only time will tell

[Deleted]

Partners & Mare Assignments

Cara-Jean Kitchi	Circle
Jessamine Smith	Wonder
Gretchen Holmes	Flawless
Cassian F. De Fiore Nevaeh Lincoln	Carlie

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Winter was moving in on the campus and all the horses were getting fluffy, or the ones that were allowed to were. There were sometimes that Vi wished she had a horse or two to call her own, but then she remembered that there were four horses waiting for her and her students to visit them, and soon there would be at least four more. Making her way down to the Evening Primrose barn she was greeted by a whinny from the oddball mare. She felt a little bad for Wonder because she was the only mare of a different breed and color and height, but she did not seem too out of place, from what she could tell the mare knew nothing of her being the odd one out. Violet did her rounds to make sure nothing too significant was taking place and nothing was. Today the class would be working solely with the mares, no classroom time which she was almost positive that the girls would not mind that much. Today would also be the day that the students officially met their mares. They would also be taking a trip down the aisle to see the stallions. She had informed the students on where to meet her, in front of the mares' stalls, so they could begin rather soon.

"Welcome back ladies, today we are going to jump right in to handling and getting to know the mares. When you feel comfortable enough we are going to take them for a little walk in the arena, so they can stretch their legs, and so everyone can get a feel for how their mares' behave and react to certain things and then we will end class with taking a look at the stallions. Giving a quick look at all of the students she wanted to make sure there were no distressed faces or anything of the sort. "Alright so we have four mares and there are six of you, so this is how pairing and assignments are done. You are paired up according to houses and then assigned to a mare. So Cara and Jessamine you two will have your own mares for the time being, Gretchen and Honor and Indigo and Nevaeh will be paired up. Cara you and Circle will be together, Jessamine and Wonder, Gretchen you and Honor are with Flawless, and that leaves Indigo and Nevaeh with Carlie. Please feel free to enter the stalls and interact with them. I am going to warn you, those of you who have a partner, don't corner the mares or put them in any situations similar."

When the students moved to enter the stalls, Vi stood back and assessed the situation at hand. She looked for any signs to tell her that the mares might not agree with having the students in their personal space, the only mare she really worried about was Flawless, the moodier of the four but knew the students would do well with her, if not she could always make some changes. "If you have any questions, feel free to ask."

[Cara-Jean Kitchi]

Cara massaged her temples as she wiped a cloth over Tex's saddle and put the cover over it. She took the thick jacket out of the gelding's locker and pulled it on before she grabbed her messenger bag and made her way down the path to Evening Primrose.

She walked into the barn and walked down to where they had been asked to meet their teacher outside the stalls of the four mares. She pressed her lips together to stop her hand from moving to her temple again and kept her eyes focused on the ground.

She listened as Ms Woods spoke and nodded her head to show that she was following along. She lifted her grey-yellow eyes from the ground when it was mentioned that she would be working by herself with a mare for now and she quickly nodded her head again.

When assigned a mare, she let the bag slip off her shoulder and she shrugged her jacket off, leaving both up against the wall. Closing her eyes, she drew in a deep breath through her nose and exhaled slowly through her mouth, the pounding in her temples was no longer a worry, it was there, but no longer her main focus. Stepping up to the door, she stood on her tip-toes and looked over at the mare who was in there. "Hello beautiful." She greeted in her soft voice, a smile lighting up her face as the mare blinked at her. "May I come in?" She took the mare's head collar and rope from the hook and then let herself into the stall.

Closing the door behind her, she stood there for a moment while the mare watched her and then stepped forward as she held out her hand, offering it to the Haflinger. With a soft smile, she stepped forward and walked to the mare's shoulder and placed her hand on the mare's neck. "There's a good girl." She soothed as she slipped he noseband over her nose and fastened the poll strap. She then spent the time she had just running her hands over the mare, working out where the mare did or didn't like being touched.

[Jessamine Smith]

Jessa shrugged on her jacket over her t-shirt and made a half-hearted attempt to brush some of Zo's red-white hairs from her jeans, before giving up on the endeavor. She had just put away the gelding's grooming kit and tack, after cleaning him up from their Natural Horsemanship lesson. But now it was time to head to the broodmare barn, and meet the mare that she would be assigned to!

Her bag was light, with just a notebook and a pencil, in case they would actually have any notes to jot down. As she reached the aisle of the barn where they were meeting, she saw that she wasn't the first to arrive and smiled at the other three girls who were present. She knew them by sight, if not personally yet, although she was hoping that would change soon. But then, as Ms. Woods told them that they'd be assigned by house, Jessa realized she wasn't in such luck just yet. None of these girls were in her house... And she'd managed to be assigned to the one warmblood broodmare at the school. Well, that she could deal with. Wonder was a nice horse, at least.

As they were released to go and introduce themselves to their mares, Jessa walked over to the chestnut mare's stall and stood quietly in front of it for a moment as the mare came up, letting Wonder smell at her before she unlatched the door and slipped inside, “Hey dear.” She bent down (just slightly) to exchange breaths with the mare, then ran a hand along the mare's neck, “We'll be fine together.” Just then, the mare reached out to grab at the girl's jacket zipper, and Jessa chuckled, although she did put a hand on the mare's nose with firm pressure, “Unless you do that.” Circle took the reprimand well, and before too long Jessa was back to loving on her, before interrupting that briefly to halter the mare just so that they would be ready for the next step, although she went back to petting the mare all over while she waited.

[Gretchen Holmes]

Gretchen was always excited for equine reproduction, partially because it was different every year. New horses, and in this case a new teacher. She didn't mind though, the new teacher seemed nice enough and she smiled at her as she entered the barn and joined the group of other girls standing around. She was one of the last one to enter, so they started almost immediately once she had joined in. 

Listening attentively, she was excited to hear that they would be visiting the stallions at the end of class, though she had seen Mr. Hollins' big warmblood stallion Brolly at some of the shows, she'd never seen the new pony stud and was incredibly curious. As their teacher began assigning horses, her eyes wandered to the stalls. They were all haflingers except for one, the tall chestnut warmblood named Wonder. Gretchen liked haffies, but her heart sort of laid on the big horse. She was slightly disappointed when she was assigned one of the ponies, but it passed in a heartbeat and she looked over at her mare. She was rather dignified looking, at least Gretchen thought so. She also turned to look at the girl she was partners with, she'd never seen her before despite them living in the same house and she felt a little shy. 

Feeling a bout of shyness, she followed quietly behind her partners as they went to visit with their mare. She smiled at the other girl, not wanting to come off as unfriendly, before entering the stall with her. When she was offered the mare's halter she took it, "Thanks," she said quietly. Holding her hand out, she allowed the mare to sniff it before approaching and throwing the halter on. Once the straps were fastened, she led her over to Honor so she could introduce herself to the mare as well. "I heard Flawless is a very good mother, I just hope she doesn't give us any trouble," Gretchen commented casually, hoping to start at least a little interaction with her partner. Communication would be very important in order to take care of their horse the best they could.