Not such a bad idea... [3RD PLACE]

-Show: Ackerley Evolution Competition
-Horse name and reference: 989 WRR Shifty Business
-Handler: Tristan Ennerstone
-Class: Dressage
-Stable: Western RidgeRunner
-Extra image: N/A
-Placing: 3rd Place
-Extra Details: Arena at Western RidgeRunner

Story
The Ackerley Evolution Competition...
Tristan had heard a little bit about the show from around the circuit, it was a new concept to him, the idea of being able to record a performance and send it through to the judges online. Being your average traditionalist in dressage, the whole idea of this was somewhat of a foreign concept to him. He'd decided fairly quickly that he didn't like the idea, and moved on from there without offering it a second thought. Why enter something that he wasn't interested in? He hadn't heard much of the prizes anyhow... he couldn't imagine that many would follow over to this kind of show...
And yet, cut to a few weeks later, he was hearing rumours around the circuit that this show was going to be fairly sizeable, a piece of information that surprised him. But nonetheless he'd heard Kaira Van Leeuwen and her horse Mezuzah were going to be putting in an appearance, along with a few others, and so, his interest became piqued. With a slightly grumpy look, he picked up his phone and put in a google search for the Ackerley Evolution Competition.
The more that he read, the more that Tristan became interested... a sponsorship from Volvo? That was something he could get in touch with, he supposed... it wasn't quite a porsche, but he wouldn't mind another car... he could give Jarin driving lessons in it, if in doubt. Plus, the costs of the show would be reduced, as they wouldn't have to travel away from home over to another stables...
As Tristan continued to consider it, the more the pros began to outweigh the cons, until eventually he gave a sigh, heading through to Jennie's office... he should probably talk to her about it before he just went ahead and entered, just incase.
And so, he found himself knocking on Jennie's office door and heading in, giving her a brief smile.
"Hey Jennie, take a look at this competition... the showing costs are minimal... prizes seem pretty decent, what would you say?" Tristan questioned calmly, passing his phone over for her to take a look at.
Jennie paused her work at her computer to glance at the phone. She quickly read over it, “Yea, sounds good.” She honestly wasn’t too familiar with the whole thing but if Tristan thought it was fine, she trusted a rider like him to make good choices. Otherwise, she would not have hired him on...
“Great, just wanted to check…” Tristan said with a quick smile “I’ll leave you to get on with your work.”

And so... that was that. He would be entering the show... now to select a horse. He had a few potential horses... Angus, Watson, Shifty...

Angus had been out fairly recently at the Dressage at Devon, he'd proven himself to be a solid dressage horse at that show, taking Grand Champion, for which Tristan had been incredibly proud of him. But perhaps he deserved a short break for doing that... it hadn't been long since they had entered that, after all. So perhaps not Angus... but then what about Watson? He shook his head mentally again, although the horse was excellent at dressage, Tristan had been working hard on his three day eventing, rather than his dressage. He felt like it was a good idea to keep Watson working on his jumping for now... which left Shifty. That was a decision that Tristan could stick behind... give them a little training, and they'd be right onto business. Time to get to work. 

A few weeks later
“Can I do it too!?” Jarin asked enthusiastically.
“If you’d have asked me several weeks ago, possibly. Right now? No, you’re nowhere near prepared.” Tristan responded, glancing across to him briefly as he finished up tacking up Shifty.
“But Abe and I have been doing fine so far! I can just go get him warmed up and-”
“And what? You’ve been doing well at your other shows with weeks of preparation on your ride and pattern. You’ve had none of that leading into this. And you aren’t entered. So no. You’re fine to watch, but you aren’t riding.”
Jarin pouted. He kicked a little dirt on the ground, sighing. How come he never got to do all the fun stuff? “Okay, I’ll watch then. I’ll watch you win the whole show! Yea!” Jarin cheered, throwing his arms in the air. At least that would be exciting!
Shifty spooked a little as Jarin threw his arms up, aka, he stepped back a touch and flinched, wondering what the hell the party was. In the meantime, his rider was having to strain from putting his head in his hands. “Don’t get too ahead of yourself, Jarin. Remember?” Jarin’s enthusiasm could be both a blessing and a curse… that much he knew already. “I haven’t even warmed up yet…”
After briefly comforting Shifty, Tristan was entirely ready to go for the show, he'd kitted Shifty out in his best gear, his own branded saddle and bridle, with the gold buckles, bit and stirrups. Naturally, Tristan too, wore gold, bar the diamonds on his boots... best to look flashy without going all-out, he thought. It was fairly early in the day, and the sun was shining bright over Western Ridgerunner, a perfect day for the Ackerley competition. Tristan had made sure that the glass arena looked spick and span that morning, just incase. After all, they were technically putting a show on, after all! With that, he led Shifty out to the arena, a short time before they were meant to actually send out the recording, to ensure that they got warmed up in time. 
He moved Shifty through his gaits as easily as ever, this, quite literally, just like any other ride at home for the stallion, other than the fact that he was decked out in ultra-shiny gear.
Perhaps this show wasn't such a bad idea...

(1007 words)

Art, Story, Tristan & Shifty - Me
Jarin, Abe - Drasayer
Kaira & Mezuzah - KimenLie