On the other Lead

[Anastasie Chevalier]

Anastasie walked into White Oak and down to the stall where her young Gypsy Cob was housed. She loved the gelding's spunk, and felt that he would be great to use for the lesson. "Hey baby boy." She greeted as she took the gelding's turquoise halter off the hook and stepped into his stall. "Quit that!" She said firmly as the gelding started tossing his head and pawing the air in front of him. Every inch of him displayed stallion tendencies even though he had been gelded at six months of age. She shook her head as she closed the gap between them and put the halter on the gelding's head.

Leaving the barn, she made her way to her outdoor classroom and unclipped the gelding's halter once the gate was secured. She shook her head as he trotted a few steps away before throwing a playful buck and then cantering around the field. "Gypsy." Her firm voice was suddenly amplified as she turned on the wireless mic that she used for her classes and her voice came from around the field, causing the gelding to skid to a halt as he looked around, his ears pricked forward, looking completely bemused before trotting over and nuzzling the woman's shoulder.

Shaking her head, Ana gave the gelding's forehead a rub before she walked over to collect the five cones that she had borrowed for the class, she then paced them out in a straight line down the centre of the field. Walking back over to the flaxen chestnut gelding, she clipped the twelve foot lead back onto his rope halter and waited for her students to arrive. She had asked that they arrive with their horses already on the long lead that they had been assigned at the start of the school year - she had brought along a few extras for her new students when she brought the cones over - along with the carrot sticks so that they would be ready to start as soon as everyone had gathered.

---

Group B Students:
@aedus
Becca Walsh
Danielle Green
@rhythm
@lukamason
Miranda Florin
@daretodream
Othello Buskirk
@samanthal

[Othello Buskirk]

Othello jogged from Evening Primrose to White Oak and speed walked his was down to Harry's stall where he slipped in, put the gelding forest green halter on before he led him out of the stall and down to the grooming bays where he put the dark liver chestnut into a set of cross-ties before he headed into the tack room and collected what he needed; grooming kit as well as the green rope halter, long lead and carrot stick that he had for the class - the latter two had been assigned to him, the former he had purchased himself - and then walked back out to Harry.

After giving the horse a quick, yet thorough, grooming, the boy replace the kit into his locker, swapped the nylon halter and lead for the rope halter and long lead, he then led the Suffolk Punch out to the field where the Natural Horsemanship class was held. He was thoroughly enjoying what he was learning from Ms Chevalier, and it was also encouraging him to do his own private study of the topic.

"Good afternoon, Ms Chevalier." He greeted as they walked onto the field and found a space for themselves. He was enjoying the cooling weather, as the lack of heat didn't being up his nausea as much, though he did have a packet of jellybeans in his pocket.

While he waited for the class to start, he stood playing the porcupine game with the gelding/

[Miranda Florin]

Miranda finished grooming Fingal and untied his lead from the fence post that she had been using. Slipping the gelding another carrot, she dropped the grooming kit by one of the fence posts, and then led the mustang out of his yard, closing the gate after them. She stopped by the edge of the barn, picking up the long lead and carrot stick, swapping out Fingal's lead and dropping the nylon one next to the barn.

It was a long walk from the Equine Clinic to the Natural Horsemanship field, being diagonally all of the way across campus, but she knew that Fingal would benefit from the lessons more than Sye, and with Cray already having a potential home lined up, she didn't want to focus on the mare as much. Finally, however, they too reached the field, and she found herself a space in the middle of the field, smiling at Ms. Chevalier, "Good afternoon."

Nodding briefly to Othello, she dropped the carrot stick and loosened Fingal's rope, allowing the gelding to lower his head and graze as she ran her hand over his body, although she never let go of the lead. She might trust the horse on their own, but one never knew what other horses would be in the class.

[Deleted]

Aedus walked to the Arabian mare Sunny's stall, his ever constant smile on his face. He had gotten around to brushing Sunny earlier that day, which meant all he really did was grab the halter and slip it onto her face. Grabbing the lead rope he generally used for her he clipped it onto the ring and lead the mare out of her stall, leading her straight towards the field.

The mare obediently and happily plodded alongside him, and he often reached out to pet her briefly after he found she was rather willing to walk aside him without much coaxing at all from the casual lead he used. He was clothed in all black, and his choppily cut hair seemed to follow suit to that theme. Nonetheless, he appeared to be extremely happy over something, though it was not really much but the fact he was here the had placed the smile on his face.

So far he was enjoying all of his classes, even the academics one. As he entered the field where the Horsemanship class would be held he took a spot a bit off to the side, slowing Sunny to a halt as he stepped near her and rubbed his hand down her neck. As he looked about she saw the carrot sticks and long leads, and looked up at Ms. Chevalier with a question in his eyes, as he figured he would need one as well.

[Deleted]

Sam stood in the aisle with both horses in her line of sights. The original plan was to take Des to the horsemanship class but she also wanted to get some more time in with Popeye. Her head swung back and forth until she decided to stay with her plans and take Des. All he needed was a once over and then he was ready to go. She rubbed the gelding's forehead and slipped on his halter and long lead.

Neither of her horses necessarily needed to be in these classes but Sam was involved more so for herself than the boys. It would come in handy in case the horses she worked with in the future that weren't as easy to work with as Des who was walking beside Sam as his lead hung over his back. His head was low and he was shoulder to shoulder with dark haired his owner.

Sam waved at Ms. Chevalier as she approached the group and gathered the lead in her hand. "Afternoon." She smiled at the instructor and found herself a nice spot to work. Des blew air out of his nose and lipped Sam's hand while they waited for the class to get started.

[Deleted]

Jason made his way towards the Red Willow Barn, double-checking his schedule to make sure he knew which class he was supposed to attend next. He grabbed a brush and a hoof pick from his grooming box before slipping into Tickle's stall. The black and white gelding nickered a greeting to him and stood placidly as Jason flicked away the ever-present dust as a result of the peat moss bedding. For the similar reasons, the brown-blond made sure to remove the bedding that had lodged in his horse's hoof. The process didn't take long, and soon Tickle had on his bright orange halter.

Taking the orange and white striped lead in his hands, Jason led his gelding out towards the Natural Horsemanship Pasture. When he had seen the class on the course catalog, he had picked it immediately. Given the fact that Tickle had been the first horse he had worked with that wasn't well-versed in ground manners, Jason was not all that sure how to let Tickle know who was in charge. They had gotten through some dips with the help of others at the barn, but Jason just wanted to 'speak horse'.

Jason walked his horse into the field, finding an open spot in the pasture already 5 horses full. "Good afternoon." He gave a general greeting. He hummed in a soft, low tone, just loud enough for his horse to hear, to draw Tickle's attention was away from the other horses. Glancing around, Jason noticed the long leads that everyone but one other student seemed to have. He spotted what looked like a few of them within reach of the teacher, and hoped that the equipment was provided for by the instructor.

[Deleted]

Luka brushed out Aleena, smiling as the mare did nothing more than huff her approval at finally being brushed out. Her long winter coat made her look shaggy, and not at all refined, but since moving to the Academy, Luka hadn't been showing as much as he had been, and therefore clipping his bay mare was unnecessary. Feeding her a few pieces of carrots, he slipped on the halter with the long lead and led her out from the barn.

Aleena snorted and danced at the end of her lead, Luka rolling his eyes at her antics. He hadn't been riding her much, but she was honestly not that fresh. He came to the class and saw that there were already quite a few students, and he bit his lip. Usually he made sure that he was early enough so that he could find an ideal spot, one where he could see what Ms. Chevalier was saying, but he doubted he would be that lucky today.

He had also left Bruno back in his dorm room, thinking he wouldn't need him today, but he had been mistaken in that regard. Taking up a spot where he could see enough, he loosened the long lead rope, Aleena staying where she was, and had promptly put her head down to graze from what shoots there was.

[Becca Walsh]

    Becca was not in the mood to fight with Frye today, though the gelding seemed to have other plans. The cold weather had brought on a bad side of Frye that Becca did not like at all, though she knew from years past that there was no avoiding it. Cold thoroughbreds were never fun, and Frye was no exception. After brushing the gelding as best she could without being bitten, Becca clipped the long lead she had been given onto the huge thoroughbred's halter and lead him out to the natural horsemanship field.

    Halfway there, she realized that this may not qualify as "leading," since Frye was as far as he could get from her with his head in the air and skittering from side to side on his delicate legs, looking like one of the three year old racers before they're herded into the starting gates. Trying to control Frye was like a fisherman trying to reel in a furious shark. Miraculously, they made it to the field and Becca isolated herself as best she could from the other students and their horses, though Frye was still distracted by the other horses, and Becca struggled to keep him sane while she waited for the class to begin. 

[Danielle Green]

The first horse related class of the school year. Danielle moved to the Red Willow barn to collect her pretty little horse, well she wasn’t hers but she could pretend for a little bit each day. Remi was a great mare and sort of doted on her handler, which was a different type of personality than what she was used to dealing with, but she didn’t mind it at all. ”Are you ready mare?” The sixteen year old picked up the mare’s khaki colored nylon halter and slide it up over the Remi’s ears, securing the throat latch on the later they were ready for natural horsemanship.

Danny led the mare down to natural horsemanship field and saw that most of the class was already there. She looked among the faces to see if she recognized any faces but only recognized one face and that was Sam, a girl who was in her vaulting class, Good one familiar face, she thought to herself, it also helped that the teacher was one of the two barn managers that she had meant and continued on. Before getting completely on the field she saw that all of the students had carrot sticks and a longer lead line, seeing that there were a few extra laying on the ground she stopped Remi and grabbed a carrot stick and a lead line. Picking a place among the students and their horses she waited for Ms. Chevalier to start class.

[Anastasie Chevalier]

Ana watched as the students arrived and once she had ninety percent of the class number, she decided that she had waited long enough - as there were no class bells around the equestrian part of the Academy. "Welcome." She said warmly. Her voice was soft, but the mic boosted the volume so there was no need for her to talk loudly. "I want to start the lesson with you just running your hands over your equine friend's body. In this class, you should be able to touch every inch of your friend's body." She ran her hands over Goldie's body, down his back, under his belly, between his legs, under his back legs. "If you find that there are parts that your friend doesn't feel comfortable with you touching." She stepped away from her gelding slightly and held up her carrot stick. "That's what we have this for. It becomes an extension of your hand." She then fell silent and allowed the students to work with their horses.

The woman walked down the long side of their field (which was shaped more like an arena then a square), and placed a dressage marker B where it would be had they been in an arena, and then walked back to where Goldie was contentedly dozing where she had left him. Picking up the rope, she wiggled it to get the gelding's attention and then walked over to the marker. "Just to be annoying, can I please get you all to stand on the other side of the field, in something that semblances a line. Today's activity will be something you will do one at a time. While you are waiting your turn, continue to run your hands over your friend's body, working on that bond, and establishing yourself as their alpha horse." She smiled. "I know that it sounds strange that all you're doing is rubbing the animal, and this alone is making you their leader."

She led Goldie down the long side and spoke as she walked. "Today is going to be about leading your horse from their offside. Some horses won't lead this way at all as they are so used to seeing us out of their left eye.

"The aim is to have your horse yield to the slightest field on the line, maintain distance on a short contact and not hold back, run past you, or switch sides on you.

"Stand beside your horse's right side facing forward. Hold the rope in your left hand, twelve to eighteen inches below the clip. Hold the stick in your right hand with it pointed down to the ground and out behind you.

"To move forwards, extend your hand forwards and ask him to step forwards. Starting at B, lead him (or her) along the long side of the field. Turn up the centre line and weave between the cones in a serpentine. Turn right at the fence, which would be C if we were in an arena, and halt at B. Change rein and repeat, still staying on the offside." She rubbed Goldie on the forehead as she halted him.

She led the gelding to the back of the line of students, willing to address any issues that popped up as they came up.

[Othello Buskirk]

At the woman's instructions, Leo went from playing the Porcupine game to playing the Friendly game. It seemed that the more he played this with his Suffolk Punch, the more comfortable the gelding was with having the boy touching him everywhere, and today it seemed that Leo didn't need to use the carrot stick to be his hand for anything - which would be good when summer came and the horse was back in full competition and needed sweat washed from everywhere, and there were some places a guy felt uncomfortable spraying full force with a horse because you could get your hand close enough to wash carefully.

He found himself at the front of the line, and played with the chestnut's ears as he listened and watched what their teacher was doing. He pressed his lips together, knowing that he might have a few issues with this, as he knew that his horse was very one-sided and didn't like changes to his routine.

Leading the gelding forward, he stood on Harry's offside. "Easy, boy." He soothed as the large gelding danced behind him, fighting to get onto the other side of the boy. Gritting his teeth, Leo used the carrot stick to check the horse and by the time they got to B, Harry seemed to be happy to remain to the left of the boy, even if his head remained high, neck tense.

Walking the serpentine with the gelding was a battle of wills, and changing rein didn't make it any easier. It seemed that Harry would only be happy if his handler was on his near side. Which gave the boy something to work with while they weren't in class.

[Miranda Florin]

Miranda smiled as Ms. Chevalier started the lesson and just kept doing what she had been doing, taking more time around the areas she knew Fingal to be wary about, although she didn't use the carrot stick. She had brought it, yes, but after one time of trying to work with Fingal with it, she knew it was not happening, definitely not here. She did not need him to go setting everyone off because the rope had half-circled his leg, nope. Not a good idea. However, the gelding had long since gotten used to having her hands on him, so there was no need for the stick.

When asked to move over into a line, Miranda picked up the stick, careful to hold it so that the rope didn't flap too much, and found a place behind Othello. Once there, she listened to the instructions, nodding as she heard what they would be using the carrot stick for. However, it was always possible that her nutcase would freak out, which was a favourite pastime of his, so she considered for a moment before releasing her hair from its ponytail and using the elastic to fasten the lash so that it wouldn't hang down.

When Leo had finished, she smiled at him, then switched to Fingal's off-side, using the carrot stick to keep his hind end in place whenever he bumped against it. The course was difficult, as she hadn't even introduced Fingal to the concept, and he couldn't understand why he was suddenly on the wrong side, when she had just spent half a year teaching him to stay on her right. However, she took it slow, using the carrot stick when necessary, and by the time they were at the second slalom portion, the gelding wasn't dancing over quite as much, and the rest of the walk passed well enough.

[Deleted]

Running late really wasn't her style, but late she was. Kenna jogged alongside Duran as she led him towards the natural horsemanship field. She tugged the lead impatiently when he attempted a nicker and slowed to a walk just as the field came into sight. No need to let everyone see her running like a madman with a horse in tow.

Entering the field, she wasn't surprised to see that the class had already started, but she was surprised to see that everyone else had longer leads and carrot sticks. Looking around, she saw a few extra on the ground and grabbed one, switching it out quickly before crossing over and joining the group at the end of the line. Duran's ears pricked and he nickered a greeting to the other horses before settling down as much as possible.

Kenna watched the other students, trying to figure out just what they were doing. To her, it just looked as though they were petting their horses while waiting to lead them from point A to point B. She knew she was missing something. glancing to the instructor, Kenna gave her a small smile, "Excuse me... I'm afraid I'm a bit lost. What are we supposed to be doing, exactly?"