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Description
Edit: She won!!! 8DDD Her very first class at her very first show, and she won it! I'm so proud of her.

Anna Richardson and L'Incendario at Coastal Stables's Hunter Training Show (Young Horse Hunter In-Hand)

The third in a set of images for this particular show. This is the show entry I was so blocked on in this poll . Thank you so much to everyone who tried to help me make up my mind, but in the end this was the only way I could get any inspiration. *AthenaMyth , I hope you don't mind that this entry isn't a full-body image of Aria and Anna. I just really, really wanted to show a moment of closeness between them.

She was so quiet. She had all her mother's regal bearing and all her father's pride, but none of their self-confidence. She was like some beautiful little girl who, for some reason, didn't seem to think she was good enough for the attention others seemed to get so easily -- and at the same time, she dreamed of being recognized for her inherent excellence.

Everyone could see it at home. This little yearling filly -- little in presence only, that is -- was so painfully shy around other horses and around too many people, but when she was allowed to be by herself, she transformed into as commanding a figure as a gangly young horse can be. Anna had this theory, right, that Aria had a sort of "only child" syndrome, where she didn't like and wasn't good at interacting with large groups but actually really enjoyed playing by herself.

"It's like she's playing pretend, and the only times she can do that is when there's nobody else around to shatter the fantasy," Anna commented once to her mother.

"You used to do the same thing," Gigi responded, "but only before Niels was born."

It was a tough call, bringing Aria to the Canada show. Outlaw would be going, though, and there was a view floating around the farm that this show might be a good way to gauge how Aria might react to the show ring. Her dam was a dressage champion in her own right, and Outlaw loved his job as a working hunter, so why not see if the baby might like one of those things?

"You understand that she'll have to be in the arena with a group, right?" said Niels before they left. He thought bringing Aria was... not a bad idea, necessarily, but perhaps not a good one. "She can't show alone in an in-hand class; she's got to stand with them while she waits, do her pattern in front of them, and then line up next to everyone at the end."

Anna's response was less concerned than her brother's. "Yeah, but even if she flips out the worst we can expect is that she shuts down and goes push-button on us like she did when she came home. Why not?"

Admittedly, it seemed at first upon entering the arena that Niels may have been correct in his assessment of the stress a group class would place on Aria's nerves. Anna tried to warm her up a little bit with her fellow competitors in the far end of the arena, but even though Aria did all the motions well, she did them without her usual fire.

"Here we go," Anna muttered as she got the signal to step forward for their turn. "Are you ready?"

It was as they stepped away from the crowd and up to the cones that Anna noticed the relief in her filly's step. It was small, but present. Heart hammering in her chest, she half-turned and asked Aria to halt for the judges. At first they were in showmanship pose -- handler snapped off to one side, lead arm held stiffly out to the horse, smile fixed in place. And then there was a whinny from somewhere beyond the massive arena doors. Aria's left ear flicked back. There was another whinny, and this time Anna heard a distant yell of exasperation, and they both realized who, exactly, was acting as cheerleader.

Aria no longer looked like a little robot filly. She drew her head up, glanced around the arena, and then turned her head to blow cookie breath at Anna's face. She met her handler's gaze with an expression that seemed to say, "This is for me, then? This is all for me?"

And Anna said, "Yes. Of course."

And she said it out loud.

And Aria competed.

Description
Edit: She won!!! 8DDD Her very first class at her very first show, and she won it! I'm so proud of her.

Anna Richardson and L'Incendario at Coastal Stables's Hunter Training Show (Young Horse Hunter In-Hand)

The third in a set of images for this particular show. This is the show entry I was so blocked on in this poll . Thank you so much to everyone who tried to help me make up my mind, but in the end this was the only way I could get any inspiration. *AthenaMyth , I hope you don't mind that this entry isn't a full-body image of Aria and Anna. I just really, really wanted to show a moment of closeness between them.

She was so quiet. She had all her mother's regal bearing and all her father's pride, but none of their self-confidence. She was like some beautiful little girl who, for some reason, didn't seem to think she was good enough for the attention others seemed to get so easily -- and at the same time, she dreamed of being recognized for her inherent excellence.

Everyone could see it at home. This little yearling filly -- little in presence only, that is -- was so painfully shy around other horses and around too many people, but when she was allowed to be by herself, she transformed into as commanding a figure as a gangly young horse can be. Anna had this theory, right, that Aria had a sort of "only child" syndrome, where she didn't like and wasn't good at interacting with large groups but actually really enjoyed playing by herself.

"It's like she's playing pretend, and the only times she can do that is when there's nobody else around to shatter the fantasy," Anna commented once to her mother.

"You used to do the same thing," Gigi responded, "but only before Niels was born."

It was a tough call, bringing Aria to the Canada show. Outlaw would be going, though, and there was a view floating around the farm that this show might be a good way to gauge how Aria might react to the show ring. Her dam was a dressage champion in her own right, and Outlaw loved his job as a working hunter, so why not see if the baby might like one of those things?

"You understand that she'll have to be in the arena with a group, right?" said Niels before they left. He thought bringing Aria was... not a bad idea, necessarily, but perhaps not a good one. "She can't show alone in an in-hand class; she's got to stand with them while she waits, do her pattern in front of them, and then line up next to everyone at the end."

Anna's response was less concerned than her brother's. "Yeah, but even if she flips out the worst we can expect is that she shuts down and goes push-button on us like she did when she came home. Why not?"

Admittedly, it seemed at first upon entering the arena that Niels may have been correct in his assessment of the stress a group class would place on Aria's nerves. Anna tried to warm her up a little bit with her fellow competitors in the far end of the arena, but even though Aria did all the motions well, she did them without her usual fire.

"Here we go," Anna muttered as she got the signal to step forward for their turn. "Are you ready?"

It was as they stepped away from the crowd and up to the cones that Anna noticed the relief in her filly's step. It was small, but present. Heart hammering in her chest, she half-turned and asked Aria to halt for the judges. At first they were in showmanship pose -- handler snapped off to one side, lead arm held stiffly out to the horse, smile fixed in place. And then there was a whinny from somewhere beyond the massive arena doors. Aria's left ear flicked back. There was another whinny, and this time Anna heard a distant yell of exasperation, and they both realized who, exactly, was acting as cheerleader.

Aria no longer looked like a little robot filly. She drew her head up, glanced around the arena, and then turned her head to blow cookie breath at Anna's face. She met her handler's gaze with an expression that seemed to say, "This is for me, then? This is all for me?"

And Anna said, "Yes. Of course."

And she said it out loud.

And Aria competed.