[ANGÉL JASMINE PETIT]

Angél arrived at the barn after school, throwing her schoolbag across the tack room as she walked in. She'd really enjoyed her summer, and now that she was having to fit riding around school again - and homework - she was having trouble adjusting. With a sigh, she opened her locker and pulled out her riding clothes, tucking her schoolbag inside, and then went to get changed.

After giving Sandman a good grooming and tacking him up, she led the buckskin out to the arena and mounted up. With a frown of concentration, she thought about what she planned to do and gave a decisive nod as she used her legs to encourage the gelding to step closer to the fence, where she pulled her stirrups leathers free from the saddle and let them drop to the ground on the outside of the arena, but close enough to the fence that they wouldn't be a hazard to anyone walking past. With another nod, she let her legs hang free as she squeezed the Selle Français forward, riding him around the outside track as she sat tall in the saddle. She had read that working without stirrups would give her a better seat, and she figured that removing them all together would stop her from giving up too quickly, and taking them back, if they were just crossed over the pommel.

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