Hold on Tight

[Bruce Ropata]

@running9
Danielle Green
David Adams
Elizabeth Phillips
Jon Atticus McCloud
Khalid Al-Kuwari
Serenity Oliver
Stefano Rice
Sina Aleardi

From the vantage point of his own arena Bruce watched the last of the afternoon's riding classes in process while he set the arena up for that day's game, or games, if they had time in the ninety minutes they spent together to get through more than one game.

Taking the bending poles from the shed, he set up three rows of four poles and left the ropes that the teams would also need for their game lying over the fence, though he'd tuck them in his pocket as the students and their ponies began to arrive as there was too much a chance of them spooking from the innocent enough looking short-length of ropes and the last thing he needed was disarray before they even kicked thing off.

With the arena sorted, he made his way over to White Oak and collected the two mares that his newest students would be riding and led them, with gear in hand, to the yards by the arena and placed them in the normal yards. The other students would be responsible of getting their own mounts ready at the barns and bringing them over, it was only new students who got the privilege of arriving without a mount.

He waved the students into the arena as they arrived and made the suggestion that they started warming up before she turned to the last standing student. "Welcome Khalid and David, I'm Mr Ropata. If you come with me, I'll introduce you to your mount. He walked over to the yards to where a brown silver dapple mare was watching them with interest. "Khalid, this is Irish Wish, or more commonly Ish. The only thing I need to warn you is that she can get a little competitive." Walking on, he stopped in front of a slightly larger Arab cross. "David, this is Dazzling Grace, or just Dazzle. She's pretty good other than a dislike to stinging insects, which also means you need to be careful of things dangling around her legs while in the arena." He raised his voice slightly to include both boys in his next instructions. "Their gear is right there, so once you've groomed her and tacked her up, bring her to the arena and start warming up." He was a firm believer in people doing their own work to help establish a bond between horse and rider.

Once everyone was in the arena, and Bruce was happy with the way they were moving, he put his fingers in his mouth and released a whistle. "Haere mai. tamariki ma!" He called and smiled as they student began to make their way toward where he stood at the start/finish line. "Today we're going to play a pretty simple game called pony pairs. I am going to split you into three groups of three, it is up to you as a group to work out your numbers. Riders one and three will remain down this end and rider two will head down to the changeover line. When the game starts, rider one will take this rope here and weave their way through the poles toward rider two. They will then cross the line and rider two will take hold of the other end of the rope. When you are both holding the rope, you will weave your way back through the poles to the start/finish line. When you cross the line, rider one will released the rope, and rider three will take hold of it, and riders two and three will weave their way down to the other end." He smiled as he looked around to make sure they were all following. "You may not loop the rope around your hand, not can you hold your partners hand."

He looked around the riders again. The groups will be as follows: Serenity, Khalid and Jon. Seth, Sina and Elba. And; Danielle, Chase and David. It's not so much about speed, but working together." Once the groups had formed, he walked from group to group and handed one of them a rope and walked to stand outside the lines. "Ready? Set. Go!"

[Serenity Oliver]

After putting Plot's things away in the tack room, Serenity collected the things she would need for Pixie and headed down to the cute rose grey Welsh's stall and after grooming the pretty pony, she tacked her up and throwing a rug over the mare's rump, she mounted up and rode her over to the mounted games arena.

Bypassing the arena, she dropped the rug over the rail of Pixie's yard and then rode her back to the arena and began to work the spirited pony through their warm up routine, making use of the bending poles. Their warm-ups were always gentle so that she didn't push the pony into anything too quickly.

Hearing the call, she turned the mare toward their teacher and halted the mare a good distance away so that Pixie didn't feel over crowded by the other ponies as she listened carefully while Mr Ropata went through that day's activity and she sat up a little taller as he called the teams. She knew one of the names, but not the other, though he wasn't hard to spot out, as there was only one new student. Squeezing Pixie forward, she rode over to Ish. "Hey, I'm Serenity and this is Pixie." When Jon had joined them she looked at the poles. "I'll take the part of rider one."

She took the offered rope from their teacher and lined the mare up with her front feet behind the start line. On the word, she gave the mare her head as they speed wove their way through the poles and reined the pony in as they approached the other line. She adjusted the way she held the rope as she looked at the boy she would be riding back with...

[Stefano Rice]

Seth moved his bag up his shoulder as he left the nutrition and health classroom. While he hadn't had any mounted classes that day, he was dressed for riding, as he made his way to Red Willow barn and left his bag stashed away in Mo's locker as he grabbed the things he'd need for the spunky gelding. He loved mounted games! While he hadn't been riding for the longest, the idea of mounted games seemed right up his alley with the fact that it was mostly about speed and he was all for anything that meant moving at full speed and ignoring the consequences.

It didn't take him long to get the flaxen chestnut gelding ready to be ridden, though it took longer than normal because he kept getting distracted with the pony's adorable stall companion and the Ragdoll was just too cute to be ignore.

With his helmet in place, he led the gelding out of the barn and down to their class arena and swung into the saddle before entering the arena and working through a gentle warm up to get the gelding supple and flexing nicely.

All too soon they were called over and he rode up to their instructor and listened to the idea of the game, which didn't sound too hard, and he looked around for the girl he had been grouped with for the agility race, who was in his group again, and he rode over to where Sina was sitting on a cute buckskin.

He took the proffered rope from their teacher and looked at the bending poles. "Can I go first?" He asked with a hopeful look. As the idea of riding down by himself and getting a feel of the poles before riding them with a partner sounded a lot more fun than riding with someone.

When the race started, he let everything else slip away as he made sure that he had a good hold on the rope and let the gelding do his own thing through the poles before reaching the girl at the other end and riding back with her.

[Khalid Al-Kuwari]

Khalid felt incredibly awkward to arrive to class without a horse. He was told that he would be assigned a mount since Nasr was hardly suited for mounted games. He somewhat regretted signing up for the class if he was going to be assigned some ragamuffin pony whose only gait was stop. He stood awkwardly in the arena trying to maintain composure. Sure, he was the only one without a horse, but that didn't mean he had to look as undignified as he felt.

He held his guarded look at the teacher approached and introduced himself. The boy nodded quietly and followed Mr Ropata out to meet his new mount. Though he'd never admit it, the shorter height of the mare was comforting. He listened to the instructions knowing better than to interrupt or say something stupid. Though, he couldn't contain a slight snicker at hearing the horse's barn name. In his own dialect, 'ish' meant 'what'. On the spot, Khalid decided to call the horse Irish as he thought 'What' was a stupid name for a horse.

The boy grimaced at the idea of having to groom and tack the horse, but figured doing it quickly would help minimize the agony. As soon as classes were over, Khalid planned on visiting Nasr to be around a proper horse with some class.

"Well, I guess it's you and me, Irish. Teacher says you have a competitive streak, so we'll get along just fine. A bit of competition is good for the spirit, don't you think?" He kept his voice low so people wouldn't think he was crazy for talking to a horse even though no one would understand the Arabic.

Finally tacked, Khalid led the horse back into the arena and mounted up before letting her walk, trot, and canter a couple times around the arena. He was among the last to finish warming up, but that was not his fault. She was responsive and well mannered, so it wasn't a horrible start to their relationship. When the teacher yelled what was presumably a command to gather up, Khalid led the mare to the edge of the line. No way was he going to get caught between two backwater hicks. He listened to the instructions and almost felt his jaw drop. Team events? No way. He held the mare's reins short while Serenity approached and introduced herself.

"Khalid and...Irish. I'll take rider two."

The pair trotted down to the other end of the arena to take their place. Khalid took hold of the rope as soon as it was within grabbing distance and pressed Ish forward. Time was of the essence and there was no way they could come in any place but first.

[Sina Aleardi]

Sina headed to the White Oak barn, her hands empty save for a sliver of carrot that she'd brought for Pop. She didn't want to overfeed the gelding, but a little treat here or there couldn't hurt, and it wasn't a large piece by any means. Before she headed to find the pony, though, she stopped by the tack room and picked up his grooming kit. She approached the horse's stall and grabbed the gelding's halter before she slid open the door and walked in, “Hey Pop. Ready for class?” She gave the gelding his treat and then haltered him, dropping the lead to effectively ground-tie him. Then she could get to work, and quick work it was, to get the gelding groomed and saddled.

Before too long they were heading out to the Mounted Games arena, where Sina checked Pop's girth (for it was a girth on English saddles, as she had learned, much to her embarrassment) and then buckled on her helmet before she mounted the pony and headed in to start on her warmups.

The time flew and soon enough Mr. Ropata was calling them in to hear what the plan of the day was. She brought Pop into the lineup next to Serenity, smiling at the girl and then turning to listen to the teacher. This sounded like a fun game, she thought, as she followed the general idea of it across the poles. Not too difficult, she figured. They were assigned their groups and Sina smiled as Seth came over to her. As he asked if he could go first, Sina nodded, “Sure. I'll go second, I've done a lot of pole bending before.” She would be able to keep Pop next to another horse, even if Seth's pony had a couple of inches on him. Just a couple, though!

She trotted Pop down to the other end of the line and sat, watching Seth and preparing herself to grab the rope, because that would be the hardest part of the exercise. However, it went off without a hitch and before too long Seth was letting go, and Pop was swinging around to ride next to Elba and let the other girl catch hold.

[David Adams]

David walked confidently into the mounted games arena with a happy smile on his face. He looked around at the set-up and grinned wider, he adored playing games, although he was a little disappointed that he couldn't ride Grace. He walked up to the man who could only be the teacher and smiled as Mr Ropata introduced himself.
"G'day" David gave a simple reply and listened as the teacher introduced David and Khalid to the horses they would be riding. David couldn't help but laugh as he heard that his horse's name was Dazzling Grace.
"Now I'm riding two horses named Grace" He said more to himself than anyone else. He made a mental note to stay away from the things that would scare the mare. David collected the horse's gear and moved it closer to the mare. He started thoroughly groomed her, whistling as he worked. He tacked up Dazzle and led her into the arena, still smiling. He adjusted his stirrups and girth, then mounted up. He warmed up around the arena, and after a while, Mr Ropata called out what David could only assume was a call for everyone to come in.

David brought Dazzle in next to everyone else and listened as the teacher explained the game they were going to play. David looked around at his teammates and smiled kindly. He rode over to his team once Mr Ropata had finished and greeted them.
"Hey guys. Mind if I'm rider two?" He asked. David studied everyone's faces to make sure they were all okay with him being the second rider.