Working on the Weak

[Deleted]

Deciding not to bring a horse to the class, Drew figured that he would be able to pay attention to his students much better without having to try and use a horse. The year before he had only taught beginner western, but this year he stepped up and took on the Trail Class as many students were interested in it and there was no teacher.

Since he didn’t know the students and how they worked with their horses he had a plan. He set up all the obstacles he could fit in the field in no particular order, actual there was no course at all. He sat back and waited for his students to come in, ”Please warm-up your mounts.”

When he accounted that everyone was present he called the students in to the middle of the arena which at this time had no obstacles. ”Good afternoon everyone, some of you might know me, but in case you don’t I’m Mr. Rhodes and I will be your new Trail Class Instructor.”

Clearing his throat he got ready for the next set of sentences. ”Although I know some of you might not like to talk in front of other, I need to know who you are. So please go around tell everyone your name, your mount’s name, and your weakest obstacle. The last bit of information will lead into our activity for today.

Calling:
Adonya van Rutherford
Amelia DeFoe
Cortney Smit
@running5
Serenity Oliver
Thomas Oliver

[Deleted]

Jackson was elated that it was finally time for equine classes. He walked to the White Oak Barn and got Fore all groomed and tacked up. The mare looked like she was also ready for the equine classes to begin. The boy led his mount to the Trail Class field and mounted up just as Mr. Rhodes had said. Jackson remembered the instructor from last year when he was in beginner western.

Warming up Fore was something that he had to get used to as the horse was ornery sometimes and liked to do her own thing. Jackson was quick to pick up on that and did his best to redirect her to what he wanted her to do. Once he was done warming up at the trot he asked the Paint horse to pick up the left lead canter and he made a fifteen meter circle. He asked for the trot again and changed directions. Picking up the right lead canter and doing the same Jackson knew that Fore was ready to begin class.

By that time more students had appeared with their mounts and began warming up their mount. Jackson kept Fore at a slow jog until Mr. Rhodes called them into the middle of the field. Letting out an internal sigh he went first. ’I’m Jackson Mackenzie and this is ID Ten Tees or Fore as I like to call her and I would say our weakest obstacle is the gate.” Jackson wasn’t really sure if it was, but he knew that Fore had wandered away before when he tried to close an actual gate.

[Amelia DeFoe]

Trail class day! While the rest of the day hadn't been too good, or the whole week, if she was honest, this was the class that she had been looking forward to. She enjoyed trail competitions, and Tommy appeared to as well, although some of the obstacles he would rather not do.

After tacking up the gelding she walked to the trail field, not surprised to see the same man that had taught the trail clinic teaching the class. Despite being the second to arrive, when asked to warm up Tommy, she waited and considered, then spotted the bridge. Hoping that no one would plan on using it, she had Wolf sit on it, to wait until everyone had arrived and she could have him sit on the mounting block as was normal for them.

Once that was settled, she pulled herself into the saddle and gathered her reins, asking Tommy to walk around the arena, first at a walk, then gradually getting faster.

After some time, the man asked them to come into the middle of the arena, and she slowed Tommy, asking him to stand near the mounting block, where she called Wolf to sit on said block before turning her attention to the man and listening to his introduction.

The next few words seemed aimed towards her, but she knew there was no escaping it. Looking around, she decided to get it over with and spoke second, “I'm Amelia, this is Tommy, and he has issues with carrying objects that make strange noises.” Not around the objects, and not while they were shaken, but if she had to carry them, that made the gelding uncomfortable.

[Cortney Smit]

Dressed in jean jods, and a yellow polo shirt, Cortney skipped down to the barns and quickly got Olé ready for trail class; snaffle bridle and close contact saddle.

She led the mare down to the field where the class was held and grinned toward Mr Rhodes. She then quickly mounted, tightened the girth and got the sabino mare moving around the field and began to warm her up. Letting the mare have a very good look, and a close sniff, of the canine near the mounting block so that she knew that the dog was there and wouldn't feel the need to spook if she suddenly noticed Wolf half way through the lesson.

She listened to the teacher's introduction, wondering just how bored they got at introducing themselves to a brand new class each year. She grinned when it was time to introduce herself. "I'm Cortney." She said is in a tone that told everyone that they should already know this. "This is Ole'. I think the part she will struggle with the most is anything to do with haybales." The mare was still a little possessive with her food, though not as aggressive as she had been in the past and on some days, Cort didn't know how the mare would react to certain things.

[Thomas Oliver]

If asked, Tommy would admit that trail class had to be his favourite of his equestrian classes. It was so much more relaxed than the others, even more so then cross country. He quickly saddled his flaxen bay with his synthetic close contact saddle and snaffle bridle and then led the gelding out to the trail field.

It didn't take them long to get to the field, and after tightening the girth and pulling the stirrups down, he swung into the saddle and headed into the arena. He nodded as he was told to warm the horse up and easily walked the horse around the arena, allowing him to look at anything that caught his attention. "Easy, bronc." He laughed as the gelding suddenly caught sight of the canine, but then quickly settled down, even as Tommy circled the horse around and rode him past Wolf again.

He listened as Mr Rhodes introduced himself, he listened as the other students followed suit. He gave a devilish grin when it was his turn. "I am Tommy, but to save confusion between me and Amy's charming horse, please call me T. And this is Dragan. I think I'm more likely to have problems in this class, because this guy thinks he's fearless - unless around little kids - and he forgets about me and tries to walk under things he can fit under." Sure, it may sound like he was trying to be funny, but the flaxen bay was famous for walking under things and knocking his rider off.

[Serenity Oliver]

After returning Plot to the pasture and changing out of her fancy riding clothes and into something more relaxed, Serenty felt exhausted as she headed to Red's stall and brought the mare out and into one of the grooming stalls.

Once the rose grey was groomed and saddle, Reni led the mare to the trail field and swiftly mounted the horse and rode her into the field as she slipped her feet into the stirrups, she smiled toward her brother and then toward Amy. "Steady." She soothed as the mare suddenly squealed, it was only then that the rider noticed that squeal had been one of excitement at the horse had spotted Wolf. "You can chat after class." She cautioned the mare with a pat as she turned her away from the canine and his hiding space.

She had no more issues as she warmed the mare up, making sure that Red had all the time she needed to inspect anything that caught her attention. She reined the mare in as Mr Rhodes began speaking. She listened to the others and then introduced herself. "I'm Reni and this is Red. She has to have a good look at anything she has to walk through." She bit her lip. "She also doesn't like me carrying things as she was covered in welts from excessive whipping when we found her at a sales yard." 

[Adonya van Rutherford]

Blythe groomed Kodak after her horse judging class, frowning as one of the gelding's light hairs floated up into her nose. After rubbing it away, she finished up, then threw the gelding's worn saddle on and finished tacking him up, before grabbing her helmet and leading him outside into the sunlight.

She entered the trail field, looking at the large amount of people that was already there warming up her horse, then checked Kodak's cinch before mounting. However, being the last student to arrive, she barely had any time to warm the gelding up before she had to find her way into the center of the field.

She listened to the teacher, then tossed her head impatiently as she let everyone else go, before speaking confidently, “My name is Blythe,” she glared at the teacher, daring him to contradict her, before continuing, “This is Unmistakable Shine, or Kodak, and we tend to have issues with weaving around things.” The one thing they never did in reining, the side-to-side bending that was so necessary for the trail course. However, apart from Kodak attempting to step over the cones rather than around, she hadn't had any issues with him, and it wasn't as though she'd deign to compete in Trail.

[Deleted]

He saw that Amy had her dog with her and he was seated on the bridge, which after he explained, he knew she would make arrangements. With his clipboard in hand, Drew marked off the students as they said their names, noting that Thomas Oliver’s nickname. He would his best to remember the student’s mounts name but he was human and would probably forget most of them. Listening to all the students and what they thought would be their biggest challenge for trail class.

”Alright, so as you were warming up you probably noticed the large amount of obstacles sitting out. Well I want you to use the information you just shared with the class and myself and work on that. Of course I will be around to correct you if I find you could be doing something better.”

As the students were dispersing from him he added quickly. ’If you feel there is another obstacle that you would like to work on go right ahead and switch to it. I would like no more than two people at each obstacle if you could manage that.” He didn’t doubt they could, but he would like to keep space between the students’ mounts, safety first. He watched the students as they made their ways to each of their obstacles they had chosen.

[Deleted]

After listening to everyone that went through their name and everything else, it sounded like he was the only one to have talked about the gate, which was good for him. Once Mr. Rhodes explained what they were doing today, he smiled a little, that meant he wouldn’t make a fool of himself if he couldn’t get Fore to do something as everyone else would be doing their own thing at the same time he would be doing his.

Walking Fore over to the gate obstacle he took a breath and leg yielded the mare to the gate with her left flank towards it. Jackson leaned down to unlatch the gate, but Fore took a step back. Again the boy lined his mount up with the gate and leaned down again, coming up out of the saddle, but again his horse took a step away from the obstacle. Sitting down in the saddle and gathering himself, Jackson was already frustrated with this, but he knew that he wouldn’t get anywhere with moving onto the next obstacle.

He was determined to get this obstacle and wasn’t going to give up. ”Alright Fore, let’s try this again.” Leg yielding the mare closer to the gate he leaned to the side, but Fore stepped to the side. With a big huff Jackson regained his balance as he almost lost it and he sat there.

[Amelia DeFoe]

Amy watched Wolf carefully as she worked Tommy, smiling slightly as she saw how some of the horses reacted to him. She knew that Ole and Red, Cortney and Serenity's mounts, had 'met' the dog before, way back when she had first been new to the academy, but they hadn't had to deal with him in a few months due to summer, so she was happy to see that none of the reactions were quite as terrible as they might have been. T's horse, not the same one he'd ridden before, seemed to have a few issues, but also settled down relatively quickly, for which she was thankful. Had Wolf caused trouble, of course she would have removed herself from the class, although she did want to learn how to improve.

She listened to Mr. Rhodes' plan for the class period, she nodded slightly, looking around at the obstacles before spotting two thick poles with an ordinary bucket on it. While she knew that the bucket would cause Tommy no trouble, it was the closest thing to what they were hoping to work on.

She moved Tommy over to the stumps anyway, not wanting to say anything, and asked the gelding to step up to the post, grabbing the bucket's handle before moving it across the space and placing it onto the next log, before having the horse turn around the pole and picking it up again to return it into its original position, for the next person to use if there was anyone.

[Adonya van Rutherford]

Blythe listened to what the teacher wanted them to do, rolling her eyes. What was this, a class or their own practice? Honestly, she could have done the exact same thing on her own time, but there was a reason she didn't waste it doing just that. However, at least the class rounded out her equestrian classes, and she looked around without comment, finding cones that had been set out for them to work around.

She asked Kodak to walk towards the obstacle she'd chosen, walking past a boy on a silly-looking paint that was having trouble with the gate. Rolling her eyes, she muttered, just loud enough that the male could possibly hear it, or maybe not, “If you'd stop shifting your weight and just lean forward instead of to the side...” She trailed off, already past the boy, already forgetting him, as she had to focus on the cones.

She had Kodak attempt them at a walk first, although they were spaced out widely enough for a trot, or even a short canter if she wanted to, but the gelding needed to get the basics first. It was easy enough to get him to turn around the first cone, but the gelding wanted to spin, rather than keep going back and forth, and Blythe had a fight simply keeping him from turning too far in one direction.

[Cortney Smit]

Cortney rolled her eyes when they were given their instructions. Really? If she wanted to continue desensitizing her mare, she'd do it in her own time! She looked around the different equipment set up around the field and wasn't surprised to see there were no hay bales, so she squeezed Olé forward and they headed toward the other thing that the mare sometimes struggled with, backing around a corner.

She rode wide around the field as she headed toward the poles that had been let in an L-shape on the ground. She made sure that Olé knew they were there by getting her to walk through them and over them, before she rode her into them and stopped before they exited the poles. She then used her seat and legs to cue the mare to start backing up. They had almost made it when the mare got confused and stepped out over the poles. "Let's try that again." Cortney said as she patted the mare's shoulder and they moved back to the starting place.

After the third time that they returned to the starting space, the girl knew they weren't getting anywhere and all she was doing was confusing the mare. So, rather than trying it again, she rode the mare toward the cones, hoping that redirecting the mare's attention onto something she did well, they could try the reversing move again.

[Thomas Oliver]

Tommy looked around the things that had been set up and wondered what he could work on, that would both: keep Dragan thinking and keep out of the way of those that were working on a particular obstacle. Blowing out a breath, he wondered if he should have brought Amber to this class, at least with her he knew he had to work on getting her not to jump over poles on the ground, especially when they had to stand in a square and turn around.

He let the flaxen bay walk around on a loose rein as he observed the rest of the class, pulling a face as his sister looked his way, and halted the gelding not too far from the gate, but keeping out of the way of Jackson and the mare he was riding. Sure, there was never any chance of Dragan trying to walk under a gate - the gelding wasn't disrespectful toward fences and gates - but it was something that Tommy knew the gelding did well, and what was the harm on starting on a good note?

He rolled his eyes as a girl rode past and offered some advice, though watching the other boy, she did have a point. Tommy finally cleared his throat as the air started to fizz around the other pair. "Before one of the two of you spontaneously combusts. It might be an idea to take her to something she does do well. Clear your heads a little and then return?"

[Serenity Oliver]

After listening to the teacher's instructions, she nodded as she looked around, shaking her head at her brother's immaturity, and squeezed Red forward. She wasn't sure what to do until she saw Amy head over to where a bucket was.

She reined the mare in and watched as the other girl lifted the bucket from one thing to the next, without any issues. She frowned a little as she patted down her jods and smiled as the keys in her pocket dug into her leg. "Hey, Amy. I've got keys if you want to add a little jingle you your bucket." She offered as she stood up in the stirrups, shifted the reins to her left hand and pulled the keys out of her pocket. Even though she only had one key on there that she actually used here, she liked her triquetra keyring, and didn't want to remove her house keys from it and chance loosing them. "Easy girl." She whispered as Red skittered backwards as the sudden noise, and Reni frowned wondering what it was about the noise that the mare spooked at. "Does it remind you of the sound of chains, baby?" She asked softly as she ran a gentle hand down the mare's neck and shoulder.

[Deleted]

Kit had, luckily, been in time for the trail class. He'd had good intentions, but then nature called for him, then it called for Mer, and then he had had to chase Essi through the pasture for what felt like hours before the mare felt sufficiently annoyed to let herself be caught. And even that was probably only due to the help Mer provided - in the right mood, she could make a nice pretend-shepherd dog. She didn't quite snap at Essi's heels, but it came close enough, and the dunalino had been sufficiently distracted.

Muttering non-sensically under his breath, leash in one hand and lead rope in the other, he had made his way back to the stables, glad he had at least already laid out the necessary tack. It'd been a while since he'd done trail, but Es usually was calm enough for it, and between the barrel racing and dressage she was flexible enough to do things like backwards through the poles, sideways and even pole bending. It were other things he worried about, but he had resolved not to until he had tried them out.

He'd walked towards the class, figuring it was just as well as a first approach, and when he'd seen others ride, and a dog on the bridge, he frowned a little, double-checked his watch but seemed still in time. Shrugging a little to himself, he lightly held one rein as he led Mer to a shaded place next to the shed and ordered her to stay. It wasn't quite leisure time, but he was fairly confident she'd do as she was told. Obedience was key, after all, and she was clever enough to realize that. And lazy enough to enjoy an hour or so of lazing around, although she'd likely keep an ear and an eye on him even as she relaxed. He gave her a last caress over her head before he swung himself onto Es' back, sitting out the first few pranced paces before the mare settled under his weight. There was a bit of Spanish temper hidden in her veins, sure as water was wet, and it was one of the reasons he liked her. As were her unique color and, frankly, her 'exoticness'. He expected it to be less here, but back home, all the western horses had been Quarters and Paints, with an Appaloosa here and there. And he, on his Andalusian crossbred. She didn't look like a full Iberian horse, courtesy of her Quarter Horse father, but close enough when she got it in her head she had to show off. Thankfully, she hadn't yet decided to do that now.

After he ensured the earwig was in place, he too set about warming Essi up, though less by trying obstacles and more by just riding round and between them, wanting her to loosen her muscles more than he wanted her to get used to everything right away. It was their first time in this arena, they had the time still. He paused as the others did, leaning forward a little as if that would help him hear better and, when it was his turn, he answered shortly, to the point, and signing as well by habit. "I'm Kit Bailey, this is Rohesia[/i]" as always, he stumbled a little on the name, but ignored it "or Essi. She's not good with opening boxes or bags, nor with curtains.[/i]" he fell silent again, letting the teacher speak again.

He waited a beat for the others to pick their obstacle. The gate was taken,the poles-and-bucket -from the looks of it by the girl belonging to the dog, which prompted a quick look at his own dog, who was still laying contently next to the shed, amber eyes on Kit- and some others before he let Es step away, towards a lone mailbox.

She used to be OK with them, but he'd opened one once that per chance had held a nest of bees. Ever since, she refused to let him open one. She had no problems getting up next to it, but as soon as he reached out she'd turn away, back up, or do something else that was equally annoying and silly... And usually progressively more dangerous.

Now too: she got close as calm as a lamb, barely even looking at it, but the moment he shifted his weight, she became restless and side-stepped, tossing her head angrily when he steered her back with the pressure of his legs. Again she side-stepped, seemingly unable to stand still.