Up and Over

Edit: SHE WON! 8DDDD [link]
Edit 2: And she was featured in the April 2013 HARPG Newsletter!

This is Bullet's entry to the 2013 Crick Wheat Classic in Massachusetts. She's doing the standard XC run, coming out of the creek and heading up a steep bank.

I went ahead and varnished her out a little bit more, too, to show her aging process; it's been at least four years since she competed, so I thought now'd be a good time to have her start going snowy.

In this image, she's giving Anna a minor heart attack with her clear intent to leap, rather than hop, up that steep, muddy bank.

^{ohdeargodthebackgroundkilledme. :'D -ded-}

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Horse Name: The Silver Bullet
Horse Reference: [link]
Horse Age: 13? (I don't really keep track)
Rider Name: Anna Richardson
Stable: Tamarack Park
Country: USA

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The decision to go up to New England -- in late winter -- for Bullet alone was one which was not easily made for the Richardsons of Tamarack Park. To be honest, the whole reason Anna had worked so hard to get Bullet back in competitive shape was so that she'd have a better chance of begging the two-horse trailer for the weekend.

That was the one sore spot about living on her family's horse farm. Here she was, a bright young woman in her mid-twenties with two degrees and a heck of a lot of horse sense, and she lived at home. And for her, living at home meant living under her parents' thumbs. It was no secret; she and Niels were still thought of as children (more or less) by her well-meaning parents, and why shouldn't they be? Neither she nor her brother paid rent or utilities to their parents, and they both lived in the rooms they'd occupied since infancy. The only thing that had changed about the family dynamic was that the kids had gotten older.

Niels ended up being the one to make the trip with Anna, of course. She could always depend on his help when she needed it most, and dealing with their concerned parents was definitely more than a one-person job. The morning of the cross-country run, Anna tacked Bullet with butterflies in her stomach.

"You'll do fine, you know," Niels said as he gave his sister a leg up. "You always do."

And that was true, too. Bullet had a respectable show record, and Anna had been on board for each competition.

"Thanks, Niels," Anna replied, taking in the reins just a little. Her nervous breath fogged a little, and she wondered if the black Under Armour shirt under her Tamarack green polo was going to keep her warm enough. Bullet stamped a front hoof and chewed at her snaffle bit.

"You'll be fine. Even if you've forgotten, she hasn't." Niels took Bullet's left rein and walked at her head, looking over his shoulder when he spoke to Anna.

There was a hand waving from the start box.

"Right. You're right -- oh god, that's us. Okay."

"See you at the finish!"

"Yeah. See you!"

Inside the starting box, Anna tried to do some kind of weird Buddhist-yogi-meditation thing to calm herself down. It didn't work.

"Ready?" asked the starter.

Anna nodded, gathered her reins, and gave Bullet a squeeze.

With a powerful heave of her haunches, the spotted mare launched out of the box and took off at a dead run.

And they're off!