Putting the Horse Before the Cart

[Kate Richardson-Hall]

Waiting On:
Andrea Valentine
Elizabeth Phillips
Marguerite Girardeau
Martijn van der Berg
Matilda Stensjö

Kate's lesson didn't take too much setting up. Harnessing Misty was a piece of cake; the horse had a sweet temper and endless patience, and Kate had done it so many times by now that it was practically second nature. Without too much ado, her Lipizzaner was securely harnessed to the light dogcart, and the mare stood patiently by the fence as Kate perched herself lightly on the top rail of the fence and awaited the arrival of her class. There weren't too many of them, which was good. Having finally looked at her list, she'd noted one or two familiar names but the rest were completely strange to her, which was only to be expected. She hadn't been here for long, and there was a limit to the number of people that one could meet while just wandering around.
So there was Kate, sitting on the fence with one hand looped through her mare's reins, awaiting the arrival of her students. Playing the waiting game.

[Andrea Valentine]

Andrea scanned her schedule, trying to remember what class she had next. It would likely be weeks before she'd memorize the thing. She finally found the proper time and class. Driving! She was so excited for the class. Almost as excited as she was when she went to cross country. She practically skipped to the arena. She spotted someone who must have been the instructor on the fence. As soon as she was close enough, she waved.

"Hello!" she called cheerfully. Glancing behind the instructor, she looked over the horse standing in the harness. She couldn't wait to get started.

[Kate Richardson-Hall]

"Good morning!" Kate responded brightly, offering the girl a cheerful smile. "Nice to see you here. We're waiting on another four people; as soon as they arrive then we can get started. So... Lean on the fence, sit on the ground, whatever you like." She shivered ever so slightly in the icy winter breeze and wrapped her tweed jacket a little more tightly around herself. She hoped that the others wouldn't take too long; she wanted to get started and do something. That might help to keep her warm- hopefully, anyway, because she couldn't stand this temperature for a whole lesson.

[Martijn van der Berg]

Tijn grinned as he put Sybren away after class. Today the driving class was finally meeting! He headed over to the arena, a bounce in his step, while he tried to remember Kate's last name. Richards? No. Richardson-Hall. He'd have to remember that, he didn't want to put her into an awkward position in class.

He walked up to Roscoe's arena and grinned, "Hey Ms. Richardson-Hall." He approached the fence with a nod at Andrea, then looked over the horse. Grey, so it was probably the lipizzaner - Misty.

[Kate Richardson-Hall]

Shooting a bright smile at Martijn as he approached the fence, Kate glanced at the two students who had arrived so far and then examined her watch. Time was getting on, and she decided that she was going to have to make at least some kind of a start , even if they did only have less than half of the class. So she hopped down nimbly from the fence and addressed her class. "Good morning!" she began with far more confidence in her voice than in her heart. "My name is Ms Richardson-Hall, and as you may have guessed, I will be teaching you the art of driving." Kate looked over the arena. "You may have noticed we're still a few short, but since this is my first lesson with you, we won't be covering anything vastly important today, and your classmates can join in as they arrive. Just a few things before we get started. Firstly, yes, I am English. There are a multitude of reasons why I'm here, all of them complicated and none of them relevant, so we won't go into that if it's all the same to you. Secondly, I'm given to understand that the school possesses no horses trained to draw carriages, which seems rather an oversight to me, but there we have it. As a consequence, you'll notice my glamorous assistant behind me." The blonde gestured to Misty, and rubbed the Lipizzaner's nose below the noseband. "I probably don't need to say this, but treat her with the same respect that you'd afford to your own animal. Misty is my own horse, she isn't used to working with a lot of different people, so be nice!" Kate paused to breathe for a moment. "Any questions so far?"

[Andrea Valentine]

Andrea watched with unbridled interest as the teacher jumped down from the fence. It was interesting to hear her English accent; one of her other teachers was from Scotland. She supposed a lot of larger stables - ones that competed - were in Europe. She heard a lot about Great Britain and even Germany in FEI when she tuned in to watch eventing. Of course, America competed, too, but somewhere along the way she had gotten it in her head that the best riders were from another continent. Right or wrong, that was what her ever-changing mind had landed on.

All these thoughts passed through her head in a matter of seconds, leaving plenty of energy to listen intently to Ms. Richardson-Hall's little speech. She raised her hand when the teacher asked if there were any questions. "What breed is she?" she asked about the horse, Misty.

[Kate Richardson-Hall]

Kate gestured towards the girl who raised her hand first, inviting her to speak. She was fairly certain that she hadn't met the girl before, which meant obviously that she wouldn't know her name, but that annoyed Kate. She liked to know people's names. It made everything so much easier.

The question wasn't one that she'd been expecting- Kate had thought more along the lines of what they'd be studying or something to do with the subject in general- but it was a perfectly genuine question and one which she was quite happy to answer. She could in fact spend all day on the subject, but unfortunately, that wasn't what she was being paid for. So, best to keep things simple.

"Misty is a Lipizzaner mare." Kate responded with a smile. "Trained at the Spanish Riding School, which is actually in Vienna, as a matter of interest. Anything else?"

[Martijn van der Berg]

Tijn listened to the introduction that Ms. Richardson-Hall gave, not really surprised with much that she shared. He considered offering his horses for use, but he would wait until after class to bring that up. He didn't want to disrupt the class now. He liked the look of Ms. Richardson-Hall's horse, Misty, and waited patiently while a question about her breed was answered. He didn't have any questions yet, but was rather looking forward to the actual class beginning... Although maybe he should hang back. Who knew how much experience Andrea had, and he didn't want to show her up too much. Especially on the first day of class. They were all there to learn.

[Kate Richardson-Hall]

Deducing that there were probably no more questions, at least for the moment, from the lack of raised hands and so on, Kate smiled and clapped her hands. "Right then, let's get started!" she exclaimed cheerfully. She was genuinely excited to begin this lesson- it was, after all her first, and it would be interesting to find out about her students while they learned. "So, first off, if you'd like to join me over here then we can start by taking a quick look at the harness and the cart." The blonde paused briefly to allow her students to follow the instruction, while she ran a hand over the horse's long mane. "So, which parts of this harness can you already name?" she asked.

[Andrea Valentine]

Ever-excited, Andrea piped right up as soon as the teacher asked a question. "Oh! Um... I know the backstrap and the hip straps. I guess those parts are pretty easy. And there are pads, usually on the chest and on the back, right?" After speaking out, she felt a little embarrassed. Sometimes she felt like she went on about things she didn't know about. She was worried that she sounded dumb.

[Kate Richardson-Hall]

"Very good." Kate agreed with a smile, giving a nod to the student. She couldn't recall the girl's name, but she made a mental note of her face. "Some parts are very similar to those we find in riding harness- for example, we have the girth..." she indicated "... and the reins, although those can also be called lines. Then there's the bridle, which usually includes blinkers, and the bit... then there's the breeching and the collar." She indicated the last two parts with one hand. "Now you probably won't need to know any more than that. At some point in the future, we may try tacking up with this harness, but for now, we'll just concentrate on driving." The blonde paused for breath. "So... who wants to go first?"

[Martijn van der Berg]

Tijn held his tongue as Ms. Richardson-Hall asked about harness straps, not wanting to prattle on and on. Andrea had some of the names right, at least. He let the teacher explain the rest rather than pick a few to name. And tacking up would be a breeze too. Maybe his time would be better spent practicing on his own rather than this extracurricular, since it did seem suited more to beginners.

As the teacher asked who wanted to go first, Tijn shrugged and gestured at Andrea, "You can go ahead."

[Andrea Valentine]

She bounced on her heels excitedly, grinning ear to ear. It was nice of this other student to let her go first. She hadn't wanted to inadvertently be the center of attention, but he didn't seem to mind it. "Thank you!" she almost squealed. Her mind was all over the place, thinking about how great it would be when she got home with what she learned in the class.

Even though her thoughts were racing, she looked to the teacher for instructions.

[Kate Richardson-Hall]

Kate smiled to see how excited the girl looked. It was always nice to find people who were enthusiastic and who were really enjoying what they were doing. There weren't nearly enough of those people in the world, at least in Kate's opinion. Life was an adventure, after all, and if you didn't enjoy it then really, what on earth was the point?
"Step this way." she invited with a smile, gesturing towards the dogcart and holding out the reins towards the girl. "Have you ever done any driving before?" Kate didn't want to stand there and tell the girl a list of things that she already knew, after all.

[Martijn van der Berg]

Tijn smiled at Andrea's thanks, "Of course." She seemed excited to get a chance at it, and that was great. It would be nice to have another student who at least knew the basics of driving around. He stepped up to the fence and climbed onto it, sitting on the top rail as he watched Andrea and Ms. Richardson-Hall.