An African Sunset

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EDITED: Story now posted

Karma's debut event in the competitive world, folks! And because I'm an idiiot, I decided to start with an extreme race through Africa. Karma's just had a lot of 'off screen' training for this

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Results are in and she placed first! (result sheet in show journal).

Show: Summer Endurance Festivale
Host:
Stable: Lakewood Farm
Horse: Lakewood's California Sunrise
Rider: Chess Knight
Class: Endurance: First Race
Setting: Tsavo National Parks, Kenya, Africa

This is also the saddle that Karma's is based on (just in case anyone thought it looked like a dressage saddle ^^ - img.ridingwarehouse.com/waterm…
The reins are cotton, because they're just a little nicer for long distance than leather reins. At least in my opinion.

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Story

Karma snorted in alarm as they crested a rough, grassy hillock in the vast, dry landscape of Tsavo National Parks. Chess sat deep into the ultralight endurance saddle and kept her legs firm against the mare's sides. Three elephants basked in the brilliant gold and umber light of Africa's strong sunset, just ahead on a dirt and coarse grass patch at the side of the track. One was down on the ground, seemingly snoozing with another standing guard. A younger elephant stretched her trunk up into the leaves of a solitary gumtree, lazily searching for a snack.

Karma took a minute, trotting past them like a crab as she eyed the three animals suspiciously. Apparently deciding they were no cause for concern, she snorted once more and straightened herself on the track, skipping into a canter once more. Chess gave her some rein, curling her shoulders forward to move with her.

They'd been riding all day, if you discounted the check points and breaks for water and replenishing themselves. Karma was easier to slow up now, less headstrong and warm with exertion, but she was still going strong, sound and seemed to be having the time of her life. All of their training runs around the back of Lakewood Farm had gotten her fit and conditioned as well as giving her a taste for the open sky with a single road winding ahead.

As Karma happily cantered forwards, Chess found her mind drifting back to the morning. Becca had been there to help and see her off, leaving the others to manage the Farm. Chess had spent nearly twenty minutes, covering herself in sunblock while Becca filled the saddle bags with everything from paperclips and bits of string to packets of electrolytes and emergency health cards. Karma's halter was tucked away, as was a sweater for Chess, a bed roll, matches, hoofpick and emergency shoe removal gear. The halter came along to give the mare's mouth a break from the snaffle bit; they'd decided that they should keep the bit because Karma wasn't known for her cooperation or brakes, but they'd looped cordeo about her neck with the hopes they could slowly train her to respond to that, too, since it would prove more comfortable.

Becca had packed the bags neatly enough that they weren't bulging, but they were still firm weights on Karma's sides. They'd set off at the crack of dawn, waving goodbye to Becca and their portable yard set up, knowing it would be a long while before they saw them again.

Chess glanced down at the water bottle, strapped to the cotton saddle pad. There was maybe a third of water left, and it was likely warm by now. It had been refilled at the last checkpoint, but nothing out here stayed cool for long. Karma should probably be sweated up, but the sweat was drying right off her thin coat as quick as her brief water showers over the race were. There wasn't long now until camp, and Chess felt fine, so she let her gaze slide onward, to the rolled up map also secured to the saddle cloth.

She didn't touch it; they were going right. She could see a ribbon pegged to the ground in the distance, marking their route, and she'd already mapped out this particular stretch of savannah earlier. She looked up again, letting out a breath and smiling.

She froze. An odd feeling, when the horse beneath her continued to move so fluidly, sending a trail of red dust into the air with each stride.

A way out, in the coarse yellow grasses tipped with the fire of the dying sun, a blaze of sunlight gold flashed across something. Something sandy, and stalking fluidly, close to the ground.

Chess' breath hitched. A flick of a brown tipped tail caught the sun, and a pair of yellow eyes raised, roaming across the savannah. A lioness. And it was sundown; so she may well be on the prowl.

Other than a bit of a close encounter when Chess realised a leopard was sleeping in a tree they passed beneath, they had managed to avoid many of the dangers, but Chess did not feel like outrunning a lioness on the hunt right now.

She did not appear interested, though. Her eyes settled instead on the three elephants. Odd, Chess thought - surely Karma was a better target.

Karma's ear flicked back and her stride faltered. Chess shook herself out of it; the last thing she wanted was for the mare to notice the lion and have a freak out. Instead, she quietly closed her legs to Karma's sides. She obligingly lengthened out, their pace picking up as they left behind the elephants and headed for the next uphill stretch. She glanced left again, warily finding the cat in the grass.

The lioness had stopped. She appeared to be breathing hard and Chess realised there was a dark, muddy red discolouration to her jaws. She had already hunted.

Chess let out a long breath, and slowed Karma up again, using a pull of the cordeo, as well as gentle pressure on the reins. The cat was simply looking to find her way back to her pride, and the elephants were something she wanted to steer clear of, not close in on.

Karma continued on, unaware of the hazard so far out in the grass, and as she reached the rise of the next hill, Chess threw a look back over her shoulder, into the sunset.

The red sky was streaked with gold and the sun cast a brilliant halo of light onto everything it touched; the elephants, their single gumtree and the sea of rough grass, as well as Karma's floating ivory tail. It flashed once more over the back of the lioness as she resumed her slinking movement, finding her way home and Chess turned away from the intensity of it, her eyes burning with colours.

Karma snorted once more, and they sailed past the route marker in the ground. Chess smiled again, and patted her firmly over the neck. In the distance there was a small gathering of lanterns. Base camp for the night. And if they were there soon, there might even be some sunset left to take some pictures of.

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For fun - can you spot the lion? ^^

Right, well I think everything's updated and linked properly now

I never planned to do this at all, so I did it in pretty much one sitting and was up until 5am last night finishing it. Only this morning, there were a couple of bits I wanted to add. Anyway, for something I never planned to do, I'm pretty happy with it (my background especially), though I'm sure some of it will annoy me soon enough It was a lot of fun to have a go at the African landscape and just as great to finally get Karma out there a bit. So fingers are crossed for the event

Dramatic lighting and strong shadows are not my forte, so I'm sorry if that doesn't look quite right. I'm strangely pleased with the sky, though.

Time - hours I didn't have.
Refs - For the background: media-cdn.tripadvisor.com/medi… For a couple of the elephants: encrypted-tbn3.gstatic.com/ima… upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia… famouswonders.com/wp-content/u… For Karma and Chess: cdn2.content.compendiumblog.co… . The background was largely a composition and colour ref, the others used primarily for pose.
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Do not take, copy, edit, redistribute or manipulate.