*Our ~ First ~ Ride*

The bright sun's rays filtered through each passing cloud demanding it be able to touch down on the planet earth and the russet colored soil warmed with every passing second that the sun was granted it's wish. It was summer time! Bronwen's favorite time of the year because the weather was always great for riding and most of the shows she planned to attened were held during the months of July and August.

Bronwen was on her way toward the barn when the sun refelected off of something of a silver color. The bright reflection shone brightly into her pupils and she raised a cream colored hand to block the blinding light. She took a few steps forward so the lighty wasn't directly in her eyes and then bent her knees to retrieve what she found to be a dime. I wonder if fiding a dime is just as lucky as finding a penny? she wondered to herself. Then with a shrug she picked up the silvery coin and placed it in the pocket of her well worn blue jeans. Her hands were blistered from the wooden shaft of a shovel. She had spent a whole two years, five times a week, cleaning the thirty stalls of the stable just outside of her hometown. Of course Bronwen didn't clean them by herself, that was were she had met one of her bestest friends. Jennifer, or Jen as she prefered to be called, was her best friend back home. When she found out her dad would be moving due to work she had to say more than one goodbye. Tinsel, the little grey welsh pony that she owned, was also being left behind. It had been one of the most painful separations but her parents had promised that they would get Bronwen another horse in place of the little pony. Although the teenager may have felt devistation and sadness through it all, in the end it wasn't so bad. She was at a beautiful barn with a new horse that she was going to train into a three day eventer. How exciting was that?

After retriving her horse, Jemm, and grooming her nearly black hide to a sparkling shine, Bronwen was tacked up and leading her horse to the outdoor arena. Although she was headed toward the jumping ring she had no intentions of jumping her three year old filly. She simply had wanted her to see the fences and get to know that many different colors and the fake flowers that littered the bottome of some of the fences.

Bronwen led the dark bay filly into the sand ring and closed the gate behind her. Nobody had been in the arena since it had been harrowed so the lines traced in the dirt gave the young filly something to look at. Her ears were perked to their utmost tallest and her nose began to snuffle the ground. The lines didn't seem to be hurting her so she should be ok. The young horse followed her rider to the mounting block, which Bronwen was using because she knew mounting from the ground pulled on the horses withers and back, causing discomfort and sometimes pain to the horse. She also used it because her filly was nearly seventeen hands high!

Once seated in the saddle, Bronwen asked the horse to move off at a gentle walk to warm up her. Would anyone else be at the arena on the beautiful sunny day?

Great... was the first word that entered Bronwens mind when she saw another rider enter the ring. It made her cringe when the horse she was riding bucked. That was all she needed for her young filly, a bad influence. She knew Jemm well enough to know the young horse wouldn't mind having a little bit of fun. But before she could notice the horses buck the other equine had calmed down enough to walk obediently for its rider.

Bronwen had hoped the arena would have stayed quiet this beautiful morning but like always, her luck was totally against her. Although she should be thankful for it only being one rider instead of four. It might be a good thing for the filly to be ridden with other horses, seeing as she would be in a warm up ring at a show in the future, which was way worse than one horse in the arena with a few jumps. Jemm's head was held high in the stance a normal horse from the race track would take. Her ears were perked as she eyed each of the colorful fences with interest. She didn't spook but rather take a good luck at everything out of curiosity.

Bronwen kept her leg firmly around the filly's barrel incase the filly decided to do something silly, fortunetly the dark bay equine settled and did a lap around the arena each way at a long strided walk. The young rider shortened her reins gently, as to not jar her horses mouth, and softly suppled on the inside rein while firmly holding her outside rein to her outside knee. Although her hands were waaay wider than what a normal rider should be riding with, she wasn't a normal rider on a normal horse. Bronwen was an accomplished rider on a very green horse. Horse trained to race were taught to grab ahold of the bit for balance. This technique was used to help soften Jemm's mouth and to teach her how to 'come onto the bit'. The filly reacted like a pro, slowly accepting the pressure in her mouth and lowering her head until her poll was level with her withers.

Bronwen passed on the inside of the other walking horse and looked up to smile at the other rider politely. Although she may have not wanted her there, Bronwen was never rude to anyone. She passed the other horse and rider and continued on into a ten meter circle, getting Jemm to softly bend around her inside leg. Although there was resistence at first, Jemm obliged willingly and her head rose to compensate for the change. Bronwen smirked and then applied more leg and softened her hold on the filly's mouth, softly suppling the inside rein to get that nice roundness back. Jemm rounded and kept the bend and Bronwen rewarded her by loosing her reins and letting her filly stretch into a long rein. Her stride lengthened and her muzzle nearly touched the ground.