Lions and Tigers and Bears, oh my!

[Bruce Ropata]

Bruce had had no idea what was running through his head when he accepted the challenge to take on a class, as well as his mounted games group, and now he was standing in his arena with a whole lot of different gear out of the shed and was busy tweaking different parts of the equipment that he had been busy striding out - and because his horse was going to be a giant compared to the students' horses, he'd really have to keep the gelding's stride as small as possible when he demonstrated the pattern. Happy with how it looked, he folded the paper he was holding and shoved it into his pocket.

After a quick check on Monty, who was half asleep in the yard he had been put in, the man chuckled and went to tack an enlarged picture of the pattern onto the easel he'd set up just outside of the arena, so the kids could get a mental picture of what would be asked of them before they started and while they waited their turn. It was simple enough, and the end of the day so their horses would either already be warmed up or wouldn't need too much, and this pattern wasn't going to over-exert them in any way.

"Come on in and get your horses used to the arena, and what's in it." He greeted the students. "All I ask is that you don't take them through any aspect of the pattern until we've run through it as a group." And while they did this, it would give him a chance to tack Monty up.

Students:
Ben Ayers
Caspian Collins
Jessamine Smith
Mikala Palakiko
Piper Wilson

[Caspian Collins]

Cass yawned as he leaned over and scratched Slick's neck. The day hadn't really been too full-on, it had just been busy, and he'd done so much walking that his leg was aching. As it was his last class for the day, he was so tempted to remove his prosthetic, but then it might make other people uncomfortable, so he just decided to grin and bear it.

Getting to the arena he was supposed to be at, he nodded to the instruction given and rode his horse into the arena. Slick was as good as being bombproof, so he really didn't see the point of going through the motions of showing the stuff in there to the horse, so he just walked the Mustang around the half of the arena that didn't have equipment in it.

[Mikala Palakiko]

Mika knew that he could be pushing it to make it to the next class on time, but between one class and the next, he untacked Butch and gave the horse a thorough rubdown before he tacked him up in his close contact saddle, only once he was tacked up again did the boy realised that he actually had a bit of time to spare still, their previous instructor must have let them out slightly early.

Mounting up, he squeezed the Warmblood forward and they headed toward the arena where they were due. He nodded to the instruction and they entered the arena, letting Butch stretch out long and low as they moved around the half of the arena that that pattern wasn't set in.

[Ben Ayers]

Ben left the barn with Rowan and then mounted, letting the gelding walk the pair of them to the trail arena. He could see the course set up in it before he even opened the gate. After getting his instructions, he nodded and took a brief moment to glance over where everyone else was, before he joined the other two boys in the empty half of the arena.

[Jessamine Smith]

Jessa was glad that Zohariel was relatively clean, even though he lived in the pastures. Sure, he had a mud spot on his flank that she'd tried a cursory brushing on, but that wouldn't affect his ability to do trail class. They headed for the arena and she mounted before they entered the arena. She smiled at Mr. Ropata and then, instead of taking off to join the boys, let Zo walk around the course (around the edge) and get a good look at everything. He was used to trail classes, sure, but one never knew if this pole was going to bite.