Reining Class #1

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Nickolas grinned as he lead the blue roan out of the stall of White Oak barn. He carefully pulld the cross ties up and clippedal them on each side of the leather halter. Nick began to pull the stable blanket off which showed off his blue coat. He rubbed his hand over the gelding before patting him on the shoulder. Nick grabbed a couple of brushesand began to brush what dirt had gotten between the blanket. He began to saddle him up and giving him a good pat before bending down and putting on his front boots and then working to the back to but his sliders on. Nick took the halter off and slipped the dark bridle over. He flipped one rein over his neck and put everything up before headed to the reining pen.

Nick opened the gate and noticed the ground was recently dragged which made him happy to know that the ground was well taken care of for the horses. Nick had looked at the roster before heading to the pen and noticed he only had one student in this class. He knew nothing about the student so he would have to figure out what they knew, before he could help them out. He climbed into the saddle and began to warm Whiskey up waiting for his lonely student.


@neighneigh Adonya van Rutherford

[Adonya van Rutherford]

Blythe was surprised to hear that they had found a reining teacher, although it was definitely a good thing! She just hoped that it wouldn't be a repeat of trail class, because that had been a disaster... Maybe not all the teacher's fault, though. Just maybe? She walked into the barn, wearing jeans and a well-fitting t-shirt, her boots polished. As she walked towards the stall where Kodak lived, she wasn't surprised to find a freshman inside, just about finishing up picking out the gelding's hooves, "Very good, Ashley. I will tack him up." The girl finished her work quickly, then scurried out of the stall, leaving Blythe to untie Kodak and lead him to the cross-ties, which made it easier to at least saddle him.

After she had tightened the reining saddle's cinch and had deemed the gelding ready for class, she grabbed her helmet, buckling it on before she led Kodak out into the sunlight, and towards the reining arena. As she approached the gate, she made sure that the cinch sat well, then undid the latch, calling, "Gate." as she walked the palomino inside, stopping in the middle of the arena and waited for the teacher to acknowledge her.

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(I'm sorry I didn't see it until now )

Nick was working the gelding by using his legs and hands to get the gelding to drop his head and work his hindend. He grinned as the galloped down the middle and he sat down and moved his leg which brought the gelding to sit on his hindend and his front legs moved to keep them going forward. It wasn't a big stop, just a small one to get a couple in before his student showed up.

He finished a role back when he heard a voice and turned his head toward the gate and noticed a girl with a palomino. He smiled and kissed the gelding and trotted toward the girl. Once stopped he grinned,"Hello, welcome to reining, I'm Nickolas Costello or Mr. Costello, he cross his hands across the Sandler horn and leaned forward. Go a head and step on and tell me a little bit of what you know and what you need help on. he smiled a little and watched the yellow horse before looking down. At the girl. I'm very laid back guy, since it will just be three of us , therefore we can do a lot more and have some fun. Nick kept the blue gelding still as he waited for the girl to leg up.

[Adonya van Rutherford]

Blythe watched the man going through some of the classical reining moves with his horse, a neat blue roan, although she did note that Kodak's mane was nicer... In her so very unbiased opinion, of course.

As the teacher approached the pair, she smiled, "Good afternoon! I am Blythe, no matter what it says on your attendance sheet, and this is Kodak." She didn't know if the school program bothered putting preferred names onto the roster, or really if her middle name was listed as such. It wasn't like her parents would have done the paperwork for that, and she had never really bothered.

When instructed, she boosted herself into the saddle, gathering the rommel reins easily as Kodak shifted slightly, eager to begin work as always. "I've been reining for about five years now, although I've only had Kodak for three of those years. We do well in most things, although the precision on the spins is something we always lose points on." Stopping just-so, it was a major part of a lot of showy sports, including cheer, but she had never quite managed to get the hang of it. As she heard his intro to the class, small as it was, she chuckled, knowing that smaller classes did mean more work, but hey. They finally had a teacher, he'd better do something.

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Nick listened to what the girl had to say about her name being Blythe instead of the name he was given. From the look she gave him he better just call her Blythe and he smiled a little. He shrugged his shoulders and smiled,Blythe, it shall be. He wasn't going to argue over a simple name so he watched her step into the saddle and smiled as he listened to what she had to say of what they knew and what they needed help on. What do you mean the precision of the spins? he asked her as he tried to get a better since of what the problem was. Are we speaking of when the right time to stop is during your turn? Or maybe the set up of the turn?" He needed to know a little but more so that he could help her and her horse out more.

He looked at the arena and smiled, Once you have warmed up, I want to watch your spins both ways. So I can help you out a little more. he grinned a little,Then i'll give you a couple of patterns that we can work on, he walked the gelding around the arena to stay out of the way of Blythe and her horse Kodak a very nice looking palomino.

[Adonya van Rutherford]

As the teacher attempted to clarify what she had meant with their major sticking point, Blythe shrugged, "When to stop. It usually ends up being over-turned." Which counted for points in the ring, so it was something that she wanted to get figured out properly... It was just hard to do, when spinning in circles, to think ahead enough to stop Kodak so that he would have time to react as well.

When Mr. Costello had laid out the plan for the day, Blythe shrugged her agreement, or at least, a disinterest in disagreeing, then turned Kodak towards the rail, getting him warmed up, just as she would do for any other work. After she felt the gelding limber enough, she had him return to about the center of the arena and halted, waiting to catch the teacher's eye before she cued Kodak, starting with a spin to the right.

After four turns they stopped, slightly over as always. Blythe let the gelding get his bearings for a moment, or hesitate, as it would be written on a test, before they were off in the other direction. Four turns later, they were nearly facing the teacher again, and she let the gelding's reins hang loose as she watched the teacher, waiting for his comments.