how well can you circle?

[Deleted]

Malachi was starting to run on empty. Five cups of coffee in, many students later, and he was happy to say that he was on his last class. Thank heavens for that. Even though he had already planned it a week ago, the lessons were proving more of a challenge than he thought. He picked up his clipboard with a pen and paper and read through his student notes so far. 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.

[Serenity Oliver]

Serenity was excited about the dressage lesson, and had Plot in a set of crossties as she was grooming the bay mare's coat to a shine. She was a little confused as to why the mare hadn't grown out a winter coat, not a thick one like Red did, but as it wasn't life threatening to the mare, she hadn't said anything to the vet. "Hey!" She complained as the mare stepped towards her. "Keep that brute under control!" She snapped at her brother, who had his mare tied up beside Plot. "I kind of need both of my feet to ride!" She ignored the boy's reply as she finished getting the mare ready.

Once Plot was ready, she put her helmet on, brushing down the beige jodhpurs she was riding and straightening out the long sleeved blue top. She wiggled her toes in her field boots and played with the strap that was holding her Toxel helmet in place as she waited for Tommy to finish getting ready.

She walked out to the building that housed the indoor arena with Tommy and his mare at her side. She would never admit it, but she was pleased that she was in this class with her big brother

She adjusted her tack and mounted up before approaching the gate. "Gate!" She called as she let herself into the arena, and began to walk Plot around, letting the mare settle into her stride. Only riding into the middle as the man began to speak. "Hi, I'm Reni Oliver and this is Unexpected Twist. Plot an I event at Training level." She rubbed the Selle Français' neck as the mare stretched her neck out, nose almost touching the ground, as she released a contented sigh.

[Thomas Oliver]

Tommy had his chestnut Trakehner tied up to a hitching ring next to where his sister had her bay mare in the cross-ties, just enjoying the companionable silence between then. "Easy girl." He soothed as Amber stepped away from him, unfortunately into the personal space of Reni's mare. "Brute?" He repeated with a laugh as he ducked under Amber's neck and asked her to step back over again. "Whatever, little girl!"

When his mare was ready, and him too, they walked over to the arena with his sister. There was something about being in the same dressage class that bugged Tommy a little. He knew that Reni liked to be the best, whereas Tommy was the better dressage rider, and he hoped that the lesson wouldn't turn into a competition in his sister's eyes.

After fixing his tack and swinging his tall frame into the saddle, he rode up to the gate. He watched until Remi was on the other side of the arena and then opened the gate for himself and Amber. He kept the space between Plot and Amber the same as he got his mare to settle onto the bit, gently asking her to extend her stride and then going back to a free walk.

He rode into the middle as the man began to speak. He chuckled as his sister introduced herself. "Her name is Serenity." He added once she had finished. "I'm Tommy Oliver and this is Amber, or Tender Mist. We compete at Third Level dressage." He also did cross country with the mare, but Amber didn't like the turns and preciseness that was show jumping, so Tommy didn't do eventing.

[Deleted]

 Evan was looking forward to dressage with Dreams. She had put Dreams on the crossties and was already grooming her gorgeous dapple grey coat which needed a good groom as she had been rolling about in the pasture. Dreams seemed to be enjoying Evangeline's company as she kept nudging Evan for a attention which Evan gave to her gladly. Evangeline was almost done grooming Dreams and only had her feet to do but that did not take long. Evangeline looked at the time and quickly but carefully put the tack on Dreams and then put her riding hat on and wiped her black jodhpurs with her hands before taking Dreams to the indoor arena then mounted her. She nudged Dreams on with her jodhpur boots and the mare marched into the arena.

 She walked around the arena to get the mare into her stride then walked into the middle to where the man started talking and Evangeline replied "I am Evangeline Smith and this is Perfect Dreams. I have been riding for 5 years and we are both beginners at dressage." Evan patted her horse's neck as Dreams went to scratch her front leg and then Dreams put her head up looked at the dressage instructor.

[Peter Holden]

Peter tacked Thimble up carefully, knowing that his mare would quickly become moody if he rushed her grooming and tacking up. Dressage with Thimble required that she be in the best mood, but if this was accomplished, his mare could really pull herself together and put in a good test. Once his worn dressage saddle and girth were in place, he bridled Thimble and led her into the indoor for their dressage class.

Once inside, he greeted the new instructor in response and mounted Thimble from the ground, the long dressage leathers helping out a bit. Once mounted, he warmed Thimble up, working the mare so that she was settled and focused on him before walking her to the center when instructed. Kate wasn't in his class, which he had known before, and he really wasn't thrilled about it. He liked having riding classes with his sister, and having dressage with her had always been fun. 

When it came his turn to introduce himself, he did so as briefly as possible. "Hello, I'm Peter Holden and this is Thimble. I've been riding for nine years, and we compete at the preliminary level of eventing." His eventing class covered dressage, but he liked to take a class focused in dressage as well so that he could be as strong as possible in his dressage phase.

[Deleted]

Faolan looked at the needy horse he had been assigned, smiling a little. Oh, yes. Mrs. Lark-- erhm, Ms. Carr, had been right. The gelding did indeed like to be in the spotlight. He had taken off lunch to ride the gelding, and while he had been impressed, he had to be sure to let O'Malley know that Faolan was indeed paying attention to him. He had allowed his mind to wander for a little bit, only from a short crow hop from the Holsteiner to jerk him back to attention. This would be fun, considering the fact that as attentive as Faolan was, it was hard for him to focus with being separated from his mother and his father now out of the picture. It had been a year, but the thought still made his heart squeeze with grief.

He pulled O'Malley out of his stall and set about brushing him quickly and tacking him up, pleased with his work. Whenever he had saddled the horse up earlier in the day, he had figured out which holes he would be using the most. He ran his hand along O'Malley's beautiful bay coat, the horse nickering to him. Faolan slid the reins off of his head after undoing the cross-ties and led him out of the barn, mounting up to ride over to the arena where class would be held. He responded politely to the greeting with one of his own. Whenever he supposed he might as well introduce himself, he so that he could be heard, but he was not all too loud.

"I'm Faolan Everheart," his lips twitched down as he said his name out loud,"and this is Thomas O’Malley the Alley Cat, also known as O'Malley. I have been riding since I could toddle, though I am not all to certain about the level with the American restrictions." As he spoke, his strong Irish accent rang out, making his foreign origin unquestionable.

[Deleted]

"Don't you dare." Sam used a warning tone on her big black gelding. His lips were exploring her pockets while she was picking out his hooves and they were getting dangerously close to tender flesh. He jumped a little at the pitch of her voice and averted his attention elsewhere. Sam huffed as she finished with his last hoof then rubbed his neck. His tack, which was hanging over the door, got collected in her arms and fastened onto the gelding properly.

Once she walked into the arena with Popeye by her side, she greeted the new instructor. She and her horse walked around in a circle for a minute or two, just to let him wake up a little. He was just beginning to get used to the school schedule again, just as Sam was. Neither of them seemed to be taking to it very well at all.

Sam listened to the introductions after the instructor spoke then patted Popeye's neck with a smile. "I'm Sam Lawrence and this is Popeye. I'm pretty sure I've been riding since before I was born." She laughed at herself for just a second then looked at Popeye. "I'm at the second level, though he is capable of much more." It was true, Popeye was capable of much more. The only problem was that Sam didn't know how to teach him more herself. Hopefully they would both be learning some new tricks in this class.

[Deleted]

It seemed that as each class came round, they were slightly bigger than the previous, but he enjoyed the variety he had been faced with so far. It was a mixture levels, and if he could have the less experienced students learning from the more experienced ones, he would be pleased. If only his horses would arrive, then he would be able to explain a lot better, but that was water under the bridge at the moment. Once more he listened to the introductions and committed them to memory. He seemed to have a lot of sibling pairs, having worked with Peter's sister in the previous class, and now having the Oliver's as well.

Welcome to Dressage. Before we started the lesson, let's warm up our mounts at an active working trot, he sent them off, watching them, scribbling down notes and then called the large class back into the middle of the arena.

We'll be working on circles today, and we'll be doing them until they come out of your ears. Tommy, please tell the class how to ride the perfect circle in the judge's eyes, he said, more than asked, as he turned to face the boy and his mount.

[Serenity Oliver]

Serenity threw her brother a withering look as he corrected her name, but she held back any retort as she could get him back later.

As they were told to get back to warming up, she pulled her gloves on and squeezed Plot forward into a walk and then, once the mare had good impulsion, lightness and roundness at the walk, the girl gave her a subtle squeeze with both legs driving at the girth, increased her weight on both seat bones. She then softened the rein aids to allow an opening for the horse to move forward. She smiled as Plot gave a smooth transition to the trot within three strides of being asked.

The girl gave a small chuckle as he brother was asked a question. She sat to the trot for a couple of strides, and she could feel that her mare was swinging forward nicely, which meant that she wasn't on the forehand, and the girl picked up the correct diagonal once more as she gave the mare enough rein so that Plot could stretch out her neck as she warmed up, bending nicely at the poll rather than just tucking her chin in. "Easy girl." She breathed as Plot suddenly seemed to tense. "'Atta girl." She praised as the mare continued at a working trot.

[Thomas Oliver]

Tommy pulled a face when Reni didn't react to his correction of her mane, but he didn't do anything other than that.

When instructed, he squeezed Amber into a walk and then a trot. He could feel straight away that the mare was on the forehand, and he pushed her forward and nodded as he could feel the swing in the mare's hindquarters as she started actually working.

He rode the mare back to the centre of the arena when they were called in again. The boy's eyebrows shot up as he heard his name, he was about to apologise when he heard the question that followed his name. He blew out a breath as he thought about his answer. "I was always taught that the best way to ride a perfect circle, is not to think of the circle as one big figure, but to ride it one quarter at a time. So that a 24 stride circle will be broken into four lots of six strides." Sure, he may have gone a little overboard with the answer, but he didn't just want to give a short reply that would cause their teacher to think he tried to get out of things the easy way.