We Were Born To Fly ((Codi ))

[lyndsay]

But how do you wait for heaven?
And who has that much time?
And how do you keep your feet on the ground
When you know that you were born,
You were born to fly

Lyndsay walked into the barn on a warm summer afternoon, eager to work with her finished roping horse, Corona. Corona was a good horse, if not for the bit of attitude, but Lyndsay loved to rope. There was a make shift roping chute, and she had found somebody who was willing to run the chute for her for a while so she could practice. She walked into Corona's stall, and pulled the fine dapple gray quarter horse out. She tied her into the cross tie section and began to brush the dirt from her coat. Fine particals fell to the ground as the horse stood patiently. Standing at only fifteen hands, Corona was not an overly large horse, but Lyndsay was not very tall either.

Lyndsay got her roping saddle on the horses back, cinched her up, and got her all ready to ride. She slipped the reigns over the mares neck and began to lead her toward the indoor arena. She looked and saw that nobody was in there, so she lead her mare through the gate, closing it behind her. A small section of the arena had been round penned off with a cattle chute put in it. It was big enough to get good practice, but small enough so other people could still practice. As she walked into the arena, the guy whom offered to run the chutes for her waved, and he was loading a steer into the chute. Lyndsay checked her rope on her saddle horn, and then mounted up. Let me take a quick warm up lap and then Ill be ready to practice, sound good? She said to the man running the chute.

Corona began to prance excitedly, and Lyndsay asked her for a trot. After a few paces at the trot, she urged her into a lope. Corona had a nice, smooth, rocking horse lope and Lyndsay loved it. It was better than her other two horses. That was one of the things she loved most about Corona. She finished her lope around the arena and then dropped her to a walk. The man opened to chute to allow Lyndsay and Corona in. Corona walked in calmly, knowing what was about to happen. Lyndsay got her turned around, and checked her rope. She was only practicing break away for now, but it was still important to check your rope. She nodded her head, a signal to go, then the steer burst from the chute. As soon as the barrier broke, Corona was hot on the calves heels. Her long neck was outstretched with her ears flat against her skull. Lyndsay swirled the rope over her head and then through it. As soon as the rope passed her ears, Corona slid into a stop. The rope slipped over the calves neck and Lyndsay pulled her rope, securing it. She broke the flag from her saddle horn, her rope falling to the ground. Yes!! She said excitedly.

She turned Corona around to face the guy in the chute as the calf tried to find a way around the horse back into the chute. An exit had not been very well set up. What was my time? She asked excitedly to the guy running the chutes. The guy smiled as he looked up from his stop watch. 5.008 Lyndsays smile broadened more, that was a record time for her. Good girl Corona! Good girl! She rubbed the mares neck, not paying attention as to what was happening around her now, she was excited.

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[codifuller]

Codi had been out on the trails almost all morning. The day was breaking beautifully, the dew drying and making the trail they were traveling down increasingly more enjoyable. The dew on the leaves always bothered Codi when she rode outside in the early morning hours, if the heat wasn't looming so threateningly above them, she would have stayed out longer. That, and the fact that she really needed to get in a bit of flatwork with Beau before she headed out to look for a job. Codi had been working with the stout buckskin gelding since she'd reclaimed him from Bennett, and his life with her ex boyfriend had been very different. Though Codi didn't like him, you could never say that Bennett was a cruel man when it came to his horses. He loved them, took care of them, gave them everything they needed for success - but that was about it. What Bennett didn't understand was that Beau enjoyed his work thoroughly - but he also enjoyed other things. Beau adored swimming in lakes, taking long walks through trails or galloping out across open fields. There was a lot more to the gelding, as their was to any horse, than just what they were capable of in the arena.

She rode up towards the indoor arena, nearly to the entrance, before she dismounted. Rolling up her sleeves, Codi slid the reins over Beau's head and led him towards the gate, checking that no one was around so as not to get in their way before they slipped through the opening and latched it behind them. She could see the pair working on the other side of the arena and made quick work of mounting her horse and moving him off to stay out of their way. Beau was already warm and supple from navigating the trails around Crossfire, but Codi wanted to take him on a few laps before she started working drills and speed just to get him accustomed to the arena and let him know that it was time to work.

The young brunette and dappled mare swiftly finished their warm up and went into the roping chute. This perked Codi's interest. Bennett had always been the roper, and never got around to teaching her a bit about the event, despite her interest. At the time, she'd thought it was because he was just too busy, but she saw now that maybe it was something else. Perhaps he was worried she'd be just as good as him and she'd realize he wasn't really offering anything. Except, she'd ended up realizing that anyway. While the other pair got set up in the chute, Codi took Beau to the back of the arena to lope him in small circles - an exercise that not only kept them out of the way but also allowed her to check on the progress they were making with his flexing. Beau was a well muscled horse, and it took a lot of work to keep him supple and flexible enough to run barrels. It took an unbelievable amount of work to get that sort of flex back into him, but Codi had seen him run when he was in shape and knew that he was well worth all the time she was putting into him. Sitting deep in the saddle she dipped the reins back, "Woah," She spoke with authority, but kept a low enough voice so as not to disturb the other riders. Beau planted his hind end and buried his back feet in the dirt, making Codi smile. "You got woah, down, don't you buddy?" She leaned forward and rubbed his neck, bending low enough that she could kiss the muscles on the side of his neck opposite where his tangled black mane was hanging. It was impossible to keep that thing tamed through a ride - she was going to have to start braiding it.

Adjusting her seat, she took the reins in one hand and spun him out. He planted a hind foot and rotated around it smoothly, churning dirt around his planted foot and then kicking that loose dirt back when Codi asked him to lope around the opposite direction. She only took her attention off Beau when she heard the cord on the chute snap and the dappled mare leapt out and after a calf. "Woah," Beau slammed to a halt and Codi nudged him in along the rail to stay out of the way.

Fast. They were so fast, the girl was so precise. The two worked like a well oiled machine. The mare chased down the calf, the girl put the rope on his neck and they both worked together to pull the rope back. "That was awesome," Codi called from her perch on the side of the rail. "Is that a good time?" She almost scolded herself for giving away her complete naivety, but if no one ever knew how clueless she was, how was she ever going to learn?

TAGGIN': LYNDSAY
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SOUNDTRACK:[/color] INVISIBLE // JOSH GRACIN
OUTFIT:[/color] CLICK
NOTES:[/color] yay! i'm so excited. codi is super impressed with lyndsay's mad roping skills.[/font][/left][/size][/blockquote][/blockquote][/center]