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Waiting on the love

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Of a traveling soldier

The second amazing collab that I've done with *NativeHorseStables :la: This time for *mapal's summer dressage show.

Native's wonderous part!(same image, but you should go watch her) [link]

Show Info
Horse(s) Name(s): NHS Moonlight Montage (cremello) and NHS Midnight Mirage (black)
Rider(s) Name(s): Alec Wright and Vicky Harris
Class: Pas De Deux
Music: (Specially mixed by Native herself!!) [link]

Story time!!


(Part 1 written by *NativeHorseStables)

“I have a proposition to make,” Vicky said, disturbing Oliver’s engaged reading.
“What sort of proposition?” he mumbled, not wanting to tear away from his book. Vicky took a deep breath. That wasn’t something she did often. It caught Oliver’s attention; his head snapped up and he put his book down. “What sort of proposition in this?” he repeated, this time much more seriously.
Vicky looked away as she explained herself. “How would you feel if Alec rode Taj in the Pas de Deux with me in Raj in the Summer Dressage Show at Fireflight Stables. Oliver removed his glasses and set them down carefully on his bedside table. Vicky knew she was in trouble.
“Alec. From Woodland Ridge. Riding my horse,” he said slowly, in much more of a statement than a question.
“Yeah, I mean, he got first in the show at Dreaming Land Stables, and that was in a foot of water, so I’m sure he would do great with-”
“No.” Vicky nearly jumped at how harshly he could say a single word. She knew that Oliver never let anyone ride his horse, barely even her, but she didn’t expect him to be so... She didn’t know.
“Come on, Oliver, please?” Vicky begged.
“No! I said no, leave me alone!” he hissed; sounding more like a teenager than a 24-year old.
“Oliver!”
“You know what,” he said more calmly that time, shifting back into his real-aged persona. “Next time you want to ditch your 10+ year Pas de Deux partner, don’t try to steal his horse, too. Now leave.” Vicky stepped back, surprised at her twin’s anger.
“Oliver, I didn’t mean to-”
“I said leave!” he snapped. Vicky looked at her twin with her eyes wide; she had no idea he would take this so seriously, or that he would think she didn’t want to do dressage with him anymore. All the same, she left. She didn’t want Oliver to get any more upset. “I hope he falls!” he called after her as she shut the door. She went downstairs hastily; that didn’t go according to plan. Maybe Oliver would get over himself. Hopefully Oliver would get over himself. She picked up her phone and called Alec to tell him the news.
“Hello?” he answered.
“Hi, it’s Vicky.”
“Oh, hey,” he replied. “What’s the verdict?”
“You can come try Taj tomorrow,” she said, going around the fact that Oliver had strictly forbidden Alec to ride his horse.”
“Okay, great, see you then,” Alec responded.
“Bye.” Vicky hung up the phone and sighed. Hopefully her brother would change his opinion by tomorrow.

Nope. The next day, Oliver was still barely talking to her. But, in his anger, he didn’t leave his room more than once or twice, so she was fairly certain she could sneak Alec into a ride on Taj. She had the cremello stallion groomed and tacked by the time Alec arrived. When she was adjusting his noseband, Taj pricked his ears, more of a reflex than to try and hear something, and let out a low, curious nicker. The deaf stallion was not very vocal, so Vicky turned to what he was looking at in surprise. It was the craziest thing, the only way she could tell that it was Alec approaching them instead of Oliver from that far away was because Alec was a good few inches taller. Taj probably thought that it was his owner approaching him instead of a stranger. When he came into earshot, Vicky greeted him.
“Hey,” she said casually, stroking Taj’s neck.
“Hi,” Alec replied politely, approaching the pair. “Hello, handsome,” he addressed to Taj, reaching out tentatively so he wouldn’t frighten the impaired stallion. Taj snorted and raised his head; he knew it wasn’t his owner at this point. “It’s okay,” Alec murmured, trying to gain the stallion’s trust. Taj pinned his ears and skittered backwards nervously. He was always uncomfortable with new people, and him being deaf didn’t help anything. “Sorry,” Alec apologized quickly, drawing his hand away.
“It’s fine, he’s just a little nervous,” Vicky assured Alec, rubbing Taj’s forehead comfortingly. She offered Alec the reins and he took them cautiously, clucking softly to encourage the stallion to follow him.
“He won’t hear you you know, he’s deaf,” Vicky said, unsure of whether or not Alec knew.
“Really?” he asked, putting a hand on Taj’s face gently. “There was a grulla mare at a barn I used to work at who was deaf. She was the best cross country horse ever, since she couldn’t hear the crowd nothing phased her.”
“Taj is like that when he’s competing, but around the barn it can sometimes make him uncomfortable, especially if people sneak up on him.” Alec nodded.
“I don’t like people sneaking up on me even when I can hear, so I definitely wouldn’t like it if I was deaf,” he put in.
“Same here.” Vicky led Alec out to the new ring. It still had dirt footing, but it was looser than the smaller schooling ring and a lot bigger. “I didn’t have time to put the jumps down, I’m sorry,” she apologized. Since it was so large, the new ring had been deemed the jumping ring, and the old ring was the dressage ring.
“That’s okay, I think I’ll manage,” he joked gently, tightening Taj’s girth.
“Careful, he sometimes snaps or tries to kick,” Vicky warned Alec.
“Thanks for the warning,” Alec said with a teasing smile, tightening Taj’s girth more cautiously now that he knew of the stallion’s sensitivity. Alec began to mount Taj with Vicky stopped him.
“Sorry to be so compulsive, but Oliver has a strict rule that you always have to use the mounting block when you get on him,” Vicky apologized.
“It’s fine, I use a mounting block when I get on Cricket, too,” Alec assured Vicky. He carefully put himself atop the ivory stallion and started to adjust his stirrups. When he set his left stirrup down back at Taj’s side, Taj leapt forward, pinning his ears. “Whoa, it’s okay,” Alec said, scratching the Gypsy’s crest.
“He’s super sensitive, I honestly think that Oliver trained him to respond to mind commands instead of hands, seat, and leg,” Vicky told him.
“I see,” Alec replied. “I’ll keep that in mind.” Alec finished adjusting his stirrups and didn’t think he moved a muscle to ask Taj to walk, but still the stallion stepped forward and took his assumed position on the rail. After walking half a way around the ring, he thought “trot”, but, instead of trotting, the stallion lowered his ears and paused in his walking. Alec thought again, and when that didn’t work he put his leg on slightly. Taj pinned his ears and snatched the bit, throwing his front legs up aggressively in a hostile rear. “What do I do now?” Alec asked, a slightly unnerved by the sudden act of disobedience. Vicky frowned.
“I... I don’t know. Try pushing your hands forward and giving him some leg.” Alec did so, but Taj, unable to phase his rider by rearing, pinned his ears again and bucked instead. In fact, he continued to buck until Alec was nearly unseated, so Alec made a messy emergency dismount, landing on his feet.
“I’m not sure of this is going to work,” Alec admitted. Taj napped easily with his eyes closed now that his rider was where he wanted him to be, it didn’t seem possible for that to be the same horse who Alec was riding just seconds ago.
Vicky frowned. “He’s not normally like this, I don’t know what got into him, maybe-”
“Did you walk him on both reins before you trotted, and trot him on both reins before you cantered?” Vicky whipped around at her brother’s voice.
“Uh, no,” Alec replied, a bit surprised himself.
“Well, get back on, try it, and you shouldn’t have any more problems,” Oliver recommended. He turned around to go back inside, and Vicky followed him.
“Are you super mad at me?” Vicky questioned nervously.
Oliver paused. “No,” he decided. Vicky raised her eyebrows.
“Really?”

Oliver shrugged simply. “No, I’m not. I would prefer it if you got my okay before letting someone hop on my horse, but I suppose I was being a bit unreasonable.” He cracked a slight smile, and Vicky let out a sigh of relief.

“Thank you thank you thank you, so much,” Vicky said, hugging her brother.

“No problem. If Taj gives you any more trouble just let me know.”

Oliver retreated back inside and Vicky went back out to the ring, where Alec was sitting easily to a beautiful canter. He cantered Taj down the diagonal, and without even moving his leg Taj executed a flawless flying change. Alec spotted Vicky and brought the Gypsy back down to the walk, patting his neck.

“When he’s not trying to buck you off, he’s a great horse,” Alec said with a teasing smile.

“I’m glad you like him,” Vicky replied. Alec hopped off and, while cooling Taj, out, him and Vicky talked about possible themes for their Pas de Deux routine. They talk for nearly half an hour, still not completely pleased with anything they came up with. Suddenly, Vicky got an idea. “Have you read Dear John?” she said spontaneously. Alec raised his eyebrows, surprised at Vicky’s seemingly random outburst.

“I’ve heard of it,” he replied. “Why?”

“Well, I had an idea that we could do something sort of like that for our storyline. You know, the strangers meeting, fall in love, guy goes to war, gets injured in battle, but comes back for a happy ending,” she explained briefly. Alec shifted a little. Vicky frowned slightly, he look sort of... uncomfortable. She was about to discard the idea when Alec put on a smile.

“That could work,” he said, but Vicky couldn’t help to notice he sounded a little reserved.

“Cool,” she said. “So how will we do this?”

(Part 2 written by myself)
Alec sat in the cab of the truck he had driven to the show grounds with Kylie, Vicky, Oliver and Kianah had taken a NHS truck and trailer for the two gypsy vanners that he and Vicky would be using for their pas de deux. Cricket and Grace had already done their tests, and were munching hay contentedly on the side of the trailer while Alec waited for Kylie to come back and watch them so he could go start getting ready with Vicky. They had spent months preparing for the routine, determined to keep WRS and NHS’s record of winning when they competed together as a team. Even though the theme for their story was something Alec wasn’t completely comfortable with he was willing to set aside his history with the subject for the ten minuets it would take them to perform.
“Vicky’s looking for you” Kylie announced as she came back up to the truck, she was still wearing the pearl colored pants and ivory shirt she had needed for the competition that day and Alec did his best not to look at her too fondly.
“I should go then” he hopped down from the truck bed and gave Cricket a goodbye pat “wish us luck” he urged his horse. Cricket looked up from her hay just long enough to nose his pockets for treats, when she found none she went back to her hay and Alec smiled in amusement.
“I’ll be there in time to see you guys go” Kylie assured him as she took his place in the truck to watch the horses. Alec nodded and he grabbed a garment bag out of the small tack room that was built into the trailer “I’’ll see you then” he agreed before walking toward the NHS van, they had arrived a little later, so they had been forced to park in a more remote part of the lot. When he arrived he saw Vicky brushing Raj with quick brisk strokes of her hard brush, she had a bottle of show sheen in one hand and he saw a bottle of dry shampoo next to her foot, she was armed against even the smallest speck of dirt on her mare. He made sure he stepped into Taj’s range of vision before approaching him so he didn’t startle the deaf stallion. Taj pricked his silent ears and rubbed his nose against Alec’s hand. It was a small show of affection, but that was all Alec had come to expect from him since Taj was so incredibly loyal to Oliver. Vicky spotted him over Raj’s withers and he heard her sigh in relief.
“I almost thought you were skipping on me” she accused lightly, coming to the other side of Taj. Alec smiled “I thought about it” he teased “but I couldn’t give up the chance to ride this handsome guy again”. He rubbed Taj’s cheek fondly and Vicky laughed before she went back to Raj to tack the ebony mare. Alec pulled Taj’s tack from the racks in the trailer as well and tacked Taj up. He looked very handsome in the dark navy saddle pad and wraps and his mane had been pulled into tight braids the night before. He and Vicky went to change, Kylie had helped him make the dark military jacket he was supposed to wear, and the borrowe dthe hat right from a collection of his father’s old army posessions. It wasn’t easy to unearth those memories, and Alec wasn’t fond of being forced to remember his father leaving year after year for another tour. His military career had finally ended with a hidden bomb that decimated his jeep, leaving thirteen year old Alec to care for his grief stricken mother while his older brother was at college. Kylie helped immensely, she had been with him that day, and she was his constant source of support. If only she knew how much she meant to him. Vicky dawned a snowy white dress and as the sun slowly started to set they mounted up and started going over their drill verbally just to make sure they wouldn’t forget.

There were other teams before them, so they waited at the edge of the ring and let the horses rest. When it was their turn to ride Vicky cast Alec a reassuring smile, which he returned as well as he could. Their music had been specially mixed, so it matched the story their movements played out. Alec and Vicky began on opposite sides of the ring, acting as strangers until they met and then eventually fell in love. Alec felt a familiar tingle at the back of his neck as they switched into the sadder parts of the story, this was where he always had trouble, where things sometimes became a little too overwhelming for him. He separated from Vicky and rode Taj in a series of powerful movements, passage’s, extended canters, pirouettes, to indicate his character in a battle situation. Then he halted, and Taj stood statue still in the middle of the ring as Vicky and Raj danced around them, playing out the sadness and desperation that accompanied Alec’s character being injured. Raj picked up her feet and moved out in precise time to the complex melody she rode to and her flowing feathers added an element of mystery to her performance. Alec cued Taj into a collected canter, making sure the stallion stayed in a frame and he engaged his powerful hindquarters so his movements became flawless. At K he trotted, using his leg to push Taj into an extension and turned in toward X to cross the ring. Vicky mimicked his movement and they passed each other with barely an inch between them, signifying the reunion between the soldier and the woman he cared for so much. They paired up again, the two vanners matching each other step for step as they floated around the ring in a final series of affectionate movements to give their story a happy ending. Alec and Vicky held their final pose as the crowd cheered and he exchanged a breathless smile with Vicky, they had performed as well as they could, hopefully it would be enough.

:bulletgreen: Technical stuff :bulletyellow:
Tools: my hands, PSE, wacom tablet
Time: Lotsssssss
Ref:...google ^^;

Everything here belongs to either Native or I (except the light brushes) please don't steal! we would be really unhappy with you :/
Image size
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© 2011 - 2024 Mockingbirdblues
Comments4
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Zephyrra's avatar
This looks great! I love both your styles mixed together!