Lots of practice? Or a little talent? (Jacq x Axe)

[Axel Van Deriz]

OK, here we go... The young man thought as he readied his horse. This would be the first time he actually timed GoldRush "Ready whenever you are, brother." He said, gently patting the horse's neck. As though understanding the man on his back, Goldrush began at a trot that turned into a steady canter, there were a total of six jumps he had to get over in less than a minute. That was how much time he'd set up for them to beat. Axel Van Deriz had high hopes for both his horse and himself. He was a new guy around here, girls lined up along the fence to watch him. Some with horses, others by themselves. "He's... so dreamy..." one girl murmured in a dazed way. Another said to some other girl "Heard he's German..."

Jumping every one of the jumps flawlessly he and Goldrush made it -just- under the time limit, about 58.2 seconds.

[Jacquelyn Noelle Daniels]

[atrb=border,0,true][atrb=style, background-color: f9f9f9; border: #c8030d solid 10px; width: 450px; padding: 15 5 15 5px;] One more mile it'll be ok tagged Axel words idk muse Next to you- Tyler Hilton notes -- credits template by irish! Jacquelyn had never been a religious person, but when they said it was nothing short of a miracle, she found herself thanking God. None of them had ever seen anything like it, and attributed it to her incessant care. After they had left the room she found herself still standing there staring at the black and blue image displayed on the screen. 18 months ago that same image had been shown, only it looked as if someone had set a bomb off within it then... now, the untrained eye wouldn't even be able to tell. Those past 18 months had been the hardest 18 months of her life, but it still seemed like just yesterday. She could still replay the moment she first saw him. He was crashing to the ground, screaming with pain, then struggling to get up, one leg completely useless to him. Every penny she had made working 14 hour shifts at the bar had finally paid off. Shortly after, when the tall black thoroughbred stepped out of the trailer as he had so many times, there was no bulky cast on his leg... the first time in 18 months. His limp was still very defined, more from lack of muscle and coordination than anything. Jacquelyn couldn't tell you how many nights she had spent in that stall, often times debating with herself whether this was all worth it... whether she was just prolonging the inevitable or if she could really save him. Even if she could save him, what was to say he would ever run again, let alone race and actually win anything. The vet had cautioned her that even though his leg had healed, the bone would probably never be as strong as it had been. Still, she was optimistic now. At least he was alive and walking unassisted... that was more than she had dared to hope for 18 months ago. It had been nearly six months since that day. Six months and he'd been cleared for starting work under saddle. He hadn't taken so much as a single off step in three months, and the muscle he'd built from the hours walking and being out in the pasture gave the big black horse a sheen and a presence that he hadn't had before, and he wasn't even in shape. Once he got going, there wasn't going to be a thing that could stop him, she was sure of it. She had pretty well given up on her dream of him being a racehorse again. He was five now, and the time it would take him to get back to being fit for racing would take too long. He would be past his racing prime by the time it could even be considered, but that didn't matter. There were plenty of other things that a thoroughbred could do, especially one with as gentle a nature as Vince's. On this particular day, she was just sticking to the walks. She still had yet to get on a horse, even though Wayne tried to coax her regularly, and she didn't have tack for Vince so for the time being, she was going to stick to staying on the ground. Not that she didn't trust her horse, she just wasn't ready to take that step yet. She was just wandering around the property, lead rope held loosely in her hand with the horse following along behind her at an easy amble when she spotted a few girls standing outside of one of the arenas watching a man on a horse going around the jumper course. She paused momentarily to watch but had to scoff at the comments the other girls were making. It was like a teen sitcom in real life. Vince was completely uninterested in the horse in the ring. He would much rather just stop and eat than watch another horse, but since Jacq was standing there watching, he was going to stand patiently beside her and not make a fuss.

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[Axel Van Deriz]

A king-sized German shepherd sat at the gate of the arena, watching Axel and GoldRush. Axel was this dog's master. And Jerry Lee was the dog's name. The dog stood up, looking at Jacq. Calmly trotting up to her with a wagging tail. Sitting at her feet, he extended a paw, as though introducing himself, or at least trying to.

Axel continued riding around for a few more minutes, before halting his horse then gently patted and rubbed the warmblood's neck. Turning now he saw Jacq and his dog. Leaning forward, he smiled at the pair before trotting his horse up to the edge of the arena.