[Phase #3] Vaulting?

Zenith was out in the pasture. “Hey boy!” I called. Zenith picked his adorable head up, and grass fell out of his mouth. He watched me for just a moment before he lowered his head and went back to grazing. “Wow. You’re not even going to come and see me?” I asked. Zenith had no response and just kept grazing. “I love you too.” I scoffed and grabbed the halter that was on the gate. I eased open the gate. The gate creaked as it opened about a quarter of the way. Zenith’s head shot up in response. He nickered and trotted over. “Oh so you come when the gate is opened?” I laughed. Zenith nickered, and nudged the gate open so he could fit through. “Easy boy, wait.” I said standing in his way. Zenith let out an ear piercing neigh. “Hey!” I shouted, and I put his halter on, and made sure it was fastened. Classy, Zenith’s field buddy perked up at the sight of Zenith leaving the field. Classy was a beautiful classic champagne roan, who was often described as a gentle giant. Classy cantered over. “Hey Classy!” I beamed as the stallion slowed down to avoid crashing into Zenny. “Classy, hey bud you can’t come today.” I sighed. I got Zenith out of the field, and successfully shut the gate before Classy came out. I maneuvered Zenith so that I could be closer to the gate. I gave Classy a quick pat on the head, and grabbed a baby carrot from my pocket and offered it to him. Classy took it from my hand with a gentle mouth. “Oh my god, you take treats so much nicer than Zenny.” I said glaring at Zenith. Zenith nudged me, as if to say ‘give me treats too!’ I chuckled and gave in. I grabbed another baby carrot from my pocket and fed it to Zenith. He took it rather roughly, burying his muzzle into my palm to try and get all the treats. Once he snacked on it for a second, he sniffed my hand. He nudged my leg, where the pocket was with the treats. “Hey, no. Be grateful I gave you one! You don’t need to steal all the treats in one minute!” I exclaimed, pushing Zenith away from me. He moved a step back, but was still watching my hands to see if they’d reach back into my pocket. “Come on boy.” I laughed as I started walking towards one of the barns. 

Once we reached the barn, I turned to face Zenith. I dropped his lead rope. “Let’s test out your skills.” I said. “Zenith, stay.” I ordered. Zenith’s eyes watched me. “Let’s see if you stay.” I mumbled and ran into the barn. I turned into the tack room and grabbed a neck rope so I wouldn’t need a bridle, and a helmet for safety, and ran back out. Zenith was standing perfectly still when I got out of the stables. It looked like he hadn’t even moved a muscle. “Good boy!!” I praised while running over and grabbing his lead rope. I reached into my pocket with one hand, while still holding the neck rope in the other. When I pulled my hand out of my pocket, I offered it to Zenith. He quickly ate both baby carrots and once he was done, orange bits fell to the floor. “Messy eater.” I teased, and walked him to one of the free arenas. On our way, we spotted Theresa training with Magpie. She was trotting Magpie around in the arena. Magpie seemed to be doing pretty well, and was being adorable as normal. I stopped and walked over to the fence separating me and Theresa. She and Magpie were facing away from us, so she didn’t see me and Zenith. “Theresa, how is she doing?” I asked as Magpie went into a canter. “Hey! I didn’t see you there. She’s not doing too bad, she moves like a princess, she just needs to mind her manners.” Theresa replied, chuckling. I chuckled as well. “Well, have fun with her! If you need me I’ll be in one of the other arenas working with Zenith.” I said and turned away. “Hey, Ali, you could always work with us? It might help teach Magpie some manners.” Theresa offered. “Actually yeah, Zenith could learn a thing or two from her.” I said, and headed towards the entrance to the arena. “Are you planning on lunging him?” Theresa asked. “Ah no, I’m gonna hop on bareback.” I responded. “Oh really? Are you guys trying to do what Alycia Burton and Goldrush did? The uh, bareback jumping was it?” Theresa inquired. “Kind of, but more vaulting based. Today the plan is to just take it slow and see how much he’s progressed, but we are doing a pretty good job at the moment.” I rejoiced. 

We entered the arena, and I took off Zenith’s halter. Zenith offered his face, so I put the rope around his neck. “Good boy.” I praised giving him a quick pat. I walked over to the mounting block, and with Theresa watching carefully climbed up, and I put on my helmet while I waited for Zenith to finish walking over. He stood perfectly square and allowed me to carefully jump onto his back. “Good boy.” I praised and leaned over to scratch his shoulder. “He seems pretty calm.” Theresa noticed. “Yeah, he’s definitely gotten a lot better!” I said. I clicked, and Zenith proceeded to walk forward. We warmed up for a bit, while Magpie and Theresa worked on dressage moves and getting Magpie to settle down. 

After Zenith was all warmed up, it was time to go. We started in a stand still. I wanted to make sure Zenith was as comfortable as possible. I put my hands on the sides of his withers and carefully stood up. I didn't straighten completely out, because I wanted my hands planted on Zenith’s back in case anything did go wrong. Zenith raised his head a little, and tried to turn around to look at me, but otherwise this was going pretty well. I put all my weight into my hands and went into a floating split. Zenith wasn’t too stunned so I decided to end that move on a good note. I lowered my legs, so I was now sitting on Zenith. Theresa clapped “That was insane! He was so good! You looked so good!” She praised me. I laughed. “That is just the beginning, hopefully Zenith will be able to do those moves when we are going faster, but for today I think that’s good enough.” I smiled. It felt good to finally have my work noticed and praised after training in secret for so long. Magpie nickered, and Zenith walked up to her. “Oh, is she nice?” I asked, grabbing a hold of Zenith’s neck rope. “Of course Magpie is nice.” Theresa responded, so I let the two horses meet properly for the first time. Magpie nickered as Zenith sniffed her nose. “Easy.” I spoke. They seemed okay. “Hey, Theresa, I should give Zenith a bath.” I said. “Okay have fun!” Theresa said. Me and Zenith walked out of the arena and back to the stables. As we were walking, I reached into my pocket and gave Zenith more baby carrots. He paused to eat them, before he continued his way to the stables.