A horse of a different colour

[Bruce Ropata]

Bruce had had no idea what was running through his head when he accepted the challenge to take on a class, as well as his mounted games group, and now he was standing in his arena with a whole lot of different gear out of the shed and was busy tweaking different parts of the equipment that he had been busy striding out - and because his horse was going to be a giant compared to the students' horses, he'd really have to keep the gelding's stride as small as possible when he demonstrated the pattern. Happy with how it looked, he folded the paper he was holding and shoved it into his pocket.

After a quick check on Monty, who was half asleep in the yard he had been put in, the man chuckled and went to tack an enlarged picture of the pattern onto the easel he'd set up just outside of the arena, so the kids could get a mental picture of what would be asked of them before they started and while they waited their turn. It was simple enough, and the end of the day so their horses would either already be warmed up or wouldn't need too much, and this pattern wasn't going to over-exert them in any way.

"Come on in and get your horses used to the arena, and what's in it." He greeted the students. "All I ask is that you don't take them through any aspect of the pattern until we've run through it as a group." And while they did this, it would give him a chance to tack Monty up.

Students:
Aaron Joseph Moore
Elijah Taylor
Harlan Duke
Kallistos Rolleston
Paige Wilson
Sina Aleardi

[Kallistos Rolleston]

Kall rubbed Jett's slightly damp neck as he removed the gelding's jumping boots and replaced them with other boots. "Chin up, dude." He told the horse as he scratched him under the chin. "The day's almost over." Leading him out of the barn, he swung into his close contact saddle and made his way over to the arena where trail class was held.

He nodded at the instruction given and used his seat and legs to moved the gelding into the arena, giving the Hanoverian a chance to look at the things that had been set up, especially the cones, gate and bridge, though it appeared that the gelding was more interested in other people and moving to the edge of the arena to snack.

[Elijah Taylor]

Eli grinned as he got Nav ready for trail. He was excited for this, especially with the new instructor. It sounded like the mounted games teacher was taking over, and while Eli hadn't taken that class, he knew it was a popular one. That must mean the teacher was some good, right?

He entered the arena and nodded at the instructions, setting off on his own to let Nav work out what was going on. The horse didn't seem phased by any of the things he saw, which made sense - While he was still relatively new to Elijah, Nav wasn't new to this whole trail game.

[Sina Aleardi]

Sina got Vaxi all tacked up and grinned at the horse, "You aren't a pony, but you'll do. I think Mr. Ropata will like you." It was strange, to have the mounted games teacher for trail now too, but not in a bad way! And she was on good terms with Mr. Ropata, which meant that Der was welcome to tag along and hang out in the equipment shed. She walked to the arena with her entourage in tow - Although she almost missed Dolly, the ragdoll cat - and settled Derecho on his bed before she headed to the arena properly.

She entered and grinned at Mr. Ropata, "Kia ora! Look, I have a proper horse!" With a grin, she followed his instructions and headed for the empty half of the arena, grinning as she passed Kall and Jett, "Hey you."