Cross Country Class

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Kendall whistled as she left her office and made her way towards the White Oak Barn. She had planned a bit of a race today, to see how her students would hold up under real pressure, although they would only be racing over the intermediate course, for the comfort of some of the lower-level riders. She pulled Pompeii out of his stall, then clipped him into the cross ties before she grabbed her grooming kit and set to cleaning the gelding's ostly-white coat of dust.

After grooming Pompeii and tacking him up, Kendall picked up her clipboard, which acted as a container for her stopwatch and pens, unclipped the gelding, and then led him into the sunshine. She laid the clipboard onto the hitching post, balancing it carefully, before she led the black leopard gelding to the mounting block. After pulling herself into the saddle, she asked Pompeii to move to the hitching post, where she picked up her clipboard, then pointed the gelding in the direction of the cross-country courses.

Once she had arrived, Kendall rode the gelding along the line of jumps once, checking that all were still where she remembered, then stopped the appaloosa in the field and waited for her class to arrive. As the students trickled in, she greeted them, then asked them to warm up their mounts for ten minutes before the class would fully begin.

Students
Miranda Florin
@lifesgood
@michealg
Becca Walsh
@harley3
@casey
Beck Oliver
Luke Bryan
Noah Anderson
Sonja Stokes
Jackson Reinken
Westin Bryer
Spencer Strode

[Becca Walsh]

When Becca arrived at Frye's stall to prepare him for their cross country class, the gelding pinned his ears at her immediately, expressing his displeasure at the company. She knew then that it was going to be an interesting lesson. When Frye was in a particularly bad mood, he had a lot more power, and if one could channel that, it would be good for a cross country class. Unfortunately, channeling Frye's power was not always the easiest of tasks. The cold weather had had the gelding in horrible moods lately with his cold back, and just the other day he'd set off bucking as soon as she'd gotten on. It was certainly not a regular occurrence, but Becca would be sure to be light on his back when she mounted today.

Grabbing her brushes from the tack room, she groomed him quickly, half at a time so that she could keep his rug on for as long as possible. The thoroughbred's mood would only worsen when he got colder. Once finished grooming him, she got his tack, and fastened on the boots she used for cross country that were easy to spray off. She used his hunter green pad and a fitted pad over it, before putting her saddle on and tightening the girth. Frye snaked his head around, ears pinned back, but Becca was ready and was able to get out of the way, smacking him. Putting on her helmet and winter gloves, she bridled Frye carefully, having to catch his nose so he couldn't raise his head out of her reach.

She led him out and mounted him with the mounting block before walking out to the cross country courses. Frye walked quickly and had his head raised high. She had to work to keep him at the walk, as the thoroughbred was nearly prancing. He knew his way to the cross country courses by now, and if there was one thing Frye liked, it was cross country. He pulled at the reins, and Becca was reminded of the bruise on her shoulder that she'd gotten from not being careful enough around him.

Greeting her instructor with a smile when she arrived, Becca followed the instructions and began to warm Frye up immediately. Moving to a good place, and began to trot him in large circles, letting him extend, and switching directions after a couple laps. Frye definitely got better once he was moving, and Becca cantered him a little in both directions too, but not too much to get him too strung out before the lesson.

[Deleted]

Casey's teeth chattered together as the chilly wind lapped up against her cheeks as she walked to the barn. Even though she'd been at Blue Ridge for a few months, she still couldn't get used to the awfully cold temperatures. Florida was never like this! In fact, this was her first time seeing snow. And as pretty as it was, she wasn't the biggest fan of the icy cold precipitation. She pulled her jacket closer to her, hoping her body warmth would be trapped enough to keep her from turning into an icicle. At least today she had cross country class to look forward to with her very favorite teacher and probably her favorite mount.

Her eyes landed on said mount, and the girl grinned. "Hey, beautiful," she cooed, grabbing the lavender halter and putting it over Ash's spotted head. She couldn't help but feel overjoyed as she remembered the first time she'd ridden her teacher's horse. Sure, Casey had two of her own. But neither of them were trained for cross country, and Casey needed some serious confidence in the saddle as it was. And Ash already had Casey feeling more confident in her riding as it was.

After cross tying the pretty Appaloosa and grooming her, Casey darted off into the tack room to grab the mare's saddle, bridle, and pad. Glancing out of the opening to the barn aisle, she grinned as she spotted the mare waiting patiently for her in the cross ties. Zanzibar never would have been in the same spot. With her luck, the smart little gelding would have been half way down the aisle, somehow getting out of the cross ties. But Ash was as sweet and well mannered as Casey imagined any horse could be. And she adored the mare for that.

Once the leopard spotted horse was all ready to go, Casey led her outside to a mounting block and hoisted herself into the saddle. She shifted a few times, finding her comfortable spot in the middle of the seat. She took up the braided reins, running her fingers up the strands of leather until she felt confident with the contact she had with the horse. She pushed Ash into an easy walk in the direction of the cross country course, enjoying the melodic feel of her stride. She patted Ash's neck, softly speaking to her the whole time they approached. Something about riding Ash made her feel much safer than she felt on even her own horses.

She grinned a wide grin in Kendall's direction, calling out a cheery but soft spoken, "Goodmorning, Ms. Salenk!" Though she was accustomed to calling the teacher by her first name, she preferred to show respect in the class setting. Her mother had always taught her to give her full respect to any adult. And an adult who was as kind as Kendall deserved even more respect than most, in her opinion. She nodded once in acknowledgement to her instructions, sending Ash into a circle a bit farther away from the other pair already riding. She cued for a trot, smiling as the mare willingly did as she was asked, patting her shoulder gently before taking the reins back up and continuing with their warm up.

[Deleted]

Avery was quite happy to end with the usual academic classes for the day as she’d been excited for her first cross country class after winter break. She’d missed the rush of excitement over the nature made jump and the view between her horse’s perked ears. Dev certainly had missed her as well, though she knew that he’d gotten very good care while she was away. Nearly skipping her haste to the barn, Avery took a calming breath before moving on in her usual confident, but quick strides instead. The last thing she needed was to look like a mouse scuttling around. 

Upon entering the barn, a soft whinny responded to her footsteps. Avery let a grin pull up on her face. “Hi Dev.” The words were the closest thing Avery had ever come to a coo. Of course, the brunette never cooed. Never the one to waste time, the sixteen year old grabbed the gelding’s halter before slipping it on and leading the horse out of his stall. She shook her head slightly as she noticed one of the clips on the horse’s blankets had come undone. “I don’t know how you manage these things mister.” she chided gently before clipping him back in the cross ties.

To be optimistic, it was one less clip to undo to get the blanket off. Avery groomed him as extensively and carefully as she could before placing his new tack on with a large grin. The new saddle she’d gotten for Christmas from her aunt was quite lovely, and Avery couldn’t help but feel excited to use it. Putting on her helmet, Avery led Dev out and to the mounting block before vaulting on and riding over to the cross country course. The brunette raised a brow as she realized the girl she’d met earlier was in the class. 

Avery offered her a curt smile before moving greeting the teacher. As usual, with equestrian related things, the brunette was rather serious and preceded on to immediately start warming up. She trotted the gelding around in circles, trying to calm his obvious excitement to go over cross country jumps. Finally, after trotting in both directions, Avery got the collected gait she was looking for and allowed him to go at a slow canter in both directions.

[Deleted]

Mike walked over to the pastures to collect Staff for their cross country class. He purposely left the boys out so hopefully they would have burnt some energy off before one of them was set out on the course. Ike was gonna hang back for today and relax for the next cross country class since he rotated the boys. Mike slowly reached the gate while whistling to Whistle by Flo Rida. He called out to the horses and quickly both had trotted their way to the gate. He greeted both horses and handed a treat to Ike before walking his bay gelding back to the stables and promised to get Ike inside after his class.

When he reached Saff's stall he slipped off the gelding's halter and let him search around the stall before removing his blanket which he let sit over the stall door. The grooming process didn't take long since Saff had his blanket but his legs needed some work. The gelding began nibbling on a salt block while Mike finished up. Immediately afterwards he collected his tack and finished up his preparations. "Ready beast?" He grinned as they walked out out of the stables towards the course patting the gelding's neck.

He approached the others and gave the instructor a quick greeting before vaulting himself into the saddle. Saff shook his head as Mike straightened himself out and buckled his helmet. They walked until Mike believed Saff to be ready then they picked up the pace, trotting gracefully around. The Arabian snorted as he danced before moving to a smooth canter.