Aiming for the Sky

[Deleted]

    Over the course of the summer, Cora had planned courses for her show jumping class when she’d had the time, filling a binder with sketches and jump ideas for her students. Now, she set one up, dragging poles and standards around the ring to prepare for her first show jumping class. The course she’d chosen involved a lot of jumps, but none of the turns were terribly difficult, and she wouldn’t be timing them today. She just wanted to see how her students thought on course, which was a huge part of show jumping.

    Having finished setting up the course, Cora returned to the barn to tack up Fin. She’d decided that she’d bring her horse to this first class to demonstrate the course, all while explaining to her students what she was doing and why. She tacked up the horse in his normal jumping gear, put on her helmet, and grabbed her clipboard before leading him out to the arena. She’d given herself enough time to warm up Fin before her students began to arrive, and she took this time to do so, and stopped him in the center when she’d finished to greet her students when they arrived. She’d set up the P.A. system so that her students could hear her talk while she rode, and tested it, to made sure that it was working properly.

    As each student arrived, Cora greeted them and asked them to warm their horse up properly for jumping. She’d requested that all of her students conform to a dress code: a polo shirt tucked into neutral breeches with a belt and black or brown field boots or paddock boots and half chaps. She was dressed respectfully, and she expected her students to do the same.

Course

Calling:
Cara-Jean Kitchi
Danielle Green
Gretchen Holmes
@kate
Katja Eder

Chase Rivers

[Danielle Green]

Finally were her equine classes, Danny returned to her room and changed into a light blue polo, beige breeches, and black field boots. She made her way to the Red Willow Barn, it wasn’t the first time that the girl would have ridden O’Malley but now Ms. Chevalier officially changed her over to him for her academy mount. She tacked the gelding up and walked him to the Show Jumping Arena.

Seeing that she was the first one there she just mounted up and warmed O’Malley up. Danielle was extremely nervous as this would have been her first time doing show jumping, of course this was more for the speed rather than accuracy, but she knew if she took her time the first time around she would be fine.

O’Malley warmed up beautifully just like he did over the summer when Danny worked with him. She was excited to start the new school year with a new mount but she was also sad as she would be able to spend as much time with Remi. Maybe Ms. Chevalier would allow her to ride the mare when she was able. Danielle took her time warming up O’Malley she didn’t rush him to the canter and then let him sit around to wait while others warmed up as well, she was still trotting the gelding when other riders showed up.

[Cara-Jean Kitchi]

Cara walked into the barn and headed straight to the tackroom where she grabbed the clothes she had left in her mare's locker and went to the toilets where she replaced her black jodhpurs for beige and pulled a tracksuit over her riding clothes to keep them clean while she got Kit ready for jumping class.

Once the mare was ready, ok, Cara may have gone a little overboard as she braided the mare's mane and tail, both in very simple French braids, she went back to the tack room and shed the tracksuit and grabbed her helmet and gloves and then led the mare out to the arena where they were their class was to be held.

Following the instructions, she tightened the girth and vaulted onto the mare's a back, slipped her feet into the stirrups, picked up the reins and squeezed the grey mare forward.

As they made their way around the arena, she took in the course that had been set up and she hoped that Kit would also be paying attention to her surroundings as well. She kept the mare's attention by keeping her moving and transitioning her through her gaits and keeping her thinking, though not allowing her to anticipate the next instruction. She was also careful not to crowd the other riders or allow the mare to be crowded.

[Deleted]

    Kate's summer in England hadn't been filled with much riding, so she was excited to get back to it with Poet and Cailin, though she would, no doubt, be sore for the next couple weeks, being thrown right back into her classes. Besides that, Poet and Cailin were going to be feisty and hot for a while too, since they hadn't be worked to the extent that she usually did during the school year. It was going to be an interesting lesson. She'd ridden both since coming back, and they'd both been brats in their own capacity.

    Grabbing Cailin's gear from the tack room, Kate placed it all beside her stall and entered, petting the mare and then grooming her. She tacked her up slowly, knowing that Cailin could get snippy it she went too quickly, and then put on her helmet before leading her out to the jumping ring where their class would be held. "Hello Ms. Addison!" she greeted the instructor, and then walked Cailin to the center, where she mounted.

    Immediately, the mare started to sidestep, light in her hind end. Kate made her walk to the rail and the mare crow-hopped there, tense. Kate knew that if she gave the mare more rein, she'd act up more, but she didn't want to get too in her face, or she'd get more annoyed. Finding the happy medium, Kate began to warm the mare up once she was walking nicely on the rail. Cailin continued to act up, but it wasn't really anything to be concerned about, and she just needed to be worked out of it. 

[Katja Eder]

Katja approached Mukki's stall, smiling as the gelding stuck his head out, “Na?” After grabbing his halter and grooming kit, she let herself into the stall, rubbing the black's shoulder before she tied him to one of the bars of the stall and began grooming him. As he tried to reach towards the knot, Katja shook her head, tapping him on the nose with the curry she was holding, “Nein.”

Finally, the black's coat shone, although Katja worried that the gelding still hadn't quite recovered from his flight, as he didn't try more mischief after being reprimanded the once. Noting to take it easy on him for the day, she left the stall, walking towards the tack room. Looking in on the locker that she'd organized with all of her various saddles and other gear, she found the jumping saddle, pad, leg wraps, and bridle, before returning to tack up her gelding.

Once he was done, Katja left him for a moment, hurrying into the barn's bathroom to change into the uniform that had been requested of them, easy enough to find, although it wasn't as well pressed as she might have liked, as she hadn't had a chance to iron it after taking it out of her suitcase. Sighing, as there was nothing she could do about it now, she pulled her hair up into a decent-looking bun that would work with her helmet, then clipped said helmet on before leaving the bathroom.

Taking hold of Mukki's reins, she undid the halter that was under the gelding's bridle, leaving it hanging from the stall's bar, before leading her mount out and towards the jumping rings, which she'd also found on her walks around campus. After entering, she looked around briefly, before approaching the teacher, “Hello, Ms. Addison. I must excuse myself for my appearance, and my horse's work today. He first arrived two days ago, and I fear that he is not all his self.”

With her apologies made, she found a spot to mount, pulling herself up without using the block, then found a place on the rail, asking Mukki to walk first, then slowly beginning the task that was getting him to collect himself.

[Gretchen Holmes]

As Gretchen dressed for her next class, she felt terrified. Part of her wanted to just take Pegasus out for the class for a guaranteed safe and enjoyable trip. But another part of her wanted to give Bahir another chance, since he was her first horse and the one who had gotten her here. But the prospect of giving him that chance was what frightened her. He was too much horse for her, he pulled her around that course and though he'd never knocked a rail in his life she never felt as though she had much if any control. After the first jump all Bahir responded to was being pulled left or right. He certainly didn't respond to woah. But the two of them needed this class. 

The decision weighed heavily on her shoulders as she walked to the barn, wearing a purple polo shirt tucked into tan breeches with a black belt and her brown paddock boots and half chaps. When she reached the barn she stood before both stalls, feeling as though the decision she made was life or death. Both horses looked at her, ears pricked, as though asking her themselves which horse she'd choose. Swallowing back the lump that had formed in her throat, she chose Bahir.

The white gelding was pushy as always as she groomed and tacked him as quickly as she could while still being thorough. When he was finally ready she put on her helmet before leading the excited gelding out to the show jumping ring. She was one of the last to arrive, but she didn't let it get her down. She simply mounted up and took Bahir around the ring, warming him up as slowly as he would allow at a walk and a trot both ways around the ring. She knew the horse was eying the jumps intently, and she tried her hardest to draw his attention away if only to maintain control a little longer. 

[Deleted]

After days of deciding whether he wanted to bring Brody back to the academy with him he decided for it. The Thoroughbred was the first horse he had and was going to stay loyal to him. Chase walked to the Red Willow Barn and saw Brody. ”Hi buddy, how are you settling in?” Patting the gelding’s neck Chase walked to the tack room and gathered his jumping tack. Tacking the horse up in his stall, the boy was done in no time at all. Grabbing his helmet the two made their way to the jumping arena.

It took a while as Chase second guessed his judgment as to where the arena was, but he eventually found it. He sort of frowned to see that he was the only boy in the class, but he walked in and mounted up anyways, it wasn’t like he had a choice.

Warming up Brody was simple. The gelding was used to the almost basic warm up. Chase never got too difficult or complex with it; just enough to keep the Thoroughbred interested and not go off on what he wanted to do. Chase was happy to get back into all of his classes, especially equine ones.

[Deleted]

    Cora smiled at Katja, "That's understandable. Please let me know if you don't think he's up to jumping any of the jumps in here." Cora knew how international travel was on horses and people, and she didn't want to push either, especially on the first day of classes. That would come later.

    All of her students arrived on time, and Cora was happy to promptly begin the lesson. She gave her students another couple minutes to continue warming up their horses and used this time to work Fin a little bit more. She didn't want him to get cool from standing, so she warmed him up with the rest of her students before pushing on her microphone and stopping in the center. "Hello, and welcome to Show Jumping. You may continue to work your horse while a talk, just let me know if you can't hear me. For those of you who haven't met me yet, my name is Ms. Addison, and I  teach Show Jumping and Hunter Jumping here at Blue Ridge. This is Finegal, my jumper, who will be helping me demonstrate today, a bit later on. As long as you're all warmed up, we're going to begin. If you have any concerns about jumping any of the jumps in the ring, please let me know now.

    Since you're all currently tracking right, I'd like for you to line up behind Danny. One at a time, you'll canter over the in and out (4a anad 4b), and then reverse direction over the vertical (6), through the center. Then take the vertical on the other long side (1).  You can canter through the exercise and return to the trot after the last jump before returning to the end of the line." None of the jumps were too high, and she just wanted to see how all the students handled themselves over fences, to make sure that she could throw them into the whole course. It shouldn't pose a problem for any of them, hopefully, but it was their first class, and she'd be willing to lower any fences if necessary. In the past, she'd had all of her students introduce themselves and their horses, but she knew most of these students already, and she wanted to get right to work. She'd meet them formally after the class, but she already knew who they all were based on her attendance records. 

[Danielle Green]

By the time Ms. Addison began to talk Danny had just finished cantering O’Malley so she just continued a trot around the rail as the instructor spoke. She remembered the woman from her hunter/jumper class last year and was glad to have her for show jumping. Hearing they were going to begin, Danny made more of a point to listen to the words.

Hearing her name, she smiled as she would be the first one to go. She never had an issue with being first or last or even in the middle. She honestly didn’t care about petty stuff like that. With having worked O’Malley over some taller jumps over the summer Danny had no doubt they could do this. Making a mental note of the course Ms. Addison called out, she nodded and started it.

Asking for the right lead canter Danny steered O’Malley over the first two jumps easily. She smiled and moved towards the third one. Moving over that jump quickly, she felt confident, of course it was only her first class of the year, but she was happy that she had chosen to take it. Over towards the last jump along the rail she slowed O’Malley to a trot once they cleared it. She got over into line.

[Cara-Jean Kitchi]

Cara kept her mare moving as their instructor began the lesson, she split enough of her concentration so that she could follow the woman's words, but enough of her attention remained on the mare so that she was ready for anything that Kit threw at her while the mare thought she wasn't listening. She shook her head ever so slightly in reply to the woman's question about any of them having problems with the fences. She could see that they were all of a relative height for horses, but she had a feeling that Kit could take offense if she couldn't jump the course with the rest of the horses, and she didn't want to signal herself out as being different, especially since she was behind the girl who had been told to lead the ride, who was on a horse at least four hands bigger than Kit.

She sat deep at the corner and asked the mare for a canter, nodding when Kit surged forward at the canter. Cara moved with the mare's rocking horse canter, silently begging the mare to behave herself, and part of her hoped that the large jumps would actually make the Welara Pony think about what she was doing rather than playing up. She rose into two-point as they approached the first fence, and the girl reminded herself not to hold her breath as they rounded over the first fence, took two strides and then cleared the second. The next fence went past without a hitch, though Kit seemed to take offense to the final fence and slammed on the brakes as they reached it.

Feeling her cheeks flame, Cara circled the mare away from the fence and lined her up for it again before she asked firmly for a little more impulsion and Kit hopped over the fence, though she clipped the rail as they went over it, sulking that she didn't get away with refusing the fence. "Sorry." She said, not knowing if the pole had fallen or not.

Riding away from the final fence, she asked for a transition down to a trot and went over what had gone wrong.

[Katja Eder]

Katja smiled at the teacher, then glanced over the course, “I will say that he should be good with these, but I might him pull him up if something seems to be causing trouble.” She hoped not, because it would set a bad example, but at the same time, she wouldn't push her horse over something he was in no shape for. At least she had the choice now.

As Ms. Addison began the class, Katja kept Mukki at a walk around the arena, absently asking him to shorten and lengthen his stride at intervals. When they were told that Danny was going first, Katja smiled down at her horse's mane, please that she was able to say that she at least knew someone here. However, as they lined up, she briefly found herself panicking over the gait they were supposed to use... Canter? Running back through the books she'd read, she realized she couldn't remember what they meant by it, although by watching Danny's horse, she decided it was simply the slower version of what was collectively known as 'Galopp'. Having settled that, and deciding that she would just stick to what she knew, she watched the second rider to go. She was impressed by the pony's jumping, although it did seem to have something against the last jump, and Katja nodded as the girl got her mount over it, although the pony was stubborn.

As the rail had stayed up, there was nothing holding her back from starting her own round, and Katja circled Mukki, before sending him into a relaxed 'galopp' to approach the first of the jumps. The gelding attempted to stretch his gait, but Katja held him back to set him up for the jump, rising into a two-point just before the gelding left the ground.

They made their way through the handful of jumps, and before too long, they had made the course, and Katja reined Mukki in, patting his neck as he came to stand at the end of the line, behind the pony and the petite girl who controlled her.

A bit of explanation as to this post and gaits. In Germany, it is accepted that the 'Galopp' (gallop) has four beats. Sometimes, in a medium-speeded gallop, those two middle beats blend together, nearly forming one, bringing the count down to three (seem familiar?). So yes, the 'Kanter' (canter) is considered a segment of the gallop, rather than its own gait. The distinct four beats are said to only be visible at a very fast, or an extremely slowed down gallop. /end lesson So that's where Katy's coming from.