How Steady is Your Hand?

[Bruce Ropata]

Since the weather was warming up a little, Bruce had brought the ponies for his class out to their yards earlier than they would be needed. It would give the animals a chance to get a breath of fresh air before their lesson started, and the rugs they were wearing would keep them warm. The gear he had also brought out and stored in the open shed that he had at his arena for this reason. this way nothing would get damp from being on the ground for too long and if the skies did indeed decide to open up, nothing would get rained on.

The main reason he had brought all of the ponies out, was because he had gained a few new students and it was just easier to introduce them to their mounts this way.

The Maori then walked into the arena and began setting it up for that days lesson: After setting up two lanes of four bending poles, so that the students could use them for warming up, if they wished to do so. He then brought out nine cones and placed them in between the lanes of bending poles, and on the far side of the poles, sitting so that if you drew a line the cones would be between each of the poles. He then grabbed a bucket and placed a tennis ball on top of each cone. The next things he pulled out of the equipment shed were three poles that were cemented into a tyre, with a net at the top of the pole. These he placed on the 2 yard (1.8m) mark at the changeover end. The nets were at a height where the people on the taller ponies/horses would be able to just throw their ball in, whereas the riders on the smaller ponies would have to stand in their stirrups and really aim and pitch the ball, to get it in.

As the students began to arrive, he smiled and greeted them, inviting them to get their tack and, when ready, begin warming their mounts up for the class. His new students would need to wait until they were all gathered before he gave them their assignments.

---

Present:
@ria
Becca Walsh
Cortney Smit
@john
Serenity Oliver
@jasper32

Absent:
@amberpayton
@calebm

@jacobs

[Serenity Oliver]

Dressed in her warmest jodhpurs, a woollen top and a thick vest, Serenity headed toward Red Willow barn and grabbed her Charles Owen helmet, along with a couple of carrots for Pixie, and then made her way to the area where their Mounted Games classes were held.

She returned the teacher's greeting and skipped her way over to the yard where Pixie was waiting for her. "Hey love." She greeted the mare as she offered the Welsh one of the carrots. "I'll grab your gear and we can get moving." She collected the mare's grooming kit first and set about getting her groomed, while still leaving as much of the rug covering the pony as possible. She then returned the kit and brought the tack back to the yard.

In no time at all, she had the pretty rose grey mare tacked up, and with the rug folded nicely in the shed. She placed the helmet on her head and led the mare over to the arena. Pulling the girth another hole tighter, she vaulted onto the pony's back and squeezed her forward before her feet were even in the stirrups. She had learned quickly that Pixie would do anything that was asked of her, as long as it was asked in a way that was easy for the mare to understand. She slipped her feet into the irons and began walking the mare around the outside track, before she asked for a trot and then a canter as the pony loosened up.

[Cortney Smit]

Cortney wrapped her arms around her, wondering if she needed to go an put more clothes on, as she headed into White Oak to collect her nay Samshield helmet and then made her way toward the mounted games area. She had two minds about having to tack Mo up outside, but either way, she had no choice.

Returning the man's greeting she headed straight over to the flaxen gelding and rubbed his nose. She then grabbed his grooming kit and gear and set to work getting him ready. Leaving the folded rug in the shed, she led the gelding over to the arena, tightened the girth, pulled the stirrups down and mounted. "Uh!" She growled as the gelding stepped forward before she had asked. Swing back to the ground, she parked the spunky gelding once again and went through the process of mounting again. "Good boy." She praised him with a hug when he remained stock-steady. "Now, walk on." She squeezed him forward. Sure, he was trained for mounted games, but there was no excuse for being rude.

She warmed him up slowly, transitioning him through each of his gaits on both reins, getting him nicely loosened up. While the arena was still pretty empty, she squeezed him into a canter and he shot across the arena, she then sat back and tapped him lightly with her heels behind the girth. The gelding slid to a halt and the reared up, pawing the air with his front hooves before landing again and shooting off across the arena - giving the appearance, to anyone who didn't know him, of a bolting horse. Laughing, the girl reined him in and threw her arms around the gelding's neck.

[Deleted]

John pulled his sweatshirt closer around himself as he stopped by the barn to grab his helmet from where he'd left it, in Lilja's tack locker. Hanging it from his finger, he moved to the Mounted Games arena, giving Mr. Ropata a nod before he looked around for Rocky's distinctive burgundy rug. Finding him, he approached his mount, before changing course for the open shed.

It was only a matter of time before he had the gelding tacked up and standing nicely. After buckling on his helmet, he led the gelding out towards the arena, leading him to the middle before asking him to trot and vaulting into the saddle. Once he had situated himself, he found a spot on the rail, and they began their warmup.

Once the pony was rather loosened up, John started doing more amusing things with him, having him run through one of the bending poles before they cantered around the arena. As Cortney started having Mo show off, Rocky took it into his mind that he wanted to act up as well, and he started bucking as he went. Frowning, John reined him in, "She asks him to do that, idjit. I didn't. Learn the difference." They moved off at a walk again, John keeping the pony down to speed.

[Deleted]

Ria skipped out of the room that she shared with Athena, her helmet already in her hand. She'd brought it in with her after checking up on Moo earlier in the day, and now, she didn't have to stop by the barn on her path to the arena, as Mr. Ropata had let them know that he would have the ponies out that day.

She found her dappled grey mount without much trouble, and after sneaking her a small piece of apple (Not too much, but a little piece), she went to get the mare's grooming gear. She set to work, whistling as she did so, then went to find the mare's tack, which proved pretty easy.

Finally, the mare was tacked up and ready to go. Ria led her to the arena and mounted from the ground, squeezing Fern forward. They went through a pretty basic warmup routine, the mare not even flicking an ear as two of the other ponies started acting up, which Ria was grateful for. While everyone was distracted, she took her through the bending poles at a trot, then turned and took them again, this time at a canter, before they were back to the rail for a few more laps.

[Becca Walsh]

    Becca grabbed her helmet and field boots from her tack locker before her Mounted Games class, taking a minute to put them on before she made her way out to the arena where Chris would be waiting. She wore her black winter breeches and a couple fleeces that she could easily shed if she got too hot while riding, though she still needed them now. She picked her way through the mud on her way to the mounted games arena, knowing that this was surely the wettest time, with all of the snow melting and the rain still falling fairly frequently.

    Upon arriving, Becca greeted Mr. Ropata and went to find Chris in his yard. She unbuckled the closures to his blanket and folded the front half back so she could groom it before doing the same with the back half. Once the pony was properly groomed, she folded the sheet neatly and removed it from his back, storing it where his tack was waiting. After gathering his tack and bringing it over to Chris's yard, she tacked the gelding up and walked him into the arena.

    She mounted with ease and began to warm him up, focusing on getting the gelding loose and willing to work rather than the other ponies' antics around her, both planned and unplanned.

[Deleted]

 Zak gathered his helmet and grooming kit from the tack room and walked to the mounted games class. He wearing a only a couple of thin layers of clothing because the weather was quite warm for him. Zak went to the arena where Ish was waiting. Zak greeted Mr Ropata before finding Ish in her yard. He unbuckled her blanket and removed it and folded the blanket and sat it down where it usually went.

  Zak groomed her silver dapple coat until it was spotless. Ish was smaller than his mare Pleasure but that did not seem to bother him as he had gotten used to Ish and her riding style. He put the helmet on his head and then gathered the tack and put it gently on the mare and the mare did not budge as he put the tack on. He then lead the mare to the arena.

 He mounted with no problem and he hoped it would not be one of the mare's bad days and hoped that she would do as she is told. They started to warm up from trotting figure of eights to cantering until he finally felt that Ish had loosened up enough.

[Deleted]

Kenna was excited for the mounted games class and nearly skipped out to where the class was held, helmet danging in her hand. She's taken the instructor's 'advice' from last time and had left her dangly accessories back at her down and had her hair pulled back in a long braid, which she had pulled to hang over her left shoulder.

Dressed warmly, Kennedy felt quite good, as the cold nip to the air didn't bother her much anymore, and with a smile and embarassed wave to the instructor, she headed to where her mounted games horse stood waiting for her. honestly, she thought Ripple to be a little short for her, but she didn't voice it, as she's fallen in love with the grey horse as soon as the mounted games instructor had pointed him out to her.

Grabbing the grooming supplies, Kennedy took her time grooming the gelding before tacking up and making sure her helmet was fitted right. Mounting up, Kennedy asked the horse to walk once around the length of the area before nudging him up into a trot. Posting to the trot, Kennedy urged the sometimes grumpy gelding to extend his trot into a more ground-covering gait, warming his muscles up slowly before letting the horse go back to a slow, relaxed walk, waiting on the instructor call the class to order.

[Bruce Ropata]

Bruce supervised the students warming their horses up from his place outside the arena. "Cortney, a little control is always appreciated." He commented once the girl had reined the gelding in. The more he saw the two of them together he was beginning matching their two personalities up, there was a chance that they were too well matched.

Once over half of the students had arrived and were warming their mounts up, Bruce headed into the shed where the tack was still waiting for the students to arrive and he swiftly removed the stirrups from the five remaining saddles. This course may be an extra-curricular activity, but there was no excuse for students not to show up as they would for any other class, and the campus wasn't so big that they couldn't get a note to someone who was heading in this direction, if they couldn't come themselves.

Walking back to the arena, he let himself in and walked to the middle. Once there he gave a whistle - yes, pretty much as he would have to the sheep dogs back home - and waited for the students to gather. "I realise that you aren't sheepdogs, but I also couldn't see the point in yelling, and coaches use whistles - albeit whistles that hang around their neck." He gave them an apologetic grin and then pointed to the three lanes he had set up. "Team One will consist of Adrianna, John and Becca. Team Two will be Serenity, Cortney and Kennedy. Zachary, because you are the odd one out currently, you can run by yourself. Today we are going to play a game called High-Lo." Once the teams had sorted them selves out, he handed a tennis ball to Serenity, John and Zachary and walked to the middle of the course so they could all see him. "When I give the word, the first person will charge down and rein in on the other side of the line down there and pitch the ball into the hoop. All four of your mount's legs must be over that line. You will then spin around and dash back to the start line, picking up a ball off one of the cones on your way past and handing it to the next rider. The name of the game? High is the hoop, low is the cone. If you miss the hoop and the ball hits the ground, dismount, pick it up and throw it in before you remount and then continue."

The instructor moved so that he was standing on the line before the hoops. "Ready? Set? GO!"

[Serenity Oliver]

Reni patted Pixie's shoulder as the mare spooked slightly at the horse tearing around the arena. Fortunately, the girl had been in the course long enough to know the pranks that Mo liked to play, and the fact that the head cheerleader who rode him knew exactly what she was doing and could pull the gelding up in a heartbeat should she need to.

Turning her back on the other pony, figuratively and literally, Reni put all her concentration into getting the Welsh mare she was riding settled and listening, without the worry that their world was about to explode. With the mare's over-cautious nature, Reni worried that the fast-paced sport of Mounted Games wasn't right for the pony, but as soon as Pixie was lined up waiting for a game to start, she seemed to transform into another pony, ready, chomping on the bit and rearing to go - at times literally on the rearing part.

She quirked an eyebrow at the whistle, but didn't comment as she brought the rose grey mare into the centre and halted her, making sure to massage the mare's shoulder as the other crowded around them to keep the pony calm and remind her that she was safe.

When they were split into their teams, Reni raised her eyebrows toward Cortney and then took the position of first rider and accepted the ball that was handed to her. She listened as Mr Ropata explained the game, her eyes travelling the course as he spoke, and she nodded to herself as she took it all in. She gathered the reins in her hand, standing in the stirrups, hand almost by the mare's ears as her eyes were glued on the man at the other end. At his words, she moved her feet just enough so that her heels touched the mare's sides and Pixie shot forward into a gallop.

Before they reached the changeover line, Reni was already cuing the mare to halt, and as soon as all four of Pixie's hooves were over the line and she had halted, Reni threw the ball and sighed as it went through the hoop and rested in the basket. She then wheeled the mare around and they took off. Leaning down, almost all of the way out of the saddle, using her skills as a gymanst to keep her where she wanted to be, she snaked out a hand an grabbed the ball off the cone closest to her team and sat up as they thundered toward the line, placing the ball in Cortney's hand as she thundered past and she sat back as she pulled the mare up and rode her back to where Kennedy was waiting for her turn.

[Cortney Smit]

Cortney coughed and instantly reined the gelding in, having him trot nicely forward at the words of their instructor. She was a little embarrassed that she got as close to being told off as she ever had in this class, but she also giggled at the face that Mr Ropata hadn't at all sounded angry.

"What are we, dogs?" She asked Mo as she reined the flaxen chestnut in and rode over to the teacher, making sure not to crowed Pixie too much. She smiled as the teams were called and gave Serenity an almost challenging look as the girl took position one. She then listened as their instructor went through the game and she nodded as she tried to follow along, knowing that she'd have it once she watched the younger girl fly through the game.

"Go Reni!" She screamed as the other girl shot away from the start line. Since it was class, she really couldn't care less what the other team was doing, and she watched the freshman's every move and held her hand out, ready to accept the ball.

Once the ball was pressed against she hand, she closed her fist and cued Mo to shoot forward. They skidded to a halt on the other side of the line - Cortney looking down quickly to make sure that all four hooves were where they needed to be and squeezed the gelding with her left leg to bring his hind leg forward. She aimed the ball at the hoop and stood in her stirrups as she pitched it forward. She chewed on her lower lip as the yellow ball seemed to balance on the edge before it rolled in. "Go!" She said as she pulled Mo around and the shot forward.

"The ball!" The girl gasped as she quickly asked for Mo to slow down, just enough for her to lean down and scoop the ball off the cone. They then shot forward toward the finish line where Kennedy was waiting. "Catch!" She joked as she pressed the ball into the other girl's hand and then continued past until she reined the gelding in, him rearing up as he slid to a stop, and they rode back to join Serenity. "You can do it!" She yelled encouragement to the third member of their team.