A learning curve

[Vincent Fiordalis]

Vince sat on the mounting block, surveying the school. Kicking the sand around to admire it, he sighed looking at his watch and shaking his head. To Vince being on time was late, he liked his lessons to start earlier. But that was something he would have to work on, he sat there with his clipboard on his lap. Vincent sighed, reading through the names of his students for the days lesson, he then read through the movements he hoped to cover while listening out for his students and the birds in song. As they startedto arrive vince sat on the only mounting device with his arms crossed. He didn't say anything, just sat and stared at the students and their horses, not showing expression on his face but deciding who was already a good pair. He finally stood up, he placed the clipboard in between both his hands and spoke out to the students he had in front of him. "My name is Vincent Fiordalis! I am your Dressage Instructor, obviously. I don't like people being late, punctuality is important. I also have a few rules to go through before we even mount so bare with me." he moved from the block, pacing in front of his class looking at each student and their horses, he then spoke again. "Rule one, no one mounts until i say so. Rule two, ask if you don't understand something. It will make your life easier and rule number three, my way is the only way. No arguing, no shouting and definitely no cutting each other up." he stopped and stared at each in turn. "Understood?"

He started to smile, perched himself on the mounting block and spoke. "One thing I've learnt and that you will right now. Is that there isn't always a mounting block where you ride. So, everybody stand on the left side of your horses! Tighten your girths, if you're nervous loosen your left stirrup a couple holes! Because today you are mounting from the floor!" He moved and walked around each student, checking their tack and taking notes on his paper, who had clean tack, who hadn't washed theirs and who had their keepers on, on their bridles. "Okay! Now you have done that! Put your left hand up to grab the reins and the front of the saddle, the right hand should guide your foot into the stirrup and then find itself at the back of the saddle! On three you will kick off the floor and swing your right leg over, making sure you move your right hand as you do so. You would be surprised at the amount of failures. If your saddle has slipped a little bit, that is fine. Once you have found your other stirrup put your weight into it until your saddle is level again. Do check your girths again! When you are ready you can warm up in open order!" He sat back down on the mounting block to observe and write notes.

---

Ivan Theodore Mallon
Luke Brown
Mikala Palakiko
Tara Macmillan

[Mikala Palakiko]

Mika whistled as he got Butch read for their dressage lesson, curling his nose at the warn stirrup leather on his dressage saddle and quickly pulled it off so that he could swap it over for a new one, and then did the same with the other leather, just so they were the same length, and when they were both ready, he led the horse from the barn.

Knowing what the brute of a horse was like, he pulled his stirrups down and swiftly mounted before heading down to the dressage arena, point taken, as the gelding began to move off before his rider was properly settled in the saddle. "I'm totally going to start mounting you with you tied up." He threatened the horse as he pushed his other foot into the stirrup as turned the Warmblood down the path to the arenas.

Arriving at the arena, he quirked an eyebrow as he leaned down to opened the gate, yielded his horse through the space he'd made and then latched the gate behind them. He was slightly amused that the instructor had chosen the mounting block as a seat. Though when things kicked off, it became clear why the man was sitting there, though a note to arrive to the class dismounted, would have been helpful!

"You do realise that none of us are new to riding, right?" He asked as he kicked his feet free of the stirrups, swung his leg over his horse's neck and slid to the ground. "But sure, I can mount from the ground." He grumbled as he walked around to the left side of his horse, since he'd dismounted on the offside, and went through the process of tightening the girth, which actually needed it, and put his foot in the stirrup. Rather than grabbing the front and back of the saddle as instructed, he held the reins and a good handful of mane half way up his gelding's neck and his right hand reached to grab the front of the saddle before he boosted himself up. "If you do ever teach beginner riders though, don't tell them to grab the front and back of the saddle." He swung his leg over and slid the foot into the stirrup, Butch already walking off. "Novice riders aren't that great in getting the girth up as tight as it needs to go, and because of this, all they'll end up doing is pulling the saddle over with them, unless you're going to hold their other stirrup." He gave a beaming smile as he reined the gelding in and backed him up before leaning down and seeing how many fingers he could slip under the girth. He straightened up again, deciding the girth would be fine until after the warm up, and squeezed the horse forward and headed to the track.

[Ivan Theodore Mallon]

Teddy hummed as he got Spice ready for dressage. He'd considered Avise, but to be honest, with a new instructor, he would rather have the steady, dependable gelding. It would let him get used to the teacher without also worrying about what silliness Avise could come up with.

After he'd finished grooming and tacking up the gelding, he buckled on his helmet and led the gelding out of the barn. Once in the sunlight, he vaulted into the saddle and asked the Warlander to walk on. Teddy pointed the horse in the direction of the dressage arena, not surprised to see Mika there already.

After working through the gate, latching it behind him, and then found a place to halt Spice. He was about to greet the instructor, but something about the man's face made the greeting die in his throat. This would be an interesting class, he figured. And then, when Mr. Fiordalis started the class, he raised an eyebrow. The man obviously hadn't figured out the culture of the school yet, if he expected everyone to walk their horses over to class. The rest of the rules weren't too crazy. Although he could see the talking back being an issue, with his fellow students.

And then, as if they weren't at a prestigious equestrian school, the guy decided to lecture them on mounting from the ground. He shrugged and dismounted, then leaned against Spice, waiting for the man to finish his 'inspection'. Once the man had done that, Teddy boosted himself back into the saddle easily and rolled his eyes, adopting a sarcastic tone and muttering under his breath. "Ta-da. It's almost like all of us here know the basics of riding. If we wanted easy things, we'd be in beginner English." And it seemed he wasn't the only one unimpressed by the lesson.

[Tara Macmillan]

Tara wore a gentle smirk on her lips as she went through the mechanical process of grooming and tacking up her beautiful mare. She loved dressage, it was one of her favourite activities, and of course she was absolutely bloody brilliant at it, because she was brilliant at everything, at least so far as she was concerned. Having adjusted the saddle to the correct position and tightened all the strapping and buckles which went with it, the blonde led her mare out into the autumn sunlight, hopping nimbly up into the saddle and making her leisurely way down to the dressage arena.

The new teacher wasn't as hot as she'd hoped, but you couldn't have everything, she supposed, and so she made her way through the gate with the ease of long practise, moving further into the arena and then turning back to face the teacher, because Tara might not be the most dedicated students, but she wasn't downright rude.

Unlike this teacher, clearly.

"Excuse me," the blonde began, in a tone which dripped with sugary sweetness but was nevertheless decidedly irritated. "I happen to have mounted from the ground for the last twelve years, including before I came down here; are you really going to make me get off and do it again?" She didn't see why she had to wait to be told to get on in any case; it wasn't as if she was going to stand any more risk of falling off just because no one was staring at her, and even if she had, it wouldn't have been the first time.

[Luke Brown]

Luke whistled cheerily as he tacked up; he was in a good mood. The weather was on the turn, which wasn't good; winter was coming, which was worse, and yet the boy was nevertheless happy. Maybe he was just naturally that way... maybe he had something to look forward to. Maybe it was a bit of both. Probably a bit of both, the dark-haired boy decided as he fastened the gelding's girth, looked over his work and then, with a nod to himself which pronounced a vague sense of satisfaction, he led the dapple grey out of his stall and down towards the dressage arena. Nodding to the instructor, he tightened the girth another couple of holes and went to slip his foot into the stirrup, at which point it was sweetly suggested to him that he might like to wait until the instructor gave permission. With an inward sigh, the boy relaxed a little. A please might have been nice.

And he might have been relatively new to riding compared to the rest of the class, but he was perfectly capable of getting onto a horse. Guide the foot into the stirrup - really? What, for people who had bad leg-eye coordination? Tangling one hand in the gelding's ample mane, Luke placed the other on the saddle and boosted himself up onto the horse's back, where he spent a moment in sorting himself out.

Right. Could they do some dressage now?

[Vincent Fiordalis]

Vincent was literally about to hand the lesson over to the first student he'd met. He looked at his list, who names a boy Mikala? Vincent took a deep breathe and then he spoke loudly and clearly. "If you are already mounted, so be it. Next time I want you all to be mounted to end this fuss." Vincent was about to growl his orders but thought against it he then explained himself. "As a new instructor, I will be doing some basics like mounting from the ground. This is just for me to see who is capable of things more than others. By doing this, I can see who might need a few more pointers or helpful criticism than others. Also, Mikala. I don't teach Novice's I teach people with potential. Lets clear that up." Glad he got that out the way he carried on. Vincent looked at his lesson plan still perched on the mounting block, he raised an eyebrow and took his pen and scribbled through the whole thing. He then stood up and put his clipboard facedown on the mounting block behind him. He had a new idea, speaking again loudly. "Today, we are going to do dressage movements. I will call a movement and one by one you will perform it to the best of your ability and if you don't know what it is you can speak amoung yourselves to get it right." He smiled slightly at his class of cocky young heads.

He then raised his hands and said carefully as not to damage anyones confidence or sensitivity to much. "If you have got spirs on and don't know how to use them properly. I will give you two minutes to remove them if you have them." He started to walk slowly along the line of students before speaking again. When the two minutes were up he spoke again, he crossed his arms across his stomach before speaking. "Now, I want you to warm up in open order. If you don't know what that is, it is where you don't follow the rider in front and you warm up doing your own figures and movements. Also! Before you start I want you to make sure you do activities and tasks that will engage your horse the most! Now you may start, remember the left to left rule."

[Mikala Palakiko]

Mika rolled his eyes and blew out a breath, he wasn't going to get anywhere with this dude, so he may as well save his breath. "It's Mika. Mee-kah" He said, he wasn't going to have another teacher muck his name up and make it sound girlie.

He rolled his eyes at the comment about dressage movements. "You don't say." He muttered as he leaned down to brush a bit of grass off his boot, his voice low enough for the person beside him to hear but not further than that, and the instructor was at the other end of the line. "Is that why this is a dressage class?" Part of him was tempted to ask if the man was always going to do this much talking while they all stood around, because if that was the case, he would arrive on foot the next time, as Butch was far from impressed at having had to stand still for so long and was beginning to paw at the sand in frustration.

He grinned when they were finally told they could move, and he squeezed the gelding forward, doing his best to remain seated while he tried to convince the horse that he really did just want to walk around for at least a couple of minutes.

[Ivan Theodore Mallon]

Teddy suppressed a smile as the man seemed to resign himself to the fact that his students would arrive mounted. He rolled his eyes as the teacher said he was using the mounting from the ground to test his riders - If that was the case, why not just ask them to do it? Instead of having the whole rigamarole with iffy instructions. But perhaps the teacher had his reasons.

He figured the class itself sounded interesting - Depending on the movements the teacher called, perhaps a less-fun version of Simon Says. But for now, he could focus on the warmup - He wasn't wearing spurs, although his parents had taught him how to use them properly. Spice didn't need spurs, especially in a class. Once they were released to begin their warmups, Teddy turned Spice in the opposite direction of Mika and had the gelding walk along the rail.

[Tara Macmillan]

Tara refrained from pointing out the difference between novices and people with no potential, though only because she was gradually coming to the conclusion that the less effort she put into this lesson, the more of her sanity she was likely to hang onto. Of course she didn't use spurs; she wasn't riding a racehorse here, and anyway, they would completely ruin the aesthetic of her lovely long boots on her lovely long legs. So, dressage movements. Wonderful. She'd managed to make it into the right class. By the sounds of it, that was about all that this instructor expected her to be capable of. So, perhaps she should just leave now?

Rolling her eyes dramatically at the idea that anyone could have lasted long at this school without knowing what open order was, the blonde nudged her grey onwards. Such fun...