Blue Ridge is a fictional town located deep in the heart of Kentucky. It is home to one of the most well known equestrian academies in the United States. Students and staff from all over the world join the academy for what it has to offer. Do you have what it takes to join us and learn from the Academy?
Smilys were made by Sapphire Heaven of LiveJournal.
The mini-profile hover follows a tutorial by Kagney of Adoxography.
Photos in the skin used under CC from Flickr.
Post by Andrea Valentine on Apr 5, 2017 19:16:50 GMT -8
She gingerly took the reins and glanced at the mare hitched to the cart. It took a little courage to get in the cart, actually.
"Well, not me. Sometimes my dad would take me riding in a sleigh, but I never got to driving it myself." Driving wasn't her dad's favorite thing to do; he only did it during the winter when there was enough snow on the ground for sleigh rides. Even then, they usually had to beg him for a ride.
Post by Kate Richardson-Hall on May 19, 2017 11:02:54 GMT -8
Kate nodded as she watched Andrea climb up. "It can be a little unnerving the first time." she told the girl. "It feels very different to riding a horse; everything's a bit further away, and you feel as though you have less control. Just remember, you can always stop." The blonde stepped back against the fence and gave her student a nod. "Whenever you're ready then, Miss Valentine. In your own time." She smiled as she watched Misty prick her ears and stand a little straighter; ready to be off.
Post by Andrea Valentine on May 20, 2017 11:34:16 GMT -8
She bit her lip and nodded at what the teacher said. No matter how excited he had been, she was nervous up there in the cart. She had limited knowledge of driving to begin with, and when she was up there she forgot it all. "So, I just click?" she asked. It was a little embarrassing. At least the horse was confident and ready to go.
Post by Kate Richardson-Hall on May 22, 2017 11:19:01 GMT -8
Enthusiastic as she was, Kate had completely neglected to go over the basic points, which she probably should have done, she considered, since the girl had never done any driving before. "That's right." she confirmed with a nod. "Or you can flick the reins, but Misty tends to be better on voice commands. When you want to stop, you can either put pressure on the reins like you would if you were riding, or you can just say 'Whoa'. Either works." She stepped out of the way and nodded to the girl to continue. Second time lucky, she thought to herself.
Post by Andrea Valentine on May 23, 2017 10:54:25 GMT -8
"Okay. Got it." she said, sounding more cheerful than she was. No, she was anxious. Still, she'd have to move forward at some point and there was no reason to stall. She clicked at the horse to get moving. The cart lurched forward after the horse and Andrea knew her eyes got wide, but so did her smile. She was sort of letting Misty go where she wanted; they were in an arena, after all, and the teacher said she could stop if she needed to.
Post by Martijn van der Berg on May 26, 2017 11:09:50 GMT -8
Tijn watched the lesson with interest, curious to see what Ms. Richardson-Hall did differently, if anything. Everyone had their own small quirks, and it was very unlikely that she'd do things exactly as he was taught - But there was nothing wrong with learning an alternate way! He boosted himself up and sat on the top rail of the fence, watching.
Post by Kate Richardson-Hall on Jun 3, 2017 16:20:54 GMT -8
Kate watched the girl's progress through the corner of her eye as she made her way over to where her other student stood against the fence. "Try a little steering, perhaps?" she called cheerfully across to Andrea. "Just like you would if you were riding, use your reins! You only need to squeeze gently- Misty has a very sensitive mouth, and there are a few bits of tack which we'll go through in future that help her to feel the reins." Then she turned to the boy beside her and said in a somewhat lower voice "Sorry about having to go through the basics, but it is an extracurricular. Once everyone's got the simple bits right, then we can start looking at some things you might not have done before. I forget, do you drive with one hand or two?"
Post by Martijn van der Berg on Jun 3, 2017 20:13:14 GMT -8
Tijn smiled as Ms. Richardson-Hall joined him on the rail, and shrugged at her apology, "I wasn't really expecting anything else. It's still enjoyable, and I'm learning how to teach others to drive." He grinned at the teacher, allowing himself a bit of liberty, "I promise, I won't take your position, though!" He had no problem putting a positive spin on things. "I learned to drive with two hands."
Post by Andrea Valentine on Jun 3, 2017 20:25:22 GMT -8
Andrea nodded, though she chewed her lip. She did as she was instructed, squeezing gently to move to the left. When the horse complied, she was both excited and nervous about it. She was afraid to pull too hard and hurt Misty. But, Misty had complied with the slightest move, so she was at least happy for that. It seemed she had more control that she had initially felt.
Post by Kate Richardson-Hall on Jun 4, 2017 9:05:50 GMT -8
"Wonderful, well done!" Kate called. "Can you see there's a line of cones along the centre line? Just try weaving in and out of those." Then the blonde turned to Martijn as she hopped up onto the fence and chuckled at his comment. "I'm not sure how many tips you'll pick up that way." she confessed frankly. "I've never actually taught it before, so I'm more or less making things up as I go along. But thank you for your confidence." she grinned. "And if you like, I can teach you to drive coachman style. That's with one hand and the whip."
Post by Martijn van der Berg on Jun 4, 2017 9:14:57 GMT -8
Tijn grinned, shrugging, "Well, I'll at least learn from what works and doesn't work." He remembered something from earlier in the class, "Oh, and if you need another horse or two, Ritske and Sybren, my pair that you met, can both drive singly or together. You can use them if you'd like." It would do them good to practice driving with others too, now that they remembered that they had actually been trained once upon a time. "And I'd enjoy that, thank you!" He smiled at the prospect of learning a new style, "Sounds like an interesting idea."
Post by Andrea Valentine on Jun 4, 2017 16:08:01 GMT -8
She nodded - she could see the cones. They looked too close together from where she was sitting. "I'll try it." she called, smiling. With that, she turned Misty toward the cones, but she was feeling anxious all over again. "Okay, Misty. You know about cones, don't you?" she said, more quietly. She began to weave - or tried to. She wasn't completely sure how well she was doing.
Post by Kate Richardson-Hall on Jun 5, 2017 9:37:46 GMT -8
"That's how I'm learning as well." Kate confided in Martijn. "Trial and error." She just hoped that she didn't have to go through too much error before she found something that worked, if only for the sake of her students. She was, after all, employed to teach, and if she spent the whole year getting it wrong then she would have to question the likelihood of her contract being renewed. So to speak.
"That's it. Try missing every second one if they're too close- just don't run any of them over!" Kate called across the arena. She had seen carriages upset by cones, silly as it sounded, and she had no wish to be rushing students off to the school nurse.
Post by Andrea Valentine on Jun 5, 2017 11:25:10 GMT -8
It was a relief to hear that she could skip a few. "I'll do that!" she called back. She went ahead and missed every second one. It was a bit easier, but she was still anxious about running them over. She wasn't really sure why; maybe it was a fear of failure. She was no stranger to that.
Post by Martijn van der Berg on Jun 5, 2017 20:27:09 GMT -8
Martijn chuckled at the woman's commentary, although he couldn't do any better. "Fair enough." He went back to watching Andrea, thinking that he should give her a compliment for her first attempt when class was let out. He wasn't much one for cheering and distracting her now, but maybe some support later would encourage her.