Competing Against The Odds (FreeMustang + cattamer)

[FreeMustang]

"Umm... Ok... Well... Let's get to work while you let all of this sink in all the way.... You're not like drunk or high or something? Are you?" Anna asked, figuring that might be a reason he would asked her out, since he looked so embarrassed, it was cute he was blushing so much! "I still want to see what you've managed to accomplish on Private Ryan" she smiled "You know, impress me?" she winked at him.

 

[cattamer]

Riley nodded a little. "Not high, never got drunk so yeah.... uh sure," he snapped out of it and went to saddle the horse.


Time to not fall off! Must impress! He got the tack absolutely perfect, taking great pains not to hurry. Then he lead out to the round pen.

 

[FreeMustang]

Anna smiled and walked out to the round pen with Riley, watching how he handled her horse carefully "Well, you've mastered tacking him up just right" she double checked everything for him "So have you had someone to lunge him for you while you practiced? Or have you been doing it at a stand still?"

 

[cattamer]

"Just watch." Riley instructed, pointing to the center for her to go stand. Then he got the horse cantering, before starting to do his course, keeping signaling with sounds to the horse to keep going. He had been working hard at it, and was doing pretty good.

 

[FreeMustang]

Anna's jaw dropped "How did you...?" she asked as she watched him stand up on the horse, doing it all free style. It was a lot more dangerous but he was actually making it work!

 

[cattamer]

Riley flipped off backwards off for the final. "A lot of blood sweat and frustration." He replied. He wasn't about to say tears, so frustration worked great.


"You learn to do it freestyle when no one bothers helping you." He shrugged.

 

[FreeMustang]

Anna went over and hugged Riley "You are amazing!" she said excitedly "Now if we can get him to free style with both of us!" she said, herd head spinning with all the ideas she had, she still really wanted to do the blind folds as well, it would keep taking them up to the next level of shock and awe with the crowd and the judges!


"ANNA!" a tall lady in heel and a tight dress snapped, shoving Riley away from her daughter "What is THIS?!" she demanded, motioning between the two of them "You don't have time for a boy friend!" she screamed at her "Did you think we were kidding about selling these horses?!" she got down in her face "Maybe we should just shoot them in the heads NOW! And you'll have caused it! Just like that dumb little pony when you were a child!"

 

[cattamer]

Riley laughed, "well, uh, it's rather easy to freestyle. It's like riding with no reins ... I mastered that one ages ago-" Riley cut off when the heels clicked.


He then shrunk back a little from the yelling. Horror manifested on his face as the woman yelled about shooting the horses. He moved between the angry lady and the horse, trying to calm it down.


"Hey why don't we calm down and talk like rational human beings instead of sounding like a cage of loco monkeys?" His suggestion was both a need for peace and an insult, "also, just so you do know, you can't shoot the horses here, - its actually illegal to bring a gun on the premise, - and you acting this way? Yo, it's not nice."

 

[FreeMustang]

The lady grabbed Riley's ear and twisted it so hard it brought tears to poor Riley'e eyes as she yanked him away from the horse "This is not your property! Therefore it is not your choice!" the woman snarled at him before letting his ear go and grabbing the lead rope for her self "Well Anna! Do you want me to start with this one!" she demanded.


"YOU CAN'T!" Anna finally burst out, looking over at Riley with pleading eyes "Because I sold them to him!" she pointed to Riley "So mother you really need to give him back his horse, NOW!" she demanded, she rather give up horses completely than go through watching her parents have them shot.

 

[cattamer]

Riley was surprised at Anna, but he could see exactly why she would do that. He stood there, shaking a little from the treatment, actually rather scared of the woman, but he didn't want to ditch Anna - at all. Never once did he expect this.


Then the gate opened and Miles (the mighty escape artist), trotted in, head held high, ears laid back at the woman, which he struck out at, not intending to hit at all, but just scare away from his barn buddy. His ears laid back, eyes wild, rearing a bit and neighing like a wild horse was enough to scare anyone that wasn't used to Miles acting like a stallion.


"Miles, boy, come here." Riley said quietly, "Come on boy, c'mere, I have a treat for you..."


The horse flicked an ear at Riley, as if he was saying, 'later, this idiot needs gotten away from my pal~'

 

[FreeMustang]

(Oh, that's completely plausible! A horse breaks out of a stall/paddock/pasture and breaks into a round pend, YUP! That's totally happen! LOL!)


Private Ryan snorted and pinned his ears back, bolting forward and dragging the lead line out of the woman's hand giving her a nasty rope burn as he fled Mile's attack, giving in to the lead horse.


"GET THIS CRAZY HORSE AWAY FROM ME!" the woman screamed, pulling the gun from her purse and pointing it at Mile's, shooting the out of control horse directly in the chest.


"NO!" Anna screamed, jumping at her mother and knocking the gun's aim off and causing it to hit her own horse. She didn't realize Private Ryan was shot as she was looking over at Miles, smiling in relief that she had saved her practically boy friend's horse until she looked over and saw Private Ryan on the ground, struggling to breathe as the blood pooled around him. She ran over to him, feeling as if she was moving in slow motion "NO! No! No!" she said in panic, holding the poor stallion's head as he heaved his last strained breath before dying, the shot was right to his heart, he had no chance of living through it. "No... Not You... You can't be..." she started to sob over the mighty horse.

 

[cattamer]

(Actually, Arabians are like totally capable of doing this! xD The first Arabian I had, Ishtar... We had to find ways to keep her in! She'd unfasten her stall, untie herself, open gates, even when we started fastening the gates with trigger snaps, she unfastened them! xD Even my Miles can untie himself if I don't get the knot tight.)


Riley stared in shock, his feet seemed to be glued to the ground. A pistol hammer being pulled back snapped Riley out of it as he saw his grandmother climbing through the fence bars, her old six gun aimed for the woman.


"I suggest you put your gun down." The older lady said, "I can out shoot you and anyone else any day, and one does not simply shoot a horse. You have a lot to explain."


"Guns aren't allowed here," Riley squeaked a little.


"Oh, I know. I was just about to hand over my gun to the barn owner while I was here, when I saw what was going on. Riley, catch your horse."


Riley did as he was told, and went over to Anna, offering a hug.


The barn owner was also there, near the grandmother. "You, ma'am," She said to the mother, "are going to wait until the police arrive. I do not tolerate people bringing guns on my property without my knowledge - no doubt you saw the giant sign I have out front saying this is a gun free zone -, and you are obviously not self controlled enough to even own a horse, much less a gun. We will be filing charges."

 

[FreeMustang]

(Oh no I believe they can escape I've seen my fare share... It's the breaking INTO A ROUND PEN I find hard to believe lol)


"When one owns the bloody horse, one can do what ever the fuck one feels like to it" the woman snapped, tossing the gun to the ground at the owner's feet "You know where you can reach me to have the police come talk to me" she shrugged "I'll just buy them off like I've done the last dozen times" she said carelessly, flipping off the old woman as she went to her car "The rest of them are going too, Anna!" she shouted over her shoulder, getting in and driving off.


Anna cried into Riley's shoulder "I... I can't loose the rest... You have to take them Riley... I can trust you with them"

 

[cattamer]

(ahaha, horses will do weird things c: I've seen mine do ANYTHING to get across a fence.)


"Good luck buying the federal marshal off when he's my best friend." The grandmother put her gun away in the holster, and walked over to the dead horse, Miles, Anna and Riley.


"She's not going to touch them," Riley said quietly.


"That she will not!" The grandmother agreed, "She's going to have a really rough time slithering her way out of this one, and at the very least we'll make sure she never owns another horse or gun, and if she gets anywhere near these beauties, she'll get arrested."

 

[FreeMustang]

"This is like Merry legs all over again..." Anna burst into tears all over again "I raised him from a foal... And... And he's gone just like that!" she said completely distraught as she stood up and pointed at Miles "If he hadn't scared her... She...." she put her hand down and started crying all over again "She would have just shot him later!" she broke down again, regretting pushing her mother away when she was going to shoot Miles. Then again she wouldn't want Riley crying over his horse being dead either. "I'm sorry" she cried, knowing she was wrong to say something so hateful, not now...

 

[cattamer]

Riley didn't know what to say, he just hugged her. He wished he hadn't been frozen and had actually moved when he should have. That was his problem. He moved when he shouldn't, and he didn't when he should have.

 

[FreeMustang]

Anna finally cried enough that her eyes were too dry to produce any more tears. She went over to Private Ryan once again and pulled some hair from his tail, she wanted something to remember him bye as the owner had someone come in and haul his body away.

 

[cattamer]

Riley could see his grandma talking on the phone. He knew from the look on her face that Anna's mother was not getting off the hook this time. One didn't mess with his grandmother... unless they wanted slapped into place.

 

[FreeMustang]

Anna walked into the barn and sank down in front of Flight's stall, she couldn't bare to watch her dead horse being drug away! she carefully started braiding the hair she had gotten from Private Ryan, trying to figure out her next move. This was certainly going to through them off in their vaulting routine since they no longer had a suitable horse for it. She had to think about practice, if she didn't focus on that she'd just end up crying all over again.

 

[cattamer]

Riley slowly followed, half dragging Miles with him. He put him away in his stall, wondering how he even got out. He guessed they'd have to use Miles, but Anna didn't want to use Miles, and none of her other horses were the right fit either. He leaned against the stall door, trying to process what had just happened. What was their next move?

 

[FreeMustang]

"Riley?" Anna said, her voice still shaking from what had just happened. She no longer had a horse that was going to preform in western events as good as her Private Ryan would have. She had no ida how she was going to do this now!

 

[cattamer]

Riley snapped out of oblivion. "Yeah?" He followed Anna's voice to her. "You doing okay?" He asked, sitting down next to her.

 

[FreeMustang]

"No.... But if I don't focus on something else I'm going to have a nervous break down" Anna said, wiping away the tears before looking back at Riley "I was thinking... Who we could use... And Sweet Memory has always had good movement, and she has the right build for it... Just not proper training in the area... Could you help me with her?" she asked, tears welling in her eyes all over again.

 

[cattamer]

"We could use her... or Miles?" Riley offered. "Thanks for...not letting her shoot him...."


Riley added the last bit quietly. Riley scooted his shoe across the ground, not really wanting to make eye contact with her. He was trying not to tear up himself. He had grown fond of the horses.

 

[FreeMustang]

"Riley.... Your horse scares me..." Anna confessed embarassedly "That and I'm really concerned t would hurt him... I wouldn't use Flight for it for the same reason... And..." she shook her head, still seeing Miles as being the biggest reason the her Private Ryan was dead. She couldn't really stand looking at him!