` long and winding road [OPEN!]

[Alexander "Sasha" Cole]

Sasha glanced over to his pit bull, resting calmly in the shade with her tongue hanging out the side of her mouth as he pulled Apollo to a stop with a gentle sawing motion on the reins. He didn’t want to get a harsher bit on such a young horse, especially since he was just learning but no rider would deny that it got annoying to have a horse pull against your hands every time you asked him to stop. They had just finished a course and young Apollo had done very well, basically. He was still picking out big spots and making his life harder than it needed to be, but he’d learn in time. He was doing perfectly over the smaller obstacles, but he just didn’t know how to time the larger stuff quite yet. He’d learn, he had a good head and understood what he was doing, and he, generally, tried to do what you wanted him to do. In Sasha’s mind, that’s all a horse needed to be a good animal so Apollo was going to be fine once his training was complete.

As he pulled the gelding up and made sure his dog hadn’t wandered too far off he knew he had to find someone else around who could actually ride a horse so he could see Apollo work. He actually found it hard to find someone he trust around the stable with his horses, or his horse and Apollo, as the case may be. So many of the people at the barn had their own horse and that was the one they liked to ride and those were the last people he’d allow on a green horse that was his responsibility without being his. He would love for someone to be able to ride Apollo for him, so he could see how the horse was doing from the ground, and get him used to other people, but he just didn’t know people around Blackwood yet. Well, except Hayley, but she was still getting used to riding green horses as well, so that didn’t really work out either.

Anyway, Sasha dismounted, loosened the girth, ran up his stirrups and slid the running martingale from around the reins to allow the horse full motion of his head. He made sure Kira, the pit, wasn’t too far off as he led Apollo back into the barn. The dark gelding led fairly well, still hot, but Sasha wasn’t quite finished with him just yet, after all. He was soon getting more horse to the barn to train, but for now there was just Apollo and Strider, leaving him a lot of free time, though he was working with Addy now too. Sasha took Apollo back to the stall and slid the halter, which he had set in the feed bucket, around the gelding’s neck before sliding off the bridle and replacing it with the halter, which he set up in cross ties. He closed the stall door behind him and headed towards the stable lobby. No one was riding, at least not outside when he was so nice, so he assumed most of the annoying teenage girls were lounging out in the lobby, and right now he really needed the help from one of them.

Kira followed close to Sasha’s heels, Sasha reaching down to scratch the top of the scarred head. The poor girl had been used as a bait dog for dog fights and Sasha had found her and took her to the vet. He had never wanted a dog, but the next thing he knew he was taking the bitch home and soon had the dog trained to be around horses and loving everyone she came up to. She was pretty loved around Sasha’s old barn, now it was just time to see if the people here would find her even worthwhile to have around the stable. Sasha listened to his paddock boots echo down the aisle, which needed to be swept, but that was hardly his job. The stable was nice, no one could deny that, but he was currently still missing the old barn, which was just as nice and made for training, which made his life easier. Either way, he had no choice but to get used to this now, and hopefully people would learn quickly that he knew what he was talking about, but would rather not talk to people most of the time. Waste of time, you could say, but right now he wished he had more people to talk to, shockingly.

Once at the lobby Sasha opened the door and made to lean against the doorway, but Kira ran in to say hello to the females littering the lobby. Sasha let out a low whistle to call the bitch back to him, shaking his head slightly. “Sorry about her,” he said when he had at least some attention on him. If he knew there would be such a vast girl to guy ratio at horse stables, he would have gotten into the sport long ago, the only problem was the breeches and jodhpurs. No matter how attractive the girl was, the riding pants made her look horrible, at least from the waist down. Anyway… Sasha glanced up towards whoever was in the lobby once again, not making eye contact but at least looking in the general direction. “Any of you wanna help me with something?” he paused for a moment before deciding he needed to say something more, “Someone who can jump,” he finished up, running his hand through his messy, sand colored hair.

He actually didn’t like doing this, but he really needed to get someone else on Apollo so he could see what was going on. Something felt different and he thought he knew what it was, but it would be impossible to know for sure without seeing someone else get on the gelding and riding him instead. He just had to put his pride on the back burner and actually ask for someone to do something for him… or something like that, because that wasn’t it either. Asking for help, no, that was the wrong word too, an assistant more or less, the way he was made a good trainer. He knew when he had to see something from a different view, and he knew just having Apollo do it without a rider wouldn’t give him the view he needed as well.

((Bleck, I hate it. It's a recycled post, so it may not work exactly for CR, however you get the point of what he's doing to... yeah. Open to anyone =] ))

[Alexander "Sasha" Cole]

Sasha glanced over to his pit bull, resting calmly in the shade with her tongue hanging out the side of her mouth as he pulled Apollo to a stop with a gentle sawing motion on the reins. He didn’t want to get a harsher bit on such a young horse, especially since he was just learning but no rider would deny that it got annoying to have a horse pull against your hands every time you asked him to stop. They had just finished a course and young Apollo had done very well, basically. He was still picking out big spots and making his life harder than it needed to be, but he’d learn in time. He was doing perfectly over the smaller obstacles, but he just didn’t know how to time the larger stuff quite yet. He’d learn, he had a good head and understood what he was doing, and he, generally, tried to do what you wanted him to do. In Sasha’s mind, that’s all a horse needed to be a good animal so Apollo was going to be fine once his training was complete.

As he pulled the gelding up and made sure his dog hadn’t wandered too far off he knew he had to find someone else around who could actually ride a horse so he could see Apollo work. He actually found it hard to find someone he trust around the stable with his horses, or his horse and Apollo, as the case may be. So many of the people at the barn had their own horse and that was the one they liked to ride and those were the last people he’d allow on a green horse that was his responsibility without being his. He would love for someone to be able to ride Apollo for him, so he could see how the horse was doing from the ground, and get him used to other people, but he just didn’t know people around Blackwood yet. Well, except Hayley, but she was still getting used to riding green horses as well, so that didn’t really work out either.

Anyway, Sasha dismounted, loosened the girth, ran up his stirrups and slid the running martingale from around the reins to allow the horse full motion of his head. He made sure Kira, the pit, wasn’t too far off as he led Apollo back into the barn. The dark gelding led fairly well, still hot, but Sasha wasn’t quite finished with him just yet, after all. He was soon getting more horse to the barn to train, but for now there was just Apollo and Strider, leaving him a lot of free time, though he was working with Addy now too. Sasha took Apollo back to the stall and slid the halter, which he had set in the feed bucket, around the gelding’s neck before sliding off the bridle and replacing it with the halter, which he set up in cross ties. He closed the stall door behind him and headed towards the stable lobby. No one was riding, at least not outside when he was so nice, so he assumed most of the annoying teenage girls were lounging out in the lobby, and right now he really needed the help from one of them.

Kira followed close to Sasha’s heels, Sasha reaching down to scratch the top of the scarred head. The poor girl had been used as a bait dog for dog fights and Sasha had found her and took her to the vet. He had never wanted a dog, but the next thing he knew he was taking the bitch home and soon had the dog trained to be around horses and loving everyone she came up to. She was pretty loved around Sasha’s old barn, now it was just time to see if the people here would find her even worthwhile to have around the stable. Sasha listened to his paddock boots echo down the aisle, which needed to be swept, but that was hardly his job. The stable was nice, no one could deny that, but he was currently still missing the old barn, which was just as nice and made for training, which made his life easier. Either way, he had no choice but to get used to this now, and hopefully people would learn quickly that he knew what he was talking about, but would rather not talk to people most of the time. Waste of time, you could say, but right now he wished he had more people to talk to, shockingly.

Once at the lobby Sasha opened the door and made to lean against the doorway, but Kira ran in to say hello to the females littering the lobby. Sasha let out a low whistle to call the bitch back to him, shaking his head slightly. “Sorry about her,” he said when he had at least some attention on him. If he knew there would be such a vast girl to guy ratio at horse stables, he would have gotten into the sport long ago, the only problem was the breeches and jodhpurs. No matter how attractive the girl was, the riding pants made her look horrible, at least from the waist down. Anyway… Sasha glanced up towards whoever was in the lobby once again, not making eye contact but at least looking in the general direction. “Any of you wanna help me with something?” he paused for a moment before deciding he needed to say something more, “Someone who can jump,” he finished up, running his hand through his messy, sand colored hair.

He actually didn’t like doing this, but he really needed to get someone else on Apollo so he could see what was going on. Something felt different and he thought he knew what it was, but it would be impossible to know for sure without seeing someone else get on the gelding and riding him instead. He just had to put his pride on the back burner and actually ask for someone to do something for him… or something like that, because that wasn’t it either. Asking for help, no, that was the wrong word too, an assistant more or less, the way he was made a good trainer. He knew when he had to see something from a different view, and he knew just having Apollo do it without a rider wouldn’t give him the view he needed as well.

((Bleck, I hate it. It's a recycled post, so it may not work exactly for CR, however you get the point of what he's doing to... yeah. Open to anyone =] ))