Competing Against The Odds (FreeMustang + cattamer)

"I do have respect. For everyone that puts their horse before their own lazy comfort" Anna snapped "It might not hurt him like 2 feet but there are higher jumps out there" she shook her head "There has to be a rule against this!" she protested

"Fine, if you are going to throw a huge tantrum about it, I'll switch. But my horse jumped a fence yesterday with a western saddle, and it didn't hurt him."

"See, now that's how you earn respect in the equestrian world!" Anna slow clapped for Riley, mockingly "Yesterday? That reckless uncontrollable display?! Oh my gosh! You shouldn't have been riding that horse yesterday! I'd never ride a horse after 2 days in a trailer!" she exploded all over again. Finally having to enter the ring to take her round over the jumps, a decent balance of speed and strategy though she miscounted her stride and ended up clipping the last rail, just barely knocking it down "Dam it" she muttered as she exited, shooting a glare at Riley, she'd been too mad to be completely focused! She knew it was her own fault for that and she really couldn't make excuses and blame it on another person, even an idiot like Riley! She'd just have to work on pushing everything out of her mind before she jumped.

"One does not simply, not ride their horse. You'll have to deal with the energy sometime." Riley replied, and then quickly switched saddles before his turn. "Now, miss picky queen, watch and learn."


Riley completed the course with a perfect score, clearing the jumps with room to spare. "Now, what do you think about that?"

"Yeah, you have to deal with energy. Say with lunging first and more ground work BEFORE you mount up" Anna rolled her eyes, this guy was beyond stupid! "He over jumped them all. He clearly needs work" she responded, shrugging "And you were too tight on your turns, you were lucky you made those jumps with how reckless that was. But hey, at least you didn't knock down a pole or kill your horse, yet" she continued snidely "We'll see how you do with the endurance" she shrugged, praying in herd head that she wouldn't be forced to work with this numb skull! His score was better than her's in the jumping but she had the better scores in Dressage and Reining, if he tied her in the endurance round she didn't know how she'd live that down especially since she would be on a fresh horse and he was still on the same bloody one! She went back to the barn and hopped up on Fight N Flight and started warming her up. She HAD to be the better rider between them!

"Oh, please, yeah, whatever. He's a better jumper than yours will ever be." Riley switched to a light western saddle, and waited for her with a smug look on his face. If only she knew that he had done all day galloping up hill with this horse.


"Crash and burn, baby, crash and burn." He snickered as she came up. He did the entire course faster than anyone else, and with the highest score... Tying overall with her.


"Take that, hot shot missy." Riley snickered. "One of these days maybe you'll learn not to be a total jerk to people with other training methods than your own high and mightiness. I bet you didn't train any of your horses, while I trained this one from a baby."

"Oh my gosh... It wasn't his fault I screwed up the counts! Stop blaming everything on a horse!" Anna snapped at Riley, blushing when she realized she had told him to blame it on her, well she'd just have to suck it up and swallow her pride and take it like woman! "Shut up! You're still down by 2" she snapped at him as they started the endurance race. Her mare slipped on a muddy spot on the last leg of the race and they had barely made it across the finish line at all "Great..." she muttered, worried the mare would be out of the running too long. She had worked so hard to get her into the condition she was and now she'd have to work harder to get her back up into it again. "So you have speed.... And endurance.... But you're still reckless and sloppy" she snapped, pissed that he had beaten her at all "You seriously think.... That you ARE THE ONLY FREAKING PERSON ON THIS PLANET THAT CAN TRAIN A HORSE FROM BIRTH ON UP!?!" she said, her voice building up to a scream as she got right up into his face "FOR YOUR INFORMATION I TRAINED HER DAM AND SIRE AND WAS THE BREEDER ON TOP OF TRAINING HER FROM DAY ONE!" she kept screaming, practically foaming at the mouth now "BUT CONGRATULATIONS! YOU MANAGED TO GET THAT 1 UGLY NAG TO A DECENT CONDITION AFTER SKIPPING EVERYTHING ON RESPECT!" she finally finished, stopping her self from whacking Riley with her crop and instead hitting her self with it harder than she intended, she winced but bit her lip to keep from showing any more discomfort in front of him, she was going to play it off like she meant to do that! She flipped him off and slowly walked her limping mare back to the barn.

Riley at first could hardly contain his laughing, and then he noticed her horse was limping, and took the screaming in silence. He passed her, and when she came into the barn, he offered her a container of something. "If you want, it'll heal up your horses' leg faster. It works great."


He was only trying to be nice for the horses' sake. That was the whole point. He never wanted to see an animal in pain. He waited for her to refuse it and yell in his face, again. His horse proceeded to nibble on his ear, with his lips. Riley moved away, and the horse reached over, dragging him back with his big head, as if to say; 'you're not going anywhere until you feed me! I worked hard, give me a treat!'

Anna looked up at Riley in surprise, he was trying to help her? Or was it a trick? He couldn't possibly be trying to hurt her horse, could he? "Thanks..." she sighed, taking the container from him, deciding to trust it and put in on her mare's leg before handing it back to Riley, trying to hide her own tears from blaming her self for the accident she got the poor mare into. She put Fight N Flight into her stall and started to gather up her tack and put it after making sure all four horses had hay, she'd give them grain after they'd eaten a while longer. "So I guess you aren't a complete dumb jerk" she said as she passed Riley on her way to the tack room, her version of a compliment.

"Can't say the same to you." Riley replied, feeding his horse, and grooming him thoroughly. After all the horses were fed and groomed, all the riders were gathered to assemble their teams. Riley ended up on Anna's team. There wasn't much 'so sorry for you' to Anna, since Riley had shown himself to be a good rider, and had a good horse. Some were even complimenting Riley on his riding and his 'gorgeous' horse. He took it calmly, just as he took the yelling earlier.


"Do we have to be on the same team?" Riley asked the instructor quietly. "I don't think it's a good idea."


"People are like horses. You just got to work with them."


"And then there are some horses that are better off shot. Same with people."

Anna purposely stomped on Riley's foot as she walked by, no way was she going to let him get away for saying that to her! "Oh I'm sorry!" she lied as she see who they had stuck her with "What do you mean I'm stuck with THAT!?!" Anna demanded as she pointed at Riley in disgust "I want to switch with someone! ANYONE!" she shouted, glancing at the score sheet and wincing a bit when she saw exactly what she would potentially be stuck with if she dumped Riley "Never mind... I'll take the ditz" she muttered, crossing her arms and glaring at Riley "Yeah!" she chimed right into his conversation "You and that nag of yours are a perfect example!" she snapped back at him, looking at the instructor like he should be yelling at Riley for how rude he was being to her.

Riley's anger shot up as she actually made contact with him. It didn't matter if it was his foot or anywhere else. She. Touched. Him.


"Well you're the only ditz here," Riley snarled back, "My horse might be a nag to you, but hey, guess what, we did better than you and your what, four horses all put together! Think about it! While you have a horse for every single event, only trained for one sorry event, I worked my tail off training him to do everything! You want to have a showdown? Any day, anywhere, any one of your horses. You say I'm reckless and all, well, whose horse got hurt Because YOU weren't paying ATTENTION? You have done nothing decent the entire two days I've been here. For all I know you could be as mean to your horse as to me, and in that case I hope one of them decides to kick you."


The instructor stays silent, letting the words spill out before adding their two cents: "You two are a team. I suggest you find common ground. Otherwise you can both drop out."

"Oh that really shows what you know about my horses doesn't it?!" Anna snapped at Riley "Any of them could do any of the events! I just chose the ones that were strongest in each!" It was mostly true, only the endurance riding was all Fight N Flight's class. She hadn't had enough time to get the others as well conditioned for that area. "And you better remember, I had almost double your score in Dressage and Reining!" she snapped at him "And if we redid show jumping I'd beat your ass there too!" she screamed in Riley's face. Though her expression changed when he reminded her that it had been her fault her horse was hurt, she took a step back, blinking in attempt to hide her tears "That could have just as easily been your horse slipping" she said in a very small voice, seemingly shrinking back. She treated her horses like royalty! She'd never abuse them!

"Thing is, I was paying attention to the muddy areas. You were too busy being ticked off and mad because you got kicked off your high throne. One does not simply run through mud without 1) Have a horse with good footing accustomed to slick areas, 2) Are a darn good rider who knows what they are doing, and 3) You give more rein, and let them choose their path. One does not simply do it without first analyzing where they are going! One doesn't for instance, run the horse through a field of potholes! Great way to get your horse killed. If we redid everything again, I'd still beat you, because look at yourself! You have no right to be anywhere on a horse if your going to scream and yell about every little thing. I've had it with you and you thinking you're the queen of horses or something. Well here's breaking news. Some people are going to be better than you, no matter how fancy your horses are! I bet you'd be raging even more if a kid came in here with a BLM Mustang and beat every single one of your expensive horses."

"I said I didn't do it on purpose! I'd have rather not started that dam race if I knew I was just going to have her end up hurt as bad as she is!" Anna burst into tears and walked away from him, retreating to Fight N Flight's stall and sobbing in there. "This is all my fault.... Everything he said.... You'd be better off with him than me girly..." she told the horse, looking at her leg and feeling terribly guilty and majorly vulnerable to any attacks now. Maybe she should just quit here. Maybe she should quit all together even...

Riley watched her leave, and then went to the turnout paddock where Miles was. Miles' ears perked and he walked over. Riley climbed through the rails, and rubbed his horse's head. Miles reacted by rubbing his big head on Riley, actually pushing him back a little with the force of 'itching', before starting to nibble at Riley's pant pockets, looking for a treat.


"What do you think, Miles? Is this stupid place even worth it? Darn I never knew these people were stuck up snobs of idiotic jerks." He sighed, and leaned his head against Miles' neck. He had no idea he was within viewing distance of Fight N Flight's stall. Miles then proceeded to nip him, as if to say; 'Give me a treat!'


"Ow!" Riley jumped. "Seriously, don't be so greedy." He crossed his arms. "No treats for you."


Miles flicked his ears, and then reached towards Riley with his nose, nibbling at his arm. It was if he was saying his sorry, but 'please feed me something' all at the same time.

One of the stable hands walked over to Riley and handed him a flyer detailing the new vaulting event that they were adding "It's required" he warned, shrugging "I suggest you try to get along with her. Kill her with kindness you know?" he smirked "She is kinda cute.... Once you get past er rude bratty personality...." she shrugged and left Riley to do as he please when he pleased to do it.

"Vaulting? SERIOUSLY?" He gulped. He knew like... nothing about vaulting. Nothing. Not even a little. Time to look it up when he got home. It was about time to go anyway. He haltered Miles and took him in for the night. On his way out of the barn, he stopped by Fight N Flight's stall.


"So, did you hear?" He offered her the flyer. "Wonderful, right?" He was being really sarcastic there.

Anna took the flyer from Riley and read it "Vaulting? No, this it the 1st I'm hearing about it..." she bit her lip, handing the flyer back to him "It's going to take a lot of work... One slip up and neither of us will be competing" she bit her lip and looked up at him after wiping away the rest of her tears. "Private Ryan would be ideal to use, he's wider than your boy" she said, offering a valid reason rather than insulting him or his horse.

"So we're only to use one horse?" Riley asked. He was trying to avoid sounding and looking like a complete noob at this. "What's width got to do with it anyway? A horse is a horse."


Riley looked down at the flyer. He really needed to google this stuff. Now if only he could get away without admitting he knew absolutely nothing about vaulting!

Anna looked up at Riley and frowned "Well... When your doing flips and holding your partner over your head or balancing on their shoulder while your horse is cantering.... Having a little more room to balance is kind of nice to leave room for error" she said slowly, her tone surprisingly not as demeaning as it had been before "You have done this, right?"

"Oh, yeah, that's right."


Riley really needed to get out of there. "Hey uh, I gotta go, I'll see you tomorrow and we can finish this." He made a slink for the door. Once on his sport bike he'd be safe. Unless she figured out that he was a newbie at vaulting.

Anna grabbed Riley's arm before he could get very far "Are you seriously saying you've done this on th-.... Your horse?" she asked, catching her self at the end "You're that confident in it?" she asked, surprised he could be.

Riley tried pulling out of her grasp, "I'd do anything on my horse, okay? I've stood on his back before, and nailed down a piece of roofing that came off. So I didn't have a ladder and had to use him. Just because he can be rotten doesn't mean he's not a good horse."

"I didn't mean it like that... Well I mean he is... high strung.... but on any horse Vaulting is really intimidating.... I need to know I can count on you" Anna said pointedly, letting his arm go.