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Description
2018 storyline folder "Loving Learning Winning Losing"
Previously | Next

Her mishap in Tokyo had made Summer really, really rueful. Gone were her excitement, her unfaltering self-confidence, her optimism. But instead of moping, what she'd surely done only a few years ago, she was actually trying to work towards a solution rather than being miserable about having failed something that she'd been very confident about.
Okay, there were a few weeks of demotivation, but after those were over, Summer was able to start with some more constructive thinking.

Obviously, the horse was unsure, and their relationship wasn't yet close enough to provide him with enough reassurance to overcome his respect (or, whatever his problem was, really). Summer found it would be best to stop jumping, stop competing for a while, to go back and focus on the root of what was going wrong in their partnership. That meant lots of flatwork, hacks, walks - and a relatively new discovery of hers; liberty training. The soft and attentive Caddy took it like a duck to water - he quickly understood what was asked of him and thrived in the challenging tasks. Not long, and he followed his rider closely on her heels, attentively listening to her every command, stopping when she stopped, running when she ran.

The next step was to include polework in their liberty sessions. This took the bay longer to get comfortable with - he often shied away from the poles, especially now that no halter or bridle was there to keep him close to them. Even worse when Summer was about to change the setup and let them drop on the ground with a dull thud. He seemed to outright hate that sound, always trying to get away from those tumbling sticks of wood.

Summer started to realize what might be his problem. Whatever had happened, it caused him a certain discomfort around poles. Summer really hoped he hadn't been hit in the beginning of his training... that would take forever to get out of his system. Then again, he wasn't particularly sensitive around his front legs either, so hopefully it was just some horror scenario that she was making up in her head. But regardless - he needed time to build up more confidence, and though she couldn't exactly spare a lot, Summer was more than ready to give it to him.

May and June came and went, and Caddy slowly seemed to become more and more comfortable with everything he was confronted with. It was a long road, but at least now Summer knew where to start - or at least hoped that she did. And when it meant that she had to pull out of the next leg of the Champions League... then so be it. Her teammates would do a great job in London, that was sure. She would get to watch them through the TV screen - with tied hands, no chance to get there too and help...

It was a week before HCL London, when Caddy somehow managed to back up into one of the set up obstacles, and subsequently ripped the whole thing down. When the poles landed on his bum, he took off like a rocket, crashing through several others before he cornered up at the other end of the arena, sweating and breathing heavily.
Summer kicked a pole (and promptly flinched). This wasn't going anywhere, and the next leg of the Champions League was already on the horizon. And Caddy's owners, too, were stomping their feet impatiently...

She was running out of time.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Summer and thinking -- what kinda combination is this?? xD
Just a very simple picture, I'm just glad that I got it done at last. There were a few Tokyo extra pics that I wanted to do but now it's too late and I'm just moving on with her story. XD such is lyfe.
I pretty much make this up on the spot -- what is this time thing that people keep talking about????

Art, characters (c) by me, no ref used | DIN A5 pencil sketch, coloured with PS
AVRRA (c) by WesternSpice

Description
2018 storyline folder "Loving Learning Winning Losing"
Previously | Next

Her mishap in Tokyo had made Summer really, really rueful. Gone were her excitement, her unfaltering self-confidence, her optimism. But instead of moping, what she'd surely done only a few years ago, she was actually trying to work towards a solution rather than being miserable about having failed something that she'd been very confident about.
Okay, there were a few weeks of demotivation, but after those were over, Summer was able to start with some more constructive thinking.

Obviously, the horse was unsure, and their relationship wasn't yet close enough to provide him with enough reassurance to overcome his respect (or, whatever his problem was, really). Summer found it would be best to stop jumping, stop competing for a while, to go back and focus on the root of what was going wrong in their partnership. That meant lots of flatwork, hacks, walks - and a relatively new discovery of hers; liberty training. The soft and attentive Caddy took it like a duck to water - he quickly understood what was asked of him and thrived in the challenging tasks. Not long, and he followed his rider closely on her heels, attentively listening to her every command, stopping when she stopped, running when she ran.

The next step was to include polework in their liberty sessions. This took the bay longer to get comfortable with - he often shied away from the poles, especially now that no halter or bridle was there to keep him close to them. Even worse when Summer was about to change the setup and let them drop on the ground with a dull thud. He seemed to outright hate that sound, always trying to get away from those tumbling sticks of wood.

Summer started to realize what might be his problem. Whatever had happened, it caused him a certain discomfort around poles. Summer really hoped he hadn't been hit in the beginning of his training... that would take forever to get out of his system. Then again, he wasn't particularly sensitive around his front legs either, so hopefully it was just some horror scenario that she was making up in her head. But regardless - he needed time to build up more confidence, and though she couldn't exactly spare a lot, Summer was more than ready to give it to him.

May and June came and went, and Caddy slowly seemed to become more and more comfortable with everything he was confronted with. It was a long road, but at least now Summer knew where to start - or at least hoped that she did. And when it meant that she had to pull out of the next leg of the Champions League... then so be it. Her teammates would do a great job in London, that was sure. She would get to watch them through the TV screen - with tied hands, no chance to get there too and help...

It was a week before HCL London, when Caddy somehow managed to back up into one of the set up obstacles, and subsequently ripped the whole thing down. When the poles landed on his bum, he took off like a rocket, crashing through several others before he cornered up at the other end of the arena, sweating and breathing heavily.
Summer kicked a pole (and promptly flinched). This wasn't going anywhere, and the next leg of the Champions League was already on the horizon. And Caddy's owners, too, were stomping their feet impatiently...

She was running out of time.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Summer and thinking -- what kinda combination is this?? xD
Just a very simple picture, I'm just glad that I got it done at last. There were a few Tokyo extra pics that I wanted to do but now it's too late and I'm just moving on with her story. XD such is lyfe.
I pretty much make this up on the spot -- what is this time thing that people keep talking about????

Art, characters (c) by me, no ref used | DIN A5 pencil sketch, coloured with PS
AVRRA (c) by WesternSpice