A scary monster

[Mycroft Hollins]

Mycroft had a feeling this class' horses were rather accustomed to all the tricks he'd set up on the cross country course, so instead he just wanted to let them have a run through on it to look at technique. They were still going to go through the course as a class, but these horses were going to jump the jumps as well. Flower played with her bit as they waited for the class to arrive on the course, and Mycroft kept his rein loose to give her her full head. 

One his class had arrived he collected his reins and addressed his class. "Hello, my name is Mr. Hollins, I'll be your eventing instructor. Today is going to be a simple day, we're going to walk through the cross country course together as a class, and I'd like to see how you each approach different jumps on this course. I'll warn you while we're all sitting here on calm horses that I've placed various things on the jumps that your horses may not appreciate. I wish to see how your horses react to them as well." With his explanation completed, he turned his grey mare around and set off for the first jump, walking, trotting, and cantering to help warm up their horses in case his students hadn't warmed up before. When they arrived at the first jump, he slowed down and had his class line up a safe distance away. 

It was a simple log jump, but he'd hung some plastic bags on the flags on either side, which fluttered in the breeze. He turned to his class, "One at a time, I'd like you to take your horse about 20 meters away from the jump, and I'd like you to approach it as you would in competition to get over it the swiftest and most efficiently."

As his students began to jump one by one, he took brief mental notes on each one on at least one thing they did well and one thing they needed to improve on. 

Athena Achilles
@avery
@fitzwilliam
@neighneigh
@ronan
Tyler Reynolds
@shailiel

[Athena Achilles]

Athena hurried through the barn, dodging her way around the others standing in the aisle, getting their own horses ready for classes. She slipped into the tackroom and collected the things she would need; tack, boots, grooming kit, helmet and back protector - both of which she put on before leaving the tack room - and made her way down to the gelding's stall.

She thought about Christmas break while she methodically prepared the dunskin gelding for class. While she had known exactly what to expect from homes in the past, this one had been quite a bit of a surprise, she had actually become part of their family for the three weeks, she had helped decorate the tree, had helped the mother - who was a chef by trade - to prepare the meals, helped the three younger girls with their reading and had played board games with the four elder ones. And in the evenings, when the little ones had gone to bed, she sat around the fire with the rest of the family, drinking hot chocolate, and listened to them share their day with their father - a lawyer who spent long hours away from the ones he loved.

Once she had tried to thread the girth through the wrong buckle for the third time, she knew it was time to concentrate on what she was doing, and finished getting the gelding ready, before leading him outside, mounting up and riding toward the cross country course, using this time to begin the gelding's warm-up.

She listened attentively as the teacher began the instruction and she followed him toward the jumps, keeping pace with his mare so that she would know that Bear was as supple as he could be. She looked at the jump ahead of them and raised her eyebrows, though she didn't think that Bear would have a problem with it. She would just need to make sure that she didn't expect him to react and tense up.

Circling the gelding, she squeezed him into a canter as they came out of the circle and aimed the gelding toward the jump. She kept a good contact on his mouth and didn't react as he first saw the jump with the bags, though other than a slight falter in his step, he didn't react as he charged forward and flew over the log. Athena cheered quietly as she reined him in and threw her arms around his neck as they came to a halt.

[Deleted]

Shailie stood in the round pen, dizzying herself as she spun in circles with her grey gelding. He was starting to work up a slight sweat, but he still was quite driving in his strides and a little unfocused, so she knew it wasn't yet time to give up on him. After another ten minutes of switching sides it was done with, and she pulled the towel off of her shoulder and wiped off as much sweat as she could before he got cold, then led him to the barn to finish grooming him.

She went through all the motions of grooming him, dabbing him off every now and then to make sure he was completely dry before taking him back outside. Not that it was entirely necessarily, she would just feel bad, had she not made sure he was dry. After he was gleaming, she took the bit in her hands and squeezed it for a few minutes, thinking that a warm bit would help him and his mouth issues. Every time she got his head down, as soon as the bit got near his mouth, he jerked it back again. It took several tries to get him to take the bit, but everything else had been quite easy so she wouldn't be late to class.

Once the horse was prepared, Shailie led her horse outside and swung herself up into the saddle with a nice double bounce so get herself upright. After a quick pat of the neck, Shay walked him towards the cross country course, lightly adjusting herself in the seat until she was comfortable. Upon arrival she made sure to listen carefully to what the instructor had to say. It seemed pretty simple, after a proper warm up there should be no troubles at all.

While watching the rider before her take on the just, Shailie watched Alistair's ears, knowing he was trying to figure out what those plastic things were. Shay spoke calmly to him until she was the one they were waiting on and gathered up the reins. Quickly, she lined him up with the jump, took a deep breath then asked for a canter. Her hands got tighter on the reins as he approached, causing a light toss of the head from the gelding but other than that and a few snorts, he cleared the jump without any issues.

[Deleted]

Julius gave Solo and quick grooming and then he saddled him up, although he would have to adjust the girth before he mounted, and checked his stirrup length and now it was time for the bridle.  It was a bit colder then Julius was used too so he figured he should probably warm up the bit.  He occasionally had to do that in the winter, back at home, but not very often.  It was colder here then back home, in California, so he would probably have to do it more often which was annoying because he didn't like doing it.  He held his hand on the cold metal until the bit seemed warm but his hand was freezing.  He quickly put his glove back on, took off Solo's halter and gave him the bit, which he took and instantly started chewing on. 

Julius and Solo got to the area a little early, so they could warm up before class.  Class started and the first thing they did was take turns going over a jump.  The first two horses and riders cleared the jump with ease.  Julius hoped that him and Solo could do as well.  They were the third to go.  Julius eased Solo into a canter toward the jump and it got closer and closer until they sored over it.