Stop and Go

[Katherine Carr]

Calling:
@caiti
@samantha
Stefano Rice

Katherine stood in the indoor arena, surveying the floor space before she nodded her head, decision made for the proceeding's of that day's lesson. Taking three cones, she walked down the arena and placed them at a equal distance from each other on the line of M and H, enough distance away from the track that they wouldn't get in the way of the students warming up, yet far enough to the end to not get in the way of what she wanted to teach the students that day.

She then grabbed a jumping pole and set that on the ground between R and S, and then two beside it to make one solid line and then another three along P and V, again they were at a distance enough away from the track for warmups and exactly where they needed to be for the actual lesson.

She greeted each of her three students as they entered with a warm smile and a simple instruction. "Welcome, please mount up, cross your stirrups over the pommel and begin to warm your horse up." She knew that riding without stirrups was a student's worst nightmare, but the three horses in the arena were all calm enough that she wasn't worried about them playing up, and it helped the riders develop a longer leg for when they did have their stirrups.

Once they had been walking for a bit, a smile played on the woman's lips. "Now let go of your reins and stretch your arms out to the side. The goal of this is to use your seat and legs to keep your pony walking in a straight line.”

[Stefano Rice]

Seth was really enjoying the horse that he had been assigned to ride, though he was going to try and talk his parents into getting him his own horse over the summer vacation, which gave him a few more months to work up to owning a horse of his own and working out how to convince his parents that he was indeed mature enough for one... at least they hadn't got any calls from him being called to the principal's office.

He got the Appaloosa mare ready to be ridden and then clipping the helmet in place and pulling his gloves on, he led the mare to the indoor arena. He nodded his head to the instructions and after tightening the girth mounted up, crossed the stirrups in front of the saddle and walked the mare around the outside track, wondering what they would be doing with that their instructor had set up.

His eyebrows flew up at the next instruction, but he just shrugged his shoulders as he dropped the reins on the mare's neck and spread his arms out to the side. He pressed his lips together with a chuckle as he considered the idea of making aeroplane noises, as he kind of felt like a little kid, balancing on a log with his arms out-stretched for balance, or one running around a field, pretending to be a plane. He did manage to hold back the urge though, as tempting as it was.

[Deleted]

Sam smiled at Fallon, appreciating how calm the mare tended to be. It suited her fine, considering she felt nervous to be riding with other students. It was something she still found herself not used to, despite the amount of time the small red head spent at the academy, she hoped eventually she would grow used to it.
She double checked the clip on her helmet as she listened quietly to the instructions of the lecturer. In spite of how nervous Samantha felt, she rather looked forward to the riding lessons. Until Katherine told them to cross the stirrups. Reluctantly she crossed them, now she needed to find something. Leading Fallon with her, Sam approached one of the steps, which were used for helping people mount their horses. In particular Sam, about seven times out of ten she managed to mount her horse fine without steps. But the last thing she wanted now was to be embarrassed by spending a minute or two trying to actually get on her horse. Her cheeks reddened as she mounted Fallon, she wished that somehow she grew to be taller.

Samantha followed the next instruction, though difficult without stirrups, it proved to be not entirely impossible to ride without them. Her blue eyes widened with alarm when Katherine told them to let go of the reins and put their arms out to the side.
She counted to five in her head before quickly placing her reins on Fallon's neck and sticking her arms out to the side. Unfortunately for Sam she moved far too quickly and favoured her right side. She overbalanced and with a squeak of alarm she humiliatingly fell off of the Red Dun coloured mare. The impact with the ground knocked the air out of her with an audible "Oof.", Fallon stopped to look at her rider with confusion, uncertain as to how her small rider managed to make it to the floor. Sam after a moment got to her feet, brushing sand off of the back of her riding trousers. She reached for the reins of Fallon, scanning for the closest riding box. Her cheeks were burning from embarrassment.

[Ashley Andrew Stephens]

Drew grabbed Remi's tack from the tack room. He found most of his classes a bit boring mostly because they were easy. If he had to pick, Beginning English was definitely the easiest class. He wasn't upset that the jumping teacher didn't have time to give him private lessons. She had a family and a horse to look after. He swung the saddle of the mare's back and tugged on the saddle pad to make sure everything was sitting properly. The dressage saddle was rather helpful for flatwork, though his experience riding was probably the biggest advantage. He led Remi into the arena, glad the class was small.

No stirrups. Joy. The boy mounted his horse and crossed the stirrups so that they wouldn't bounce against the horse. He started walking and let his hips open some to establish a better and deeper seat. Impulsion came from behind. When instructed to drop the reins, Drew grimaced. It wasn't that he couldn't do it, but it felt so childish. He stuck his arms out and kept Remi walking along the rail. Cars naturally wanted to go in a straight line. A horse on the other hand could go in any direction, so straightness required more thought.

He tried not to look too bored by the exercise. It took everything in his power not to roll his eyes when the girl fell. Beginner. He kept riding, though Remi felt a little more hollow through the corners. If he had his reins, he would have used those to create a more structured bend, but that was an exercise for a different day apparently.

[Deleted]

Feralas was admittedly nervous. He had been ever since he had entered the academy that morning. However, when he rode Hestia, he felt all his fears melt away. He knew that his horse was a perfectly friendly animal, though she was quite disobedient to other people and extremely stubborn. As he buckled his helmet beneath his chin, he took a deep breath before tightening Hestia's girth. Making sure his stirrups were on tightly, he planted one foot in a stirrup and swung himself over Hestia's dark bay back.

The friendly mare whickered gently, and a fond smile spread over Feralas's face as he entered the arena. One by one, everyone else had arrived and the lesson had started. His eyebrows rose when the teacher said for them to cross the stirrups, but the fourteen year old complied and obediently crossed the stirrups over his saddle horn. Letting his hips settle into a deeper seat that enabled him to have a better hold without falling off. Clucking his tongue to the roof of his mouth gently, Feralas squeezed his knees ever so slightly and Hestia began to plod along obediently.

At the instruction to drop the reins, Feralas bit his lip but obediently let the reins pool in front of him. Sticking his arms out to the side, he let out a muffled snicker at the expression on some of the students faces. Doing this was rather basic, and fun to do. His private instructor when he was younger had Feralas do this over and over again before Feralas could do it instinctively. Now that he was in familiar territory, a quick grin flitted across his face and the fourteen year old slid into a familiar balance. At the same time, he clucked his tongue against the roof of his mouth again and he felt Hestia speed up slightly.