come to the dark side ...

... we have Cookies!

Just think about it for a minute. Cookies. Capital C. Cookie as in the devilish mare.
One is bad enough, I imagine an army of them would be perfectly capable of
demolishing an entire planet. Maybe they should have cloned her for the main
villain's army.

Although, I feel like lately I've made her too nice and well-behaved. Almost
feels out-of-character at times haha
(or maybe it's just the rider who's so badass he can control her LOL)

Also, felt like drawing something different than the usual side-view,
so enjoy a view of Cookie's fab a**

Sort of ref (well more of an idea-giver, really) - fav.me/d7res1h
Ah, traditional lines make life so much easier

_______________________________________________________________________


Matjaž and Cookie's flatwork has improved a whole lot in the few weeks. Slowly Matjaž
learned how to stay still in the saddle and not get in Cookie's way, as well as making his
commands subtle; in short making Cookie believe they are always doing what she wants XD
Seeing the last few workouts, Evy decided it was time to try the pair over a couple of fences.

"Now this is the really tricky part," said Evy, lifting a rail from the ground and placing it on one
of the cup holders, forming a small straight. "She's got a hell of a jump, and is a huge
overachiever, always traveling about a foot, maybe two or even three above the rails. Meaning
that even if everything unfolds perfectly before the jump, you will without a doubt get thrown
around a bit up there once you leave the ground, and especially when you return to it."
She made her way to another jump that has been set there previously in the day, and lowered
it to about 1m. "Now we're going to start with the cross-rails, but I really want to see you tackle
a low course today. Just to see where we are at."

Matjaž was looking at the jumps nervously. While he's been jumping almost twice that height with
other horses, Cookie always made him completely unsure of everything, and the small 1m fences
seemed dangerously high in his eyes. "You call this low?" He asked, not being able to help himself,
while the beastly mare underneath him pawed the ground, impatient, and annoyed at having
to stand still and wait. They've warmed up already and galloped, why are they still now?!

"Well yes, this isn't even the children's cup height, let alone Grand Prix which I plan for you two to
master in the future."

"But ... are you sure? This seems ... kinda high .. and dangerous."

"Eh, we've all survived. I've even survived a 1.20m course on her, and she behaved a lot worse than
now, so I think you should be okay." She looked at him with a reassuring smile. She was genuinely
pleased with their progress and was a lot more confident about Matjaž's riding abilities than the
poor boy himself was.

"Now since you two are all warmed up, I want you to canter slowly, as slow as possible towards
this cross-rail here. Slowly. Veeeery slowly."

The boy turned Cookie away from Evy, and gently asked her to canter. The mare responded without
a second thought, springing forward into a fast canter.

"Don't go yet, slow her down, collect her. Easy. Slow her down." Evy yelled her instructions from the
middle of the arena.

Matjaž did his best, and within two lengths of the arena, Cookie visibly slowed down and collected.

"This is perfect, now just keep this rhythm to the jump."

They turned the corner and Matjaž lead the mare into the direction of the jump. Seeing the rails,
Cookie flew forward, throwing her head up, and extending her stride. Which of course meant
they missed the distance completely, and the black mare threw herself over the jump from two
strides away, unsettling Matjaž along the way. The landing was anything but graceful, and as soon
as Cookie's hinds were on the ground, they rose back up in a vicious kick, expressing her dissatisfaction
with the unnecessary weight shifts in the saddle.

"Stop, stop!" Evy yelled. Well this didn't go as planned.

Matjaž, who had some difficulty staying on Cookie's back now somehow succeeded in calming the mare
down, and led her towards Evy, searching for any helpful advice.

"Well .. this was exactly the opposite of what you were supposed to do."

"But I -.."

"Silence. I know damn well it wasn't your fault XD But we can't progress this way." The tone of her voice
remained friendly but still made it known things didn't go her way and she wasn't happy with that.
"Look, your flatwork has improved amazingly, I think none of us managed Cookie as well as you did
now in that short time, and I really want to see you progress with her. It does mean some things
will have to be done differently, both of you have a lot to learn. And first, we need to learn the b*tch
here to not rush the jumps. She needs to know she can't just rush in there and climb her way over
everything by sheer speed and force, from whatever distances she thinks may be appropriate.
Now ... you'll bring her to this cross again and again until you'll manage to keep her slow and collected
until the take-off itself. Again!"

It took quite a few more tries for Matjaž to get the hang of holding Cookie back, and with every jump
his balance in mid-air improved as well. By the end of the lesson, they quite confidently jumped over
cross-rails and smaller straights, more often than not making it look like child's play.

"Now THAT exactly is what I'm talking about," Said Evy loudly, approving of their last jump, which
was the text-book perfection and clapped a few times.
"Well done. Perfect!"

By this point Matjaž was already too tired and worn-out to even bother replying, he just looked at
her and nodded with an exhausted smile as a "thank you" gesture.

"I know you're exhausted, but I would really, really want you to string all of these jumps together.
You can have a break first, of course ... Just do what you did now for the past few jumps, keep her
slow, collected, never ever push her forward, steer her gently and just travel from one jump to another.
Make sure she won't start rushing after fences, always get her back after every jump. Go over this
straight first, than the diagonal, then the golden straight there, followed by that brown oxer and the
straight after, should be about 6 or 7 strides between the last two."

The boy nodded, repeated the course silently to himself, then ently asked the mare to canter.

_______________________________________________________________________

Art © by Boooberry
Do not copy, heavily reference, trace, claim as your own, or in any other way use without my written permission.