Made of Starstuff

[Peter Solomon]

Peter pulled up his favorite chair in the Evening Primrose barn's classroom, a stuffed chair that sat under one of the windows. All of the mares for the year had been impregnated, except for the two that still hadn't dropped from the previous class, who were due soon. He couldn't wait to let the new students start getting to know their mares, but before he could do that, he had to set down some basic rules for everyone, which would be review for his older students, but it had to be gone over.

Leaning against the arm of the chair, still standing, Peter watched the door to the classroom, welcoming students as they entered and gesturing for them to sit down in the assortment of chairs, although he held off introducing himself until class officially started, "Good afternoon, everyone. For those of you that don't know, I'm Sir Solomon, your teacher for Equine Reproduction, and I also serve as the barn manager for this barn." He paused, looking at everyone, "We're going to be in here for a while, so if you'd like, grab a drink." He pointed at the fridge, which he had restocked just for the class. As those that took him up on his offer moved, he nodded, then slowly sat in his chair, smiling at the circle of students. There wasn't a need for formality with a small class, and they'd be able to hear him just as well from his seat.

"Okay, now, today is a lot of me talking, so please bear with me. Most of our classes we'll be out with the mares, although we will always meet here unless I tell you otherwise. This classroom is always open for you, even outside of class, if you need a place to do homework, just get away, whatever, as long as you don't do anything stupid. The fridge should always at least have water, and sometimes I'll stock it up, although if you go through everything, don't expect it to magically refill itself the next day."

He paused, looking at all of the students, then continued on to the actual rules, "Firstly, these horses are not yours. You are allowed to work with them as you see fit, provided it doesn't injure them, but if I or any of the other staff say step back, you will. When you're working in the barn, you will be respectfully quiet and calm, or you will be asked to step outside. The mares may be ridden in our arena, up until they seem not to want to anymore. Their tack is stored in the tack room, under their registered names, which you will find out today as well. If you want to ride them outside of the arena, you must ask my permission beforehand, for each individual time."

Smiling, he shifted in his seat, "Anyway, I'll get off of the soapbox now. Does anyone have any questions before we meet the mares?"

☑ Cara-Jean Kitchi
☐ Cassian F. De Fiore
☑ @radix
☑ Gretchen Holmes
☑ @running5
☑ @lukamason
☑ @ronan
☑ Stefan Eder

[Deleted]

    Equine Reproduction was the non-mounted class that Ronan was most looking forward to, and so he arrived promptly, if not a bit early. After finding the Evening Primrose Barn and the classroom within it, Ronan entered, smiling at the man who was already inside, presumably the teacher, and took a seat. It wasn't long before the other students had joined, and the class began.

    As expected, the first class was the introductory sort, and there were a lot of ground rules explained by Sir Solomon, all of which were more than reasonable. Since signing up for the class, Ronan had been very excited to meet the mare he would be working with through her pregnancy. He kept in mind that the classroom would be open for use, knowing that it would probably be a nice, quiet spot if he couldn't find anywhere else to go. He hadn't been expecting to be able to ride the mare, so this was an interesting surprise, and something he'd look forward to.

    When the teacher asked if they had any questions, Ronan shook his head, eager to begin. Having grown up on a farm that bred and raised horses, he was used to being around foals and pregnant mares, but it was something that never ceased to delight him. He had made sure to keep that part of his life intact upon coming to Blue Ridge, especially since he would hopefully run his father's operation someday.      

[Stefan Eder]

Stefan entered the small barn, looking around at the stalls, which held an assortment of mares. Unsure if they were allowed to approach them, he walked down the middle of the aisle instead, finding the classroom easily enough, as the dutch door was completely open. Entering, he smiled and greeted the teacher, then chose a seat, setting himself down next to the boy that was also in his math class with a smile, "Me again."

As they were offered a drink, Stefan shook his head, taking his own refillable water bottle out of his bag and taking a drink. He put the bottle back down as the teacher began speaking, listening as he explained the classroom's rules, which made sense, although he was surprised at how many of the classrooms were open for students outside of school time.

The rules that the man went over were also reasonable, and when asked about questions, he shook his head, not coming up with any for the moment. It seemed straightforward enough, work with the mares until they dropped, then move to Foal Handling, where they would learn to raise the foals through their first few months of life. Just then, he realized that he did have a question, and raised his hand, hoping that the question wouldn't be seen as silly, “Will we be learning about matters surrounding pregnancies as well, or is it just working with the horses?”

[Deleted]

It was officially the afternoon and it was time for his equine classes. He was more than happy to start off with an unmounted class, which happened to be his only unmounted class. After lunch Jackson made his way to the Evening Primrose Barn. Surprisingly the boy was excited to work with moody broodmares. He walked into the classroom to see that two other boys were already there. He took a seat and waited until the rest of the student trickled in, which was when Sir Solomon started his whole spiel. His speech was a combination of the uses of the classroom, about the rest of the classes, and most importantly the rules.

Depending on the mare he was assigned to he might or might not ask Sir Solomon to ride the mare. He already told himself that he would spend just as much time with the new mare as he did with Fore. Jackson ran through the rules in his mind to make sure that he got all of them. All the rules were perfectly understandable, especially being quiet and courteous when entering the barn. The last thing that Jackson wanted to do was get on anyone’s bad side, including any of the mares. He didn’t have any questions, but other students did, so he listened and waited for Sir Solomon to escort them to their assigned mare.

[Cara-Jean Kitchi]

At lunchtime, Cara went to her room and changed out of her pantsuit and into her riding clothes: grey long-sleeved polo shirt - yes, it was still summer, but Cara needed to keep her arms covered, black jodhpurs and her black paddock boots. She wound her French braid up into a bun that she fixed into place with a bun-net clip. She next set her desk up, ready to do her homework later, and left the room.

She had swapped her satchel for a light backpack, which she hitched up her shoulder, and made her way to Evening Primrose barn, nerves running within her, though she pushed them aside as she entered the barn and quickly made her way down to where she knew the classroom was. She was about to step into the room when her body froze, noticing the room was filled with males. A small tremor ran through her, but she pushed it away and stepped into the room.

Trying to make herself invisible, she bowed her head in return to the teacher's greeting and quickly slid into a seat. She put her glasses on as she pulled her folder for this class out of the bag along with a pen. She then dated the top left corner of the page and poised the pen over the page.

As the man, Sir Solomon, spoke, she quickly kept up with him as she took notes, writing down everything he said more out of habit than need, and realised that she hadn't need to write down the information about the fridge, but she would recopy the notes later and make it neater. She gave her head a tiny shake when he asked if they had questions, though wrote down the one that was asked and the answer that was given.

[Gretchen Holmes]

Gretchen was very excited to work with the mares. She remembered waiting for Bahir to be born for what felt like forever. But that was just because she'd been excited, anticipation can make any length of time feel like an eternity.

Pulling on a pair of slightly dirty jeans, her worn brown paddock boots, and a green Loki t-shirt, she decided she at least looked presentable. She quickly ran a brush through her unruly curls again for good measure before grabbing her bookbag and heading out to the evening primrose barn.

When she got there, there were other students already seated though a glance at the clock showed she wasn't late. She offered a shy smile to her teacher before quickly finding a place to sit down and settle in. As she waited for the teacher to begin class, she pulled out a notebook and pencil. It was meant to strictly keep class notes but she couldn't help it as she began doodling a picture of her newer horse, Pegasus.

She stopped when the teacher began talking, listening quietly as he went over the rules. She was bursting with excitement and couldn't wait to find out what mare she'd been assigned, so when they were asked for questions she quickly shook her head no.

[Deleted]

With a quick stop in his dorm room so that he could feed Bruno in peace, and to change his sneakers to a pair of paddock boots. The unmounted class had become one of his favourites, and he was eager for the new year to start. All his other classes were pretty average, and he was hoping that this one was as interesting as last year.

Making his way down to the broodmare barn at a jog, he smiled as the Spaniel loped beside him, ears flapping. He knew he would have to take the dog for a run sometime soon, and not just jogging between barns, but somehow there never seemed to be any time any more. Pausing at the barn entrance, he paused to adjust Bruno's service dog bib, and walked into the barn at a more leisurely pace, stopping by the mare he had for last years class, and petted her fondly. She had been a quirky one, that's for sure, but sadly had foaled down to a stillborn colt, and had pretty much shattered Luka for a time being.

Luka entered the class, and took his seat, noting that he was one of the last to arrive in the class. As he 'listened' in his own way, he knew it was simply a recap of the previous year, and for the sake of the new students.

[Deleted]

Kit hurried across the path, half-jogging, Mer excitedly trotting along, snatching at his leash when he didn't look - sometimes, the dog still thought she was a puppy and acted like it, but usually Kit couldn't get himself to reproach her for it. She was too damn adorable. In front of the appropriate barn he stopped, nerves flaring up again, and Mer immediately turned more serious. Adjusting first his backpack and then the sleeves of his (perfectly decent) gray hoodie, he entered, sighing silently in relief when he noted he was still well in time, although it seemed he was also the last of the class to arrive. He offered a somewhat awkward wave before weaving through the seats to take one of the front ones, next to another boy that looked rather young and had a dog at his feet as well. So that was the other deaf boy, then.

Kit nodded warmly at the guy as he sat down and gestured at Mer to lay down, which she obediently did, only throwing a curious glance at her equine compatriot briefly. He smiled a little when he saw the notes - he and his mother had had several conversations before he transferred, and during one of them it was mentioned there was another hearing impaired kid and if he would be OK with using the same accomodations that were made for him? - and shuffled through them briefly, glad when all he saw was introduction. He could work with that - it made it a lot easier to follow spoken text when you knew at least globally what it actually was about.

He was happily surprised with what he heard/read, quite pleased with himself that he had indeed chosen this subject. He was curious which mare'd be his. He hadn't worked with many horses over the years, as he was sure several of his fellow students had, instead having stuck mostly to the two ponies of the neighbours and Essi, but that made it more of a challenge, and thus more fun. Or so he hoped and planned for, really. It was why he was here, after all. To learn! Still, he shook his head in denial when the teacher asked the room if there were any questions. He didn't have any. Not yet.

---

OOC: I was told through PM that I could reply here, even if I wasn't in the list yet

[Peter Solomon]

Peter was glad to see that his rules were noted by the students with nods, always a positive sign. As one of the boys asked about what they would be learning, Peter smiled, “We will be covering what is going on inside of your mares as well, although I know that you probably will all find yourself enjoying the outside work more than the lecture times. I promise, I'll try to make them interesting, however.”

He clasped his hands together as he rose, looking around at the students, “While we are missing someone, I'm going to assign all of you to your mares, one at a time. When you hear your name called, please come on out, and I'll introduce you. The rest of you, feel free to chat, or whatever you'd like. Once you've met your mare, I ask that you stick around until I can hand out the information packets on them that I have prepared, which include their basics, as well as some information on their previous foals, as well as the stud they were bred to. All of the mares have been bred, and should be due to foal around May or June.” He hadn't had to worry about foals this year, so he could take his students through all of the stages during the school year, rather than skipping ahead.

He walked to the door, then spoke the first name, although he also smiled at the boy, “Luka Mason.” He had chosen to take the two kids who had chosen to retake the class, after their assigned mares' issues, and he might as well get them out of the way. He knew that Bruno would let Luka know that he was up, in case the male hadn't caught it himself, and headed out into the aisle before stopping at one of the stalls. Looking at the boy, he smiled, “Luka, this is Taking the Time, or Red. She should have no problems with Bruno, and she's a proven producer, so I'm hoping that we won't have a repeat of the last year.” The boy's mare had miscarried rather late in the year, sadly enough, and as he left the boy and horse, he looked over at Suede, who hadn't been inseminated for the year.

Putting a smile on his face, he poked his head into the classroom, “Gretchen Holmes.” Smiling at her, he led the way down the aisle, past the other mare that wasn't going to bearing a foal this year, due to her foal previously, who had been euthanized following a malformed leg that would have severely impacted the foal's quality of life, “You're going to be working with Battle of Memories, or Memo, this year.” He stopped at a black Arabian's stall, “She's somewhat of a pushy horse, but I'm sure you can handle her.”

Returning to the classroom, he smiled as he moved down the list of names and assigned mares. Sometimes his memory came in handy after all, it prevented him from having to carry a clipboard, “Cara-Jean Kitchi?” Upon spotting the student, he made his way towards one of the smaller mares in the barn, who would fit the girl's petite build, “This is Chasing Daisies, or Papillon. She's really sweet, although she may not be as loyal as other horses, as she's simply sweet to everyone.” Rubbing the pony's forehead, he walked away.

After stepping into the classroom and taking a drink, he headed back to the door, “Cassian De Fiore?” Frowning as no one moved, Peter shook his head, “Absent. Christophe Bailey?” Another name that he knew, his gaze traveling to the second male accompanied by a canine, and when the boy had stood, he led the way into the aisle, waiting until they were standing by the Gypsy mare's stall and turning to look at the boy, “This is Biological Daydream, or Bio. Just a warning, she may try to lick your dog, she's very... friendly.” He grinned, “If that should bother your companion, anyway, you may wish to watch out for it.”

Leaving them, he returned yet again to the classroom, “Jackson Mackenzie.” He nodded at the boy, then moved to one of the stalls right next to the classroom, “This is Can You Catch Em, Charmander, or Char. She's an OTTB thoroughbred, and you'll notice that relatively quickly.”

Two more to go. Taking a breath, Peter walked back and smiled, “Ronan McAleese.” While leading the way to the blue roan paint, he spoke, “You're assigned to Alligator Pit, or Lee. Don't be surprised, she has terrible lead manners, despite the best efforts of everyone that has worked with her.” He gently knocked on the mare's forehead, “It doesn't get through to her.”

After returning to the students and collecting the last one, one Stefan Eder, he led the way towards the last of the inseminated mares, “This is Yin and Yang, or just Yin. She's very needy, she loves attention, and she might bite other horses if they get too close, but she doesn't usually go for human flesh.”

Running his gaze around the barn, he decided that no one needed him for the moment, and returned to his office to collect the packets that he had put together. Bound within presentation covers, they included pictures of the mare and stud, along with information such as height, breed, age, and various other snippets that the students might wish to know about both of them.

All of them in his hands, Peter began walking down the aisle, distributing them to the students, before coming to a stop once again near the end of the row, “Okay, guys. That's it for structured class today, although if you have questions or just want to stay and bond with your mares, you are far more than welcome to stick around.”

Those students from last year, it's your choice if they knew about this or not. It could also have occurred after the end of classes.

The list is located here for your pleasure and convenience, with basics and links to the stallions.

[Deleted]

    Ronan smiled at the other boy's comment, "We certainly seem to be seeing a lot of each other." He was thrilled when he heard that they would be meeting their mares right away, and began to thrum his fingertips quietly across the side of his chair. He was terribly excited to meet the mare he'd be working with, and though he was sure that he would be thrilled with any assignment he received, he still maintained the nerves and anticipation of someone awaiting their fate. 

    As Sir Solomon called the other students' names, Ronan grew more and more anxious. It seemed as if his turn would never come! Soon, it was just him and the student next to him. Smiling weakly, he addressed the other boy, "And then there were two." Finally, Finally, Ronan's name was called, and he exited the room, following Sir Solomon down the aisle. Listening as they walked, Ronan took in the information and filed it away, glad that they'd be getting packets too to refer to. He wanted to know everything about Lee. When they reached her, Ronan thanked Sir Solomon and then turned to the mare as the instructor left. "Hello Lee." He pet the mare, but stayed in the aisle until he received his packet.  

    He was pleased to find that it was all very neat and organized, and returned the packet to the classroom with the rest of his things. Then, he returned to Lee's stall and opened the mare's door. She was gorgeous, first of all, a blue roan tobiano with a pretty, delicate face. Ronan had only really worked with thoroughbreds, sport horses, and crosses of the two (like Tally) on their farm, so seeing stock breeds was newish to him, and now he'd have the chance to work with and ride a Paint. Lee was on the shorter side, and well built.

    When Ronan approached her, hand reached out, he was prepared for a cold response, and was not disappointed. Ears pinned and tail swishy, Lee hardly seemed happy to see him. Raising an eyebrow, Ronan pet her neck, keeping an eye on her. He'd have to be cautious, but he'd worked with moody mares like her before (though Lee may be considered a bit more than moody).       

[Stefan Eder]

Stefan nodded as he heard the answer to his question. It was the answer he'd been hoping for, although he knew he could look it up. There was just something about lessons, especially in classes he was actually interested in.

As it came time to meet their mares, Stefan grinned, shifting to the edge of his seat as he listened to the man request that they stick around, which wouldn't be an issue for him. He would probably spend more time with his mare anyway, he was excited to meet her.

However, it seemed that luck was not on his side. As everyone trickled out slowly, Stefan became more and more impatient, but at least the boy that he knew from his other classes was waiting as well. As the boy commented, Stefan chuckled, “Looks like it. Save the best for last?”

He almost wished he hadn't spoken as the other boy was called, leaving him to be last... And that wasn't his intention by the comment at all. However, he knew it would be his turn, and by the time the teacher had returned to collect him, he had risen and was waiting, ready as could be.

As Sir Solomon led him down the aisle, Stefan looked at all of the horses, until they stopped by the one that was apparently his. He listened to the teacher, nodding as he heard the warning, “I'll be careful of them.” He smiled at the mare in the stall, chuckling as she looked away, “You'll learn to like me.” After he'd received his packet from Sir Solomon and dropped it onto his armchair, he returned to Yin's stall, leaning against the half-door, watching the mare ignoring him.

As an ear did flick his way, however briefly, Stefan shook his head, “See? You're interested. You just don't know it yet, but we're going to be good friends, okay?”

[Cara-Jean Kitchi]

Cara wrote down everything that was said and it was only when the teacher stopped speaking that she realised that she had written down so many things that didn't need to be recorded, she would just remove them when she rewrote the notes later.

She felt a shiver of anticipation as Sir Solomon said that it was time for them to meet their mare and she tucked the folder back into her bag with the pen as she sat and patiently waited. She rose to her feet automatically as she heard her name called and drew back a little as the man's eyes landed on her. Pulling herself together, she followed him into the aisle and down to a stall. She nodded as he spoke and she looked over at the brown mare and nodded again, Papillion - the French word for butterfly - seemed to suit the mare perfectly and almost everything about the pony's face said that she was steady, responsive and reliable, though there was also quite a bit of underlying sensitivity there too, so Cara had the feeling that all it would take to lose the mare's friendliness was to lose her respect - and the small girl had no intention of doing that.

She hovered outside the stall, unsure whether to go in and start making friends or wait for Sir Solomon to return for the file. She chose the latter, and waited until the file was in her hand, which she then took back to the classroom and zipped into the folder she had been writing in, she planned to start a journal up for the mare that night, and the information in the file would be used to start that journal off.

The small girl returned to the mare's stall and she entered. "Bonjour Papillon." She whispered as she offered her hand to the mare, before she ran her hand down the mare's neck and stopped at her shoulder. "Je suis Cara , nous allons apprendre à connaître l'autre."^{(I am Cara, we're going to get to know each other.)} Even if the mare was only slightly pregnant, she knew that some mare's were very touchy about having their stomachs touched while pregnant, and Cara had too much respect for the pony to push her too much on their first day.

Moving back up to the mare's head, Cara rubbed the brown pony's forehead, her mind already working on how she wanted to handle working with the mare through her pregnancy. Questions were already bubbling in her head, but they would remain unanswered for now, at least until she had got to know the mare.

[Deleted]

Being the fifth student to be called, Jackson moved towards the mare with the bloody shoulder. As Sir Solomon introduced the mare to him the boy smiled and nodded. An OTTB, Great He thought to himself, of course he was happy that he was in this class and he really didn’t know what you’ll notice that relatively quickly meant in this situation but he guessed he would figure it out soon enough.

He stayed outside of the stall, just in case. Though Char moved slightly towards the door, Jackson held his hand out for the mare to smell him, ”Hi there Char.” he ran his hand down the mare’s neck, ”I hope we get along big girl.” Patting her shoulder the boy saw Sir Solomon coming along the aisle with papers; Jackson turned to receive the packet and began to read it.

His eyes roved over the words and pictures. Jackson took in the simple information, like what she was trained in, her height, and her age. A slight description of the mare’s personality was also on the papers. He smiled as he was done reading the papers, ”Well this is all good information.” It truly was, he was glad to know these simple things. If it was okay with Sir Solomon Jackson planned to work the mare as much as she wanted.

Moving away from the stall the boy made his way over to the instructor, ”Excuse me Sir Solomon; I have a question about exercising Char. It says here that she likes to be active, would you prefer that I worked on her on the ground or in the saddle?”

[Gretchen Holmes]

Gretchen waited patiently and quietly for her turn to be introduced to her mare. When her name was called she stood up eagerly and followed her teacher down the barn isle to the mare she'd be working with. They passed the mare she'd been assigned last year, and she met the bay's gaze sadly as she walked by. After hearing that her foal would have to be destroyed, Gretchen had steered clear of the barn and the mare for the entire summer despite being on campus in all that time. She just didn't want to have any part in the mare, the thought of the foal being deformed and then being destroyed frightened her, and reminded her just how uncertain things in the equine world could be. Now looking at the mare she felt very guilty for having left her, and though she was obviously going to be assigned a new mare this year, she internally promised that she would still visit the other mare and offer her a carrot or two when she came to the barn. Doc had always been sweet and easy to work with, she deserved better.

The new mare she was being assigned was an Arabian, and Gretchen became excited almost immediately. She loved Arabs, there was something so majestic about them. Their sculpted faces and bright eyes made Gretchen think of them of being like creatures out of paintings or perfectly chiseled statues that had been brought to life. However she knew that Arabians also had a tendency to be high strung, and as she was warned that the mare was pushy, she began to doubt her ability to work with the mare. Bahir easily pushed her around, this mare, though smaller than Bahir, was likely going to do the same if she didn't learn how to push back soon.

As the other students were assigned their horses, Gretchen peered into the stall of the black Arabian. It was like the black stallion, only she was obviously a mare. Gretchen had always loved that movie as a little girl, it was one of the things that had inspired her love of horses. Perhaps she could form a similar relationship with this pushy mare, she hoped so. The mare looked up and came over to the stall door as Gretchen received the paperwork about her. With her back turned the mare reached out and just barely missed nipping Gretchen in the shoulder. The girl narrowed her eyes at the mare and swatted her nose lightly, "So that's how we're going to do this?" she asked. The mare reached out again, this time nearly taking the paperwork out of Gretchen's hands, causing the girl to sigh in defeat, "Yeah, I thought so."

[Peter Solomon]

Peter smiled as he watched the different reactions to the student's first introductions. Yes, some of the mares were moody, and some were downright mean at times, but he doubted that any students would really have issues. And if they did, well, then that was what he was there for.

As Jackson approached him, Peter smiled, listening to the question, "You're more than welcome to ride her if you're confident, up until she gets too round, obviously, or seems uncomfortable. However, if you only wish to do ground work, I have no issues with that either, and if you come see me before taking her, I wouldn't even be opposed to you taking her to the round pen." The only reason he wanted to know where the mares were, he was responsible for them, and he didn't want them off of the Evening Primrose barn grounds without at least his knowledge, just in case anything should happen.

Afterwards, he leaned against the door of Arwen's stall, watching his students interacting with their assigned mounts, trying to gauge if he'd over- or underassigned any of the students. Sure, there was very little that he could do now, but if it was extreme, he could swap some of them out.