GroundWork

[Anastasie Chevalier]

Anastasie Chevalier led her large bay gelding into the field that she used as a classroom. Rubbing the gelding on the neck, she unclipped the lead rope from his baby blue rope halter and left him at liberty in the field while she headed off to collect the things that she needed for the clinic.

Entering the field again, she dropped what she had brought in with her on the ground and then sorted out the carrot sticks (in a range of colours) and cotton leads (in a range of colours) so that the sticks were all sitting nicely with a coiled lead on top of each one, not all of the leads matched the colour of the stick, but the co-ordinated nicely with them.

She headed back over to where the bay Standardbred was cropping contentedly on the short grass in the field. She laughed as she watched him flatten her ears as she got closer, hind hoof raising so that he was standing at rest and nostrils flaring as he eyed her. "Yeah, you try that with someone who doesn't know you." She said as she continued walking and placed her hand on his shoulder. "Yes my darling, I know your tricks." The gelding had done the same thing since she had started working with him, except at the start, the flattened ears and flared nostrils were more of a warning that he would bite until she had gained his confidence. She ran her hands over the gelding's back until she reached his dock and started scratching beside his dock, smiling as he lifted his tail up and too the side so that she could really get into the scratching. "You goof." She laughed as he turned his head to look at her, his chewing on the air as he lifted his top lip in a flehmen response, a horse in heaven.

She glanced over when she saw movement at the gate and grinned as she waved toward the boy and chestnut horse standing there. "Sorry bud." She said as she slapped her gelding's buttock. "Come on in, grab a lead and carrot stick from the ground and find yourself a space."

Calling:
@rory -- Beau
Becca Walsh -- Frye
@kyee -- Spider
@luka -- Quiz
Miranda Florin -- Cray
@daretodream -- Ratio
@olivia-- Barčinka
Othello Buskirk -- Harry
@samanthal -- Des

[Othello Buskirk]

Othello finished grooming Harry. He knew that they would only be doing ground work, but he refused to turn up to his very first clinic with a messy horse, as Ms Chevalier would be one of his teachers when classes started up in fall and he didn't want her to get the wrong idea of him.

Leading the horse out of the barn and around to the field where the clinics were to take place, he halted the large gelding at the gate as he saw a woman in the middle of the field with a bay horse who looked like he was thoroughly enjoying the woman's attention.

He felt his cheeks heat up when the woman spotted them and he suddenly felt like he had been spying on her. Walking into the field, he looked down at the selection of sticks and leads and picked up a dark green stick that was paired up with a hunter green rope. He then clicked his tongue and led the Suffolk Punch cross gelding across the field to a spot near the back corner. "I'm Othello Buskirk, though everyone calls me Leo, and this is Harry." He introduced himself and his horse as Harry snuffled at the pockets of the boy's shorts, trying to search out the treats that he knew were in there.

[Deleted]

Aurora finished running the brush over the mare's coat and the kissed the bay on the cheek. She was so used to Globe yanking and pulling at the ties when she was grooming him that the mare just astounded her with how quietly she stood. "I'll just put your things away." She said as she hurried back into the tack room and put the mare's pink grooming kit away in her locker and then hurried back out.

Clipping Beau's lead rope onto her halter, she removed the cross-ties and led the horse out to the field where the Natural Horsemanship class was held. She chewed on her lower lip as she walked toward the field, as when she had signed up for the clinics she had put down Globe's name. However with the sudden arrival of her new horse, she wanted to build up the bond with her.

Arriving at the field, she stood at the gate until the teacher turned toward them and looked at her with raised eyebrows. "Um... This is Beau. She just arrived yesterday. Is it ok if I use her for the class instead of Globe?" She knew that if she was told she needed to get the gelding, she would do so without another word, but when Ms Chevalier gave her a nod she gave a bright smile as she led the mare into the field. "Thank you so much!!"

Looking at the line-up of sticks and ropes on the ground she pressed her lips together and finally settled with a pink carrot stick and purple/pink blend lead. She then led the bay mare across the field, keeping space between the mare and their teacher's gelding and went to stand in the other back corner from where the one student in the field already was.

[Becca Walsh]

Becca brushed Frye down until his coat shone brightly. It was time for them to go to their first clinic of the summer, and Becca was a little bit nervous. Her Natural Horsemanship classes with Frye usually didn't go very well, and this was sure to be very similar. Once her gelding was as clean as he would get, she put on his green halter and matching nylon lead. Leading him down to the Natural Horsemanship Field, she greeted her teacher when she arrived, "Hello Ms, Chevalier!" The instructor had helped her with Frye before, and it had helped a lot. 

Walking over to the equipment that was laid out, she chose a dark green carrot stick and the lead that best matched it, which it was paired with. The two back corners had already been taken, which was unfortunate, since she would have preferred them. Instead, she chose a spot between the two other student, but moved up from the edge of the field a bit so that she was closer to Ms. Chevalier. 

Frye was awfully interested in the three other horses in the field, most of all in a mare that Becca didn't recognize that Aurora was with. Becca tried to distract him, and ended up scratching his ears while she waited for the clinic to start.

[Miranda Florin]

Miranda frowned at the mare as the black shifted away from the brush, "You know, I've introduced you to this before. You like being groomed." Despite her words, she held out the brush to the mare again, letting her remember what they had done more often than not. As Cray allowed her to begin grooming her coat, Miranda once again considered selling the mare. With her classes, and her work as a vet student, she couldn't give the mare the attention that she deserved anymore. She had basic saddle training already, and was much calmer than before, so Miranda hoped that she had more potential for a new home... She'd have to look into that, the girl decided.

Finally finished with grooming the mare, Miranda buckled on the bright red halter and then clipped the matching lead into place before opening the stall door, "Come on, then. We can't be late." Knowing of the mare's silly tendencies, Miranda had planned in plenty of time, and doubted that they actually would be late, but still, it got the cross-breed to step out of the stall.

Upon approaching the natural horsemanship field, Miranda saw that they weren't the first, but probably not the last either. She let herself into the gate, throwing Ms. Chevalier a grin and a wave, then bending to look at the equipment before selecting a pink stick and the red cotton rope that rested on it. She remembered how Ms. Chevalier had used the stick with Fingal, and hoped that Cray would react as well as the gelding had. She smiled at the other three students in the field, none of whom she knew too well, but she recognized two of the three from around the school. She didn't have too much trouble walking Cray towards the empty space, and had soon found a place towards the edge of the field, so that she would only have to worry about one neighbour as they worked during the class.

[Deleted]

Nina ran the last few strokes of the brush through Ratio's coat as the mare gave out a whinny when finished. The girl has noticed the Arabian's slight change in personality, suddenly the mare has been a bit frisky during training. She knew she has been letting on too easily for the horse, so she hoped some groundwork would help get them back into the swing of things. At first she thought about taking Hope, but these past two weeeks the horse has also been doing well, it was if the two horses switched personalities for this summer. Though she knew it was just the warm feeling of summer and how things change over break that's getting to them. The girl clipped on the Biege halter and lead and untied the cross ties that was holding the mare while she did a quick grooming session.

As the natural horsemanship field came to view, she noticed she was the fifth student to arrive. While upon entering through the gate into the field, she glanced around for anyone she knew. She knew most of the students currently here as she has seen them around campus, but hoped to maybe bump into them outside of the clinic and maybe get to know them more. She was kind of known to be a people person. Spotting Ms. Chevalier as they neared, she gave a light smile. "Hello, Ms. Chevalier." She spoke in a tone that wasn't too loud or too soft as she added in a wave. She looked over the equipment they were required to pick out and scanned through the colours. The mare nickered a bit impatient even through the girl just got started to observe. She gave a sigh and selected the blue carrot stick and corresponding cotton lead. She held the objects in her free hand as she used her other hand to lead the Arabian to a good spot on the field.

She glanced around and lead her horse to a spot near the edge of the field near the girl, Miranda, but still gave enough room for the both of them. Giving a light smile towards the girl in greeting she patted Ratio's neck, hoping she her antics today wouldn't distract the other students. She observed her surroundings as her hand kept a good grip on the lead rope to make sure the mare didn't get any ideas, but she knew the horse wasn't too crazy. Waiting for others to arrive almost seemed like forever, but she tried not to question it, as she did her best to wait patiently for the clinic to start.

[Deleted]

Deanna raced through her grooming, thanking her lucky stars that Spider hadn't managed to get very dirty since yesterday. She was almost running late for her first class and clinic at Blue Ridge. What a way to make an impression! Spider obediently lifted each hoof in turn as Deanna hastily checked for rocks and ran a hoof pick through. The big grey mare nudged Deanna as she unclipped her from the crossties and clipped a lead rope on.

As the pair approached the field that the clinic was being held in, Deanna quickly counted five other riders as well as who she assumed was the teacher. Quickly entering and shutting the gate behind her, Deanna led Spider towards the teacher and collected a pink stick and lead rope, seeing that everyone else had. Scanning the crowd of students, she recognized a few students she had seen around the barns and dorms. Deanna hadn't made any friends just yet seeing as classes were out for the summer time and she had only just arrived.

Remembering the teacher's name from the summer clinic sign up sheet, Deanna introduced herself. "Hello Ms. Chevalier. My name is Deanna, I'll be taking a class with you during the school year." With a shy smile and nod, she excused herself to carefully lead Spider towards a safe area in the field, a rider and horse pair on either side of her.

[Deleted]

Luka ran a soft brush over Quiz's coat, wiping away the last of the dust that the gelding had accumulated, and then dropped the brush into the bucket. He left the stall that he had been grooming the gelding in, heading towards the tack room. After he had dropped off the box that held his grooming kit, he returned, grabbing Quiz's mahogany-brown halter off of the hook to the side of the stall, "Hierher." As the gelding lowered his head over the stall's door, Luka buckled on the nylon halter, rubbing the gelding's pure white star, then unlatched the stall door, opening it wide enough to let the gypsy gelding out, "Na komm."

As they approached the field where the Natural Horsemanship classes, and thus the clinic, were held, Luka considered what they might be working on today. He had signed up for the class more in the hopes of working with Quiz in a class setting as the summer went on than in righting any specific behaviour. As they entered the field, Luka saw a pile of carrot sticks and ropes, and moved to grab one of each, taking a brown lead rope and a dark green stick. With a polite, but silent, smile at the teacher, they moved off, finding a space with enough room for them to work.

[Deleted]

Olivia forwent cleaning out the mare's hooves, as that was an ordeal that she didn't want to deal with at the moment. The mare would probably be stressed out more than enough soon, if previous classes were anything to go by, and the sophomore knew that a surefire way to key the mare up before anything started was to require anything that involved holding on to her legs. So, at the risk of getting a talking to about not having her mare perfectly turned out, as the hooves were the only thing that hadn't been cleaned, Olivia found Barcinka's lead rope and proceeded to lead the Czechoslovakian mare out of the barn.

As they reached the Natural Horsemanship field, Olivia briefly counted the people that had arrived before her, frowning as the number exceeded five already. She had hoped to be early and speak to Ms. Chevalier about some more ideas about how to handle the mare's leg issues, but it seemed that she would have to wait until after class instead. Following a blond-haired boy into the field, she copied his movements, picking up a lime-green stick which she didn't know the technical name for, and a mottled-looking green lead rope, both of which she carried in one hand as she moved to find a place to begin.

[Deleted]

Sam ran her hands over the Cob's coat once more after she had finished grooming him, checking for any sores or lumps. Since Des seemed all good to go, she returned the last of her grooming supplies to the tack room and grabbed the matching yellow halter and lead. When she returned to Des' stall she noticed that he had been tossing his hay around in the stall so that he had some in his forelock. The teenager grinned and ran her fingers through, getting any loose strands of hay out and slipped on his halter. She let out a deep breath, feeling a bit nervous for the clinic. Although she trusted Des, Sam didn't necessarily trust herself as much.

The pair made their way over to the natural horsemanship field quickly, knowing that grooming took a bit longer than planned. Sam frowned a bit as she noticed that they were one of the last people to show up. She bit the inside of her lip as she grabbed a light blue carrot stick and matching lead then found an open spot for the pair to work. From where they stood, Sam eyeballed other faces, trying to see who she could put a name to, only to find out that she wasn't particularly great at it at the moment. With a heavy sigh, she rubbed the horse's neck softly until instructions were given.

[Anastasie Chevalier]

Ana smiled and greeted each student who entered, making note of the two new students and when a majority of the students had arrived, she knew that if they waited any longer, she wouldn't get through what she wanted to cover that day. Turning on her cordless mic, she stepped forward and spoke "Welcome to your first clinic. I'm Ms Chevalier and this big brute here is Cedar. He's not as nasty as he may try and convince you that he is, but I just ask that you all keep your distance from him." She stepped away from the gelding, walked over to the left over carrot sticks and ropes and then returned to where the gelding was still standing.

"When you all arrived, you picked up a cotton lead, I would like for you now to swap the current lead your equine friend is wearing for the longer one. I don't want to hear any protests about you being worried you might loose control of your friend without the short lead, just do as you are asked." If she'd had the supplies, she would have supplied a rope halter for everyone as well. She paused while they followed her instructions. "Today, we are going to play games with our equine friends. The technical name for what we are going to do is called The Parelli Seven Games. Some of you may have heard of them, but I can guarantee that all of you already play them." She clipped the blue lead she was holding onto Cedar's rope halter.

"The first game we are going to play is called the Friendly Game. It's called that because you have to smile while you play it. This one, is, without a doubt, the most important of the Seven Games. You need to play it with your horse first, before anything else, and then you need to continue to play it before, during and after each of the other Seven Games. Play it from the tip of your horse’s ears, inside his mouth, down all his legs to the end of his tail. There is no part of your horse’s body you should not be able to be friendly with." She looked at her gelding, who was standing out of reach and she did no more than lift her head and arch his eyebrows and the horse lowered his head and closed the space between them. "You see, I didn't have to talk to him, nor did he walk over me when he walked up. These are a couple of things you will be able to do by the end of today." She rubbed the gelding on the forehead, her hand moved in a circular motion not a thumping pat.

"I want you to hold the rope a good three feet away from the snap, don't question it, just trust me, then I was you to start by rubbing you horse in a pleasurable way wherever the horse will allow you. Begin with these areas and gradually move to the ones they feel more defensive about. These are the “Wait a minute! I don’t know you that well yet!” spots. Take note of those areas and use them to measure how far you are progressing. If you have areas where your horse is really, really defensive about; a gelding's shaft or the udder of a mare, this is why you have a carrot stick." She stepped back from Cedar and held the stick up so that everyone could see it. "This is an extension of your arm." She used the carrot stick to rub the top of the inside of the bay's hind leg. "Cedar here is terrified of whips, but he quickly learned the difference between this and a whip." She gave a smile to each of the students. "Another thing that you all need to think about is ignoring bad behaviour and rewarding good. If you horse kicks out when you are touching an area that they aren't liking, don't swat them as it just proves to them that they don't want you near that area. Instead, go back to an area that your horse loves. For example, when I first started working with him, he wouldn't allow me to touch his ears, but I discovered that he loves having the inside of his top lip tickled, to his mouth is his go-to spot for me if I find anywhere he doesn't like me to touch."

Calling:
@rory -- Beau
Becca Walsh -- Frye
@cmr -- Brody
@kyee -- Spider
@luka -- Quiz
Miranda Florin -- Cray
@daretodream -- Ratio
@olivia-- Barčinka
Othello Buskirk -- Harry
@warrie -- Angel
@samanthal -- Des

Just a footnote for Running, if you post Chase and make a huge fuss about him being late, I am going to delete the post and he will be kicked out of the clinic. You will slot yourself in at the end of the posting order and post as though he arrived with everyone else, just make up the missed post by mentioning the colour of the stick and rope set he selected.

[Othello Buskirk]

While he waited for other students to arrive, and he didn't have to wait too long at all, he stood there inspecting the rope and stick that he was holding. The boy was now regretting the fact that he didn't do any research on natural horsemanship the night before on his computer, because at least that way he would at least have some idea on why the stick was called a carrot. As he waited for the woman to begin he busied himself with smoothing out Harry's coat and making sure that all of the gelding's mane was falling onto the same side of his neck.

As the woman began to lesson... clinic.. he listened carefully and swapped the gelding's lead for the one that he had picked up when he had entered. It wasn't in him to question an adult. He then listened as she explained what they would be doing that day and his eyebrows rose as he watched her horse just walk up to her, but not too close, from just a movement of her head, and the idea that he could have that same communication with Harry made him pleased that he had signed up for the clinic. He could now see how useful the stick would be in teaching a horse that his handler could touch him anywhere he liked.

Othello began to run his hands over the gelding, learning where Harry really like to have rubbed and the places he wasn't so happy about. Leo thought he'd had a good relationship with his horse, but only now was he really learning more about his horse than he had ever thought. As he ran his hand down over the gelding's flanks and toward the back of his thigh, Harry's stance instantly changed, and as the boy got to the back of his leg, the gelding clamped his tail down, telling the boy he no longer like what was happening, and when Leo didn't retreat, Harry swished his tail in annoyance, catching the boy with the end of it in a whip-like reflex. "Easy, boy." Harry whispered as he did retreat and went back to rubbing the gelding's neck.

[Deleted]

Rory stood at the back of the field, ignoring everything else, as she swapped over the short lead she had brought the mare into the arena with, for the longer one that she had selected. She uncoiled the string from the carrot stick and had a good look at it, thinking of what it might be used for.

When Ms Chevalier began the session, Rory gave the woman her completed attention and inhaled every word that left the woman's mouth. Although she was sceptical at first about the idea of already playing these games, as the woman began to talk about the first game, Rory could see that yes, to a degree, it was something she already did with the horses that she worked with.

She then started to run her hands over the mare's body, making sure to keep a smile on her own face as she rubbed the mare's body. She went all over, around and under the mare with her hands, an no matter where her hands were, the mare didn't change how she was standing, other than lowering her head even more and sighing. "Sorry girl, are you bored?" She asked the mare, a little concerned that she was boring the beautifully calm mare.

[Becca Walsh]

Becca watched the field fill with other students, glad that she'd gotten there early so that she could choose a spot that she liked. Her attention turned to Ms. Chevalier as the woman started the clinic. She'd been pretty skeptical when she'd first started taking the woman's classes, but now she held a great amount of respect for the woman, and trusted the woman ti help her with her horse, no matter how difficult Frye was.

Nevertheless, Becca was still a bit nervous switching out Frye's short lead for the long one she'd picked up on the way in. Now with more freedom Frye took a couple of steps away from Becca, but didn't stray very far. She was interested in these games that Ms. Chevalier spoke of, and became a bit worried when she head about the Friendly Game. She and Frye were not always on the friendliest of terms, and there were a lot of parts of Frye that she couldn't be too friendly with. 

Ms. Chevalier's claim that she would be able to perform what the instructor had just done with Cedar with Frye worried her a bit, as she didn't have a whole lot of faith in that happening. She then listened to the rest of the instructions, knowing that this would be a long process for her and Frye, and she'd surely be working on it more with him after today. She didn't think that there was anywhere that Frye particularly liked being touched, but hopefully she'd be able to find a spot to got to after she touched a place he didn't like so much.

When Ms. Chevalier finished speaking, Becca moved her hand lack on the lead so that it was three feet from where it connected to Frye's halter, and began her task. From grooming him, Becca knew that Frye didn't mind being touched on his neck, the top of his back, his haunches, and his front legs. He did, however, hate having his face, stomach, and back legs touched. She started running her hands down his neck, and the gelding didn't respond much, so she continued over the top of his back and over his barrel. He didn't like his barrel as much, but tolerated it, so she moved back up his back and to his withers, where she rubbed for a moment. Frye actually seemed to enjoy this, so she figured she'd found one of his spots.

Running her hands down his front legs, he ignored her, and she continued to his belly, at which point he pinned his ears and turned his head to glare at her. Returning to his withers, she rubbed him there for a while before going back to his tummy and slowly rubbing over it. Frye still was not thrilled, but didn't seem as angry. She took note to work with him more here, but continued to his haunches, and cautiously made her way down his hind legs. Frye often tried to kick her when she put on his boots or wrapped him, and she was always very cautious around them. Sure enough, the gelding raised his hind leg in warning, an she quickly returned to his withers and stayed there for a while, running her fingers through the thin mane there.

[Deleted]

Nina gave a glance to the other few people arriving. She gave a grin to anyone who made eye contact along with her. She was kind of glad to have arrived somewhat in the middle, so she wasn't considered being late, although she wasn't early either. She rubbed Ratio's nose as the horse lowered her head in a sort of impatient and bored mood. Letting out a sigh, she heard Ms. Chevalier start the clinic and give them more information of what they will be doing.

She listened as the women told them to switch their current lead for the cotton lead they picked up when they arrived. Not questioning the instructions, she did as she was told as the girl swapped the leads and listened for the next pair of instructions. She was amazed at how Ms. Cehvalier had asked the horse to close the space between them without any talk, just by movement of her head. Now she was glad she signed up for the clinic to learn something much more easier and quite fascinating. She gave a short nod of her head in understanding of the women's directions about the carrot stick and all.

The girl held rope a good three feet away from the snap as she started to run her hand over the mare's body to figure out the places Ratio loved and despised as she was told to be doing. As she reached the back legs of the Arabian, the horse instantly perked her ears up and seemed to be eying her handler. Ratio gave a snort in annoyance as she lifted her back leg that the girl was touching and almost let out a tiny kick. She glanced back at her as she went back to one of the mare's favorite spots. "Alright, calm down, girl." She knew for now that the one spot is where they need more work on.