the value of a circle

[Deleted]

Malachi entered the indoor arena, his breath misting in the cold air. He wore thick socks to keep his toes from numbing inside his field boots and gloves to keep his fingers from freezing. In his mind, he was going over the preparation for his first class. He had already planned it a week ago, and all he carried was a clipboard with a pen and paper to make his own notes on each rider in this group. He would be starting them off easy in his opinion. Riders underestimated the value of a well ridden circle in dressage, where it was supposed to be the opposite. Circles, at varying sizes, showed the judges the horse's ability to bend, how supple they were, and how well the rider could keep the horse in contact.

The indoor arena, thankfully, had dressage letters placed in the correct spots, he just hoped that his students knew the layout of the letters. He had kept the classes small, and thus easier to focus on an individual horse and rider pairing. Malachi knew that the students were used to riding their own horses. It wasn't long before the first students arrived. He observed and greeted each one quietly, before placing on his headset and turning on the mic. This way he wouldn't have to shout and scream to get a student's attention.

Good day he greeted his class. I am Malachi and i am your dressage instructor. I would like to start off by having you introduce yourselves and your mounts, how long you have been riding, and at what level if you have been riding competitively.

[Athena Achilles]

Athena stood in the barn, a green tracksuit pulled over the top of her riding clothes to keep them free of the tan hairs that were coming off the gelding from the areas of his coat that hadn't been clipped away, from the blanket clip, once his winter coat had come through. She groomed him until his tan coat shone, making sure that his black dorsal stripe was free of the lighter hair. She then groomed out his mane and tail, spraying them with conditioner so that she could put a French braid at the top of the tail - she was completely against clipping the tail to keep it tidy. She tossed about the thoughts of braiding his mane, but decided that she didn't have the time and just mane sure that it was neat and tidy.

Once the gelding was ready, fully groomed, hooves polished and tacked up in his Bates Isabell dressage saddle and snaffle bridle, she headed into the tack room where she removed the tracksuit to reveal the white jodhpurs and black long sleeved polo she had on. She then pushed her feet into her black leather field boots. Pulling her Charles Owen helmet onto her head, her unruly brunette hair was in a French braid which was folded over and secured by a hair clip that had a net attached. She collected her white gloves and tucked them into the waistband of her jodhpurs.

Walking back to the gelding, she removed him from the crossties and led him out of the barn and across to the indoor arena. Tightening the girth, she pulled the stirrups down and easily mounted the large horse, large compared to her height anyway, and rode toward the gate. Entering the arena, she eyes flickered around and she cringed inwardly when she saw that the instructor was a rather intimidating-looking male. Giving herself a mental shake, she relaxed into the gelding's stride as she walked him around the arena.

Once the others had arrived, she rode into the centre, keeping out of everyone else's way, and listened as the man addressed them. She arched an eyebrow as he introduced himself, there was something that raised the hairs on the back of her neck when teachers forgot formality and had students calling them by their first name. Her eyebrows shot up when they were asked to introduce themselves and their horse, as Athena didn't talk. It wasn't that she couldn't, she just opted not to. And there were issues with the level she competed at, as in England, she had ridden at advanced intermediate, but according to the rules in the States, with her age, she couldn't compete above preliminary. 

[Deleted]

Class. Parker had this habit of being late... always late. Today, he wouldn't be late. It was a striking timeliness that he'd take on. Make a good impression. Don't let them hate you more like. That would be far easier than getting a better reputation later. He left himself forty-five minutes, the amount of time it would take to get set and then get Blue to not hate him for not being out for a few days. At least the gelding had a good head on his shoulders. That would make one of them, and it was enough to bring Parker down.

It didn't take as long as Parker expected to knock the grime from Blue's coat. The creature was all fun and games, and Parker couldn't say that was a good thing... class might be a test of both attention spans. It was easy enough to get up on the creature once he was tacked and ready, double checking the length of his stirrups once he was up. Parker was admittedly a little long in the leg, but he'd try to remember to fix it once he was in the arena. A mental list of things he lacked the attention span for.

The first five minutes were good, and that was all he could hope for the rest of the ride. A prophetic first five minutes... yeah, that was great. He was lucky that Blue had a good sitting trot, because he lacked the focus to start posting at this early a stage. It was long and flashy, but he was perfectly happy to bump along through the fields for twenty minutes before class actually started. They both needed time to focus, to dial themselves in and calm their busy minds before actually working for a class. Class... that seemed like quite the length of time.

So he showed up with enough time to get a good spot in the ring, calling a polite "gate" at the door. He shivered with excitement, if just a bit, and it traveled through the chocolate palomino as well. Flashy, almost arrogant horse and boy. Handsome and in good shape... attractive. When it came their turn for introductions, Parker sat a little straighter with his legs still long. "Name's Parker, this is Blue. I've been riding for... basically forever, but I've only ever shown halter for my family with the AQHA." So his secret was out, but he it still felt glamorous to announce that he had his fair share of blood in the ring.

outfit & tack

[Deleted]

Malachi listened to the introductions of the boy, Parker, and glanced at his other student, looking at her for a moment. He approached her, resting a hand on her mounts neck. I understand if you are reluctant to talk, but I do need to know your name at least, he said to her quietly, only so that she could hear him. So, here's the class list, and just point at your name. That way I can at least address you, he carried on, holding the clipboard to her level, keeping his eye on the paper.

Returning to the center of the class, he glanced at the pair. Okay, so we're going to start off at a basic warm-up. It doesn't matter if your horse is on the bit, and if he wants to take his head down, allow. The most important thing, is that your horse is working through his back, and not working hollow. He approached Parker at this point. Adjust your stirrups slightly, just shorten it by one hole, he said, and then moved away.

He watched the warm up, scribbling notes in his untidy scrawl. Fifteen minutes later, he called his two students back into the center. Who can tell me how to ride a perfect circle?

[Athena Achilles]

Athena closed her eyes as the man began the class. With only two of them in here, it was even more obvious that she hadn't spoken up. She shrank back as the man approached her, and she curled her hands around the gelding's mane - so that she wouldn't yank on his delicate mouth - and fought an internal battle to not move the gelding away from the teacher's horse. She swallowed hard as she glanced at the clipboard and pointed, with a trembling finger, to her name. She then visibly relaxed as he moved away.

When they were told to warm up, she squeezed Bear forward with a light tightening of her calf muscles and rubbed his shoulder as he moved off. It seemed that the gelding was becoming more and more of an eventer every time she worked with him. She squeezed with one leg and then the other and the gelding's stride suddenly became more forward moving, as he was now pushing off with the haunches rather than

Taking her reins so there is a straight line from elbow to the bit - keeping the elbows near her body. Her hands in-front of the saddle and above the wither. Her legs around the horse, were soft, supple and against his sides, weight dropped into the heels so that they were naturally down, rather then forced. She relaxed her upper body and arms so that she could influence the dunskin with her back. And, with the slightest tightening of her calf muscles, she squeezed Bear forward. As they walked, she kept her back and waist relaxed and allowed them to move with the horse. Sitting straight and allowing every part of the body to ripple downwards. She kept her bottom (butt) soft and in contact -  she had been trained to feel and listen with her seat, knowing that if her seat moves more than your horses back, she would break the connection and communication.

She knew the answer to the man's question. The best way to ride the perfect circle was to ride it in quarters. However, she didn't speak up.

[Deleted]

Parker tried to keep his gaze away from the uncomfortable situation happening off to his side. He didn't know who the girl was, and she appeared to be a little bit bizarre. The young man simply straightened in his saddle, running through a mental check-list of things that he would need to do after class. It was mostly homework-- screw that. He'd hit the gym today too, which sucked just as much, but he'd live. It was important to stay in shape. Important, but it sucked. After that... who knew. Maybe he'd come back out to play with his horse. He'd missed Blue, after all.

And then the instructions came for warming up. Parker tugged with his ring fingers, half-halting the gelding to get his attention centered once more. Distractable young man, distractable young horse. At the mention of taking his stirrups up, the young man nodded stiffly. That was what he'd forgotten, after all. Right. Taking his feet loose and leaning over the side to fix them, he sighed lightly. What a way to make an impression on the instructor. As they were set, Parker clicked his tongue against his hard pallet. The depart was a little rocky, but Blue was feeling good today.

Off at a walk, bending the creature this way and that, letting each muscle stretch out. Without really thinking, Parker dropped his stirrups entirely for a moment. The stretch in his own muscles would help that of his horse, or at least he'd been told. Maybe that was just for roping, when he had to use his entire body. Maybe... maybe he'd do alright today. Blue's head tossed slightly, but the gelding didn't really have any intention in following that through. Just moving on.

And then there was a question. Parker couldn't manage to stay silent, so he made a stabbing guess instead. "Look all the way through it, don't quit looking and turning when you're most of the way through." Hell if he knew, but the confidence in his tone said otherwise.

[Deleted]

Catia tacked up Raisa as quickly as she could. She put the mare's bridle on and secured the throat latch. Catia checked the mare's girth and went up a few holes. Catia put the mare's forelock in the brow band of the bridle. She threw on her helmet and secured it before opening the stall door and closing it locking it behind her. Catia started off at a walk walking down the aisle of the barn.

Once she was out of the barn she went into a jog as Raisa went into a trot to speed up. Catia ended up running to keep up with the mare's long legs. Catia arrived at the dressage arena. She wouldn't have been late if her previous teacher hadn't kept them until a student confessed to throwing paper airplanes around the class room and distracting the students from doing their work. Finally someone confessed to doing it and the class was let go. 

Catia arrived at at the dressage arena and slowed the mare down to a walk as they walked into the arena. Catia arrived just in time to hear the instructor say to start warming up. She latched the gate behind her and walked into the center if arena so she was out of her fellow peers way. Catia spoke to the teacher. "I'm sorry I'm late sir. My previous teacher kept the entire class there for a few extra minutes. It won't happen again sir I promise. I'm really sorry." Catia said apologetically. She hoped she wouldn't get in trouble for being late.

Catia checked her girth and tightened it. Catia let down her stirrups and mounted up into the saddle. Catia began to do warm up the mare. A few minutes later the teacher called them all in. He asked how do you ride a perfect circle. "You need to keep inside leg on your horse so that your horse bends around your leg and doesn't go straight. You also need to apply some pressure from the outside leg as well so your horse's hindquarters won't swing out. You should be able to see your horse's left eye when you are doing a circle. Your outside rein should be supporting the horse's shoulders around the curve." Catia spoke out once the boy had finished speaking. 

[Deleted]

Cassidy sighed as she checked her watch, knowing she was going to be a few minutes late. Her horse stood tacked up in her dressage tack in the cross-ties calmly, falling asleep in the aisle way, head supported by the ties and a back leg cocked in relaxed. Even her eyes were closed, and Cassidy stood, jumping a bit to keep herself warm will her hands froze to get Melody's double-jointed snaffle bit. Once satisfied the bit would be comfortable enough in her horse's mouth, she put her simple bridle on and started leading her sleepy horse out into the cold, aiming for the arena her class was in.

Cassidy checked her watch again, frowning. She had seen the other girl enter to join the two on-time students as Cassidy had left the barn, meaning she was late, too. Feeling a little better, Cassidy walked to the way to the arena with haste. She waited a few seconds until it was clear of the horses and riders warming up before hollering "Gate!" and quickly slipping into the arena, though her mare was a little less quick and feeling obviously a bit grumpy after her little nap. Some crazy thoroughbred you are, Cassidy thought playfully. 

She swung up into the saddle as she walked over to her teacher. While she hated being late for riding class, she was usually not particularly fond of real, academic classes and being on time was a hassle. She felt guilty for being late, but internally she was not feeling too bad, for it was the first class of quite a few Cassidy had participated in that she had been late.

"Please also pardon my tardiness, professor. I'm still very new to this school and it's been a bit overwhelming. My name's Cassidy, though your list will have me as Emily. This is my mare, Melody...." not sure how much information she should give about her and her horse, and knowing she was already biting into precious warm-up time (not to mention it was cold standing still for too long), Cassidy walked off and pushed her mare into a long free walk, making sure to incorporate include changes of direction and bend, though her mare lost some of her impulsion in the work. She got a chance to trot for a lap or two and do a side of canter in Melody's bad direction (the left side) before she was called back into the center.

Grimacing, and knowing it was her fault for not having enough warm-up time, Cassidy stood and listened to the other student's responses. Though she studied plenty of theory, she wasn't used to talking these kinds of things out. She composed her answer while everyone else talked, happy that no one else had the same idea.

Though it was not really an answer about how to ride a good circle, she went with it anyway. "It's a test of suppleness and straightness, assuming you keep rhythm, connection, and impulsion. And if it's small enough, it can also be a test of collection." She recited the German training scale in her head to make sure she hadn't left a step out in her thinking. Realizing that she hadn't answered the question, she continued more thoughtfully, though less composed,  "You ride it like everything else, one step at a time" - her words came out haltingly as she chose them carefully and struggled to find the right turn of phrase - "make sure your horse's bend matches the curvature of the circle and ... keep his body aligned. You know, keep their shoulders and hips on the same circle instead of two different ones."

[Deleted]

Malachi watched as the two latecomer's approached, one a few minutes later than the other. He didn't tolerate it, he wouldn't, and if he didn't say anything, he'd be classed a pushover. Next time, do not bother coming to class if you're late, he barked, ticking off the two names and then returning his attention to the other students, with a quick glance at his watch.

Each one of you are correct in a different way. Most importantly, take it in quarters. Work on improving each quarter. So, we're going to go back onto the rail, at an active working trot, and once you've got your horses working well, I'll call out the next instruction. It didn't long before the group was working well, and Malachi turned on the mic and moved to outside C, where the judges usually sat. When you approach C, I want 20m circle. And then again at X and finally at A, he spoke clearly, glad to see no ornery horses or bad behaviour.

Make sure you keep supporting your horses. Don't let them fall out of the circle, he said, blindly writing his notes as he did so.

We'll give the circles one more go before class is over. Once you finished your last circle at A, you can walk and cool off.

[Athena Achilles]

Athena was vaguely aware of the arrival of two new riders and she forced herself to remain calm. She couldn't allow herself to predict the instructor's reaction to the latecomers, because it would just set Bear off and currently she was being the perfect dressage horse, one small shift in her demeanour could ruin the entire ride. Moving back onto the rail, she smooched gently as she tightened her legs against the gelding and had him power forward into a nice active trot as they rode along the rail and waited for the instructions to be called out.

Two strides away from C, she gave the gelding the cue that she was about to ask for a slight bend, and they rode the first circle, then she rode another half circle and started the neck circle so that X was the middle of the circle and then when that was completed, she did another half circle that started two meters from L and made her last circle so that it went past A. She made sure to use the her corridor walls and force fields to keep the gelding on a perfect curve - not a bend - and dividing each circle into four parts, she worked out each arc as she rode the one before it.

She then trotted along the rail to return to C and preformed the exercise once again, making sure to keep enough room between Bear a full figure behind the mare ahead of him.

As they finished the last figure, well, circle and a half, she allowed the gelding to trot forward and then at the corner she asked the dunskin to slow to a walk and held the reins nice and loose so that he could drop into a free walk so that they could start cooling down. She wanted to drop her irons and cross them over the pommel, but didn't because it wasn't part of the instruction.

---

OOC: I know you said to do the second circle at X, but I just followed a pattern I have in a dressage book (Moving Freely Forward: A handbook in Training Level Dressage, by Krister Swartz) on my kindle that has three touching 20-metre circles down the arena.

 

[Deleted]

He'd missed almost all of the lesson now, but Tori, for once, wasn't worried about it. He'd explain later and the instructor could take it however he wanted. Kneeling down in the stall where Dachs was housed, the teen kept a firm grip on the horses' leg near the fetlock, making the big horse keep his hoof inside the bucket of Epsom saltwater.

Dachs had been lame now for three days and Tori thought he finally knew what was causing the lameness, as he'd found a small swelling at the coronet band indicative of an abscess. now, he just had to wait for it to burst out and treat it. Poor Dachs, however, was acting as though he were about to die.

After twenty minutes of soaking the horses hoof, Tori let him remove the leg from the bucket and took the bucket to dump it out before giving the poor horse a pat on the neck and carrot. He knew that, by now, he'd missed probably the entire lesson...

Walking down to the arena where the dressage class had met, Torsten let himself inside after making sure there was no horsey traffic and made his way up to the instructor, "Excuse me," He said, reaching out to tap the man on the arm, "I'm Torsten Albretch. I was supposed to be in your class today, but couldn't make it." He bit the corner of his lip, "My gelding's been lame for the past few days. I'm pretty sure it's an abscess, so I've been having to care for it and try to soak it out with Epsom saltwater. I'm sorry I missed your class, but my geldings health is more important. I apologize if this offends you."