Settling In

[Ida Clark]

Now, if she had felt nervous when she had arrived on campus, it was nothing compared to how she felt before her first class was due to start. Since her arrival, she had spent a small amount of time not only learning about the mares she would be working with, and the school's resident stallion, but she had also spent some time in the classroom, changing a few of the posters so they had clearer pictures of what they were - since posters tended to fade over time - and since it was a small group that she was working with, she had arranged the tables in a semi-circle, with a chair for her in the front centre, beside a whiteboard.

She'd also read the little information she had on each student, and done her best to match them with a mare she thought they would work well with, but that could all change after their lesson that day.

She greeted the student with a smile as they entered, and invited them to take a seat. When everyone had arrived, her smile deepened. "Good afternoon, and welcome to the class. I'm Miss Clark." She greeted warmly. "Just to make you all groan and hate me on our first class, I'd like you to introduce yourself, and let me know a little about your interests in horses, and anything else you think I might need to know. Once that's done, we'll get onto rules and other boring things. And then, the fun can start." She wasn't sure how much of a lesson this would be, and probably more of a get to know her students. Either way, it was essential for her to know the kids she was working with, and pair them up with the properly skilled mare, so that no one was out of their depth and uncomfortable.

Kekona Hanson
Maeve McKenna
Paige Wilson

[Kekona Hanson]

Since there was no horse that she needed to prepare for Equine Reproduction class, Kona just used the ten minutes of time to walk over to the Evening Primrose Barn, not hurrying but not dawdling either. She still made it with five minutes to spare and grinned at the teacher, then went to pick one of the few seats that had been arranged in a circle.

Once they were given their assignment, a not unexpected 'introduce yourself', Kona started thinking over how much to say. She decided to speak up first, and jumped right into it, "I'm Kekona, but I usually just go by Kona. My parents run a horseback adventure outpost, so I have a lot of experience with managing herds and adult horses, but not so much with the breeding part. I'm really excited to learn more about that, though!" She stopped herself there, not wanting to take up all the time.

[Maeve McKenna]

Maeve smiled brightly as she pulled on a clean t-shirt after her riding lesson and then after a quick check on Narcisus, she headed over to the Evening Primrose barn, not wanting to be late.

She smiled to the woman in the classroom and sat in one of the remaining seat and pulled out the sparkly Hello Kitty notebook she had for the class and a complete range of pens. She glanced around the room at the posters and wondered if she was well out of her depth here, with no prior experience of equine husbandry.

She sat up a little straighter as the woman got things started and she gave a disappointed sigh when they were asked to do introductions, but could also fully understand that the woman wanted to get to know them, this was pretty serious business. Which also left her feeling a little incompetent, as she had no horsey background. "Hi, I'm Maeve McKenna." She said with a bright smile. "I love horses... of course, because I guess I wouldn't be here if I didn't." She laughed nervously at herself. "Other than hanging out with a herd of Mustangs, and watching their foals, I really didn't have any hands on experience before arriving here. I love horses though, and I want to learn everything there is about them." She pressed her lips together and pushed on with a small shrug. "I want to learn everything, so that I can help the herd I grew up with if anything happens." She shrugged again as she lowered her head.

[Paige Wilson]

Paige hurried across the yard- she'd had to stop to brush a collection of leaves and twigs out of her hair, though she still had no idea how they'd got there, and that had delayed her enough to mean that she needed to rush if she was to make it on time. She paused to glance down at her watch as she entered the barn- yes; there was just enough time to make it, and she offered the teacher an apologetic smile as she settled down in her seat, hand hovering over the clasp of her bag for a moment before she moved it away. If she needed a pen, she was sure that Miss Clark would tell her.

Ugh, introductions. The bane of her life. The brunette really wasn't keen; she preferred to keep herself to herself, and to allow other people to do the same, but if she really had to then she supposed she'd better come up with something. She allowed the other two girls to go first of course, and spent most of the time in trying desperately to think of what she might say herself, but when it came to her turn, she still hadn't a clue. "Hi, I'm Paige. I grew up around horses, so I guess they've always been a part of my life..." She paused. Shrugged. "Looking forward to learning something new."

[Ida Clark]

Ida listened to each of the girls, giving them her complete attention, and mentally filing things away that she could work with as time went on. "It's lovely to meet you all." She said with a grin. "And I'm so excited to help each of you learn about the world of animal husbandry. The rules are pretty simplistic; listen to me and any other adults around the barn here at all times and don't do anything that will put any of the animals here, or yourselves in danger." She was sure that they were mature teenagers, and was going to treat them as such until given proof to do otherwise. "Now, we could spend our first day learning about the gestation period for horses, or even the reproductive system, but I thought it would be more fun to get to know the mares that you will each be working with, and the stallion we have in residence." Her smile widened, though her inner dialogue was hoping she had done the matching up properly. "Any questions before we head out to the girls?"