Hand and Eye Coordination

[Bruce Ropata]

After the ponies had been feed that morning, rather than turning them out into the pastures, Bruce took them out to their yards by the mounted games arena. Just because he'd told the students that they had the choice of bringing their own mounts, he had no idea how many of his ponies would be needed, so he'd just brought them all out; and it was obvious a couple of them weren't happy they weren't in the pastures, even though the yards were full of lush grass.

He then began to get the arena ready. He pulled the bending poles from the storage shed, but he didn't set them up just yet. He had no idea how many students would turn up so he decided to leave the arena as empty as he could until the students were all settled in their saddles and ready to go. He also rolled out the half barrels that would be filled with apples and water. He set the bowl of hard boiled eggs on the shelf in the shed, keeping them out of the sun, and found the jar of spoons and placed that by the bowl.

Leaving the shed, he went to check on the water buckets for the ponies; yes, he knew that some of them were technically horses, and then walked to stand by the arena gate, waiting for the students to arrive.

[Martijn van der Berg]

Martijn finished brushing Ritske's coat and then took in the gelding's appearance. His mane and tail were, as always, braided, the mane in a running braid and the tail just done as normal. Most would never see the horses without their braids, unless they were specifically at a show, as their hair was kept done up to minimize breaking. Of course, it still happened occasionally, but Martijn took as much care as possible.

Satisfied with the grooming, the boy left the horse in the cross ties and walked to the tack room, returning with the black gelding's tack. Red blanket, black saddle, black bridle with a small bridle tag, all easily recognizable. Martijn returned to Ristke quickly and set upon the task of saddling the gelding. Finally, after slipping the bit into Ritske's mouth and the bridle over his head, they were ready. Holding his helmet in his hand, Martijn led the gelding outside and towards the mounted games arena.

After spotting Mr. Ropata, Martijn smiled, stopping to buckle on his helmet, although he waited until instructed to head into the arena. A lap or two of warmup would probably precede the games, although Martijn didn't want to start just trotting about before hearing the plan.

[Sina Aleardi]

Sina whistled as she walked to the mounted games arena. She'd stopped by another time, just to make sure she knew where she was going for the clinic, but today was the day! Since she hadn't spent much time with Rolo just yet, and didn't know if he would appreciate doing the sorts of things that mounted games ponies did, she had figured she would just use one of the provided mounts... Perhaps, since she was taking the class anyway, it'd be a good chance to figure out which pony she would ride in the new year!

Finally, she arrived at the arena, her helmet in her ever-present backpack. She spotted a boy standing next to a neat Frisian horse, and then saw the man who was probably the teacher for the class. Walking over to him, Sina smiled brightly, "Mr. Ropata? I wanted to ask if I could possibly use a pony for the clinic. I was only assigned a mount by the school a couple of days ago, and don't know how he would do with the games." Probably well? But if he didn't know what he was doing, and his rider sure didn't, that could possibly be a bad combo, "My name's Sina, anyway. I'm taking your class next year too, but I thought this would be fun to get an intro to some games!"

[Danielle Green]

She had already been in the Red Willow Barn doing the daily chores that she was assigned. Slipping O'Malley a treat she patted his neck and went to work on getting Fern ready for the clinic. Even though Danny had worked with the mare the previous year she made sure to clear it with Mr. Ropata that it would be O.K. to use her for the clinic. Danny went to O'Malley's locker and grabbed her bag before heading to the bathroom. She change quickly and replaced the bag with her work clothes in the locker.

Danny walked towards the arena but stopped at the yards and spotted Fern. "Hi girl" Danny scratched her forelock and got the tack she would need for the clinic. Once the mare was tacked, Danielle led Fern out of her yard and to the mounted games arena. She saw that there were two students and Mr. Ropata of course. Out of the two students she only recognized one of them, the boy. The girl was a face that she had not seen around the academy. Danny knew that there were new students coming in for the summer to get used to the academy before the school year officially began.

[Serenity Oliver]

Although they had returned to the Academy earlier then had originally been planned, but when Reni read about the mounted games clinic, she knew that it had happened for a reason.

After gymnastics and then her barn chores - the fact that Plot was now indoors as much as she was out, had made the girl happy for all the work they had done for the time she had been at home. Dressed and ready to ride, she grabbed her helmet and raced to the mounted games arena.

"Pixie-girl, I'm home!!" She called gently as she hurried up to the mare and kissed her muzzle, once she had greeted Mr Ropata of course. After a quick groom, as the mare didn't need anymore than that, she put her tack on and then led the mare to the arena. Clipping her helmet under her chin, she vaulted into the saddle and rode into the arena where she began warming her up, as they were instructed.

"Hey Dani." She greeted the one girl she actually knew, due to her being in mounted games the year before. Sure, she also knew Martijn, as they had shared a number of classes the year before, but there was something different about being in a team with someone. The second girl she didn't know, but she still offered her a friendly smile.

[Bruce Ropata]

Bruce arched his eyebrow when the first student arrived with a large Frisian gelding. "Welcome to the clinic, I'm Mr Ropata. Can I please have your name and the name of your stunning horse?" Once he had the information he needed, he motioned for the boy to enter the arena. Bruce then turned to the girl who had arrived.

He nodded as she introduced herself. "I understand that you have a canine that accompanies you around also? You are more than welcome to bring him to class with you, the ponies here are accustomed to anything. One of the pony's even has a pet cat... or a cat has a pet pony, I can never understand how that relationship works." He shrugged with a bright smile. "Anyway, they yards have plenty of shelter and there's a shed over there if your pup needs cover.

"If you follow me, I'll introduce you to your pony." He walked over to the yard and stopped in front of a buckskin tobiano Arabian Pony. "Sina, this a Pop, or Copper Gold when we're at competitions." He rubbed the pony on the forehead. "He's a real sweetheart and will take great care of you while you're finding your feet around the games, and will know when you're ready for a challenge. Give him a groom, get to know him as you tack him up and then bring him to the arena when you're ready."

He headed back to the arena and greeted the next two students to arrive, both students from the year before and nodded as they went to get their ponies ready.

When everyone was in the arena and had warmed up he, grabbed what he needed and called them to the middle. "Well, the group is a little smaller than I had expected, but it will do. Martijn, I am going to team you up with Dani." He gestured to the girl on the dapple grey mare. "Sina, Reni is going to be your new best friend." He gestured to the girl on the rose grey mare - now very pleased that he had two students who were familiar with the games. "Our first game is an oldie, but a goodie. Egg and spoon." He handed the items to the boy and girl he had spoken to. "Don't worry too much if you drop the egg, they are hard boiled, so they aren't going to make a huge mess."

He stepped to the side as he motioned down to where two barrels were set up on either side of the arena. "Ride down to the barrels, you pick the gait you ride at, turn and come back. Hand the egg and spoon to your partner and they repeat the process, again at their chosen gait. On your mark, get set, and GO!"

[Martijn van der Berg]

Martijn spotted the raised eyebrow and started worrying, "Is there something wrong?" He took a breath, then got to the actual question, "I'm Martijn van der Berg, and this is Ritske. Ritske VDB, if you wanted to be formal, but generally just Ritske." However, whatever the man had seen to cause any sign of concern apparently wasn't too much a worry, and he was motioned to enter the arena, which he did, before he checked his mount's girth and then pulled himself into the saddle.

He focused on warming up, noticing as a couple more students, all girls, entered the arena. Well, he certainly wouldn't be hurting for company of the fairer sex, that was for sure... Although his mind drifted briefly to a girl who was not present. Shaking his head firmly, Martijn tried to push that thought away. It was borderline creepy. He had never gotten even the slightest word of encouragement.

Finally, Mr. Ropata called the group together, and Martijn rode over, stopping and listening to the instructions, before smiling at the girl with whom he had been partnered. Then he heard the instructions for the game, and considered breifly before nodding. The gelding's trot would certainly come in handy here, he figured. He was pretty sure he would manage to hold on to an egg at the speed, since the gelding wasn't too jolty. But maybe he should try it at the walk first... He would see.

He too the proffered spoon and egg, carefully balancing the one on the other before he glanced down the line at the barrel that was their goal, then nodded. When they were given the word, he nudged the gelding, setting him to a walk briefly before deciding to not try the trot. Instead, he had the gelding extend his walk, smiling at the dressage training that was helping them. Finally, they had reached Dani again, where he bent forward to hand over the egg and spoon. However, as he did so, he watched with horror as the white ovoid wobbled, but released his breath when it settled, not falling.

[Sina Aleardi]

Sina smiled as she heard the man's offer, and chuckled as she heard about the pet horse/pet cat/couple, "Sounds like a plan. I just didn't want to bring Der and have him be a bother, he doesn't come to my other equine classes and I didn't want him stuck in the sun if there was nothing else to do with him." Or ending up with her having to leave with him, and then being late for the class, "If you want to meet him, I can just run up to Blue Ribbon after the clinic." She paused, then held up the saddle-bag, "In either case, would this be okay for me to have behind my saddle? I know it's not completely normal, but it has my finger-stick kit and some other stuff."

Once that was settled, she followed Mr. Ropata over to the yard, where she was introduced to Pop. After she ran her eyes over the Arab pony, she grinned, "He's awesome!" She reached out a hand to the gelding, who seemed to be more interested in her bag, and then turned back to the instructor, listening to his instructions, "Okay!" She glanced around, finding the gelding's gear, and then set to work. She might have lingered slightly over grooming the gelding, trying to find his favorite spot to be scratched, and then tacked him up before bringing him into the arena.

Warming up was another round of getting to know each other, but Sina felt that things were going to go wonderfully. She didn't have too much of a chance to push the gelding above a trot, but felt that most of the games today would just be learning anyway, so it wasn't too much of a worry. When called over, Sina brought Pop over to the center, glancing at the other students, whom she wasn't familiar with yet, before listening and grinning over at her partner.

Once the game had been explained, Sina balanced her egg on the given spoon, and lined up against the huge-looking Frisian of the other team's starter. When they were given the word to start, Sina nudged Pop forward, and then it felt like the gelding took over. They made it to the other end of the barrels at a decent clip, although Sina kept Pop from moving up into a trot. She didn't want to drop her egg her first round! And she didn't, passing it over to Serenity without a concern, although they were slightly behind, the other horse's larger stride doing him a favor at the walk.

[Serenity Oliver]

Reni let out a whimper when Mr Ropata mentioned the first game. She hated egg and spoon races with a passion! It wasn't that she was bad at them, she just didn't like them - and they seemed to be a game that was played at every birthday party she had been to as a child.

She gave the girl, Sina, who she was paired up with a bright and comforting smile. "Just concentrate on staying in the saddle and keeping the egg balanced." She offered, not even mentioning speed.

She stood in the stirrups and cheered the other girl on, shooting Danielle a mock competitive glare and then grinned with a laugh. "Good luck. You're going to need it!" She turned back to watch the two horses on the course and leaned forward as she prepared to take the spoon. "Good work."

Holding it carefully, she moved her hand up the spoon so that she was holding it close to the bowl of the spoon, but not close enough so that her thumb was touching the egg - and all of this was done as she nudged Pixie into a walk. Once she was comfortable, she rose into two-point and squeezed the mare into a trot as they headed toward the barrels. Turning around, she gently asked for the pretty mare to extend her stride, a little more speed, but not a canter.

As she reached Sina, she sat back in the saddle and asked Pixie to slow down and then halt. The race had been close and she couldn't wait to see what Mr Ropata said.