Seaside Dressage

“Honey? Come in here,” Charlotte called out to her daughter who was occupied in the next room. Charlotte had her reading glasses on and had come across something particularly interesting on the computer.

Savannah, Charlotte’s daughter, was in the middle of making a sandwich in the kitchen. She took her time completing the PB & J, but came to her mothers call when she did so again — sandwich in hand. “What?”

“Don’t ‘What’ me. Here, take a look at this,” Charlotte gestured to the screen. “I was planning on us going on vacation somewhere warm soon, and this would be a great opportunity. There’s a really interesting looking horse show in Mallorca, and the loshenkas have been needing to be to more shows.”

The idea sparked great interest, and Savannah put her sandwich down on the bare desk while looking closer at the description on the page. White beaches, ocean, and plenty of good horses. Maybe even the cute boy somewhere. Oh yes, this would be awesome.

“Savannah Grace Whitmore, get your sandwich off of the table. You weren’t raised in a barn. Use a plate!”

“Mom, I was raised in a barn,” Savannah rolled her eyes, picked up her sandwich, and left the room. Her mom had told her plenty stories about her toddling around the horse barn. There were plenty of pictures of her getting into feed buckets and chasing after foals. She had indeed been raised at the barns, and every chance she got, she was there with the horses.

— — —

Transporting a pair of horses across the ocean was a stressful enough endeavour. There were flights to coordinate, rooms and stables to rent, and plenty more to arrange. Savannah, the 16 year old daughter, helped with none of this, and instead daydreamed about the beach and who she might meet at the show. She wanted to show off and impress. Her trusty mount Distinto would no doubt be up to the task. He was amazing in his dressage movements when lead by a confident rider. The show itself was to take place in the dark — a rather unique idea. Distinto was a fairly dark horse and had snuck up in her a few times in the shadows. While her mom was planning the logistics of it all, Savannah came up with a theme for their pas de Duex.

“Hey, Mom! Since it was at the beach and near the ocean, I was thinking we could do something mermaid-y. This song from the little mermaid would fit a routine perfectly actually!”

“Hm, let me see,” Charlotte said. She looked up the song on her phone and played it, listening intently to the beat and visualizing a routine in her head. She used to be quite the pro, although now she took more the role of instructor. “Yes that would work quite well. How do you want to paint the horses? I believe the paint arrived yesterday. Darn postal service delivered it to the wrong door again.”

“I was thinking I could paint scales and stuff on Distinto and I, and we could be mermaids!”

“And what about Pasha? He might be yellow enough for Flounder I suppose.”

“Let me go check what colours we have,” Savannah said, quickly heading out the room to find the delivery box. She quickly found it and dug into it. Her eyes quickly latched onto the pinks and purples. She didn’t mind that it was stereotypical for her, a girl, to like those colours. They were her favourite. An idea came into her head and she returned to where her mother was. 

“We could cover Pash in purple tentacles and you can be Ursula,” Savannah suggested with a chuckle. As soon as it left her mouth and she saw her mothers face she regretted it. Lecture incoming.

“Do you see me as an evil monster? I take good care of you you know!” Charlotte started to lecture. The talk went on for long enough and Savannah spaced out of most of what she was saying. The talk ended in Savannah telling her to find her own idea then, but she would be a mermaid.

— — —

The pair and their horses had arrived the day before in Spain. The time zone difference had them a little off schedule, but just this once, Charlotte allowed her daughter to partake in some coffee. It was the day of their Pas de Deux competition, and they were finishing their preparations before the sun went down. Pasha and Distinto stood tied as their riders slathered them in glow in the dark paint. 

“Aren’t you going to be pretty,” Savannah talked to Distinto, the sooty bay stallion, as she painted mermaid scales in pink. If he could talk, he would certainly protest to always being decked out in pink. A gelding maybe, but he was a proud stallion with mares to impress. Like it or not, he puts up with his dear teenage girl. Savannah wondered what her mom had ended up going with, as she hadn’t asked about it since they had fought on the subject.

“Well. I think that did turn out rather good,” Charlotte said. She had given in to her daughter’s idea, and painted purple tentacles wrapping around her horse’s body. Perhaps it was out of remorse for acting so harsh over nothing, or perhaps it was because she ran out of time to think of an idea for herself that suited her daughter’s theme. But regardless, she ended up going along with the idea.

Savannah snapped out of her painting focus and looked across the barn isle to Pasha, “Oh, look at him! That’s so cool! Turned out better than mine I think.”

Internally, Savannah was a bit annoyed that her mother put up so much fuss when the idea was brought up initially only to end up liking it. But that was her mother. She tried to not let it bother her so much, and focused on the show at hand.

“Yours is lovely. Distinto makes a lovely mermaid. You do too dear.”

Distinto grunted. He was a mer-MAN. Technically he was closer to a hippocampus, but that was just picky details.

Pasha nickered and adjusted his stance. The young pearl stallion was ready to go and just wanted to get started. Although he could be fairly calm in his stall at home, there was a lot going on and a lot to do here. They had travelled a long way for the show grounds. He was still young and full of energy, leading to him being a bit high strung at times. He certainly required an advanced rider to handle him, and Charlotte was just that. In time and with training he would get better and perhaps easier to handle, but for now, Charlotte was a firm leader.

The girls got the paint put away and got their horses tacked up. They made sure to wash their hands of paint before handling the clean, white, saddle pads. It was about time for them to start their round, but Savannah was nervous. This nervousness passed on to Distinto, who shifted his weight back and forth while keeping on high alert.

“Savannah honey, it will be okay,” Charlotte said, noticing this nervousness in her daughter. “We’ve practiced enough and you’re plenty skilled enough to pull off the routine. If you slip up, Distinto will have you covered, and if you really mess up, just pretend like you meant for that to happen and carry on.”

“Ah, yeah. I guess,” Savannah shrugged awkwardly. She had to believe in herself and her abilities. She could do this. She had perfected the routine at home and knew she could do it, but it was stage fright she supposed. She could be pretty tough and talk a lot of game, but she still got stressed when the time came to pull things off like this. Savannah gave herself a little mental pep talk and pulled herself together. Quietly she said, “…Thanks Mom.”

The pair led their horses to the warm up and found some mounting blocks. Their horses stood at 15 and 17.1 hh, which was rather tall and so mounting steps were greatly appreciated. They gathered themselves and warmed up their horses under saddle a bit before walking them to the starting area with the other pairs. There was a couple other pairs ready to go. There was a mix of nerves and excitement shared with everyone it seemed. Some participants were older adults, some younger adults. The horses were a variety of coloured with different patterns painted on each. The sun had set and everyone’s paint lit up beautifully. With the sun down and the moon up in the sky, the Pas de Duex competition began to start.

When it was their turn, Charlotte went as an old pro at it. She was confident and calculated. Pasha kept in line and moved with both strength and grace underneath. Savannah had found some confidence and put on her best. With the promise of treats afterward, Distinto moved with rythem and purpose. Instead of focusing on her anxieties, Savannah focused on the routine at hand. She kept her mind on Distinto’s breathing and hoofbeats, going through practiced movements. She remembered to breathe instead of holding her breath. At the end of their turn, both riders and horses felt satisfied and happy with their performance. As promised, they gave their horses some treats and stayed nearby to watch the rest of the round.