How This Goes (Jumping Lesson)

[Deleted]

Misa didn't want to waste anytime getting things going here. She spent the most of the day getting her room ready, but now it was time to work. She thought it best to spent this first lesson getting to know everyone, their horses and their skills. She dressed in her normal riding clothes; tan riding pants, white button up shirt and block knee high riding boots. With her gloves in hand she made her way to the barn. Pepperjack stood in the back of his stall trying his hardest to make friends with the horse next door. With a giggle she stepped inside and gave him a pat. "Ok buddy, your not going to come with me today" She said as he placed his head on her chest. Wrapping her arms around his head she let out a sigh. She thought it best not to bringing him, knowing he be trying to make friends. 

After a few more moments with Jack Misa headed toward the jumping ring. Her boots made a soft clicking sound as she walked out the barn. She took this time to look around the barn area. Once she found the jumping ring she set up a simple course for them to do. It took her only a few moment to get it how she wanted it, now all there was to wait for all the students to show up. Looking at the list she saw she had 13 students in this class, a few of them where in her eventing class.

She smiled as the students entered the ring, asking them not to mount their horses just yet and to line up. Once everyone was there she started their lessons. "Hello, My name is Misa and I'm your new Jumping Instructor. I am also the Eventing Instructor and a few of you will see me in that class in a few days" She looked around the class as she spoke to them. "The most imported thing in my class is safety and respect for the horses. They are putting just as much work into this as you are. I will not take any type of laziness or lateness to my classes. If you want me to spend my time on you and help you, you will be here when I tell you to be here. If anyone wants any type of one on one time feel free to ask. Now I want you to go one by one and tell me about you, your horse and how long you have been jumping" With that she waved to the first student.


Students:
@running1
Becca Walsh
Cara-Jean Kitchi
@cannon
@lifesgood
@boldandbrave
@jennap
@kate
@surfsup
@oli
Peter Holden
Rose Hoff
@savannah

[Cara-Jean Kitchi]

Cara was in the barn, standing so that she could see her two horses in their stalls. She was excited about having an instructor for the jumping class, now she just had to decide which one of her horses to take. She tipped her head to the side as she looked from one to the other. The wheel in her head were working as she went through the pros and cons of each mare - one would envision a whiteboard beside each horse with words appearing as she thought of each. "Next time, Ella." She told the piebald mare as she stepped forward and took up Mouse's halter and lead rope from the hook before leading the grey Holstiener out of her stall and down to the grooming stalls.

It didn't take long to get the mare polished up and ready for the lesson, tacked in her bates elevation jumping saddle, her blue-violet saddle pad, and wintec snaffle bridle. The girl was dressed in beige breeches, a canary yellow shirt with an espresso coloured vest over the top. After returning the mare's grooming kit to her locker, the girl slipped her feet into her field boots and pulled on her black gloves.

It didn't take long to walk from the barn to the jumping arena, the small girl was glad for the warming weather as she no longer needed to throw an exercise sheet over the mare when travelling between the barn and where ever they were going to be working.

Entering the arena, she asked the mare to stand nicely as they waited for the others to arrive and their new instructor went straight into the lesson. When the woman finished speaking, Cara knew that it was her turn. "I am called Cara. This is Advent the Sneak, or Mouse. I have been jumping for ten years, but I only teamed up with Mouse a couple of months ago."

[Deleted]

Oliver was slightly nervous as he got his tall gelding ready to ride. He was only new to jumping and having a brand new person to impress wasn't what he called fun. It didn't take him long to get the gelding ready for the lesson, as the gelding only owned one saddle, a Bates Caprelli close contact, and a snaffle bridle, it wasn't hard to work out what gear the horse was going to wear. The boy rubbed the bay's nose once he was ready. "Do I look alright?" He asked the horse. He was dressed in a green polo shirt, black breeches and tall boots, but as he hadn't done many lessons in this kind of riding so he wasn't too sure on the clothing he should be wearing.

With helmet in hand, he led the tall gelding out of the barn and down to the arena where the lesson was to be held. He flashed a grin at the petite girl who had already arrived and he gave the woman standing in the arena a nervous grin. He jiggled the reins a little as Casper danced on the spot. He could tell that the gelding was rearing to go - he just hoped that he would hold back on the rearing part when he was in the saddle.

He listened carefully as the woman introduced herself and he listened as the small girl, Cara, spoke up in a tiny voice that was quite easy to miss if you weren't listening. "Um, I'm Oliver and this is Casper." He rubbed the gelding's forehead. "Cas has done just about everything. Me however, I've only just started jumping." He shrugged self-consciously. "That's about it."

[Rose Hoff]

Rose had heard that there was a new jumping instructor, and was a bit nervous for today's jumping lesson. Eleanor had certainly been better lately, but she still worried about the mare's reaction to the other horses in her group classes. She could bring Vintage instead, but Eleanor was now officially her jumper, so it was a waste of a lesson to not ride her in it.

She found the mare in her stall after collecting her brushes and tack and groomed her to a shine. After brushing out her mane and tail, Rose fastened on the mare's leather and sheepskin jumping boots. A white quilted pad and sheepskin half pad were arranged at her withers, with her saddle placed over them. After tightening the mare's girth, Rose put on her helmet and bridled her, leading her out to the jumping ring where her class would be held.

Before entering, Rose made sure that her yellow polo was neatly tucked in and that her hair was all beneath her helmet. She called out "Gate!"  as she entered, and lined up as instructed after Cara and Oliver. She listened to the new instructor's introduction. When it came her turn to introduce herself, she spoke up, just loud enough for everyone to hear. "Hello. My name is Rose Hoff and I am a sophomore here are Blue Ridge Riding Academy. My mare's name is Eleanor, or To the Nines. I have been riding for most of my life, though I began jumping and competing seriously around nine years ago."

clothes

[Ben Hall]

Ben was rather excited for his jumping lesson with Lady. He'd heard that there was a new instructor and was eager to see how she would be as a teacher. Show jumping was his and Lady's strong point, so he expected that the class would be fun despite who the teacher was, but he really did hope that it was someone he got along well with. He found Lady in her stall and tacked her up, using her jumping boots and navy saddle pad. Once ready, he fastened his own helmet on and bridled her, leading her out to the jumping rings.

On the way, Lady pulled at the reins insistently, clear excited. In the short while they'd been at Blue Ridge, she'd already figured out that going in this direction meant that she would soon be jumping. Though Lady was often temperamental, she truly did seem to enjoy jumping more than other horses Ben had ridden. She was obviously talented in the discipline, but her enthusiasm towards doing it seemed to give them an edge.

He entered the ring after calling out and nodded to the instructor. First impressions were everything, which was one of the scraps of advice Ben had actually taken from his father. He lined up after the other riders and when it came his turned, introduced himself and Lady. "I'm Ben, and this is Cloudy in London, or Lady. I have been jumping for seven years."

[Becca Walsh]

Becca found Frye in his stall, not quite eager for their lesson. She'd heard that there was a new instructor, which probably meant that they wouldn't be doing anything too challenging in the class, as she would have to see how they rode. Frye was obviously full of energy, which was evident in the way he could barely stand still in his stall. She tacked him up as quickly as possible so they could get going, using a hunter green saddle pad and wraps. She put her helmet on and led him out, trying to hold him together on her way down to the jumping ring.

She called out "Gate!" on the way in and lined up behind the other horses, listening to the instructor's words as best she could while trying to keep Frye still in line. Standing still was certainly not the big gelding's forté, and she held back a groan when she learned that they would be standing longer while each of them introduced themselves and their mount.

After listening to each of the other students introduce themselves, she took her own turn. "My name is Becca, and this is Frye. I have been jumping for eight years."

[Peter Holden]

Peter found Thimble in her stall, ready for their jumping lesson. He looked forwards to it, as they were quite strong in jumping. He got her things from the tack room and groomed her, wiping his hands off when he was done. It was certainly shedding season, and though he had clipped Thimble during the winter, it was still pretty evident. He tacked her up, putting on her running martingale when he tightened her girth, and fastened on his helmet before leading her out.

He wasn't particularly excited to meet the new jumping instructor, but he wasn't really dreading it. He just hoped to make a good impression, and hopefully they wouldn't pick on him. He called out when he entered and nodded at her politely in greeting before taking his spot in line. He listened carefully to the instructor's introduction, frowning a bit. Was he supposed to call her Misa? He'd be certain to listen to how the other students addressed her. He wasn't sure that he felt at all comfortable addressing her so informally.

Peter listened to the other students introduce themselves, though is wasn't very interesting since he already knew of most of them and their mounts. When i came his turn he did the same. "I'm Peter, and my mare's name is Thimble. I have been jumping for eight years." He gauged her reaction to Thimble's name, knowing that it would be a sign of her humor. Many people found the mare's name to be funny, as it was rather ironic due to her considerable size.

[Deleted]

Ah, finally jumping class. The eighteen year old thought happily to herself. With her beige breeches and light purple polo shirt tucked in, the weather was warming up nicely. Her black paddock boots clopped along the aisle as she made her way to Seren's stall. The mare was getting better with this 'greeting' thing. She would show up at the front of the stall and let Belle get a few strokes in before taking the route back to her safe haven at the back of her box. The blonde hung her Charles Owen gr8 helmet on the hook and walked to the tack room. She brought back a brush and hoof pick. The Sporthorse wasn't all that dirty and could deal with a quick brush down.

Taking the soft brush across the mare's body a few times she was clean enough to take out to the arena. Picking out the mare's hooves, Belle hurried back to the tack room and replaced the grooming equipment. The saddle, saddle pad, girth, bridle, and boots were the next things to come out. Surprisingly Seren was pretty good about standing still to be tacked up. Hanging the bridle on the hook, she set down the boots and proceeded into the stall with the saddle part of the tack. Tightening the girth two holes on each side, Belle decided that would be enough to keep it in place. Next the boots went on and then the metal bit slide into the horse's mouth. Situating the bridle on Seren's head and then the latches.

Belle opened the stall door completely and grabbed her helmet. Walking out to the Show Jumping arena with Seren at her side there were already a large number of riders in the arena. As she entered she caught the directions, and walked Seren closer to the rest of the group. They joined the rest of the student as they went around introducing themselves. "Hi I'm Belle and this is Seren. I've been riding for almost my whole life, but I starting jumping about eight years ago."

Outfit

[Deleted]

Kate greeted Cailin with a kiss after placing the mare's tack outside of her stall. They had a jumping lesson next, which Kate was looking forward to, given that Cailin was having a good day. She groomed her until the mare's dapples glowed before tacking her up, using white wraps and her cornflower blue saddle pad. She put on her helmet and bridled Cailin, leading her out the the show jumping rings.

As she grew closer, it became clear that quite a few of the other students had arrived before her, including her brother. She called out on the way in, smiling at the new instructor brightly, and grinned at Peter when he caught her eye. She took a spot behind him and the other students in line and listened to the woman, taking all of the words to heart. They all sounded reasonable, and Kate had no reason to dislike her yet, and she doubted she would find any major fault.

She listened to the rest of the students introduce themselves, doing the same when it was her turn. "I'm Kate, and this is Cailin. I have been jumping for seven years." She stroked Cailin's nose, waiting for the rest of the students to finish so that they could begin riding.

clothes

[Deleted]

Misa listened to each student and taking in the information. she was happy to learn most of the kids had been jumping for some times. She couldn't help but smile when finding the one mares name was Thimble. Once everyone was done she started speaking once more. "It is very nice to meet all of you. After this lesson, I want you all to come already warmed up. That means you have walked, trotted, cantered and gone over some small jumps, nothing over 2 foot please. This way we can get the lessons moving on. This is a large class, so I have a lot of people to work with. Horses who aren't so good with other horse I would like you to work with them. I have a over friendly Gelding who would love to help them get use to horses" She laugh. "Now if everyone can mount up please"
Misa moved to fix a few of the jumps. "The first three jumps are verticals 1 foot, foot and half, and 2 foot jumps. The next jump is a box oxer standing 2 foot 4. Then the Cross Rail at 2foot 4. The last jump is a 2 foot 9 wall. Everyone should be able to do thouse jumps they are no bigger then an level 0 course. If you can't do that then please let me know" She moved off to the side, though her movements where slow. She hoped  none of the students would see her limp, though she knew sooner or later it would come out. All they had to was google her name and they would know all about how she ended up here.  "You'll go in the same order you introduced yourself."
"Oliver, can I see you please" She stood off to the side, giving everyone space to get their horses ready. "Now your new to jumping, How long have you been working with Casper here and have you ever jumped before." Her voice was soft, caring. Her hand played with the glove that stuck out of her pants "Because most of this class has been jumping for years, If you wanted to start with private lesson then we could work something out. "

[Cara-Jean Kitchi]

Cara listened as the other students in the class introduced themselves and their mount and wondered how many of them would keep bringing the same mount to class, as she knew that she would change her mare's between classes. She looked over as the instructor spoke about arriving to the next lesson with their horses already warmed up. It made sense, but there were days when they they would be racing from one equestrian lesson to this class and not having had time to warm their horse up if they had changed mounts, and arriving to the class having already taken their mount over jumps wouldn't be easy as this was the only arena with fences and the other arenas would all be in use for other lessons. However she didn't speak up, as that just wasn't her, and she turned to Mouse. After tightening the girth and pulling the stirrups down, she vaulted her tiny frame into the saddle. She then squeezed the mare forward as she slipped her feet into the stirrups and checked her position in the saddle as they walked around the arena.

As she warmed her mare up, she looked at the fences that had been set up for them to go over and she knew that her grey mare wouldn't have any issues with any of them and almost wished that she had brought Ella to the lesson. She rubbed Mouse's neck, feeling guilty for her thoughts as she pushed the spirited mare into a canter as they did a figure of eight.

[Deleted]

Oliver listened keenly as the others said who they were, he eyed each of the horses and gave Ben a grin, pleased that he wasn't the only male in the class. He listened to the teacher's words, nodding and then his head popped up as he was called to the side. "Gee, first day she's teaching, and I already got us in trouble." He muttered to his gelding as they walked over to where Misa was standing.

He nodded as she spoke and have her a grin. "Casper and I have been together a good six months." He replied calmly. "Those of us who wanted to, touched on jumping with Ms Carr in the novice class. It was quite good as she gave us a small introduction to dressage, jumping and cross country, so we could decide where we wanted to go after graduating the novice class." He rubbed his gelding's nose. "My position of fences won't be great, but I trust this guy to keep me safe, he know what he's doing." He didn't really feel like asking for private lessons, as he got the feeling that if he accepted them, he'd be walking the perimeter of the arena with Casper for this lesson.

When given permission, he mounted up and began to work the large Hanoverian through a warm-up so that they were ready to go over the course when it was their turn.

[Rose Hoff]

Rose stood by Eleanor's side, listening to the introduction to their class. With everything the woman said, she told herself to breath a little bit deeper. The new teacher was certainly different from the rest of her instructors for mounted classes. How was she supposed to have time to warm Eleanor up for this class after rushing from either lunch or another equestrian class? Skipping lunch to do this didn't sound like a good option, especially now, and she still had to change out of her clothes she wore to her academic classes. What about the days she rode Vintage in a class before this? She already had a tough time switching horses in the time allotted when necessary. She already ran on a very strict schedule and this would just make things very difficult. Besides, where was she supposed to find these jumps to warm Eleanor up over? There were too many questions that Rose was too timid to ask. She didn't want to make it seem as if she was challenging the teacher, so instead she just noted to see what the other students would end up doing after the class.

The woman's next comment worried her even more. "Horses who aren't so good with other horse I would like you to work with them." Poor Eleanor was already nervous around these horses, and Rose was doing her best. Would Ms. La'Van expect more from her? Anxiously, she began to breath more shallowly, and her head began to spin a bit. This wasn't what she'd been expecting. What would the instructor say if Eleanor spooked at one of the jumps? Clawing her nails into one of her palms, she waited before mounting up as she was told. Eleanor could clearly already feel Rose's tension, and the girl closed her eyes, trying to relax. The calmer she was, the better Eleanor would be.

She wasn't sure what the woman wanted them to do after explaining the jumps and order, but she followed Cara's lead and began warming Eleanor up, knowing that this was necessary, so she would do so. Focusing on Eleanor helped her a bit, but she couldn't totally get the knots out of her stomach.

[Ben Hall]

Ben stood, tickling Lady's muzzle as the new instructor explained what was expected of them. He grinned back at Oliver, as well as to Peter. The ratio of boys to girls in this class wasn't nearly as uneven as some of his others. His Hunter/Jumper class in particular was very uneven, as he was the only male in it. He didn't mind very much, but it was always nice to have some male counterparts in his classes. Lady was in a good mood today, which was a good sign as to how the lesson would go. When told that they were expected to warm up before the class, he tilted his head a degree to the side. It would be tough, but he'd just have to be a bit faster which wasn't ever really an issue for Ben, as long as he didn't get distracted.

When instructed, he looped the reins over Lady's head and mounted, ready to go an warm up. He nodded as she went over the jumps, taking in the order as well as the heights. The jumps wouldn't be an issue, as they were all small enough that Lady wouldn't have any sort of issue over them. Lady's ears were already pricked towards the course, ready to begin, but Ben guided her off to the rail and began to warm her up at the trot and then the canter in both directions.

[Becca Walsh]

Becca was a bit confused as to how they would have enough time to warm up, but figured that she'd figure that out. The bigger question was how they would incorporate jumps as part of their pre-class warm-up. Raising her hand, she waited until she was called on to ask. "Will we be able to use this ring and the jumps in it as part of our warm-up? To go over the small jumps? Or should we all use one of the different jumping rings to accomplish this?" This information was important, as she and the other students would have to go and adjust the heights of the jumps in one of the other jumping rings if this was how they were expected to do things.

The woman's next comment about the behavior of their horses around other horses made her raise her eyebrows unconsciously. She looked up at Frye, who was already glaring at Ben's mare with his ears pinned back against his had. She could try to get her and Frye to work better together, but she didn't think that the gelding could be as easily persuaded to be nice to his peers. She could keep him under control and keep the other horses and riders safe, but he was always going to have an attitude around other horses unless they were one of the rare few that he didn't mind. It wasn't that he wasn't used to horses. He just hated them.

Sighing, she mounted up when told and began to warm him up in preparation for what she expected would be a rough lesson, with Frye already in a terrible mood and feeling hot.