Getting to the Essence of the topic

[Anastasie Chevalier]

Anastasie walked into her classroom, carrying a pile of photocopied and sorted papers. Placing her own things on her desk, she walked around the room and deposited three papers (a,b,c) on each table before returning to the front of the room and writing Bach Flower Remedies across the top of the whiteboard in large script. She knew that the class was about herbal remedies, but she felt that the Bach Remdies fitted nicely into the lesson as well, and they worked so well with herbal supplements.

Walking back to her desk, she pulled a large box out from under the desk and opened it up. Out of the box, she pulled a pile of books and walked around the room placing a copy of Bach Flower Remedies for your Horse on each table alongside the papers. Like the other book she had given her previous students, this was a gift for them to keep of they choose to do so. Those that hadn't been in her class the year before, she had spare copies of the her book in her desk drawer.

Returning to her desk, she sat down and started flipping through a copy of the book that she had handed out. The book was well illustrated and very informative. Even though that had the books, she would begin the lesson by explaining the story behind the remedies.

---

Students:
Amelia DeFoe
@anna
Cortney Smit
Jayne Doe
@john
@lukamason
@daretodream
Rose Hoff
@vervain

[Cortney Smit]

Cortney strolled out of the cafeteria, not wanting to seem like she was in a rush, stopping to chat with a couple of people on the way and arching her eyebrows at others who didn't move out of her way fast enough. She wasn't a nasty person by nature, but being captain of the cheer squad required her to dig down and bring out her inner-Myriam - as her sister would have fitted into the Queen Bee slot naturally.

Once outside, she picked up her pace and hurried down to Yellow House where she grabbed her cheer bag and shoved her riding clothes in it, as she didn't see the point of changing out of her cheer uniform before she had to as their teacher had never said they would be in the barn. Grabbing her boots and carrying them, she hurried across campus to the equine theory rooms and slipped into her classroom and dropped her bag with riding clothes against the wall beside the door. "Hey Ms C!" She greeted the teacher brightly.

She strolled across the room and sat down at her desk in the middle of the room. Pulling out the herbal book along with her pencil case and folder that she used for Herbal Remedies, she then turned her attention to the board and then the papers and new book on the table. As the title of the book made the contents of the pages pretty self-explainitory, she turned her attention to the papers. Opening her pencil case, she pulled out her highlighter pens, in six colours, and settled herself, ready for class.

[Jayne Doe]

Leaving the cafeteria well before the bell was due to sound, Jayne headed to Red House and up to the room she shared with Olivia. She went through the riding clothes in her closet until she had pulled out a crown blue winter polo and navy Equine Couture Brittini Breeches. She then stripped off her school clothes and quickly changed into her riding clothes, Pushing her feet into her paddock boots, which wasn't exactly a great fashion statement, but she would be wearing her field boots for her mounted classes.

Crossing the campus, she entered the equine theory building and walked into the classroom. "Hi Ms Chevalier." She greeted the teacher as she crossed the room to her seat. Taking the notebook she used for the class, along with her pencil case, she sat up and read the board, nodding her head before she looked down at what was had been on the table before she arrived. "Ooh, new precious." She said as she patted the new book, already eager to start looking through it. Rather than looking through the book though, she turned her attention to the papers on the desk, already keen for the lesson to start and wondering if she could use any of these remedies to help Ella overcome her fear of the arena. Well, the mare wasn't always afraid of the arena, but there was still the odd time the even walking past an arena would set the mare into a series of bucks and spins.

[Amelia DeFoe]

Amy had left the cafeteria almost halfway through lunch, but the end of the time didn't find her ready to go. Instead, she had taken the extra half an hour to give Wolf some free time, playing fetch with him to get rid of some excess energy. As her phone signalled that it was time to get ready, Amy whistled for the shepherd, and once she had brushed him a bit, to get the snow from his fur, she refastened his vest and then clipped on his leash, checking over the field before leaving. After a brief stop at one of the trash cans to dispose of a certain plastic bag, she made her way towards the Theory building.

As she entered, she glanced around, seeing Cortney sitting in the middle of the room and offering her a brief smile before she and Wolf made their way to the back corner, their usual seat. After dropping the shepherd's lead and sending him against the wall, she looked over the new book and the papers, choosing to flip through the pages as she waited for the class to start. The illustrations were very nicely done, and she found herself engrossed in an entry for Sweet Chestnut.

[Deleted]

John left the dining hall with a half-eaten apple in his hand, which he took sporadic bites from as he walked back to his dorm room to pick up his equestrian gear. The first class of the afternoon might not be mounted, but he knew the next one after that would be, so he packed accordingly, hoping that he would have enough time to get changed before the riding portion of the day.

After locking his room again, he walked towards the building where the Herbal Remedies class was held, entering and smiling at Ms. Chevalier, "Good afternoon." He glanced around and spotted Jayne, but chose not to go sit with her. Things were still slightly complicated on that front, after all. Instead, he chose a seat on the side of the room, about halfway back, where he dropped his backpack. Bending down to rummage through it, he pulled out a folder and a pencil, which he laid on his desk, before he glanced at the book.

Only when he glanced at a neighbouring desk, wondering why they had papers and he didn't, did he realize that he had knocked his to the ground. Smooth, John, he berated himself, bending down to pick them up, from where he tucked two safely into his folder, retaining the last to read over.

[Deleted]

Luka had spent his lunch hour working with his mare, Aleena, on basic stable manners. It had actually gone pretty well, but he couldn't take all the credit. It helped that he was applying what he learned in his Natural Horsemanship class, and Aleena was catching on very quickly about personal boundaries. Bruno had also learned to accept his snow boots that Luka made him wear, and all in all, things were okay. Hurrying to his next class, he quickly ate half a sandwich and entered the class.

He spotted Amy in the back, and smiled, before taking his seat in the front of the class. Bruno took his place under Luka's chair, and Luka unpacked his backpack, taking out a notebook and his pencil case. Most of the students were dressed for riding, and Luka knew most of them had mounted lessons after this class, at which point he would be going to the library. His disability prevented him from taking group lessons, and he hadn't had the courage to approach one of the instructors for private lessons yet.

Turning his attention to the book in front of him, he smiled, starting to page through it, his attention captured by the vivid pictures and the information provided.

[Deleted]

Vervain's lunch had been what it always was since she had come here. She got her food, then wandered off somewhere to finish it as quickly as she could. Afterwards she found herself either in her room, the library, or the barn with Casper. Today she had isolated herself into the library, though she had only just caught herself in time to realize if she did not hurry up she would be late.

She was wearing a pair of faded grey skinny jeans, and a black t-shirt that hugged her body. She was also wearing a somewhat baggy hoodie, but after she had seated herself at the table that took her away from most classmates she had pulled it off, as she found it rather warm in here. Her long, crimson waves had been tamed and coaxed into a braid which hung over her shoulder until it ran out of length, and it held interesting contrast to her pink lips and icy blue eyes.

Her book bag dumped on the floor she looked at the papers that lay across her desk, and she seemed vaguely interested. She had heard of the Bach Flower Remedies before, but this lesson bothered her slightly. In theory, they were simply placebos. Her brow knitted as she looked at it, before looking back up in hope the teacher would explain.

Vervain was in no way stupid, and while she found the remedies interesting, she was not quite sure how a placebo would work on a horse.

[Anastasie Chevalier]

Anastasie watched as the students entered the room, returning the greetings that were given to her. Once the teenagers were settled into their seats, she picked up her copy of the book she had given to the students - not that she would be teaching from it, per-say - and walked to the front centre of the room. "I know that Bach remedies aren't exactly herbs, but because I know that they work closely with herbs, I thought that this would be a great topic to look at over the next few weeks." She only met with her students once a week. "The book, or books, on your desk is yours to keep if you wish." She held up her copy of the book. "To start off with, I'm going to give you the boring background information, and then we'll open the floor for any questions." She gave them an apologetic smile. "Bach flower remedies are extreme dilutions of flower material developed by Edward Bach, an English homeopath, in the 1930s. Bach believed that dew found on flower petals retain healing properties of that plant. The remedies are intended primarily for emotional and spiritual conditions, including but not limited to depression, anxiety, insomnia and stress.

"The remedies contain a very small amount of flower material in a 50:50 solution of brandy and water. Because the remedies are extremely diluted they do not have a characteristic scent or taste of the plant. As this dilution process results in the statistical likelihood that little more than a single molecule may remain, it is claimed that the remedies contain "energetic" or "vibrational" nature of the flower and that this can be transmitted to the user. Bach flower remedies are considered vibrational medicines, and rely on a concept of water memory. They are often labelled as homeopathic because they are extremely diluted in water, but are not true homeopathy as they do not follow other homeopathic precepts such as the law of similars or the belief that curative "powers" are enhanced by shaking and repeated diluting ("succussion").

"Systematic reviews of clinical trials of Bach flower remedies have found no efficacy beyond a placebo effect.

"The best known flower remedy product is the Rescue Remedy combination, which contains an equal amount each of Rock Rose, Impatiens, Clematis, Star of Bethlehem and Cherry Plum remedies. The product is aimed at treating stress, anxiety, and panic attacks, especially in emergencies. Rescue Remedy is a trademark and other companies produce the same formula under other names, such as Five Flower Remedy."

She paused for a moment, allowing the students to take in what she had said. "As you can see from one of the handouts, Dr Bach arranged all problematic emotional states of mind into seven main groups with corresponding flowers for each one. To supplement the treatment of emotional problems different 'helper flowers' can be used to make up the correct mixture for the individual, according to the character and emotional condition. Can you think of something your horse, or the horse you ride, or have ridden, that could easily fit into at least one of those seven groups?"

[Cortney Smit]

Cortney listen to their teacher with rapt interest as the woman gave the background of the remedies. She had known that a student who had graduated a year before had used them quite a bit, but she had never got to know the student to ask about them.

As Ms Chevalier spoke, the girl coloured in the headings on one of the handouts with her highlighter pens. Since there were seven headings, one of them got two colours. She looked up as the woman mentioned Rescue Remedy, which was one remedy that Cort had used, as the doctor had prescribed it - so to speak - after the death of her sister. The girl still couldn't work out whether it had actual worked or not, or if it was just the fact that she had shut down her emotions and didn't let others know how much she was hurting.

She looked at the paper, that was now rather colourful, and worked out that it was the page their teacher was talking about. She carefully read through each of the headings and lifted her hand. "My mare, Olé would easily fit into the insufficient interest in the present, category." She offered. "At times I feel that no matter what we're doing, she's thinking about her life before she came to Blue Ridge."

[Jayne Doe]

Jayne read through the papers on the desk, and then, unable to ignore the book anymore, began to leaf through the colourful pages, liking what she could see even though she only read the odd bit here and there. She drew her attention away from the book, momentarily, as Ms Chevalier addressed the class, and continued to leaf through the pages as the woman spoke about how the remedies came into existence, she found the pages in the book with the same information, expanding her knowledge of what the teacher had said.

When the French-woman spoke about one of the hand outs, Jayne spread them across her desk until she found the one that was being spoken about. She read through the headings as she thought about Emmy, then shook her head and decided to think about Ella. Emmy, now Barčinka, was no longer her pony. She listened as the cheerleader spoke first about the mare she rode. Jayne's eyebrows shot up, as she thought that the other girl wouldn't have any problems with her horse.

She thought about Ella again, the mare could fit under quite a few of the headers, but she would talk about the main one that jumped out at her. "The mare I ride, Ella, although her personality can slip into a lot of those headers, the main one is Fear." She smiled as she thought of the pretty tobiano mare. "Ella can sometimes be a little indifferent when it comes to the arena, and not just when she's entering it."

[Amelia DeFoe]

Amy closed the book as she heard the teacher walking to the front of the room, turning her attention to the woman. She knew that she would want to keep the book when she heard that it was an option, if only to read through it and get a better idea of the plants that their papers described. When Ms. Chevalier started really talking, getting into the background, Amy wrote down a few bullet-points, even though she would probably be able to find them in the book, only to keep her attention on the teacher.

She put her pen down when they were called to look at the handout, looking over the various names. Thinking of Tommy, it was easy to see which one would correspond the best to the gelding, Overcare. When other students started actually speaking out loud, she glanced down, trying not to attract attention. Maybe, just maybe, they wouldn't notice that she didn't speak up. Instead, she wrote "Tommy" by the caption on her paper, before she focused on what the other students were saying about their horses, seeing if she could remember any of the horses from other classes. Hearing about Ole, she smiled slightly to herself, although it was soon gone, remembering the sabino mare that she had met early on in her time at the academy.

[Deleted]

This class would probably prove to be interesting, John decided, after he had looked over all of the materials. They might not technically be herbs, but then, he had heard of these before, so there were plenty of things to think about today. While he hadn't tried any of them himself, mainly because Lilja was mostly well-adjusted, but still, there might come a time where they would come in handy, so he didn't let his attention waver as the teacher started talking about the remedies, how they were prepared, and the rescue remedy.

When she asked a question, he flipped over to the handout she was talking about, looking over it and trying to determine where his mare fit in. She wasn't really uncertain, and oversensitivity could never be attributed to her. Fear? Once in a blue moon, maybe, but it wasn't common. Finally, his eyes landed on the second-to-last listing, which would probably correspond to her the most. When it was his turn, he smiled, "Lilja, my mare, can sometimes seem uninterested in her surroundings, especially when we're not doing barrels, so I'd say she's probably under the header Insufficient Interest." It might not be an exact fit, but it was close enough.

[Deleted]

Luka watched as the class filled and then returned his attention to Ms.Chevalier. As he 'listened' in his own way, Luka jotted down small notes, but never looked away. Later he would neaten his notes and file them away, but for now, it was all about understanding and making sense of what was in front of him. It actually made a lot of sense, and even if the flower remedies were considered placebo, there had to be some value to the use of them. The explanation and introduction was long, but as soon as he knew the class was speaking, Luka glanced down at the paper, and instantly he could see which group Aleena fell.

When he was sure no one else was speaking, he took his chance, raising his hand first and then speaking. My mare, Aleena, definitely falls into the Overcare for Others Welfare group, as she can be very aggressive and dominating on the ground and in the saddle. She doesn't relax easily, and becomes very tense as soon as her schedule is changed even slightly. She also demands attention from people, he explained.

Although with regular groundwork, it was becoming better and better, but that aggressive personality of his mare was something else.

[Deleted]

Seth practically ran down the hallways of Blue Ridge, mentally cursing as he glanced down at his watch. Tick, tick, tick. He was late. He supposed it really was not his fault, getting lost, but the boy had enough problems struggling to keep his grades up most of the time without being late. He may not be a proper genius, but his hard work kept his grades between the high B's and the A's, and Seth had no intention whatsoever of slacking off.

Mentally focusing upon the image of the classroom number he nearly slid to a stop, before his legs decided Ahahahaha nope! and he crashed onto the ground. Scrambling back up he walked into the classroom, his face red. However, as his gaze slid around, it paused over the redhead and he gulped, his adams apple bobbing. He had a class with his sister, though she was not aware of the relation. The nerves coiled in his stomach, and he was a bit tempted to slide back out of the room. But, no, he came here for his sister, and he would leave with her knowing who he was.

Forcing an abashed smile upon his face, he stood there near the teacher silently, waiting for her to acknowledge him instead of rudely butting in while she was teaching. Seth wanted her to know why he was late, instead of coming off as a lazy teenager who did not care.

Outfit

[Anastasie Chevalier]

Ana smiled as her students answered the question, noting that Amelia was writing. It pleased her to know that the students knew their horses well enough to pin-point certain problems, especially those that were riding horses that belonged to the Academy. "We are now going to move the lesson outside." She said as she rose to her feet. "I have a guest speaker who has had quite a lot of success with the use of Bach and herbal remedies. Some of you may even know her as she is an Academy Alumni."

The woman put her jacket on and led the students out to her outdoor classroom where a young woman was already waiting for them with two of the Academy owned horses. She smiled at the female. "Class, I would like to introduce you to Cara-Jean Kitchi." She smiled to the other female again. "I've preped them as much as I could, it's now up to you to convince them that the remedies actually work." Ana knew for a fact that they worked, as she'd seen the evidence in the horses that their visitor had worked with during her years at the school.

She stepped back to give Cara centre stage.

---

Updated Student list:
Amelia DeFoe
@anna
@annalise
Cortney Smit
@faolan
Jayne Doe
@john
@jetferris
@lacyfairbrook
@lukamason
@daretodream
@paisley
Rose Hoff
Stefano Rice
@vervain