TAKE THE REINS

Horse: Falkens Golden Crusader (start #1364)
Rider: Gabriel Nordstrand
Show: VS Spring Event
Class: Three day eventing- cross country

Rain had hammered on the roof all night; Gabriel dreaded the morning to come.  Typical Swedish weather, really,
not a cloud in the sky during the dressage phase last night and then WHAM the heavens opened up and drowned
the earth.

Figuring he might as well get up since he was already awake, he slid out of bed and shuffled off to the shower.
The hot water poured pleasantly down his body, exactly the way the rain would not when he rode later; ohh,
WHY had he agreed to ride Cruse?

Beep-beep, beep-beep, beep-beep

Great.  He'd forgotten to turn off the alarm.  Gabriel rinsed out the shampoo and turned off the water.

BEEP-BEEP, BEEP-BEEP, BEEP-BEEP

"I'm coming, I'm coming," he muttered, wrapping himself in a towel and hurrying back to his bedroom.

BEEPBEEPBEEP, BEEPBEEPBEEP, BEEPBEEPBEEP, BEEPBEE-

"Shut up!"  Gabriel yelled, slamming his fist on the button.  The clock obediently fell silent.  "Thank you."

------------------

"What's with the scowl?"

"Nothing, just tired.  Didn't sleep well, stupid rain," Gabriel muttered as he tightened up Cruse's girth.

Anna stared at him critically from under her umbrella.  "Well, wake up.  You're going to have to pay attention,
the footing is bad and this drizzle is going to mess with your vision.  Cruse doesn't have a ton of cross-country
experience yet either, and he's got that lunging jump style, so you'll lose your balance if you aren't careful. 
Don't forget your safety vest-"

"I know, I know, relax woman.  It's just some jumps, no big deal."

"You're an idiot," she sighed.  Then she frowned, and glanced up at the sky.  "A lucky one though, the clouds seem
to be clearing a little, you might have time to catch a sunny break before it starts up again."

------------------

The ride started easy, just your basic galloping.  Until Cruse almost slipped in the grass.  No problem, the
stallion quickly got the hang of it.  Relax Gabe, you got this... holycrapthatjumpisbig.... whew, see that
went fine, Cruse knows how to jump, you're okay...

The first jump, it turned out, was just a little baby compared to the ones that followed.

"Cruse- Cruse slow down- we're going to slam into that wall Cruse- CRUSE STOP- OH JESUS TAKE THE REINS

....ohmygodhowamIstillalive."



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I spent sooooo much time on this, I don't even....   Buuut I quite like it, I must admit... Had the pose and everything in mind straight away, started drawing, BG sketch went fine but I just cannot draw horses from the front to save my life, was terrible.  Turned dA upside down trying to find a pose ref I liked, took forever and was a miserable process.  Complained to ~MistyHills and like magic she pulled out one of her own photos and said "here use this". Her photo is quite a bit more head-on than this drawing is, but it was quite helpful in figuring out what to do with Cruse's head, as well as his and Gabriel's legs.  Actually finished this before I even started the dressage one, but wanted to upload them in order, and didn't have time to write the story until now.

Just showjumping left... rough sketch is done, we'll see if I actually get the drawing finished in time x___x

Referenced from a photo owned by ~MistyHills, it's not uploaded to dA as far as I know so you'll have to ask her if you want to see it.  Art and characters are © me, don't use/copy/repost/trace/edit/claim as your own/etc