Fun and Games on Horseback

[Bruce Ropata]

Like the start of every year, Bruce led the Mounted Games ponies out to the yards that were beside the mounted games arena. He rubbed Chris' nose as he put the gelding into his yard and stepped to the side as there was a meow behind him right before Dolly jumped onto the post that separated Mo's yard from the empty one next to it.

Once all the ponies were in their yards, Bruce set up two rows of bending poles, thinking that they would just work on bending that day and working as a team, after all, he had enough students to have two teams of four and he would work on establishing those two teams.

He was standing by the arena fence as the students began arriving and once they were all gathered he began the session. "Pai ahiahi, tamariki, a mai ki Mounted Games." He had thoroughly enjoyed his time back home and his face was a little darker from all the sun he had gotten while on the slopes of Cadrona Ski Field. "Ok, pony assignments... Katja, you will be riding Beyond Fortune. Chase, you will be riding Egyptian Love. Christophe, you will be on El Dorado Crossroad. Serenity, I am going to keep you on Pixie Rose. Cara-Jean, you will be riding Rip Van Winkle. Kevin, you will be on Scarlet Glory. Danielle, you have Silver Fern. And Cortney, Smokin' Orchestra. Those of you who know who your mounts are, you are dismissed to get them tacked up and into the arena to start warming up. The rest of you, follow me." He led the way over to the yards.

He paused in front of a yard with a flaxen chestnut New Forest pony. "Katja, this is Bonny. She a little bit of a spoiled brat, she doesn't like getting dirty, and she also likes getting her own way. I think she'll have her work cut out for her with you though." He gestured toward the shed. "You will find her tack and grooming kit in there." Next yard was that of a dapple grey Kaimanawa Pony. "Danielle, this is Fern. She will be your best friend, especially if you let her munch while she should be working." He then moved onto a yard with dunskin Quarter Pony. "Chase, this is Joe. He's a really good pony, though he will spend your entire time warming up working out how much he can get away with." He then moved on again to the yard of a chestnut tobiano New Forest Pony and turned to face the boy he was talking to. "Kit, this is Chris. Other than being greedy when he can smell treats, it will be your job to stop him from trying to over-do himself, as he will throw his heart and soul into everything he does." The next yard contained a dun tobiano Paint Pony. "Kevin, this is Glory. Her main problem is that she doesn't like stopping when she's got her game-face on." The final yard he stopped at had a grey welsh/Connemara cross. "Cara-Jean, this is Ripple. He's a bit of a grumpy old sod. Be warned he does nip, so watch yourself around him, and when in the arena, he seems to have an objection to having to stand still."

Calling:
Cara-Jean Kitchi
@running9
@radix
Cortney Smit
Danielle Green
Katja Eder
@neigh123
Serenity Oliver

[Cortney Smit]

Cortney kissed Olé on the nose as she released the mare into the mare's pasture. She then raced back to the barn where she grabbed her helmet and then raced toward the mounted games arena. She had been puzzled when Mr Ropata had sent her a message saying that he would have all the ponies in their yards.

Part of her wanted to run straight to Mo, but she skidded to a halt in front of their instructor and waited for the greeting. She smiled as he greeted them in his native language. As soon as they were told to go and get their ponies ready, she raced off to the shed and grabbed Mo's things and then headed to the flaxen chestnut Welsh's yard. "Dolly!" She squealed as she gave the Ragdoll a cuddle before placing her back on the fence and then got to work getting the gelding ready.

When Mo was tacked up, she buckled her helmet under her chin and led the pony to the arena. After vaulting up, she tightened the girth and squeezed the gelding forward, pushing her feet into the stirrups as they walked around the arena. She chewed on her bottom lip as she cast a glance toward their instructor and then gave Mo a tiny nudge and the gelding shot off across the arena, looking every inch the runaway pony, and just as it looked like she really had lost control of him, she shifted her weight and Mo skidded to a halt and reared up.

[Serenity Oliver]

Serenity rubbed her temples as she closed the pasture gate. Plot had been completely full of herself during their lesson, and she wondered if it was because she wasn't giving the mare all of the attention she deserved, and she planned to take the mare on a nice long hack that weekend.

After collecting her helmet from the barn, she headed toward the mounted games arena and stopped beside the other students as they waited for their instructor's greeting and then be told their assigned mounts.

When dismissed, she made her was over to the rose grey Welsh Pony. "Hey, baby." She greeted the mare, and pent some time just running her hands over the pony's body before she ducked back out of the yard and went to collect Pixie's gear. It didn't take her long to get the mare ready, and before too long she was in the arena, mounted up and warming the mare up. She didn't pay any attention to the scars on the mare's legs and chest anymore,

During the warm-up, she spent as much time getting the pony loosened up as possible - pleased that she the pony was used to Cortney and Mo's antics in the arena and didn't bat an eyelid. She also spent the time getting the pony used to having her moving around on her back again, at the walk she did around-the-world, sitting facing backwards for half a dozen strides before finishing the move. "Good girl." She whispered as she rubbed the mare's neck

[Deleted]

Kit hadn't been exactly sure why he had picked Mounted Games, but he had liked the sound and thought of it. Besides, hopefully it would be fun. He'd been a little early, eager to get his first taste of it and to simply be on time. As he seemed to be one of the first few, he offered a quiet 'hello' and a brief wave to the teacher before leaning against one of the fences, not afraid of getting his clothes dirty: the black riding pants had served him well on many a trail ride, as had his old boots, now scuffed and scraped. A blue denim button down and bodywarmer finished it - given the description of some of the things, Kit had decided he should wear clothes that could have a little wear and tear.

It wasn't exactly the cleanest, unattached sport out there, especially not if you checked all the YouTube videos, which he may or may not have done beforehand. He nodded to each of the others coming, until the teacher decided it was time to start. Then, he paid attention to the man, not wanting to miss the important details. Then again, no matter of frowning made sense of the first few words, and given the expressions of some of his fellow students, he figured it was another language. Good; he wasn't the only one that couldn't follow that, then. Hopefully.

Luckily, the man soon reverted back to English, assigning ponies to everyone, and Kit was happily amused when he saw that his pick had been a sturdy chestnut tobiano with a somewhat rakish tilt to his head. Kit had liked him on first sight - he just hoped the reverse was true as well. He didn't think that'd be a problem, though, based on the teacher's words. Although it wouldn't make the first meeting easy... He was pretty sure his hands still smelled of the apple he had cut up not too long ago to feed to Essi, his own horse. Still, he valiantly offered the pony his hand to smell, relieved when Chris just licked it, rather than trying to munch on it. Smiling a little, he followed the other participants to gather tack and grooming kit, making sure he didn't get as lost in the grooming process as he sometimes did with Essi, Mer nudging him every now and then as he needed to pay attention.

It wasn't hard to tack the animal up, as he thankfully was familiar with English tack, and it seemed to be just that. After double-checking all the girths and straps, he walked Chris towards the arena and 'parked' Mer near to the edge of it, draping the leash over her back and bidding her to stay before he tightened the strap on his own helmet and, with a little hopeful thought, hopped on. He felt a little oversized and clumsy on the pony, but as he walked around the arena, Kit got used to it, and the way Chris felt. Rather different from Essi, all in all. He didn't try too much on the new mount just yet, just simple transitions and direction changes in a hope to get a feel for him: Kit wasn't much of a daredevil right away, he liked to know what he was getting into.

[Katja Eder]

Katja left Mukki with a couple of carrot pieces on the edge of his water-bowl, then left the stall, making sure that the door was latched properly. Mukki hadn't even figured out how to open it yet, for which Katja was grateful, but she knew it was only a matter of time.

Her helmet dangling from her hand, she made her way towards the mounted games arena, smoothing a hand down her polo shirt to make sure it was still tucked in properly. As she arrived, she saw that she wasn't the first, although she didn't think she was that late either. Approaching the group, she spotted the dog that accompanied one of the students and carefully put herself across the circle from the boy, standing near Serenity as she greeted the teacher, "Good afternoon, Mr. Ropata."

When the rest of the class had assembled, she listened to the man, feeling slightly confused at the introduction, but recognizing a language different than those she possessed... Maybe it would be her next challenge... After English, of course, because that was more pressing. When the teacher moved to introduce them to their mounts, she followed, smiling at the flaxen chestnut she was assigned, "Will be no problem." She followed his directions to the shed and looked at the tack for a moment before chancing upon a labelled piece, which made choosing Bonnie's much easier.

Saddle in hand, everything else balanced on top, she made her way back to the mare's yard, letting herself in and then carefully arranging saddle, pad, and bridle on top of the fence, before she set to work removing the fine remnants of dust from Bonnie's coat. She set to work tacking up the short mare, not having an issue with the tack, and then buckled on her helmet before leading her to the arena, just in time to see one of the ponies rearing up. However, the rider seemed perfectly at ease, and Katja tried to ignore the moment, instead watching the dog at the edge of the arena out of the corner of her eye as she entered.

It took some getting used to to the short pony, who was nearly three hands shorter than her own mount, and Katja worried at first about breaking the poor thing, but after a few rounds of the arena, she had settled into the mare's gait, carefully checking her hand position every time the mare's ears flicked backwards.

[Cara-Jean Kitchi]

Cara knew that she was pushing it, when she signed up for mounted games. Coach Hoefflin was already livid that she was already taking time away from training with foal handling, but she knew he was going to hit the roof when she also mentioned that she was doing mounted games. The mere thought of having to tell the man made her want to turn tail, take her helmet back to the barn and then race to get ready for gymnastics. However, she shook her head, pulled herself together and continued walking toward the arena where the games classes were held.

She spaced herself from the canine that was there, standing beside the boy she was working with in creative cooking, and listened as the man greeted them. She then followed him over as each of the obviously newer students were introduced to their mounts. She nodded as he told her about the pony she would be riding, and when he walked away, she went to collect his things from the shed.

Standing in the yard with the grumpy pony, who stood like a rock with his ears plastered to his head, and ran the body brush across his coat. As she saddled him up, she didn't move away fast enough when tightening the girth and sucked in a breath as she felt the pony's teeth connect with the top of her left thigh. She pushed Ripple's head away from her and continued the job at hand.

Fully tacked up, she led the pony from his yard and into the arena where she pulled the stirrups down and vaulted into the saddle. She decided that she would get him moving before she tightened the girth again.

[Deleted]

Getting himself dressed up in his riding outfit Chase made his way to the mounted game arena. Seeing a good handful of students already there he walked into the arena and waited for the instructor to begin. Once the class did start, Mr. Ropata went through the students and their assigned mounts. The boy made a mental note on the show name of his pony. Once the whole list had been gone through Chase walked along with the rest of the students whose first date of this extracurricular was today.

His pony was the third to be introduced to their rider, nodding he would have to be okay with that. Better to be completely warmed up than to get injured. With that the boy entered the yard and groomed his assigned mount and tacked him up. The Quarter Pony had a cute little face, ”Hi buddy.” Chase wanted to become friends with him; he hoped to be in this activity for a while.

He walked to the arena with Joe and walked tightened his girth one last time before mounting up. He saw that not everyone was there that was there at the beginning of class; which was good news for him and his mount as they would need as much time as possible, from the sound of it. Chase began warming up the Quarter Pony.

[Danielle Green]

Danny was sort of glad that her day was coming to an end, though she was excited about her extracurricular. Mounted Games sounded like a fun way to end the day, it had the word games in it. Walking to the arena in her full riding outfit, she waited for the class to start. When it did she followed the majority of the class to the yards to be introduced their mounts.

She smiled when she was the second student to be introduced. Taking some notes about her assigned mount Danny slipped into the yard and gave Fern a pat on the neck. ”Hi there.” She said simply. Giving the mare a quick groom and then tacking her up for the class. Danny was happy that the horse didn’t give her any trouble and most likely wouldn’t.

Once the sixteen year old was completely sure she was done with the tack the pair walked back to the arena and Danny mounted up. Fern was short and so it wasn’t a big thing to get up into the saddle. Riding the horse around she didn’t pay much attention to the rider whose mount was acting up, she just focused on working Fern.

[Deleted]

Kevin turned Mickey out into the paddock and headed to mounted games.  He wished that they were allowed to ride their own horses for mounted games.  He used to participate in mounted games at pony club and he always road Mickey then.  At least this way Mickey would get a break.  Kevin knew to try not to work him too hard.  

Kevin was confused at first, when he heard the instructor speaking in a different language, but he soon switched to English.  Kevin listened as he introduced all of the ponies, before heading over to his assigned pony.  "Hey Glory" he greeted, as he reached out his hand to and gently stroked her neck.  Then he gave her a quick brushing and tacked her up.

There had only been a couple times in his life that Kevin had ridden other horses, but it usually went alright.  He had observed that other horses had different preferences on how they were controlled.  He would have to learn what Glory's were.  

Glory was only a little shorter then Mickey, but she was just short enough that Kevin was able to mount her without a any sort of boost.  He asked her to walk and road around the arena in a circle.

[Bruce Ropata]

Bruce waited in the arena while the students go their ponies ready, mounted up and started warming their ponies up. He laughed and rolled his eyes at Cortney and Mo. "Uh, Ms Smit." He called. "Settled down with the pranks. Give the new students at least a couple of weeks to get used to their mounts."

"Tahuri mai koa ngā ākonga"^{Attention please students} He finally spoke up. "If you bring your ponies into the middle of the arena, we can get started." When they were all gathered he smiled around the group of riders. "I'm Mr Ropata. Today we are going to work on bending, and teamwork. I would like team A to line up by the left row of poles and team B by the other row." Yeah, he knew that he hadn't named the teams yet, but he was watching the students and still deciding who was going to be on which team. "Team A will consist of: Cara-Jean, Christophe, Danielle and Serenity. And Team B will be; Chase, Cortney, Katja, and Kevin." Ok, so the second team was a little obvious, as it was made up if the four who weren't in the first team. "Cortney and Serenity, you will be the team captains." He handed the girls a baton each. "I'll let you decide your riding order, and who is riding from which end." It would be another couple of weeks before he got the students to do both directions. "The idea of the race is to bend your way through the poles and hand the baton off to the next rider. If you knock a pole over, you must dismount and stand it up before remounting and riding on. If you drop the baton while handing it over, the rider passing it must dismount to pick it up. However, that rider doesn't have to remount to pass it to the next rider."

Once the riders were ready, he stood by the start line and held up a green cloth. "Ready? Set? Go!" He dropped the cloth and stepped back to watch the race.

[Cortney Smit]

Cortney felt her cheeks heat up as she was given an almost reprimand for mucking around on Mo. "Sure thing, Mr R!" She called back with a bright grin. "I'll give them two weeks to settle in before I show them what Mo can really do." Her eyes twinkled as she nudged Mo into a steady trot and they started warming up like a sensible horse and rider.

When they were called in, she reined the gelding in sensibly at the centre of the arena and listened to the day's game plan. She bit back a groan, as bending was so boring, but she could understand why it was such a good event to start with, as it was hardly fair to expect the new students to lean out of their saddles and pick stuff up off the ground on day one, when they didn't know the mounts they were riding.

She gave a smirk as she was named captain of her team and took the baton from Mr Ropata's outstretched hand - though she knew it was the fact that she and Reni had been in the class the year before, thus making them veterans. She looked at her three team mates. "Ok, this is how it will work. I'm going as the number one person. Katja, you will be rider two, which puts you at the other end of the poles, with Kevin, who will ride last. Chase, that leaves you up this end with me as rider three." She nodded and waited for them to get into their places as she lined Mo up to the start line and turned her eyes toward their instructor.

She tapped the gelding with her heels as soon as the word go had left the man's mouth and she grabbed a handful of mane as Mo shot forward and she used her seat and legs to guide the gelding around the poles. She'd got so close to them that she was surprised that she hadn't knocked any of them over. She stood up in the stirrups as they cleared the final pole and was leaning forward with her arm outstretched, the baton held at the very bottom and ready to hand off to Katja. As she got to the other girl, she thrust the baton into her hand and released it, hoping she had a hold on it, as she thundered past and reined the gelding in and rode back to stand beside Kevin. "Go team B!" She yelled.

OOC: Yes, Cort was bossy, but the way I placed everyone was so that everyone runs in the posting order.

[Serenity Oliver]

Serenity quietly warmed Pixie up, the mare's past was always in her mind as they warmed up, knowing that if she pushed the mare too much, too quickly, she could end up injuring her legs. Dr Carr had said the mare was as sound as she could be, but the thought of her getting injured again was always a possibility.

She rode into the middle when they were called in and listened as Mr Ropata went through that day's activity and then divided them into teams. She was a little shocked when the man named her team captain though she nodded as she accepted the baton and waited for the rest of her team to gather around her. "Two of you need to go to the other end of the poles and the other person needs to stay here with me." She hated taking charge, this was more Tommy's role than hers. "Cara and Danielle, if you two head down as riders two and four, I'll go first and Christophe you can run after Cara." She knew that Danielle was a strong rider from watching her ride other horses.

Nudging her mare forward, she halted her at the start line and turned her attention to Mr Ropata. She hardly needed to cue the mare as Pixie shot forward on the word go, and she used her seat and legs to guide the mare around the poles and held out the baton as they approached the other end and she released the baton, hoping that Cara had closed her hand around it. She then rode back to where Danielle was waiting for her turn.

[Katja Eder]

After some time to warm up Bonny, Katja could hear the teacher's voice, turning the mare's path towards the circle as they'd been asked. When they were given their assignments, Katja was somewhat upset that she hadn't been put with either of the two girls that she knew, but then, class wasn't for socializing anyway, so it shouldn't matter. She turned Bonny to line up near the second row of poles, listening to the game's instructions, which didn't seem too difficult, but would probably be worse than it sounded.

When Cortney gave them their assignments, she nodded, asking Bonny to trot to the other side before turning to look at the poles that they would be weaving through. As Cortney set off, at the teacher's countdown, Katja leaned forward, holding the mare's reins in one hand, which felt strange, while she reached for the baton with the other. Once she had it in hand, she barely had to direct Bonny, as the pony set off at a canter, which Katja was happy enough to keep as they made their way around the poles.

Once at the other end, she reached out and passed the baton to Chase, hoping that he would grab it as she let go to slow Bonny down.

[Cara-Jean Kitchi]

After she had warmed her mount up, she moved her left leg forward - keeping Ripple at a walk - and tightened the girth, angling her foot so that the pony's nose would hit the toe of her boot should he choose to try and nip at her again. Once bitten, twice shy and all that.

The instructor's voice caught her attention, the language he use caught her interest and she made a note to learn it - as soon as she worked out what it was - and reined Ripple in as they headed into the middle of the arena. She asked the pony to halt and kept enough contact on his mouth that she could convince him not to nip her should he choose to do so, while she also kept him far enough away from the pony beside him so that he couldn't nip at them either.

Once they were assigned to teams, she squeezed the grumpy pony forward and halted him by the rest of her team as she listened to Serenity take charge. With a nod, she rode down to the other end of the bending poles. She lined Ripple up at the line and gripped with her knees as she put the reins into her right hand - along with a good bit of mane - and trained her eyes in their team captain.

It took a lot of her strength to convince the pony that he wanted to remain exactly where he was, backing him up a couple of steps at one point, and then the next thing she knew, the baton touched the palm of her outstretched hand and she closed her fingers around the object, touching her calves to the pony's side and nodding as he shot forward into a groun-eating canter, that didn't seem to slow down as he treated the bending poles like a slalom course and she was standing in her stirrups, reaching out the baton toward Christophe, before throwing what little weight she had backwards to convince Ripple that he actually did want to stop - without yanking on his mouth. "Silly boy." She muttered as he pretty much sat on the ground as he stopped.

[Deleted]

Chase continued to warm up the horse and he took into consideration of what Mr. Ropata told him about the gelding’s only vice. When he felt that Joe was ready to trot they did soon after Chase asked the canter and when Mr. Ropata called for the students to move to the middle of the arena. Once the man announced what they’d be doing for today Chase figured it would be pretty easy.

When Mr. Ropata announced the teams, Chase also wanted to dismounted and walk out, of course he got stuck with Courtney again. She was a little too big for her breeches if anyone were to ask him, he would bet money on it that others thought this as well, but no one would openly say it as she was at the top of totem pole and it was no secret everyone feared her or for the most part stayed out of her way. Chase just wasn’t going to take it, but he would bite his tongue while in class.

He bit back a comment and waited his turn to run the poles. When Courtney made her way through the poles and then got ready as Katja made her way back through them. Once his hand touched the baton it closed around it and tapped Joe’s sides as the gelding shot off into a canter, with his legs and seat Chase steered the horse cleanly around them and stood up in his stirrups to hand off the baton to Kevin he hoped the boy had it as he no longer didn’t. Chase rode back towards Courtney and waited for Kevin to go through the poles.