Keeping it Supple

[Katherine Carr]

Even though the sun was shining outside, and the outdoor arenas were perfectly fine to use, Katherine Carr pulled her hat, scarf and gloves on as she made her way out of the barn and headed to the indoor arena. She preferred this arena for her beginner class, as they didn't have any of the distractions that the other arenas were surrounded by.

Taking off her hat and scarf, she threw them onto the seats that surrounded three sides of the arena and walked into the centre of the arena, awaiting the arrival of her students. Which she greeted as they arrived, asked them to mount up and walk their horse around the outside track.

"A horse that is supple and responsive to your aids is fun to ride." She began once all of her small class had arrived. "A horse needs to be able to bend properly through turns and around corners, circles and loops if you’re going to do activities such as dressage or jumping. A horse bends his whole body, not just his neck. The entire length of his spine makes an arc.

"When you school your horse, do exercises that encourage your horse to bend his body. Bending makes him more supple and loose, and helps him become more balanced.

"When a horse bends correctly, his hind legs follow in the track of his front legs. His head tips slightly in the direction that he’s going. He maintains the same rhythm and pace throughout the bend. He won’t drop his shoulder and fall to the inside, and he doesn’t become over-bent through his head and neck.

"How well your horse bends is up to you. If you give him the correct aids, he’ll find it easier to bend correctly. If you’re sloppy, he’ll be stiff."

Students:
Amelia DeFoe
@running7
@callie
@running5
@samantha

OOC: That's only half the explanation, because I need a riding order to finish it. However, you should have plenty to post with, getting your horse ready, walking to the arena, mounting up and walking around listening.

[Amelia DeFoe]

Amy grinned as she approached Amerigo's stall, spotting the gelding's head popping over his door. After haltering him, she led him to the cross-ties to groom and tack up. She frowned as she spotted a couple of marks on the gelding's saddle, adding cleaning his tack to her list of things to do over the weekend. Sure, it wasn't terrible, and she wasn't riding in a show anytime soon, but still. It was a matter of pride, although she couldn't do anything now. Taking hold of the reins, as well as Wolf's short traffic lead, before they made their way to Benedict's arena.

She was surprised to find that she was the first to arrive, but nodded at Ms. Carr's instructions. However, she waited with mounting until all of the other students had, when she had Wolf go under the mounting block as soon as she was in the saddle. Then she fell onto the track with the rest of her classmates.

As they circled around the teacher, Amy kept her hands in contact with Amur, just lightly, but that he was aware of her presence. What Ms. Carr said made sense, and Amy looked forward to the lesson that they would be doing. This was the sort of thing she needed to work on with Amur, the fine-tuning of minor things.

[Deleted]

It felt good to be on time for a class. Callie's day had been so hectic, as it was her first, and just trying to find her way around had made her late for nearly all of her classes. She was especially excited as this was her first mounted class of the day, and she had no idea what to expect. Skipping through the Red Willow Barn, she found Sugar's stall and was happy to find that she was nearly as excited as Callie was. Callie murmured softly to her as she groomed and tacked her up, having a little conversation about her day so far and such. Some people thought it was weird, but those people had never really made a connection with a horse, because if they had Callie could guarantee they would be doing the same. She laughed at herself a bit as she tightened the girth, and stood back to see if anything was missing.

Convinced she was ready, she led Sugar out of her stall and to the indoor arena, nodding her head at the simple directions her instructor gave and was more than a little shocked to find only one other person walking around the outside track. Nevertheless, she made sure she was out of the rider's way before she stopped Sugar, pulling herself up into the saddle and adjusting the reins a little bit before giving her the signal to walk.

They had their own beat as they circled slowly around, and Callie listened closely to what her instructor had to say. Though she had just started the class, Callie got a little hunch that it would be one of her favorites. Most likely because she got to work with Sugar, but even without it would probably be just as enjoyable.

[Deleted]

Samantha tried not to feel too nervous as she prepared Fallon for the lesson ahead. The Red Dun nosed her as Sam finished her prep for the lesson. Smiling the red head gently patted the mare on the side of her neck. Satisfied that Fallon was now ready for the tasks that lay ahead, Sam opened the stall, leading the horse out by the reigns as they exited the White Oak Barn. Fallon appeared to be incredibly calm, yet Sam's stomach fluttered nervous. She hoped that there would not be too many students, Samantha hated being watched by crowds as she rode.

Fortune favoured Sam today for when they arrived there appeared to be only two other students and the lecturer Ms Carr. So that wasn't too bad. Samantha positioned herself out of the way of the other riders before mounting her saddle with all the grace of a squaddie clambering out of the back of a DAF four by four truck. She probably could have benefited from using some steps to help her up, but the vertically challenged Samantha disliked to. Particularly in the presence of others, she felt that they might mock her for it considering most riders she knew could get on their mounts without the use of it.
Samantha followed the flow of the other riders as they circled Ms Carr, it was logical because if they didn't then they might crash into the other riders. Which would be both embarrassing and dangerous. She listened to what she had to say, whilst at the same time Sam kept a watchful eye of Fallon, just in case something spooked the other horses as that would set her off.

[Katherine Carr]

Katherine watched the horses moving around the arena; quite happy with the way they were moving, and confident that unless a tree fell over and landed on the building none of the horses were going to do anything stupid. "Remember to keep at least a horse's distance between you; Though since there are so few of you, you could make that distance two. Samantha, don't anticipate something happening, or you are going to become tense and Fallon will begin to wonder what there is to worry about, this is hopefully the one class where nothing will go wrong with the horses." She arched an eyebrow at Amur, almost waiting for him to prove her wrong.

She continued the lesson "As you're riding around in a clockwise direction; Amy, you get the pleasure of leading the ride. When you get to the marker of M, I would like you to ask your horse to bend to the inside. To do this, you need to shift your weight to your inside seat bone. Keep your inside leg at the girth and use it to nudge him forward and to keep a good pace. If your horse falls inward, use your inside leg at the girth to push him out again.

"Your outside leg should be slightly behind the girth to prevent his hindquarters from swinging out.

"Use your inside rein to ask your horse to tip his head to the inside and bend his neck. Squeeze on the rein to encourage flexion and bend. If your horse is young or green, you may have to move your hand away from his neck (an opening rein) to “lead” him into the turn."

"Keep your outside hand and rein close to your horse’s neck. Hold the rein softly, but firmly to help support your horse when he turns. You may have to give with this rein a bit to allow your horse to bend properly, but keep the contact so he can’t turn his head and neck too much and become over-bent.

"Ride him toward X, the middle of the arena, however, when you get to X, I want you to bend the other way and return to the track at, or around, F, so by the time you've finished, you have ridden a half circle."

[Amelia DeFoe]

Amy watched Ms. Carr as she waited for further instructions. She could see Sam coming in and smiled at the girl briefly before she turned her attention to the red mare that the redhead was riding. A familiar-looking mare, although Amy would be hard-pressed to name her. As the woman spoke to Sam, Amy could have sworn that the teacher glanced at Amur. The girl gave a wry smile as she turned away, almost guessing what was on the teacher's mind, although she wasn't the sort to do such a thing. Especially if one of the new students was concerned about a horse going off in the arena, that just wouldn't be polite.

As they were given further instructions, Amy listened to Ms. Carr, not surprised to hear that she was going to be in front. She approached the marker M, then shifted her weight to the inside. She shifted her left leg to rest behind the girth, then tightened her grip on the right rein just enough to where Amur bent his neck. Amur, being used to the English style, had no need for 'leading', as Ms. Carr had called it. They turned their zig-zag the other way upon reaching the center, and approached F together with Amur.

[Deleted]

Samantha felt her cheeks grow hot as Ms Carr pointed out her error. However it was for the best to know such things, so she relaxed somewhat, hoping that if she remained calm then Fallon would as well. As she was riding Sam smiled at the Amelia, it was good to see the familiar face, particularly one of her house mates.
Samantha wasn't surprised that Amy had been trusted to lead the ride, it made sense, the other girl had been here longer than the other riders. Or at least as far as Sam knew she had been so it would make sense to let a more experienced rider take the lead here.

Sam and Fallon followed suit, though it was very difficult to remember all of the verbal instructions, what with the dyslexia and all. Samantha happened to be delighted with her mount as Fallon appeared to be calm, or at least she appeared to be which was far more than Sam could say about herself. She was very nervous, Samantha really wasn't used to horse riding lessons that weren't one to one. She tried to focus her mind on the task at hand and not worry about what the other riders would be thinking of her.

[Katherine Carr]

Katherine watched her riders, pointing out a few errors here and there; feet too far forward, toes pointing down, shoulders around their ears, hunched back; the normal list of things that novice riders needed to things about. However, they are rode their bend very well.

"You all seem to have the bending down pat." She commented. "So let's up the stakes a little. Amy, as you get to the corner, I would like you to transition to a rising trot. Remember that when rising to the trot, you need to move forward and up simultaneously with your horse's outside shoulder, then down and back. As you rise your pelvis should go forward and up, gliding up into the space between your hands without any interruptions. Your back should be straight, with your chest up and your shoulders back. As you go down, sit softly into the saddle only for enough time as takes to rise again. The entire movement of posting should be very upward based, and when your seat touches the saddle it should be done very lightly, and immediately be proceeded by rising again.

"I want you to ask for the bend two strides before M, this time though, I want you to ride straight through X, where you will need to switch diagonals before you change rein at K. To change diagonal; while at the moment you are going up - down - up - down you will do up - down - down - up."

[Amelia DeFoe]

Amy listened to Ms. Carr as she rode, adjusting her feet to their proper position for the English saddle. It was a habit that she was working hard to break, but at the same time, something hard to notice on her own. But it felt like she was being called out for it less and less, which had to be an achievement!

Once they'd been given their next set of instructions, Amy nodded once, asking Amur to trot as they reached the corner. After a moment of trouble finding her rhythm, the pair settled into what they were to be doing, and Amy relaxed, focusing on keeping up with Amerigo's trot.

They reached the corner again and turned inwards towards the diagonal, following it through to X, or the middle of the arena, where it was time to switch diagonals. It was a strange feeling, not posting for that small second before starting again, opposite to what had been done previously, but it had been something Amy had practiced before with Amur, and they managed it nearly perfectly at X. Amy took a brief moment to be excited at the success of their practice, but then she had to turn her attention back to what they were doing, and the turn that they were approaching.