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Description
Pemberley Park - Christmas Luau
Horse: WBS Altitude | KWPN Mare
Horse Gender: Mare
Horse Age: 5 years
Rider: Gemma Nakai
Rider's Age: 30
Class: Stick it to me Frosty! Showjumping
Level: intermediate level

Story, 842 WC: Day one at Pemberley. Gemma was excited to enjoy the outing to the stable for the weekend’s thick program of events. Watching Cara and Anthony-- freshly returned from a leave of absence due to injury-- participate in the “Freaky Friday” class gave everyone a bit of a chuckle, afterall Cara was familiar with english, but Anthony was an absolute beginner at western styles. Watching Anthony eat some humble pie was maybe not what he needed right now, but nobody gave him a hard time over it. Damon had made a point to praise him on his hard work to make the performance look good, but Anthony wasn’t the type to accept laurels from his coworkers. Admittedly, Gemma had been taking a lot of joy in watching the two of them interact around the barn in the last few days, in the van on the way to the show and around their stable’s headquarters in the barn. It was almost adorable how little they were willing to tell each other about their feelings. It was obvious to everybody around them, but oftentimes it was hard to see something while in the middle of it.
The crew were getting ready to ride in a more general show jumping class, which was less serious than the one that had been run earlier in the day and that the competitors were treating as much more of a friendly. It was nice to be able to compete more casually every once in a while, and there wasn’t quite as much pressure. The arena was outdoors, and there was a really light snow that had been falling since just before the earlier show jumping class, and it wasn’t really sticking as much as the snow had been back in Colorado, but she did prefer to have the lighter weather. She was going to be the first member of Antique Lace to ride in this class, followed by Artemis, and then Damon. The kid had been a trooper at this, his first show under the stable’s banner, and he had somehow convinced Artemis to let him ride Sky Pirate in this class. Probably a mistake, but it was a casual class, so they didn’t see the harm. It would be a good lesson for him after his take with Silver Streak in the earlier class, which had been good, but he had been riding the one horse for quite a bit of time and it would help him to get some variety under saddle. Patting heartily on Altitude’s neck, Gemma hoped that the mare wasn’t going to be bringing attitude. She was always a little frisky during inclement weather, but maybe it would be light enough to not affect her. Earlier, Tudey had been throwing a fit and it took her nearly half an hour to find the culprit; a small cluster of wood chips had gotten wedged under the end of her left front shoe and she was just sensitive enough to make it everyone’s problem. Of course, once the problem had been dealt with, Tudey went back to being a perfect princess. It was always nice to see her spiffed up for a show-- her bloody red coat was shiny and combed perfectly, and her blue-black mane and tail had been meticulously brushed and shined and braided, all of this was only complement to her in-born skill in jumping. They hadn’t been able to take her out to many shows, since they had realized during the FRS Spring Seasonal Show that she would need more training and that they wanted to get her graded by the SWBA at their Rikksto, but they had been unable to make the trip this year. Instead, they were planning to bring her to the Svedala Cup to let her show off a little more there and prove that her training was worth it.
Finally, the pair were able to enter the arena to perform their run. Looking at the course map, Gemma had been most excited to try the combos, which they had pulled off in training, but had been a certain degree of trouble under pressure from an audience. Moving into the mare’s smooth canter, they approached the first jump and cleared it, Tudey’s demeanor reading like, what, you thought I couldn’t? Continuing around the course, Gemma had a couple of concerns with her mount’s timing, they hadn’t hit anything yet, but clearly her earlier performance in the day was-- thankfully-- the better run. Some jumps were too high, some a little low for comfort, but they were at least making it around. Suddenly, the thing that Gemma had been fearing happened-- the mare’s hind legs caught the top pole and brought it down. They stumbled slightly, but then recovered her pace and kept moving. Gemma knew that this wasn’t the end of their try for a placing, but she did feel like she had let the mare down in their training. It was going to be a long couple of weeks before they were ready to show at Svedala.

Description
Pemberley Park - Christmas Luau
Horse: WBS Altitude | KWPN Mare
Horse Gender: Mare
Horse Age: 5 years
Rider: Gemma Nakai
Rider's Age: 30
Class: Stick it to me Frosty! Showjumping
Level: intermediate level

Story, 842 WC: Day one at Pemberley. Gemma was excited to enjoy the outing to the stable for the weekend’s thick program of events. Watching Cara and Anthony-- freshly returned from a leave of absence due to injury-- participate in the “Freaky Friday” class gave everyone a bit of a chuckle, afterall Cara was familiar with english, but Anthony was an absolute beginner at western styles. Watching Anthony eat some humble pie was maybe not what he needed right now, but nobody gave him a hard time over it. Damon had made a point to praise him on his hard work to make the performance look good, but Anthony wasn’t the type to accept laurels from his coworkers. Admittedly, Gemma had been taking a lot of joy in watching the two of them interact around the barn in the last few days, in the van on the way to the show and around their stable’s headquarters in the barn. It was almost adorable how little they were willing to tell each other about their feelings. It was obvious to everybody around them, but oftentimes it was hard to see something while in the middle of it.
The crew were getting ready to ride in a more general show jumping class, which was less serious than the one that had been run earlier in the day and that the competitors were treating as much more of a friendly. It was nice to be able to compete more casually every once in a while, and there wasn’t quite as much pressure. The arena was outdoors, and there was a really light snow that had been falling since just before the earlier show jumping class, and it wasn’t really sticking as much as the snow had been back in Colorado, but she did prefer to have the lighter weather. She was going to be the first member of Antique Lace to ride in this class, followed by Artemis, and then Damon. The kid had been a trooper at this, his first show under the stable’s banner, and he had somehow convinced Artemis to let him ride Sky Pirate in this class. Probably a mistake, but it was a casual class, so they didn’t see the harm. It would be a good lesson for him after his take with Silver Streak in the earlier class, which had been good, but he had been riding the one horse for quite a bit of time and it would help him to get some variety under saddle. Patting heartily on Altitude’s neck, Gemma hoped that the mare wasn’t going to be bringing attitude. She was always a little frisky during inclement weather, but maybe it would be light enough to not affect her. Earlier, Tudey had been throwing a fit and it took her nearly half an hour to find the culprit; a small cluster of wood chips had gotten wedged under the end of her left front shoe and she was just sensitive enough to make it everyone’s problem. Of course, once the problem had been dealt with, Tudey went back to being a perfect princess. It was always nice to see her spiffed up for a show-- her bloody red coat was shiny and combed perfectly, and her blue-black mane and tail had been meticulously brushed and shined and braided, all of this was only complement to her in-born skill in jumping. They hadn’t been able to take her out to many shows, since they had realized during the FRS Spring Seasonal Show that she would need more training and that they wanted to get her graded by the SWBA at their Rikksto, but they had been unable to make the trip this year. Instead, they were planning to bring her to the Svedala Cup to let her show off a little more there and prove that her training was worth it.
Finally, the pair were able to enter the arena to perform their run. Looking at the course map, Gemma had been most excited to try the combos, which they had pulled off in training, but had been a certain degree of trouble under pressure from an audience. Moving into the mare’s smooth canter, they approached the first jump and cleared it, Tudey’s demeanor reading like, what, you thought I couldn’t? Continuing around the course, Gemma had a couple of concerns with her mount’s timing, they hadn’t hit anything yet, but clearly her earlier performance in the day was-- thankfully-- the better run. Some jumps were too high, some a little low for comfort, but they were at least making it around. Suddenly, the thing that Gemma had been fearing happened-- the mare’s hind legs caught the top pole and brought it down. They stumbled slightly, but then recovered her pace and kept moving. Gemma knew that this wasn’t the end of their try for a placing, but she did feel like she had let the mare down in their training. It was going to be a long couple of weeks before they were ready to show at Svedala.