting to read the writing Tiger had left for her.
“Marengo block - left from your barn, right, right, left and first building on the right.

Don’t forget to sign your paperwork too. Then call me (if it’s passed 11am, i ain’t working yet)”

Alice attempted to follow what she believed the correct directions were and to her surprise, it successfully led her to the dorm rooms after a few minutes of walking. She found her room on the first floor, still empty meaning she had moved in before her roommate. She declared victory for herself and chose the bed which seemed in a more convenient spot with plug sockets right beside it, whereas the other bed’s plug sockets sat by the lower bed frame.

She also chose her wardrobe, although she had no intentions of unpacking yet therefore just stuffed her first bag inside and left the rest on top of her duvet. She sat down on the edge of the bed and took a minute for everything to sink in. So many new people, new places, new horses to experience. Things were going to be very different for a while, and she was so far from home. She was extremely grateful that Tiger, who is like a sister to her, would be coaching here meaning that between her and Flick, she would still have some familiar faces around.

Flick was moving in the next day so she only had to survive a single afternoon and evening without a friendly fellow student. For now, Alice made it her mission to explore every building she had access too. She walked around the entire grounds for the rest of the day after she collected her uniforms and signed the necessary paperwork.

She started simple by exploring close to her dorm with the tennis courts, football field, gymnasium etc before weaving her way through all of the arenas, stable blocks, cafeterias, cross country fields, before finally settling on the library which wasn’t technically open until classes did, but with an open door she figured she couldn’t get into too much trouble by picking up a few books.

‘I think I’m going to be okay here’ Alice sighed out, sitting on a chair by the book shelf and slowly scanning through pages of Centred Riding by Sally Swift.