If all else Fails, Go to the Barn

[Katherine Carr]

As well as teaching her beginner riders the dos and don'ts while riding, Katherine believed that stable management was also an important part of riding and looking after a horse. And because if this, today's lesson was scheduled to be done in the tack room of her barn, as all bar one student boarded their horses in White Oak, and the odd student out, she had the girl's tack brought in earlier that day and placed on a spear saddle rack and bridle hook. She knew that the group would no doubt groan at the fact that they would be cleaning their tack that day, but the barn manager didn't like idle hands, and would rather they were doing something productive while she was talking - as everything she was talking about would be on the worksheets that she was going to be handing out.

"Welcome." She greeted the students as they entered. "I would like you to grab a stool and place it by your horse's tack. Yes, I'm going to get you to clean tack today. At the end of the previous lesson, I asked you to bring a folder." She paused as she handed them a small stack of papers each. "Don't worry too much about having to read it all, as we'll be going over all of it during class time. The first sheet in that pile, you will need to collect the top four things on the every day list ((I'm guessing a "scrubby" is a sponge)). Once you have those, we will begin. I'm not going to talk you through tack cleaning as I am sure it is something you all know how to do"

She waited while the students collected everything that they would need and returned to their seats. "I would like everyone to tell me one reason why we clean our tack after every ride." She listened to the answers and nodded ((will comment properly next posting cycle)).

"A lot of this lesson will be child's play to most of you, but it will give me a good idea on what you do and don't know and what I need to work on with each of you. First I want to talk about a horse's conformation. A horse with good conformation is always sought after as they move better, have a smoother gait and are less likely to break down. Yes, just like a car, horses are known to break down. You want a horse with long and sloping shoulders, a medium long neck that is arched slightly and bends nicely at the withers. Medium length and sloping pasterns, and a short, well muscled back that is smooth into the loin and withers." She had set up a white board in the tack room and placed up photos of horses that had the conformation she was talking about.

"Next, I'd like you to think about the horse, or pony, that you ride. When we describe a horse to someone else, we talk about their; age, colour, breed, gender, size, face and leg markings, and any other important characteristics: roached mane, brands, etcetera." She smiled at the group. "I asked you to think about your mount. I would now like you to describe him or her to me as though you were selling me your horse."

[Jayne Doe]

After lunch, Jayne had run up to her room to change into her riding clothes and pulled a pair of track pants over the top of her beige jodhpurs. Ms Carr had asked them to meet her in the tack room of White Oak for an unmounted lesson, so Jayne wanted to be prepared for anything.

Heading into the barn, she made a quick stop at Ella's stall and offered the mare an apple she had grabbed from the fruit bowl in the cafeteria and smiled as the mare slobbered the apple up, juice running everywhere as she pushed the treat into the girl's hand as she crunched into it. Leaving the mare, she stopped in at the toilets and washed her hands before she entered the tack room and smile at the teacher.

Walking over to where the mare's saddle was, she grabbed a three-legged stool and sat down by the saddle rack. She accepted the proffered papers and pulled out the yellowy orange folder that she had purchased for the class and put the papers inside. As they were told that they would be cleaning tack, she rose to her feet and walked over to the sink to fill two buckets with warm water, then walked to the mare's locker where she pulled out her cleaning supplies; a sponge, a few old rags and a tin of saddle soap. Returning to her stool, she set to work taking the saddle apart, and removing the bit from the bridle - which she dropped into one of the buckets - and the dipped the sponge into the other bucket, rubbed it on to the soap and began cleaning the saddle. "We clean out tack to make sure all of the stitching is intact." She spoke up as she paused from her work.

She listened as Ms Carr spoke about a horse's conformation, and knew that the mare she rode was often frowned upon due to her piebald colouring. She looked at the pictures the woman stuck up on the board and could see what Ms Carr was talking about, and knew why each was important.

She frowned in thought as she pictured Ella in her head while she was rubbing the bit with one of the rags and placed the stirrup irons into the bucket she had taken the bit out of. "Paint By Numbers is an eight year old, black tovero with a medicine hat, she stands at fifteen point two hands, her four white legs go with her colouring so aren't classed as markings, and she has a roached mane."

[Elizabeth Toman]

After lunch, Libby headed up to her dorm to get changed into riding clothes. Rather than her beige jodhpurs that day, she chose her bark coloured ones, so that if they were doing dirty work, she wouldn't stain her nice riding pants.

Heading down to White Oak, she headed straight to the tack room and nodded her head at the woman's greeting. She sat down by Wisp's tack and rolled her eyes when they were told they would be cleaning tack. She put the papers she was handed into the black folder she had found in her room.

Stalking over to the sink, she waited impatiently - tapping foot and all - while the girl in front of her got what she needed. Filling a bucket and grabbing what else she needed, she stomped her way back to the pony's saddle. "Don't you have barn hands to do this?" She muttered under her breath, hopefully too low for the woman to hear.

She set to work, cleaning the saddle. "It's to make sure that the leather isn't cracked or broken." She said, her voice sounding sulky as she continued to clean the saddle, now wishing that she had put a short sleeved short on rather than the long sleeved one she was wearing. Libby had hoped that Ms Carr had been kidding when she said they wouldn't be riding.

She listened, and didn't listen as the woman droned on about conformation and what was seen as being good.

She curled her nose as she thought about the ancient pony she rode. She listened to the stuck up girl she had to wait for at the sink spoke up about the horse she rode. "Whop-di-woo." She muttered as she turned her attention to the bridle and spoke up. "Endless Whisper has a hoof in the grave at nineteen. She's a bay with a white sock on both back legs, she has no face markings, but her face is lighter than the rest of her. Oh yeah, she stands at eleven point three hands."

[Deleted]

Forrest headed toward the tack room of White Oak in his black breeches, his old, worn out black paddock boots and half chaps, a dark green Polo tucked neatly into his breeches, and a plain black nylon belt. Having spent his life riding in jeans tucked into his half chaps, the tight fit of the breeches was new to him, but he hoped to appear neat and presentable in a school where he was sure others had more experience and readily available money than he had. While Forrest’s family clearly was wealthy enough to afford boarding school tuition and board for Autumn, they saved where they could. Forrest’s old, beaten up half chaps and paddock boots, adorned with loose stitching and the occasional hole, were a testimony to that.

Forrest smiled and waved to greet his teacher before sitting on the stool beside his tack. He read the list of supplies they were asked to grab and quickly grabbed his small bucket of tack cleaning supplies, complete with a few small sponges, some rags, and a block of Glycerine soap, out of his trunk. It was clear that they would be spending the afternoon cleaning their tack, a chore to many but one he didn’t mind. He dumped the supplies on top of his now closed trunk while he moved to fill the bucket with warm water. Standing in line behind another girl in his class, she heard her muttered comment. Having grown up taking care of Autumn whom his family kept in their backyard, it astounded him the amount of care barn hands provided the horses with. But tack cleaning? That was a little much.

Having filled the bucket with warm water, he dropped a sponge in, rung it out, slid it across the noticeably used block of soap, and started cleaning his saddle. She heard Ms. Carr’s question and thought back to the many books he had read on horse care and management. Most of his education had been self taught, after all. ”To keep the leather clean and in good shape, so it’ll last longer,” Forrest answered, taking a moment to look up at Ms. Carr to be sure she heard him.

Forrest continued cleaning his saddle as Ms. Carr spoke about conformation. Again, all he had learned about horse conformation had been from the various books he would get as holiday presents, his family feeding his hunger for a proper education on horses. Listing to the same girl as before rudely age her horse, he resisted the urge to shake his head. Autumn, at 20, was without question past her prime, but Forrest still gave her the same respect he would have given her when she was 10. He thought about Autumn and responded, ”Autumn Rain is a 20 year old appaloosa who stands at 16.2 hands. Her base coat color is dark bay, but she has a blanket with spots on her loin and hips.” Forrest had done extensive research on Autumn’s unique coloring, so the description came naturally to him.

[Amelia DeFoe]

As she didn't have any mounted class today, Amy had opted not to change after lunch, although she did switch her shoes to the paddock boots just in case they would be doing something that might get her tennis shoes wet. After giving Wolf a couple of minutes to relax, and do his business, she cleaned up, then reattached him to the lead and walked towards the White Oak Barn, where they had been told to meet.

Finding her way to the tack room, easier since the two barns had almost the same layout, she greeted Ms. Carr quietly before glancing around, noting the newest addition to their class. Glancing around the room as they were asked to sit next to her tack, she spotted Tommy's bridle and the borrowed saddle, hanging among the other tack. Picking up a stool, she lifted it over to the rack, asking Wolf to lay under the rack to keep him out of the way. As they were handed a few sheets of paper, she tucked them carefully into a red folder, checking over the items they were asked to get before dropping the folder next to Wolf and rising to get the necessary stuff.

Bringing the warm water back to her stool, she started cleaning her tack, feeling the saddle, which was starting to get more familiar to her. As the class discussed cleaning tack, she listened silently, nodding as she heard the points about why it was important to clean tack. As the topic moved to conformation, she listened intensely, frowning as it came time to share. However, share she did, although her voice was quiet, "Tomcat's Quiet Lullaby, or Tommy, is a nine year old American Paint Horse gelding, registered with APHA. He is a blue roan tobiano, standing at fifteen one hands." The horse wasn't a typical English horse, she knew, but then, she rode Western, anyway. He was learning, though, along with her, and so far, it had been fun.

[Deleted]

Vervain, finding herself to be the 5th student to appear to the class (which would be her first), was wearing very basic clothing. She did not really have any friends or talk to anyone, but it was for that reason alone the she had been keenly aware that they would not be riding and was to bring a folder. Dressed plainly in a plain green shirt under her unzipped black jacket and a pair of pants, she was also wearing a pair of sneakers that appeared as if they had most definitely seen better days.

She took her stool and set it out in front of the tack she used for the Academy horse nicknamed Casper, she also grabbed her tools and papers and set about working. She had honestly never cleaned tack before, but luckily she had scanned through a section about it in one of the many books she had read before entering the Blue Bridge academy.

Wiping down the tack and following the cleaning procedure mentally she also keyed into the conversation, intending to keep well silent and draw no intention to herself as she worked. However, she knew that saying absolutely nothing would definitely not go unnoticed, so she did speak about the horse she had been paired with by the Academy.

"Cascavello Coroner," She began, her voice quite as she worked,"also known as Casper is 13 year old, registered, bay gelding. He stands at 16.3 hands tall." Was all she spoke about of the horse of which she absolutely adored.

[Deleted]

Ria walked into the White Oak Barn, slightly later, because she had taken longer on the worksheet that Will had given her for English than he would have guessed. Rather than leaving it half-finished, even if he possibly wouldn't noticed, she had rushed through it, finishing the second half in nearly a third of the time it had taken her for the first half. She didn't even have enough time to stop and say hi to Moo as she walked towards the Tack Room, where their lesson would be for the day.

Hearing Ms. Carr's instructions, she nodded, then pulled one of the stools over to where Moo's saddle was, hidden under a pink cover. She pulled out a nearly-matching folder, tucking the papers into it before glancing at the list. Once she knew what she was getting, she rose and waited patiently for her turn to get water, before returning and taking apart the bridle to start cleaning. When she had first gotten Moo, she had been taught to clean tack, and even now it seemed familiar.

When asked about why they cleaned tack, she thought back to those lessons, where they had discussed just that thing, and then added on, "Because if you wouldn't wear dirty clothes, your horse shouldn't have to work with dirty tack, and it can cause sores if it's not cleaned."

As she worked on cleaning her saddle, she listened to the teacher talking about conformation, something that she hadn't really learned a lot about yet. However, when it came time to share again, she brightened, thinking of her pony mare. Once it was her time, she spoke, smiling, "Moo is a six and a half year old mare. She is a piebald cob, about fourteen one hands, and she doesn't have any brands or anything."

[Deleted]

Beginner English class was Hannah's very first class at Blue Ridge, considering she had just arrived that morning. Nervous was an understatement! However, the good thing was that she found out Ms. Carr was her teacher, and she had just met with her earlier this afternoon. After the meeting, Hannah went to check in on Greyson before heading over to class. He seemed to be doing okay, but still very antsy. So she decided not to get him out of the stall until after their class. She was dressed in light blue jeans, a brown sweater and paddock boots. Soraya walked quietly beside her on the leash, wearing her Service Dog vest that said "Don't pet me, I am at work." It was not a far walk from one barn to the next, and before Hannah was quiet mentally prepared, it was time to walk into her first class. Soraya, sensing Hannah's nerves, stuck close to her side. 

Upon entering, Hannah saw two people she knew, Ms. Carr and Amy. She smiled at Ms. Carr "Good Afternoon Ms. Carr." she spoke before finding her tack, thankfully close to the door and only a few rows over from Amy. She nodded in Amy's direction before grabbing the sheets Ms. Carr had given her and then retrieving her supplies. Making her way back to her tack, she sat everything down beside her stool and gave Soraya the quiet command to lay beside her on the right side. Hannah was quick to notice a guy was sitting on that side, so Soraya acted as a barrier. Hannah silently listened to the explanations about reasons to clean tack while she thoroughly worked the sponge over the supple brown leather. She kept her tack in top shape, it was something she actually enjoyed. Hannah loved order and cleaning tack was something she could do to preoccupy her time. 

All too soon Ms. Carr was asking them to describe their horses. Hannah listened to each of the others talk about their equine companion's before shyly speaking up. "Tomorrow's Silver Lining, or Greyson as he is called, is a 9 year old dapple gray TB/WB cross gelding. He stands at 15.3 and has a roached mane." Hannah shifted uncomfortably on her stool, trying not to fidget with the sponge in her hand. 

[Katherine Carr]

Katherine nodded as she listened to the students talk about why they cleaned tack. "So you all understand how important it is to always check your tack over before and after riding." She said with a smile. "And even more important to check your tack if you have loaned something to anybody else, or if someone else has ridden your horse"

She smiled as they spoke about the horses they rode, frowning slightly at Elizabeth's comment, but didn't make her own comment. "It seems that you all know your horses, or the horse you ride, very well. Ria, the next time you're with Moo, have a look at her chest, or her face and see of she has any swirls that identify her. As well as for selling your horse, these bits of information are also good to know in the case that your horse gets stolen. However, that topic can wait for another day. As I said before, good conformation on a horse allows the horse to move better and be more sound in the activities he or she has been trained for. If you look through the sheets you were given, you will find one with lots of different conformation pictures (the one on my photobucket account isn't big enough to read), both desirable and undesirable. And another of how a horse's hooves track on the ground when walking with different leg conformation. From this picture, you can see why a dressage rider would want a horse with perfect legs. Here's a test for you. Pick an equestrian sport and tell me what you would think their rider would be looking for in a horse." She gave a smile. "There's no pass or fail in this test, I just want to know what you think."

[Jayne Doe]

Jayne continued cleaning her tack, taking every piece of it apart and spreading it out as well as she could to let it air out and dry as naturally as possible before she would have to put it together again. She nodded as she listened to Ms Carr. Tack cleaning had always been an important part of stable management at her last barn.

She smiled as the woman praised the lot of them for knowing their horses so well. Not that she was going to say anything, but she knew all too well how much you knew about your horse could help or hinder a police investigation for a stolen horse. Though she got a feeling that her foster father had told the police not to bother looking for Emmy after the bay mare had been stolen.

The girl shuffled through the papers until she found the one Ms Carr was talking about. "A showjumper would look for an uphill built horse, as they move easier and lift up their fronts better. Their impulsion is also improved and they are lighter on the forehand. They would look for a well bred horse with a solid bone, strong, straight cannons, with a good stance and good muscling. Nice large, balanced, hooves are also good for displacing pressure. A sloping shoulder is a must with a clean throat latch. And the rump must be round and powerful with an even spine that is strong." She knew that she'd probably said more then was required, but she had done a study on the topic for pony club and was proud of what she had learned.

[Elizabeth Toman]

Libby was a bit slap dash with the cleaning of the tack, surely the barn hands were supposed to be doing this kind of thing? Especially since she rode an academy horse. She gave a grin when the teacher didn't reprimand her for her scathing comment about the mare she rode.

She slipped through the papers until she got to the one on conformation and her eyebrows shot up. She thought she done some extensive study with her tutor on horses, but they had never looked at this sort of thing. "Ohmigod" She breathed.

She listened to the first girl who spoke up, biting back a know-it-all comment, knowing that she would probably find herself in trouble if she made too many nasty comments, she was probably going to get a talking to at the end of class as it was.

She thought about what little study she had done with her tutor. "I would say for dressage, the person would be looking for a horse with the same aspects as Jayne mentioned, making sure that the horse has straight legs so that they have the ideal track when moving. The entire horse would need to be well balanced and put together so that everything is straight and fits together; withers and hips at the same level, and the horse's stance, from the point of shoulder to the buttocks, should equal the distance from the height of the withers to the ground." She remembered reading the last bit in a magazine somewhere and was proud of herself for being able to spit it out.