Introduction to Herbal Remedies

[Anastasie Chevalier]

Anastasie sat at the front of her classroom. She took a handful of books out of the box that sat under the desk. The books were A modern Horse Herbal by Hilary Page Self. The students who were returning from before the winter break had their own copies, but she knew that she had a couple of new students who did not yet have a copy of the book - as it wasn't part of the required stationary, rather it was a gift from her to the students.

In their last class, they had spoken about how to treat fear, so after they did some memory jogging, she would move them onto the topic she wanted to talk about today.

She had chosen to start the year by talking about treating exhaustion. She knew that most of the students who came to the Academy also competed their horses, and being able to deal with exhaustion naturally before their horses dropped from under them, would probably come in handy once in a while.

Standing up, she walked over to the whiteboard. On one side of the board in blue pen, she wrote

What we covered?

With a red pen, she put a line down the centre of the board and picking up the blue again wrote on the other side

What we will look at:

She then walked back to her desk and sat down as she waited for the students to arrive.

[Jayne Doe]

Jayne walked into the equestrian building and with a quick look at the paper in her hand she easily found the classroom and pushing the door open she entered the room. She rolled her eyes when she saw that she was first to arrive and walked straight up to the teacher. "Bonjour Mlle Chevalier. Je suis Jayne Doe et je viens de rejoindre votre classe." She gave a smirk at the teacher's surprised, but impressed, look "I'll go find a seat." She turned on her heel and walked over to a table in the middle of the second row. Sure, she had only just joined the class, but she didn't care if this table belonged to anyone else.

Sitting back, she pulled a spiral-bound notebook out of her bag, along with her pencil case and then looked up at the board. She curled her nose as she read what was written up there. Opening her notebook, she dated the top of the first page and copied what was on the board. She was tempted to fill the left-hand column with loads of questions marks, but managed to restrain herself enough as she waited for the other students to arrive so the class could get started.

[Cortney Smit]

Cortney hesitantly walked into the equestrian course building. Since she had started Blue Ridge Academy, she had kept away from all equestrian activities. However, at the suggestion of one of the guidance counsellors, she had agreed to take one class. She was also working as a barn hand in the broodmare barn, so she was slowly allowing herself to get closer to horses. She wouldn't allow them into her heart again, she'd been through too much for that to happen.

Walking down the hall, she walked into the classroom for the Introduction to Herbal Remedies. She thought that maybe this class could help her keep her grades up, and they wouldn't be touching horses, so it was a win win scenario. She walked up to the teacher, glancing down at the paper in her hand. "Excuse me, Ms Chevalier?" Her voice came out in an embarrassing squeak. She held out the paper she was holding. "My name is Cortney Smit. I have asked to join your class." She gave the woman a shaky smile, proud that her voice was somewhat steadier.

She took the book that the woman handed her and then turned toward the seats. She met the eyes of the girl already in the room, but quickly dropped her gaze and then walked over to a seat in the corner of the room, hopefully under the radar.

She looked up at the board and groaned silently. Today was going to be a refresher course, for classes that she hadn't been part of. Shrugging her shoulders, she pulled out the notebook she had purchased for the class and copied down what was on the board. She could fill in the left column when the class started and other students gave her the information.

While she waited for others to arrive, she looked at the yellow book she was holding and opened it up, flicking through the pages on information about the different herbs.

[Deleted]

Carlos finished pulling his hair back into it's normal low ponytail and, after a moment, undid the tie and retied it, letting a few strands hand loose at the sides of his face. He glanced at his backpack, then unzipped it, grabbing his notebook and the text for the class before leaving. He really didn't need to cart the bag everywhere, after-all.

It took him more than a few minutes to reach the classroom, but he slipped inside and tugged off the light windbreak he'd chosen to wear over his long-sleeved shirt. It was warm inside the classrooms and there was no need to really bundle up a lot if you were just going to be outside for a little while.

He glanced at the teacher and the other two girls in the classroom, giving them all a silent 'hello' n the form of a nod of the head before walking on to the front desk in the row closest to the door and making it his own. sitting down, Carlos took a momen to organize his pencil and notebook and then wrote down what the instructor had written on the board before tappig his pencil against the paper, waiting for the rest of the class to arrive.

[Sara Jane Lyena]

Sara left her last academic class of the day, happy about the new semester, and wondering what they would be learning about in Herbal Remedies class today. Cinder trotted at her side as she made her way across the campus, towards the equine classes building. It was the first day back from winter break, and although the vacation had been wonderful, Sara couldn't wait to get back to her senior year at Blue Ridge.

As she entered the classroom, she was surprised to see three students already present, two of whom she didn't really know. She flashed a smile at Ms. Chevalier and waved at Cortney as she walked back to the middle row, the table furthest at the wall of the classroom. She liked being against a wall, for Cinder's safety, because it was a virtual guarantee that she wouldn't have to deal with him being stepped on or over. After dropping Cinder's lead and having him lay down next to her seat, against the wall, she pulled out her textbook and her notebook for the class, along with a pencil and a highlighter. After setting her things on the table, she looked up at the board, her eyes flying over the few words that had been written there.

[Deleted]

John made his way towards the herbal remedies classroom, his backpack slung over one shoulder. It held his notebook and textbook for this class. He had dropped off the rest of his books during lunch, since his other class of the day didn't require any book at all, and he didn't want to have to lug around all of his notebooks and textbooks and everything for his morning classes.

As he entered the classroom, he smiled at Ms. Chevalier, then glanced around, looking for a table where he could sit. He didn't really recognize anyone, although he had seen one of the girls in another class. Instead of joining anyone, John chose a seat in the back, although he sat towards the center of the back row. He laid his copy of the textbook about herbs on his table, then dropped the notebook he used for this class on top of it, before he rummaged through his backpack, trying to find a pencil. Finally, his fingers closed around a writing utensil, and he pulled it out, holding it up and frowning as he saw the pen. Shrugging, he put down his backpack next to his chair, then lay the pen on his desk.

[Deleted]

Leo smiled softly to himself as he excited his last normal academic class for the day. Unlike other kids his age, he rather liked coming to school as it was something to do. If not for school, the boy probably wouldn’t even have much of a social life. Not that he had one anyway. Still, with every moment that he had been home, Leo was thankful all over again for his grandparents’ money in sending him to such a school. While he enjoyed the academic classes quite a bit, Leo absolutely adored the equestrian ones. He was especially glad to be in the introduction to herbal remedies class as well due to how much it had benefited Avi’s moods. 

Walking in his usual calm manner, Leo was quite positive he wouldn’t be the first one there this time. Unlike the many bodies rushing to get to their classes (especially with the addition of many new kids in the new year), the boy had already gone through that on the very first day he’d come. That had been quite ridiculously stressful and he’d absolutely hated running around anywhere due to the fact it made him feel unbalanced on a mental level. Above all, Leo was the absolute essence of calm and if something unsettled him even a little, it was huge. 

Upon entering the classroom, Leo offered the teacher his soft, shy smile before finding his spot next to a boy he hadn’t seen before that had entered before him. He looked around at the four other students. Leo looked shyly down at his backpack as he reached in for his book about herbs. Always the one to care for things, the book was in perfect condition. Leo couldn’t stand when people mistreated things. Blue eyes looked up to the board which he made an intriguing face. A refresher would certainly be helpful. Leo then opened the book to skim through stuff they’d learnt last year so he was prepared for the lesson.

[Anastasie Chevalier]

Anastasie was sitting at her desk going through what she wanted to work through with the students that day. She looked up when the door opened and a young blonde walked in, the girl's self-assured persona impressed the woman little, but her eyes did widen when she was greeted in her native tongue. "Welcome to my class, Jayne." She said as she handed the girl a copy of A Modern Horse Herbal and nodded as the girl announced that she was going to find a seat.

Jayne was quickly followed by another new girl who also walked straight up to Ana's desk. "Welcome to my class, Cortney." She said as she handed the girl a copy of the book. "Find a seat and we'll get started as soon as the others have arrived."

After the two new girls got themselves settled, the classroom quickly filled up with the returning students and she rose to her feet. "Welcome back." She greeted them all. "Last year we talked about fear and ways to help a horse work through it. Fear can come out a lot of things, nervousness and excitability, just to name a couple. We also went over how good garlic is for your horse to take year round." She wrote the things down on the board as she spoke of them, so that Jayne and Cortney would have something to write down and read up about.

She put the pen down and faced the class once more. "To start off this year, I want to talk about exhaustion. Way to treat it and how to recognise the symptoms of exhaustion." She paused as she walked over to her desk and collected her well-used copy of the book each of the students had. "If you turn to page eighty-eight, you can read through the pages to get a start on learning about it. We will then take a good look at the herbs it suggests."

[Jayne Doe]

Jayne looked up from what she was doing when the teacher walked to the front of the room and began talking. She quickly started scribbling down what the woman was saying about what they had already covered, making a note to read the book she had been given to be able to catch up on what the class had already done. She was still trying to work out why she was taking this class, she didn't even take riding lessons here.

She wrote Exhaustion down in the left column before turning to the next blank page in her notebook, titles that with the same word, and then pulled the yellow book open to the page that the woman had mentioned and began to read under the heading. Her eyebrows arched as she looked though all the herbs that were suggested to use for treating horses showing signs of exhaustion. Back when she had ridden, she'd only ever fed her mare what she was told to feed her, the beautiful bay, who looked more brown than she did bay, was never feed herbs. There again though, she never rode the mare to the point of exhaustion, so would never need these ones.

She put down the book and pen and clenched her fists as her hands started trembling, and she bit down on her lower lip as she closed her eyes. The memory of her beloved mare was painful, she just wished that she knew if the pony was alright.

Pulling herself together, she picked up the book again and continued reading through the section. Out of all the herbs and remedies mentioned, there were only a couple she'd never heard of; Wormwood and Bach's Rescue Remedy. These she wrote down in her notebook, each on its own line with a couple of lines between so that she could write down an explanation for both.