My Horse is bigger than yours...( Archer)

[Kate Hudson]

It has been two weeks since Kate finally got Sinatra, and she coudn't wait to ride him over the jumps. She couldn't stop smiling as she drove down the dirt road that led to the barn, and tapped her hands on the stirring wheel to Luke Bryan. She pulled up, and lifted her shades above her head as she let Max out of the truck. She made her way to the barn, first to visit Jericho, and then out to the pasture where Sinatra was being held. She gave Jericho a sweet kiss, ruffling his forelock, and patted his neck. She rode him really hard this past week, so the big guy was getting a two day break. He deserved it. The barn cat, Snickers, came trotting up to her, and rubbed against her leg. She smiling, knelt down, and scratched his back. Standing back up, she gave Jericho one last kiss, and walked out to the pasture.

It was so sunny out, that she had to put her shades on again as she walked out to get her new baby. She saw him on the far end grazing, and called to him as she walked to the gate. Sinatra munched on the grass in his mouth, tossed his head, and slowly walked in her direction. She grabbed the halter on the hook, and climbed over the fence. She walked in his direction, and reached into her pocket for a treat. Sinatra picked up a trot, and finally got to her just in time to snatch the treat out of her hand. " Hey boy," she said and slipped on his halter, and led him through the pasture gate. She set him up in the cross ties, and got him ready for riding.

Once she was ready, she got on him, and rode him out to the jumping ring and started to warm him up. Since getting him, she wanted him to really get used to his new home more than anything, so she mostly rode Jericho. She did ride him a few times, just to get a feel for how he felt, but today, she was going to jump him. She had him stretch, and warm up his legs before doing the hard work. She rounded the corner, and cantered towards her first jump.

[Archer Moore]

Unfortunately Archer's good tack had yet to be shipped from her 'home base', so all she had with her was an old all purpose Wintec and Jack's dressage bridle. The combination was a little odd, but all she had to do was school him over some low fences, and maybe work on transitions.

"Hey there big guy." The words were no more than a murmur, but still got a loud neigh in response. As soon as the door slid open the hefty gelding shoved his nose out into her chest, snuffling at her shirt in hopes of a treat. Archer swatted him away half-heartedly so she could slip on his halter. Jack followed her willingly out into the aisle and down to the cross ties. Of course, this docility only went so far; the moment she turned to go get Peanut he was dancing all over the place and his head. Archer simply rolled her eyes at him. Typical Jack.

The pony was much better behaved when she clipped him up across from his companion. Peanut almost immediately went back to his nap while she picked his feet and gave him a cursory once over with a brush. His mane was in too many knots to bother with at the moment so she just ignored it, and headed back over to her now-quiet horse.

It was a quick grooming job, but a thorough one. Archer was of the firm belief that one should never cut corners when it came to horses. Peanut didn't count because he was simply being turned out for the hour of ring work. The pony had woken up from his nap during the grooming session and eyed her warily as she brought out the tack. "This isn't for you, silly." The assurance came with a less-than-reassuring chuckle. Archer had ridden the pony, of course, but she looked ridiculous while doing so, so she usually left that to Valentine.

When she was finally ready Archer unclipped both animals and lead them out toward the ring and the empty pasture beside it. She turned Peanut out first, watching in amusement as the little pony bucked his way to the far side of the pasture before settling down to munch away at the lush turf. This was his one hour a day that he was allowed turnout on real grass and the pony loved it.

Archer latched the gate, then tied Peanut's lead rope around it, just in case. Finally she turned and climbed up onto the fence; Jack immediately lined himself up next to her so she could mount. God, that book had been worth every penny. It was so much easier to mount without a hassle and she saved so much time looking for a mounting block. Archer picked her reins up at the buckle and headed for the gate. Only to stop Jack short when she realized the ring was occupied. Normally this wouldn't bother her but the rule sheet had specifically said not to enter a ring in which another rider was already jumping, and this woman was heading straight for one of the verticals.

With a sigh Archer nudged Jack back toward the little pasture and reached down to untie and unlatch the gate. They could warm up with Peanut and move to the ring when the other rider finished. As soon as they had finished closing the gate behind them Archer pushed Jack into a slow trot. Normally a warm up consisted of lots of walked first, but Archer knew Jack well enough by now to know that trotting first was best for her gelding. As they went she continued to cast curious glances toward the ring; Archer had yet to meet any of the other riders and this woman looked like she knew what she was doing.


ooc: WOO. Sorry for the length xD I had a lot of muse. Don't feel like you need to match this, I'm sure I'll slow down after a couple posts <3

[Kate Hudson]

Up and over the first vertical she flew, and she smiled in satisfaction. Kate smiled ,and softly patted his neck as she rounded the corner to the brush box with a vertical pole over that. Sinatra truly was a dream to jump! She shortened her reins, grabbed a tuft of mane, and flew over the next jump, but almost slipped off. Whoops, bad posture there! She tapped Sinatra with her knobby spurs, and he stretched out and jumped the highest jump that was set in the ring. Sinatra saw it as he turned, gave it a second thought, but Kate urged him on and he jumped over it. He was going to be her next Grand Prix show jumper for sure.

After the first set, she let him trot around the ring once, so she could plan out her next few jumps. His trot was so smooth, that she could actually just sit there without being bounced around, but she was so used to posting all the time that she just remained posting around the ring. She saw another outside the ring, and nodded her head to acknowledge her. Those darn rules for only one rider, but then again it made sense. Don't want multiple riders in the ring and there be a liability issue. She cleared her throat and tapped him and picked up the canter in the corner.

Sinatra tossed his head, and snorted. If this is what he has to look forward to, he was in heaven. He was a jumping machine! Kate tapped him again, and went over the horse head jump combination, and rode across the ring to the red oxer. They were riding to the last two jumps, when Sinatra spooked at something, and came to a halt. Kate held on, and leaned down on his neck. At least the breaks work on this horse, and she chuckled. " Okay boy, let's do that again...without stopping," she said as she collected her reins. She gave him a reassuring pat as she let him circle and inspect the jump, and then picked up the canter again as she went for the jump again. He jumped it, and flew over the last jump. What a finish! She patted his neck and slowed him down. She stopped him, and rubbed his ears," You were worth every penny. Good boy Sinatra," she cooed and rode to the gate.

[Archer Moore]

The amount of suspension in Jacks' gait made it impossible for Archer to sit even his canter. Well, not quite impossible. But certainly uncomfortable. They were working on transitions while they waited; walk to canter and back to walk again, to start with. Jack mostly knew his cues but didn't always listen, so Archer was just going for the smallest aid possible to actually get a reaction. The pair rounded the corner of the field and as soon as Jack straightened she brought her outside leg back slightly and thought; canter.

Jack slipped smoothly into the gait, tossing Archer up into her half-seat as he brought his hind end underneath himself to push. It still amazed her how naturally her horse carried himself. Though she had been riding him since he was a green broke five year old Archer had rarely worked on balance or framework with the gelding. He was one of those rarities that just did it, all by himself. That or he had done only framework before he was sent to her home stable.

After six strides of canter she sat back and asked gently for a walk; Jack fought for two strides before dropping his whole body into a slow, dragging walk. Oh well, stopping had never been his strong point. Archer patted him anyway and turned to look over her shoulder at the ring again; this time she was rewarded by the sight of a flat out refusal from the horse occupying the space. It wasn't quite clear what had happened but he had done an impressive job of going from a nice canter to a dead stop in seconds. The rider had stayed on as well.

Archer watched the pair fly effortlessly over the two last jumps, once the rider collected herself and her mount, and then trotted Jack back up to the gait. They exited, tying it back up behind them, and walked slowly toward where the other pair were exiting. She wasn't planning on jumping quite yet; she wanted Jack to get a feel for the footing first, so she paused as the other rider went by. "There's no need to leave because of us; we need to check out the footing before we start jumping, and I'm sure there is enough room for you to cool down while we do that."

[Kate Hudson]

Kate jumped off of Sinatra and unbuckled her helmet strap. Sinatra was very good, so she loosened his girth, and ran her stirrups up. She patted his neck and saw a girl approach them. Maybe it was the girl from earlier who was trying to get in. She removed the reins from around Sinatra's neck, and he played with his bit. She tapped his nose to get him to stop, that was such an annoying sound, and plus it was a bad habit. She greeted the girl, " It's okay, Sinatra and I are done. You can have the ring now," she said and gave her a little smile. The girl must be new, she's never seen her before, and as assistant barn manager she knew everyone. The girl was familiar though, maybe she's seen her at a show somewhere, and can't put a name with the face.

She unlatched the big gate, and let Archer come in with her pony. Sinatra nickered at the other horse and reached out to touch him, but Kate gave a small tug on the reins to keep him from spooking the other horse and getting kicked. Once the girl was inside the ring, she walked out and closed the gate shut. She took Sinatra into the barn and untacked him. He was a little sweaty and hot from the jumping, so she hosed him off and gave him a good rub down before turning him back out with his pasture buddies. He kind of stood there for a minute, turned to look to Kate incase she had a treat, but then took off running to graze with his pasture buddies.

Once he was gone, Kate went back into the barn, and put her tack away. The bit had pieces of grass in it, so she cleaned that off. After hanging up her bridle, she went back out to the jumping ring and watched her ride her horse.

[Archer Moore]

A quick nod was the only response that felt necessary. As the other rider exited past her though, Archer did a double take; was that Katherine Hudson? No, it couldn't be. It had been years since she had seen Katherine, years since she had even thought of the other girl. They hadn't even really been friends; just hung out together at some horse shows in their teens. The woman did bear a striking resemblance to her old show buddy. Archer smiled to her in thanks as the woman shut the gate behind her, too busy with her own thoughts to form the word aloud.

As the other pair walked back toward the barn Archer shook her nostalgia off and nudged Jack straight into a trot. The big gelding's ground eating stride carried them in a large serpentine down the length of the ring. As they came back onto the rail at the end Archer asked for the canter; the gelding's reaction was instantaneous. Gathering her reins slightly, Archer asked for a large figure eight, avoiding the jumps while making it as round as possible. In the center they executed a smooth flying change. Archer brought them around once more, practicing another flying change, before turning toward one of the lower verticals.

They sailed over it easily, and Archer rubbed Jack's withers as they landed. The next jump was a tight bending line to an oxer that had Jack excited enough that she needed to hold him back slightly around the curve. That jump went smoothly as well. Archer was grinning as they cantered away. Unfortunately two jumps was about all you could get out of Jack before he realized no one was watching him and decided he was done. He needed the exercise though, so Archer usually just rode through it with a good deal of manhandling and not-so-pleasant language. She had been told it was 'abusive' before, despite never actually harming Jack, but had chosen to ignore these arguments seeing as he still came galloping from the field when called. What abused horse came willingly to the one who hurt them?

They headed for the in-and-out, Archer tightening her leg ever so slightly in hopes that she wouldn't come off in between the jumps. The first one was easy; Jack sailed up and over with his knees tucked up, and his nose pressing forward against Archer's crest release. Archer braced herself as they landed, but to her surprise their two strides were uneventful. Jack took a little more ground than he should have with the second one, so the 'out' jump was a little ickier than she would have liked, but it was her own fault for not paying full attention. As they came away Archer scanned the rails to see who had come to watch; someone must have, or else she would be eating dirt right now. There! The same girl from before. Archer slowed Jack to a walk as they drew near the rail and finally halted him before the spectator.

"Hello, I didn't introduce myself earlier; I'm Archer Moore."

[Kate Hudson]

Kate crossed her arms as she watched Archer ride in the ring, and held her gloves in her hand. She lowered her glasses in front of her eyes, and watched. She had seen her face earlier, and thought the girl looked familiar. Where had she seen her? Perhaps she has seen her in town, or maybe she had run into her at a horse show in the past. Why couldn't she put a name with the face!! She was bad at this sort of thing. She would meet someone, and get to know them, but then if she doesn't see them for a while she would forget the name. She shook her head, and just watched her ride.

She was good a good rider, good form, and the horse looked fit. Some of the riders she used to ride against would push their horses to the point where the horse would toss their head and try and throw their rider. This horse didn't seem to have that problem. Confession: She used to be one of those riders who would push their horse. She stopped once she got better training, and learned to care more about the horse's safety and mouth. She would be notorious for pulling on the horse's mouth. She pushed Jubilant too hard, and look what happened. She still blamed herself for what happened to that mare, even though is was proclaimed an accident, yet she still couldn't believe that her dumb pride and ego destroyed her horse, and nearly ruined her career.

The rider approached her, and she lifted her shades and looked at her. That's what her name was!! Archer! She smiled and extended her hand and shook Archer's. " Kate... Hudson. Sorry, I couldn't help but watch. Scoping out the competition," she joked and laughed.

[Archer Moore]

Jack reached his head around to sniff at the woman's extended palm, in hopes of a treat, but Archer nudged him away gently as she shook the offered hand. At the other woman's introduction Archer grinned. So it was Katherine Hudson! She went by Kate, Archer remembered now. 'Katherine' had stuck in her head because it was what the announcers had used at the shows.

"Kate Hudson." The chuckle slipped out before she could stop it. "I haven't seen you in years. What are you doing out here?" Archer herself needed a job so she could keep herself busy. The money wasn't really an issue, since her father still supported her financially. Though that wasn't really something she wanted to share with anyone, even if they had been close to friends. Lying around at home being lazy would drive Archer crazy, which is why she applied for a position here. Hopefully there would be no more personality clashes.

There was also her animals to consider; Jack and Peanut were easier, but it wasn't easy to find a place that was willing to let an energetic Border Collie/Lab mix move in. In a town that was this close to a large boarding stable land lords tended to be a lot more lenient about pets. Speaking of her dog, where was Cairo? He had bounded out of the car the instant she had opened the door and disappeared off toward the pastures. At least he knew better than to harass the horses; he was still missing a tooth from that lesson.

Archer glanced back toward Peanut, and sure enough there was Cairo. The big black dog had stopped to mark the edge of the pasture as his territory, and as she watched he continued on to sniff at Peanut. The little pony pinned his ears and raised one hoof in warning; Cairo immediately bolted for the ring, hiding himself between Jack's forelegs. The big gelding leaned down to snuffle at his friend, making sure the dog was unharmed.

[Kate Hudson]

" I actually work here, been here for a few years. What have you been up to? It's been what...5 years?" Kate smiled because she was so happy to see Archer again. It really had been a while. " What brings you to Pinewood? Not exactly a big hot spot for the eventing elite, but we have a few big names here." She patted Jack's neck and smiled, " He looks like a good jumper. Are you entering him in the show coming up?" she asked and combed her hair back and sighed.

The last time she saw Archer, they went to a few shows together and that's how they met, but she never expected to see Archer again. And in Pinewood! " Oh, I have a new horse. He just came in a week ago. I'll go get him. He needs to be ridden anyway," she said and smiled as she dashed off to get Sinatra. She came back a few minutes later, and had Sinatra all saddled up. She walked him into the ring, and let Jack and Sinatra meet each other. Sinatra squealed, and tossed his head. Kate sighed, " He's so fickle,"[/b she moaned and put his reins around his neck, and climbed on. Sinatra snorted. " Alright, intro. Archer, meet Sinatra. Sinatra, this is Archer," she said and patted his neck. " Hey, want to have a jumping competition? If you haven't worked Jack too hard already," she asked.

Max was wandering around and saw Cairo and barked playfully. He ran around in circles, and still barked. His bark was almost like a car alarm, but not as high pitched. His energy was something else. When he got bored of getting Cairo's attention, he trotted over to the ring and watched Kate.

[Archer Moore]

"Yeah, at least." It seemed like a lifetime ago to Archer. Valentine had just been a baby back then, which made everything seem to stretch out behind Archer. "Well, work, to be honest." She chuckled. It was weird to be back with someone who seemed so familiar, but who she still thought of as wearing pig tails and showing her the childish joy of twinkle toes for their ponies.

At the mention of the show Jack's ears perked up. The big gelding knew a handful of words beyond his name, and 'show' was one of the big ones. "Yup. The big guy and I are doing jumpers. How about you?" From the other woman's earlier comment about 'the competition' Archer assumed the answer would be a yes, but it was polite to ask.

When Kate dashed off to get her new horse Archer simply turned Jack around and urged him into a good working walk. Better not to let him get too lazy before they were finished.

The gelding's pricked ears and eager whinny alerted her to Kate's return before she could even see the other rider. A moment after Jack's warning Kate came into view. Wait a minute, Archer did a double take. Wasn't that the same horse she had been riding when Kate came out? That was a little odd. Some people liked to work their horses twice a day though, and it was better to just leave it be. Especially since Archer had promised herself she would be more easygoing here, and not get kicked out again.

As the other horse approached them Archer wondered if she should back off a little. Jack tended to be a more dominant horse in the field and if this guy was anything but bottom-of-the-totem-pole things could get ugly. Before she could decide the other pair were practically on top of them. The other horse squealed, prompting Jack to pin his ears and lunge. Archer dug her heels in and hauled on her left rein, dragging her athletic gelding away from Kate's horse.

"Watch it! He almost just took a chunk out of your horse's face!" Frustration made her tone clipped and short, her words sounding angrier than she would have preferred. Archer took a moment to rub Jack's withers, calming herself and the horse, before looking back up. Deep breaths, she thought, relax.

The introduction was short so Archer simply nodded. The challenge required a more formal response though; "Hah! An eventing horse being worked too hard? Impossible." Archer laughed at Jack's snort of agreement. Hopefully the little joke would push away whatever bad feelings her temper had conjured.

[Kate Hudson]

Kate smiled and patted Sinatra's neck, " I'm taking Jericho in the higher level jumping and level 3 dressage tests. I'm not taking this boy. He's not ready yet. Jericho is my golden boy," she told Archer and smiled at Jack. " I wasn't going to jump Sinatra again. Forty- five minutes of jumping is enough for him. I'll go get Jericho real quick," she said and patted Sinatra again, and clucked to get him to move. Sinatra snorted and followed her, he was hoping to stay by the ring and get to jump again, but he followed close behind Kate and nudged her arm. She smiled and rubbed his nose as they entered the barn, and she put him in his stall and he went back to his hay that he didn't get to finish.

She got Jericho and tacked him up and whispered to him and he nodded, and she smiled. She put on his bridle and adjusted the bit in his mouth. She put on his helmet, and walked him out of the barn and stooped him on the level ground, and mounted him. She rode over to the ring. She got in and smiled, and plotted out the course to Archer, " You want to go first, or shall I," she said and put on her gloves for better grip on the reins.