Swords at the Ready

[Bruce Ropata]

Rollcall:
Eleanor Chapman
Serenity Oliver
Stefano Rice
Sina Aleardi
Elena Hochstrasser
Elizabeth Phillips
Khalid Al-Kuwari
Theodore Knight

Being the start of the school year, Bruce lead the ponies out to the yards near the arena and then brought their gear out and placed the tack and grooming kits in front of each respective pony's yard. He had even brought out the ponies he hadn't assigned to the students just in case any of the pairings didn't work out and he needed to rethink and swap mounts - not that it happened often- and once the ponies were settled, with hay and water, he began to set the arena up.

The four lanes had four bending poles each, two on either side of the centre line and a sword ring attached to the top of each pole. Once the arena was set up, he sat on the top rail and waited for the students to arrive. "Tamariki ahiahi pai, me te mai" He said warmly as he jumped down to talk to the small group. "Welcome to a new year of mounted games, for those of you who haven't meet me yet, I am Mr Ropata. I have been nice today and brought the ponies out for you, but for the next lesson, you will be responsible of getting your pony ready and out here for the lesson. He smiled as he looked around. "Now, for assignments: Elba, you are riding Star. Khalid, you are with Ish. Serenity, you have the pleasure of working with Ripple. Sina, you have Pixie as your partner. Seth, you have Mo. You can go and make friends and once tacked up, you can start warming up." He turned his attention to the last three students. "Elena, Eleanore and Theodore, if the three of you follow me, I'll introduce you to your ponies."

He walked over to the yards and stopped in front of the yard with a flaxen chestnut New Forest pony. "Theodore, this is Bonnie. She knows what she's doing in the arena and can get a touch bratty if things are done the way she likes it. Think of her as the resident princess." He continued on to the next yard where a buckskin Connemara gelding was watching them. "Elena, this is Rocket. He's a sweetheart to work with, he just needs to be reminded that he's got a job to do and has to remain focused." Ok, so while the mare was a princess, the gelding was a complete air-head, but he wasn't mean enough to say so. He walked down further to the yard of a grey Highland mare. "Eleanor, this is Yoko. Depending on how she is feeling each day will be what her mood is." He grinned as he held his hand out to the mare and rubbed her forehead when she approached. "She's friendly, but not in-your-face friendly."

He supervised the students getting the horses ready, readily available to answer any questions asked from the students who had new mounts this year, as well as from the two who were new to the class. And followed the last of the students to the arena where everyone was warming up.

OOC: What he said was: good afternoon children and welcome. I prefer the Maori word for children than students (ngā ākonga), which is why I use it.

[Sina Aleardi]

Sina left Vaxi in his stall after classes and made her way to Pop’s stall. Finding it empty, she stood for a moment, helmet in hand, before she remembered that Mr. Ropata brought the ponies out for the first class of the year. The brief moment of panic subsided, and she made her way out to the arena, smiling as she saw the many ponies milling around around the arena. With a smile and a wave to the teacher, she walked over to Pop and patted the gelding’s nose, although she’d realized on the walk over that she might not still be working with him – So she didn’t start grooming him.

As class started, and the assignments were announced, Sina nodded. No more Pop for her. With a last pat of the gelding’s nose, she walked over to where the only slightly taller pony mare stood. She started grooming the pony, running gentle fingers over the mare’s many scars, although they were faint by now. She was soft and quick on the mare’s legs, knowing that while she needed to get the mare used to having a new person grooming them, now was not the time. That’d take up more than the whole class period, possibly. However, she got the mare presentable, and tacked up, before she buckled on her helmet and led the mare out of her pen.

Once in the arena, she mounted up, then walked the mare around the edge of the arena, getting a feel for her. After a summer of only Western saddles, it took her a bit of time to get used to the English one again, but after a few laps, she felt back at home, and asked the mare for a trot, and then a canter.

[Serenity Oliver]

If there was a time Serenity wished she could be in two places at once, and completely conscious in both places, now would be it as she left Loki in his stall and led Plot out to the pasture where Zo was waiting for her return... the gelding probably wasn't, but she liked to think he was, as that was her excuse that the mare had to go out.

Returning to the barn, she offered the large gelding some treats, grabbed her helmet from the hook that held his head collar and lead and hurried out to the mounted games arena, with only a small feeling of trepidation, as she wondered why they weren't bringing out their own mounts. Trying not to worry too much about this though, she made her way over to the yard where Pixie was and straightened out the mare's forelock.

She turned as Mr Ropata greeted them and she tried not to feel completely disheartened as they were given pony assignments and giving Pixie a kiss on the muzzle she moved down to the yard where the grey welsh cross was swishing his tail in irritation. "We are going to work together." She told him as she ducked under the rope and gave his neck a rub.

After grooming the pony, and getting a few nips for her work, she got the pony ready to be ridden and led him to the arena. It felt strange to be so close to the ground, as her mounts were anything but small, but she quickly set to work, getting the pony warmed up and ready to go, as long as he was moving, he couldn't turn around a nip her boots.

[Stefano Rice]

While he had become more confident in the saddle over the past year, he was still a little hesitant when he grabbed his helmet and walked to the mounted games arena - eve more so because the message told them just to go to the arena, not to worry about the ponies.

He saw that two girls were by the ponies they had ridden the previous year, but he loitered closer to the arena, where the teacher was, and listened as the man greeted the class when the others had arrived and his eyebrows shot up when he was told he'd be riding Mo, and the day just got so much better!

Heading over to the flaxen chestnut Welsh Pony he couldn't help the grin he now wore. "Hey kitty." He greeted the cat who was lounging on the rail near the pony. "Have you missed being out here?" He'd ridden the gelding on and off through the summer, but the cat hadn't been out in the yards since classes before summer.

Once the saddle was on, Seth turned to pick up the bridle and when he turned back laughed when he saw that Dolly had moved her position so that she was now sitting on the saddle. "I think the idea is for me to ride him." He told the cat as he lifted her off the saddle and placed her back on the rail she had already warmed up.

Leading the gelding from his yard, he walked to the arena, fixed the girth and mounted, before he began to warm the pony up.

[Eleanor Chapman]

Eleanor flicked the last bits of hay from her cuddles with Murphy off her polo shirt as she approached the arena. There were bending poles and swords in the arena and she tingled with excitement. She'd had the pleasure of watching her friends do Mounted Games back in England, and couldn't wait to get started. She listened to the instructor keenly, and then followed him to the ponies.

She couldn't believe her luck, Yoko, the mare she was partnered with was a Highland like her Murphy. She greeted the mare with a pat to the withers and stroked her neck gently. "Hey girl" she murmured, and the mare's ears turned to listen. Ellie turned away to the tack and grooming kit and grabbed the brushes she needed. As she groomed the pony she realised the mare was quite old, and had a slight sway in her back giving away her age. She took extra care to brush Yoko's thick mane, gently teasing out any tangles the mare had.

She carried the saddle and placed it carefully on the mare's back and tightened the girth. The mare was puffed out and relaxed, so it took some effort to squeeze the mare into the girth. She put on the bridle and stuffed her head into her hat, then led the mare into the arena. There were a few already warming up, and Eleanor gave them all a wide berth as she led Yoko to the mounting block. To her relief, the mare didn't seem to bothered about the others, and walked calmly to the block. Eleanor did the girth up several more notches now the mare had breathed in, then mounted. Yoko was smaller than Murphy but just as wide, so she felt quite comfortable. Taking the reins so she could feel a firm contact, she clucked the mare on and began to warm up.

[Bruce Ropata]

Bruce checked his watch and knew that he'd waited long enough to get the lesson started; not only for the other students to turn up, but for the ones mounted to get their ponies warmed up. He walked to the centre of the arena, carrying two swords; and putting his fingers in his mouth, released a sharp whistle; something all the ponies were used to, to call the students in. "Let's get started! Since there are only four of you, we'll only have two teams. Sina and Seth, you will be team one in lane three. Eleanor and Serenity, you will be team two in lane five." He didn't see the point in them riding stirrup to stirrup if they didn't have to. "Once you have worked out who is riding first, the second rider will need to head down to the changeover line." Once there were two riders at each end of the game area, he handed a sword to each of the first riders and walked to stand in the middle of the arena.

The game pretty easy; when I give the word, the first rider, holding the sword by the handle, will lance a ring from two of the poles, and ride on to their partner where they will hand the sword over. Now, the rules; The handover must be made hand to hand by the handle of the sword. If a ring falls to the ground the rider may retrieve it holding the rings and sword in any way, either mounted or dismounted. When crossing the Start/Finish or changeover line, the rider must be mounted, holding the sword by the handle with the rings free around the blade of the sword untouched." He paused to allow what he'd said to sink in, and wait for any questions. He lifted his hand into the air as he turned to face the first riders. "Go!"

Eleanor Chapman
Serenity Oliver
Stefano Rice
Sina Aleardi

[Sina Aleardi]

Sina grinned as she heard Mr. Ropata's whistle and turned Pixie in his direction. She'd have to talk to Serenity after class, she figured. Maybe the girl had some tips or preferences of Pixie's that it would be nice to know of. Hearing the name of her partner, Sina grinned over at the boy, "You can anchor." She walked Pixie to lane three, and then took the sword that Mr. Ropata offered.

She listened to the rules of the game, then nodded to herself. "We can do this, Pixie." She waited until she heard the cue to start, then pushed the mare into a trot, pointing the sword at the first of the rings. She didn't quite trust herself to do this at the canter, but the mare's trot was nice enough. She got the first ring and lifted the sword, letting the loop rattle to the hilt, before she took aim at the second ring. That joined the first, and she slowed Pixie to a walk as she crossed the finish-line, then to a stop as she held the sword out to Seth. After the boy had taken the sword, she turned her mare around and watched, cheering loudly for her teammate as he had his run.