part three.
Ruby collected her reins a bit and put more force behind her heels, using her seat to urge him forward. At last Sullivan moved out into a walk. Horse and rider tracked left around the ring. Ruby let out a breath, not letting her attention drift from Sullivan for one second. It was obvious she’d have to ride him every second of the way. Her seatbone followed his movements easily, her gaze directed between his perked ears. She kept a bit of pressure on his sides with her calves to encourage him to move forward.
After two circuits of the ring, Becca called out for a trot. She wanted Ruby to ride the trot in the hunt seat position—also called a half seat. Ruby lifted herself out of the saddle, leaning forward from her hips. She bent her knees a bit more and urged her heels to sink down, absorbing her movement. This position was as natural to Ruby as was sitting in a chair or crawling on the floor.
Ruby felt for Sullivan’s mouth through the reins, getting his attention. She then squeezed with her legs. Sullivan sneezed and kept walking. Ruby tried this a few more times before scoffing at Sullivan.
“You want to play that game, do you?” she asked him rhetorically. She sat down in the saddle and used her whole body to urge him forward, using more heel than leg. Sullivan’s ears went back, then forward. He was obviously surprised that she was still after him to do this and leapt into a trot. Ruby once again lifted herself out of the saddle and into the half seat position, keeping steady pressure on him with her legs. Now that Sullivan was trotting continually, Ruby paid attention to his movements.
They were positively floating. That’s what it felt like. She was hovering over a floating horse that was only pretending to trot. She barely contained herself from gasping, and wondered what breed he was to make him trot so wonderfully.
“Rising!” Becca called out cheerfully. “Figure eights!” Ruby barely heard her through her elation, but switched her position to that of the rising trot. She rose in the saddle when Sullivan’s outside foreleg reached forward. After one circuit of the ring, she collected her reins a notch and crossed the ring in the middle, easily changing diagonals by sitting an extra beat to his trot. The looped around one end of the ring only to change direction in the middle again. They did this several times before Becca called out again.
“Sitting trot, track right, extended!” Ruby thought she heard amusement in the trainer’s voice, but was too concentrated on Sullivan to pay much attention. She slowed Sullivan down a notch before sitting herself gently in the saddle. Now his floaty movements seemed magnified, and she sat to his trot easily. She alternated pressure from her legs. Left, right, left, right. She felt his stride lengthen and they simply glided around the ring.
“Track left, collected!” Ruby circled one end of the ring before crossing in a figure eight to track left. She gently but firmly collected Sullivan and brought him in hand. His strides were shorter but not at all less graceful. He arched his neck, and at a murmered word from Ruby and a wiggle of the reins, he was on the bit. They circled the ring twice before Becca asked them to walk a while to give both horse and rider a breather.
Ruby let Sullivan have a bit of rein to stretch out as he walked. She praised him quietly, patting him solidly on the neck. His ears pricked back and forth and he snorted, as if he knew how well he did.
“…amazing..”
“…never went like that since…”
“…can’t believe it…”
Ruby heard pieces of conversation from over near the gate of the ring. A small crowd of people had gathered and were watching her while talking amongst themselves. Ruby furrowed her brows and kept on walking. She let her thoughts drift to Alexis and wondered what on earth she was talking about. Yes, Sullivan was a bit hard to get going, but he moved beautifully once you got after him a bit.
“Okay, Ruby, track left, rising trot for one circuit, sitting trot for half to canter,” Becca called out. Ruby nodded and collected her reins once again. She thought of the perfect trot they had earlier and before she knew it, Sullivan was off. She immediately rose, years of experience teaching her the correct diagonal. Not only that, but she felt for the diagonal. The trotted smoothly around the ring. The crowd of people were pushed from Ruby’s mind, and it was only she and Sullivan. Ruby switch easily to a sitting trot, Sullivan slowing himself a tick so he wouldn’t bounce her around. As they neared a corner of the ring, Ruby gave him a notch of her inside rein and pressure from her outside leg. Sullivan moved from the two-beat gait of the trot to the three-beat gait of the canter.
Ruby literally gasped. She sat back, light and deep in the saddle as Sullivan cantered around the ring. His canter was the best thing she had ever experienced. He was collected, weight shifted to his hindquarters. He was on the correct lead, on the bit, and perfectly round.
“Change direction!” Becca instructed. Ruby circled around to the middle of the ring. Sullivan obediently changed leads, not stopping from his canter for once single second. Ruby barely felt his flying lead change as they circled the ring in the other direction.
“Half seat!” Ruby heard dimly through the noise of the wind flying by her ears. She lifted herself out of the saddle and balanced over Sullivan’s withers. She praised him loudly, ecstatic.
“Outside line, diagonal, other line!” A voice called out faintly. Automatically Ruby circled Sullivan at one end of the ring in a collected canter. She lined him up for the first set of jumps. Three verticals, each set at some height Ruby was unsure of. She didn’t even really look at the height of the jumps. Her eyes were already on the next jump as they neared the first. She counted strides in her head. Three, two, one, up! At the take-off point, Ruby squeezed her legs and gave Sullivan his head. She shifted her weight over him, keeping his center of gravity absolutely perfect. Three strides away, the jumped the next. The third jump was two strides, and they cleared it easily.
Ruby brought Sullivan around the end of the ring and towards the jump in the middle of the ring. The jump was at a diagonal, and horse and rider approached it beautifully, soaring through the air. Sullivan landed on the correct diagonal, already cantering towards the next set up jumps. There was a double and an oxer. Up they went over the first jump of the double. After a single stride, they flew over the second, cantering the four strides to the oxer. After they landed, Ruby cantered Sullivan in a circle before slowing him to a trot, then a walk.
“Halt,” Becca called, a small frown on her face.
