Reining Class 1

[Sarah Worthington]

Sarah grabbed the patterns off the printer and examined them to make sure everything had printed. She had printed out patterns for reining and wanted to make sure that both an image of the pattern and the steps of the pattern were readable. She nodded with satisfaction.

Sarah had printed off two easy reining patterns. She knew students sometimes boasted over their skills and even though she doubted that was the case she had seen some riders overthink it and complicate it. In fact, back when she was just started to have a name in reining, she had over complicated a pattern and had not done as well as she could have. She wasn't sure how long class was so she printed off two just to be safe though even if it was a long class they would probably only work on one pattern today. 

Leaving her office she was dressed to teach. Blue jeans, dark brown western boots, and a long sleeve shirt. It was a nice day today so they wouldn't do much since the horses would most likely still have winter coats. 

Walking to the barn where Lace was stabled she quickly grabbed the mare's tack. Sarah had groomed her a few minutes before she went to print off patterns. She grabbed her practice tack which consisted of a simple leather bridle and saddle with only a few silver pieces of both. Quickly tacking the mare up she walked to the reining arena and nodded with satisfaction. It was a good size. 

Opening the gate she set the patterns down under a rock so they wouldn't blow away and quickly warmed Lace up. She dismounted after the mare was supple and ground tied the mare who had her head down. Lace was there to demonstrate and just in case one of the students needed a horse or needed a horse that could do a movement they couldn't get their mount to do. Picking up the patterns again she waited for her students to arrive. 

Tag:Adonya van Rutherford
@neighneigh

[Adonya van Rutherford]

Blythe dismissed the freshman with a brief nod, taking Kodak's reins and running an eye over the gelding. He looked clean, his mane was flowing neatly, always a good thing in reining, and the tack gleamed. No need to yell at the girl this time. Looping the webbing of her helmet over the saddle horn, Blythe patted the gelding's neck briefly, then led him out of the barn. After she had arrived at the reining arena, Blythe nodded to the the teacher and led the gelding into the arena.

Once she was inside, she buckled on her helmet, then turned to check over the cinch one last time. After reassuring herself that it was correctly tied, she moved back to stand by the gelding's head, facing the teacher and her horse, nodding briefly, "Good afternoon. I'm Blythe, this is Kodak." Some teachers liked to talk to their students the first time before class started, others just wanted to get things going and figure out semantics later, and there was no way to guess what was expected of them until the woman told them so. But there was nothing wrong with introducing herself, and it would get the whole 'Adonya' thing over with.

[Deleted]

Julius finished his lunch early and went to the stables early.  First, he went to the tack room and got Solo's bridle and then he went to see Solo, who greeted him at the stall door and Julius gave him a pet and then put the bridle on him and he instantly started chewing on his bit.  Julius sat down, in front of the stall, and got out some homework that he had brought.  He hoped that the horse would get tired of chewing on the bit. 

Several minutes later, Julius decided to put his homework away and start getting ready for Reining Class and he was glad to see that Solo had stopped chewing on the bit.  He gave Solo a quick grooming and he soon started chewing on the bit again and Julius hoped that it was because something was happening and not the he could be making the horse nervous, because they seemed comfortable around each other now. 

Once he got Solo's saddle on him, they headed to Reining Class.  Blythe was already there, talking to the instructor.  Julius halted and stood with his horse, a little ways from them, and faced the instructor.  He didn't bother introducing himself.

[Sarah Worthington]

Sarah greeted the first student-Blythe- with a smile. She also gave a warm smile and a greeting to the boy. Though he didn't introduce himself or his horse Sarah knew that he was Julius. Though she had no idea what his horse's name was. "Good afternoon everyone. I'm Sarah Worthington. You may call me Sarah or Ms. Worthington. The buckskin standing by the fence is Lace." She announced once the last student arrived. She quickly took roll seeing as there were only two students in her class, and both were present.

"Please warmup and that we'll be doing an easy reining pattern to start things off." Once everyone was warmed up and back in the center of the arena she asked that
 they dismount if their horses would be startled or frightened, by the paper that she held in her hand. Sarah planned on giving one to each student and didn't want a horse to spook or be startled at the sound of the paper rustling. 

Handing one pattern to Blythe and Julius she kept one for herself. "Please look them over for a few minutes. If you would like to see me demonstrate it please ask." She announced. 

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Pattern
1. Jog along the right rail to the center marker. Stop. Execute a two-hundred and seventy(270) degree turn on the haunches to the right.
2. Jog to the center of the arena, and do a figure eight and one-half, first circle to the left at the jog, right circle at the canter, change leads at the center of the arena, then do a left circle  at the canter. Stop at the center of the arena.
3. Execute a three hundred and sixty(360) degree turn on the forehand to the left.
4. Lope on the left lead around the end of the arena and down the right side. Stop approximately even with the third marker.
5. Back at least ten(10) feet. Hesitate to show completion of the pattern

[Adonya van Rutherford]

Blythe rocked back onto her heels as Julius entered the arena, eying him coolly before giving him a small nod. She still hadn't quite formed an opinion of the boy. Perhaps that would change, if they had classes together now. She listened to the woman's introduction, glancing over at the fence at the buckskin that she had seen when entering, a nice-looking quarter horse.

When they were told to mount, Blythe did so, although she did check on the cinch first. Moving quickly, in an attempt to set her position along the rail before Julius could do so, Blythe brought Kodak to the rail in a clockwise direction and asked him to walk, before they picked up the pace to a trot.

Once they had completed their warmup, Blythe brought the palomino back into the center of the arena, although she didn't dismount. Kodak would be fine with a piece of paper. Once she had it in her hand, Blythe looked down at it, reading through the relatively simple pattern. As she reached the end, she looked back up at the teacher, "Just a regular stop from a lope, or are you looking for a sliding stop?" She could do either, and Kodak certainly could, but she wanted to make sure, as it wasn't specifically listed as a slide, but there wasn't one anywhere in the pattern.

[Deleted]

Julius didn't like the way that Blythe looked at him but, when she nodded at him, he nodded back.  He wasn't sure if he liked her or not, but she  seemed like she was worth at least acknowledging.  He glanced at her horse, who was well groomed and appeared to be the same breed as Solo and he got the suspicion that this was her own horse.

Julius mounted Solo and saw how quickly Blythe was at starting her warm-up before him and Solo.  Which was kind of annoying, even though he had done similar things in the past.  He secured a spot on the rail and decided that he would stay out of her way as long as she stayed out of his.

When they came back to the center of the arena, Julius dismounted.  He did not think that it was necessary, but he knew that it was better to be on the safe side.  He took the paper and read the pattern, and then listened to Blythe's question.  He had assumed that, since it did not specify, it was supposed to be a regular stop but he listened to the answer anyway.  He never asked questions so he always listened to the answers given for the questions that other students asked.

[Sarah Worthington]

Sarah could only hope that her students got along fine. She had no tolerance for arguing in her class especially since students were supposed to be riding instead of bickering. Occasionally since students took advice better from their peers, in her opinion, she'd ask what they thought of the other's pattern and give criticism as needed. If they were to nick-picky Sarah would step in of course. Her students needed to get along civilally in her class at the least. The woman didn't care what happened outside of the class but they had better be civil to each other in her class. 

She watched them warm-up making little notes of things like a slower lope than usual for reining to rider position. The lope for reining was usually faster than that of a western pleasure horse, unless asked for a slow lope in a pattern. Even then though, Sarah was relatively certain that a reining horse's slow lope would be faster than a western pleasure horse. 

Sarah noticed that Julius dismounted to get the piece of paper though whether that was because he wasn't sure what his horse would do, or just wanted to be cautious, she wasn't sure. "A regular stop will be fine." She answered Blythe's question. "Also, I expect you to walk back on a loose rein." She added in.

The things that Sarah would be looking for in the pattern would be nice, clean pivots and even circles along with a straight stop and even back. She would also be looking for any mistakes such as pivoting more or less than required or to the wrong direction, going past the markers that she had set up-as they should stay within the markers and not go past them- and not hesitating after the pattern among other things that could easily be overlooked. "You are more than welcome to start your pattern. I ask that those not doing the pattern be out of the way, so in this case anywhere past the markers will be fine." She announced.

[Adonya van Rutherford]

Blythe shrugged and nodded as she took in the new information. Was to be expected, the teacher would probably have to gauge their level... As all new teachers had to. Hopefully this one didn't leave, then she wouldn't have to go through the same thing over and over again. But this lady didn't seem too bad... Yet. Her course was reasonable enough for looking at abilities, without being too simple and making it condescending.

As the teacher welcomed them to start the pattern, Blythe gave a grin, turning Kodak to what would be the right rail. If that didn't telegraph her intentions to be the first student to go... Well, that was the intent. If it wasn't clear, she would still be going first, so she didn't really care.

After pushing Kodak into a jog, she kept her eye on the markers, halting the gelding near-perfectly on the middle one. They had better do well in everything, because the spin... The spin would knock them down, as always. And so it proved to be, with them stopping so far over the mark that it caused Blythe to grimace. However, there was no stopping, and she kept moving, having Kodak straighten out on the jog into the center of the arena, where they went through the figure-eight-and-a-half. The second spin was slightly better, and the run down and stop went smoothly. Once they'd backed and hesitated, Blythe patted Kodak's neck. Shaking her hair back, she rode back towards the teacher, already guessing which the main point would be... Which was good. Hopefully this teacher would be able to help them with that.

[Deleted]

Julius was a little annoyed at Blythe's insistence on going first, but he knew that he couldn't really blame he.  She had gotten to class first, after all, it was just a little annoying.  Still, he watch her closely.  He noticed that her and her horse had a little trouble on the spins, so he decided that he would have to try extra hard on the spins so that he would not.  He just hoped that Solo would too.  While they were waiting he noticed that Solo had started to chew on his bit again, and he tried to hide his annoyance. 

On their turn, Solo was very corporative, fortunately.  They started out doing the first turn almost perfectly.  They were a  little off on the figure eight but, as much as he hated to admit it to himself, Julius knew that it was partially his fault.  He had a bit of trouble getting Solo to change leads, but he hoped that no one would notice.  Their next spin wasn't completely 360 degrees, but it almost was.  The ending went smoothly, except that he accidently back up twelve feet instead of ten.  After a brief hesitation, he road back and took his place, and then reached over to scratch Solo behind his ears.

[Sarah Worthington]

Sarah paid close attention as Blythe lined up to go first. The gaits were good...the canter was very nice. Sarah frowned as the girl grimaced. Even though her horse had stopped and done more of a 370 degree turn instead of a 270. Even if the horse had done a 400 degree turn, Sarah would've smiled. A grimace in the show ring would definitely show that something was wrong. The rest of the pattern went well except for the second spin which was off, though better than the first spin.

More leg while the horse was spinning should help keep them from going over the required degree. Also, rein would help if the rein and leg were applied in the opposite direction of which they were turning, as to help stop the horse squarely on the pivot. The back was very nice and clean. She nodded approvingly as the girl hesitated. Most people forgot to hesitate, thinking it not important, but it was a part of the pattern.

Julius went next. His first turn was good, though when he made his figure eight a little smaller than usual and his second circle was larger than the first. She noticed the horse hesitate to do a simple change. He had been cross-cantering for a few strides before Julius managed to get the horse to change completely. 

His second spin wasn't as nice as the first spin, and a little off...maybe by thirty degrees. The ending was very nice, and though he backed more than the required feet, the horse backed up quickly like a reining horse should. A judge wouldn't take off too many points for backing up more than required. 

"Alright. Your patterns were good for doing it the first time. Now Blythe, since you went first I'll start with you. Your figure eight was very good, along with the ending. Your lead changes went smoothly. However, your spins were not as good. Your first spin especially. I'd like you to try using the opposite rein and leg when you're almost ready to stop, please let me know if that doesn't work and we'll try something else." Sarah started off. "Julius, your first spin and ending were very good. Most of your pattern went well. Your second spin stopped too early. Try waiting a few more seconds before asking for the halt. Also, your figure eight should be perfectly symmetrical. Your second circle was larger than your first circle that you did. Try keeping him directly within the markers, not too small or large a circle. You did good getting him to switch over, though it took a couple strides before you noticed him cross-cantering. I'd like you to try stopping and cantering. Expect your horse to go straight into a canter and straight into a halt. Also, try doing some flys as well. It should help with your horse's responsiveness to change leads even if the pattern calls for a simple and not a fly. Incorporate some simple changes as well." Sarah stated.

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OOC: Let me know if you are confused about something and I'll explain it more in depth.

[Adonya van Rutherford]

Blythe watched Julius' performance, picking up on his error in changing leads, as well as the fact that the kid apparently couldn't count. But that wasn't her problem. Meant less competition for her, if he couldn't even do the simple things. Although she did have to admit, his first spin was far better than her own.

As the teacher started speaking, Blythe turned her attention to the woman, listening intently, nodding as she heard the woman's suggestion for her spins. She would have to concentrate more on when to start cuing the gelding, she knew that. She listened with half an ear as the woman critiqued Julius as well, but more to wait out the woman's teaching than out of any interest. Once the woman had finished, Blythe guessed that she was to start practicing the spins as instructed, and walked Kodak over to the middle of the arena, then shifted along the long axis so that she was more in the middle of the short side and a quarter along the long one... Just in case Julius wanted to do full circles in the other half.

Once she had positioned the horse, Blythe stopped for a moment, looking straight ahead, then to her left and right, determining markers along the way, trying to decide where she should start stopping the spin. After marking out some spots, she glanced down at Kodak and cued him to start spinning to the left. Hoping for a 270 degree turn again, Blythe used the thing she had marked to the right of her original starting point, and slowed, glancing down to see how well they had done... Slightly better, certainly not more than thirty degrees off, at least, as she figured. The teacher, of course, might have seen something else. It was easy to get complacent on horseback.

[Deleted]

Julius took in the instructor's words.  He was a little annoyed by her criticism, but he tried not to let it show.  He knew that he had not done perfectly and neither did Solo, and at least it was constructive criticism.  He could not help but notice that Blythe looked like she disapproved, which confused him because he didn't think that her and her horse had done any better then himself and Solo.

Julius road Solo to the other half of the arena and did a couple of figure eights, until he felt like he had done it almost perfectly.  Then he knew that he should work on lead changes.  They had had some trouble with lead changes a few days earlier, during the Dressage stage of Eventing class.  Julius had ridden horses who had no trouble with lead changes, but every horse was different.  He decided that he would take Ms. Worthingtion's advice and have him stop, canter and then stop again.

Julius started out asking him to canter, from a halt.  First he started at a fast trot, so they halted and tried again.  After a couple of tries they were able to go from a halt to a canter and, on their first try, they went from a canter to a halt.  Next, they started cantering again and Julius asked him for a flying change, and he did it but not until a few seconds after he asked him.  Then they tried it again.

[Sarah Worthington]

Sarah watched them both with a close eye. Blythe and Julius were both doing better. She was pleased that Blythe's spins seemed to be much better. Checking the pattern, she noticed that Blythe's spin that went way off was to the right while the other spins that were to the left were better. She suspected that Kodak's weak side was the right side at least for spins. 

"Good job both of you. The flying changes were good. They should get better with time, and soon you'll be doing them right on the marker. Even so, a judge wouldn't mark you down too much for being a stride late in the change.  From what I saw of the figure eights, they were much more symmetrical and they looked good Julius." She addressed them. "Blythe, your spins were much better. If you'd both like to, you could try the pattern again, or you can work on what you feel like you need to improve on." She said, checking her watch for the time. They had half an hour left, though it would take her students time to untack their mounts and go back to the stables so that made it twenty minutes. Sarah didn't want to make her students late for their next class, just because she kept them until the whole thirty minutes were up.

[Adonya van Rutherford]

Blythe looked up as she heard the teacher's voice again, loosely holding her reins in her off hand to reach forward and rub Kodak's neck as they listened to anything the woman might have to add to her earlier instructions. She nodded as she heard the compliment about their work, and then considered the two options. Really, there was nothing else to be gained from working through the pattern. "I think I'll keep working on the spins, they need to catch up to the rest."

After Julius had decided what he would do, Blythe picked a spot where she would be relatively out of the way, and started marking her markers again in her head. More practice to the right, she figured. But she couldn't really neglect any of the multiples of 90 degrees, or else she'd just end up being saddled with the one she hadn't practiced.

After she'd marked where to start asking for the stop, she started extending her right arm, pulling Kodak to the side she wanted to start turning in as she cued him with her legs and reins both. Once they were spinning properly, Blythe watched the world spin by and then stopped her cues, timing them so that Kodak's thoughts would have time to go towards stopping, and stop they did. Slightly short, Kodak apparently being on the ball, but closer than originally.