Laying a Foundation

[Peter Solomon]

Peter pulled up his favourite chair in the Evening Primrose barn's classroom, a stuffed chair that sat under one of the windows. He was looking forward to starting the class again for the year, since he had much more of an idea of what he was doing this year. He had already impregnated about half of the mares that would be this year's subjects, and the other half was split into two more groups. He couldn't wait to let the students start getting to know their mares, but before he could do that, he had to set down some basic rules for everyone.

Leaning against the arm of the chair, still standing, Peter watched the door to the classroom, welcoming students as they entered and gesturing for them to sit down in the assortment of chairs, although he held off introducing himself until class officially started, "Good afternoon, everyone. For those of you that don't know, I'm Sir Solomon, your teacher for Equine Reproduction, and I also serve as the barn manager for the Evening Primrose barn." He paused, looking at everyone, "We're going to be in here for a while, so if you'd like, grab a drink." He pointed at the fridge, which he had restocked just for the class. As those that took him up on his offer moved, he nodded, then slowly sat in his chair, smiling at the circle of students. There wasn't a need for formality with a small class, and they'd be able to hear him just as well from his seat.

"Okay, now, today is a lot of me talking, so please bear with me. Most of our classes we'll be out with the mares, although we will always meet here unless I tell you otherwise. This classroom is always open for you, even outside of class, if you need a place to do homework, just get away, whatever, as long as you don't do anything stupid. The fridge should always at least have water, and sometimes I'll stock it up, although if you go through everything, don't expect it to magically refill itself the next day." He paused, looking at all of the students, then continued on to the actual rules, "Firstly, these horses are not yours. You are allowed to work with them as you see fit, provided it doesn't injure them, but if I or any of the other staff say step back, you will. When you're working in the barn, you will be respectfully quiet and calm, or you will be asked to step outside. The mares may be ridden in our arena, up until they seem not to want to anymore. Their tack is stored in the tack room, under their registered names, which you will find out today as well. If you want to ride them outside of the arena, you must ask my permission beforehand, for each individual incident."

Smiling, he shifted in his seat, "Anyway, I'll get off of the soapbox now. Does anyone have any questions before we meet the mares?"

@alec
@jennap
@lukamason
@olivia
Othello Buskirk

[Othello Buskirk]

If he hadn't been so tired, Othello would have bounced his way toward his next class... well, he would have bounced until he arrived at Evening Primrose anyway. Entering the barn, he walked down to the classroom and entered the room. He smiled toward the teacher as he slipped the cap off his head and slid into one of the chairs.

When the it seemed that everyone was here and the man began speaking, he smiled as they were invited to help themselves to a drink from the fridge and the boy pulled a bottle of energy drink from his bag. He nodded as their teacher continued, everything he said made perfect sense. He looked around the room, and made a mental note that this could be a hidey hole of he needed it.

When they were asked if anyone had any questions, the boy rose his hand slowly. "When we are outside, I like to keep my head covered. Is it alright that I wear a cap during class time?" He knew that some teachers had issues with caps, but none of his were messy or covered with things that couldn't be seen by his grandparents. He would speak with the man after class and explain a little more about why he needed to keep his head covered when outside, but now wasn't the time for that.

[Deleted]

Olivia left the cafeteria slightly early, in the hopes of securing a good seat in the classroom. Who would have guessed that there was a classroom in the barn? Not her, certainly. She had signed up for Equine Reproduction in the hopes of seeing the differences between breeding horses and breeding dogs, since she had experience with the latter. She almost walked past the classroom, looking for a normal door, before she saw that it was in the middle of the barn, with the typical stall doors still in place. Grinning at this, she entered, looking around at the armchairs before sitting down on one with a plaid green pattern.

As they were offered a drink from the fridge, she shook her head, having had her fill at lunch. She listened to Sir Solomon's introduction, and his list of rules, which while they were thrown at them in a straightforward manner, weren't terribly unsensible. Most of them were common sense, while others she could see being put into place. As they were asked about questions, she shook her head, although she glanced around at those that did ask questions, interested in hearing the teacher's response to all of them.

[Deleted]

Luka had only been at the college for a few days, settling in as best he could, and he was still waiting for his beloved mare to arrive at the College. She wasn't the best traveler, and he would be going home on a weekend to work with her and loading her into a trailer, hopefully having her at the Academy by next week. Slinging his satchel on his shoulder, he jogged down to the Evening Primrose barn, Bruno running next to him. Bruno, heel, he told the quietly as they reached the barn, slowing down to a walk and smiling.

Curious mares stuck their heads over stall doors and Luka smiled, petting one or two as he passed. He found the classroom easily enough, and pulled a letter from his satchel, handing it to his teacher before sitting down in front of the class. With a quiet word to Bruno, the dog lay down next to the desk, resting his head on his paws as he observed the class.

As Sir Solomon talked, Luka focusing intently on his lips and facial movements as he read the teachers lips. The letter he had placed on the desk explained his situation perfectly, but he would talk to the teacher when the class was finished. He could keep up easily enough, with a lot of hard work after class.

When the teacher had finished talking, he frowned slightly, glancing to his side to see if anyone else was asking a question, seeing that one of his classmates was, he raised his own hand, to ask his own.

[Peter Solomon]

Peter smiled at each of the three students as they entered, then glanced at his clock, frowning with displeasure as only half of his students arrived. He would have to speak to the others about punctuality, assuming that they showed up at all. As he talked, he slit open the letter that had been given to him by the student with the dog. As he waited for the students to grab drinks if they wanted, he scanned it, then looked over at the boy, Luka, and nodded. He would have to modify his style a bit, but then, he would do his best to help out this kid.

As he received questions, he answered them, nodding at the dark-skinned male, and restating the question as he answered it, "I'm fine with anyone that wants to wear their hat when we're outside in the sunlight. Your mares shouldn't have an issue with it, I have yet to see any of them with issues, but if by a strange chance you do, let me know and we'll see what we can do to work it out." He turned to Luka, who had raised his hand and looked like he had a question, "Yes, Luka?"

[Othello Buskirk]

Othello smiled and nodded at the man's reply. "If the mare I am working with turns out to have a problem with the cap, I don't mind going without." He said. After all, these mares were going through enough to have to learn how to deal with a spooky object too.

He turned slightly in his seat to face the other boy that their teacher had called upon. His eyes dropped down to the canine at Luka's side, and as much as he wanted to question the boy about the dog, but this wasn't the time or place. And it seemed that every time he saw Luka it was never the time nor the place to talk to him about it.

Leo leaned over and opened his bag. Shifting through the items in the bag, he finally found what he was looking for, a small bag of jellybeans, and dropping a couple in his hand he popped them in his mouth. If called upon by the teacher, he had no problem in sharing the sweets with the rest of the class.

[Deleted]

Olivia leaned back against the comfortable armchairs as she listened to the other student's question, watching the teacher as she listened, trying to gauge what kind of person he was. There was the whole thing with the 'sir', which was slightly odd, but the way he had said it, it hadn't seemed like he was really aware of it, just something that he said. His accent was vaguely British, if Olivia guessed correctly, although it might easily have been something else, as she had never been great at placing voices and inflections.

Turning her attention to the 'classroom' as she waited to hear the other boy's question, the boy with the service dog, she examined the walls, taking in the general grasp of the posters, although she couldn't quite read the finer print that explained what the posters were representing. She had noticed a few dogs around campus that she wanted to know more about, seeing as her mother had a working dog too, and while she couldn't care less about what caused the people to have service dogs (or at least she told herself she couldn't), she really was interested in how they had been trained, although she would have to ask at a different time.

[Deleted]

Luka knew he had been called on when Bruno alerted him, a simple tug on his jeans. Looking at Mr. Solomon, he lowered his hand, and smiled slightly. Will the mare's be okay with a dog? I know that some can be a little antsy, especially one's with foals, and I don't want to cause any trouble, he said with a small smile, his hand resting on Bruno's head.

It was slightly more difficult for him without a service dog, but he managed. It was strange how dependent he had become of his companion, but Bruno was also his friend. The dog was a calming presence for him, especially on days when he was frustrated, or things weren't going as planned. While he wasn't keen on not having his ears with him, if it was necessary, he would have to leave the dog in the class.

[Deleted]

Ekaterina walked around trying to find the primrose barn. She knew she had passed by two barns at least two times. She finally grabbed her purse and tried to find the map. Ekaterina cursed in Russian as she couldn't find it. She tried finding it again. She almost gave a yell of triumph as she finally found the map. Ekaterina unfolded it and followed the directions. She finally found the primrose barn. Now all she had to do was find the classroom where the rest of her peers and teacher were in. She found a door and opened it cautiously hoping to not disturb anyone. 

Ekaterina glanced around hoping she was in the right class room. It looked like she was. Ekaterina knew she was late but she wasn't how late she was. She hoped she wouldn't get in trouble for being late or get a detention. That would just be wonderful. She thought sarcastically. The class was relatively small. Only one girl was in the classroom besides Ekaterina. Ekaterina saw a a dog next to one of the boys also in the class room. Maybe the dog was a spanial or it looked like a spaniel anyway. 

Ekaterina assumed she had missed most of the introduction the teacher gave the class trying to find the darn class room. Ekaterina hoped it wouldn't be that hard to find her next class or to find the Equine Reproduction class room again. She had signed up for Equine Reproduction because it sounded fun and sounded like something She would enjoy. 

[Peter Solomon]

Peter nodded as he heard Othello's pragmatic response, "We shouldn't be out too long anyway, and if we do arena work, you can just make sure to stand in the shade. If you want to work with your mare, you can always just bring her in as well." He wasn't planning on doing too much out in the large pastures, so even if the mare did prove problematic with the male's caps, he wouldn't worry.

As he heard Luka's question, he nodded, "The mares in general, I can't guarantee, but the mare you are assigned to should be fine, although I would suggest making sure to get her comfortable around your dog before she foals just in case."

With that, he rose, "What do you say we go meet the mares? I'll call you one at a time and introduce you, as well as give you a little bit of information on the mare you will be working with. After that, you have the rest of the hour to get to know them a bit, although I do ask that you don't take them out today, at least during class time. Afterwards, whatever you feel like doing, go for it, or ask first if you're unsure." He looked at Luka, "You're up first."

He was interrupted by the entrance of a girl. He glanced at her, still standing, then said, "Thank you for gracing us with your presence today. Sit down and I'll come clear up what we talked about after I get those that were on time started."

With that, he ignored the girl and led Luka out towards the aisle and walked down to where the only amber champagne mare in the barn resided. Leaning against the stall door, situating himself that he was looking at Luka, he spoke, "This is Suede, or Suede Diamonds. She is a six-year-old Tennessee Walking Horse and has been bred once before." He paused, thinking, "I'll get you a printed sheet of paper with all of her info by the end of class, too." Now that he thought of it, it might be a good thing for all of the students to have a hard copy of their mare's information. Perhaps he would do just that while they visited. "If you have any questions, feel free to get my attention."

Leaving the boy and the mare, he returned to the classroom, "Othello?" After the dark-skinned male had joined him, he led the way towards a black Arabian's stall, "This is Memo, or Battle of Memories. She is a thirteen-year-old Arabian mare. Be careful around her, she'll test you until you prove that she can't get away with anything."

He returned to collect his last punctual student, again noting to talk to those students that had been absent, because that wasn't acceptable, especially for this class. As Olivia came out of the classroom, he led her towards one of the smallest mares, "Olivia, meet Papillon, or Chasing Dasies. She's a sweetheart Dartmoor pony, so I don't expect any trouble."

Returning to the class, he looked at the girl, "You'll get the rough run-down of the rules, although next time, I suggest you arrive on time, unless you'd like to spend your mornings and evenings mucking out stalls. Now, your mare that you will be assigned with is not yours. You are allowed to work with her as you see fit, provided it doesn't injure her, but if I or any of the other staff say step back, you will. When you're working in the barn, you will be respectfully quiet and calm, or you will be asked to step outside. You can ride your mare in our arena, up until she seems not to want to anymore. Her tack is stored in the tack room, under Biological Daydream. If you want to ride her outside of the arena, you must ask my permission beforehand, for each individual incident."

Finishing the rundown, he stepped towards the door, "And if you'll follow me, I'll introduce you to your mare." He led the girl towards the blue roan's stall, "This is Bio, she's rather sweet, so hopefully nothing will go wrong for you two. You have the rest of the class to get to know her, although she will stay in her stall for this period."

Leaving the students with a quick word on where to find him if they couldn't see him, pointing to his office, Peter walked in and unlocked his computer, sitting down to type up the informational reports that he planned on giving to each of his students now. Soon enough, the printer was whirring away, not only with the mares' information, but also with the stallion they were bred to, or would be bred to. He returned to the barn to pass out the papers at the end of the hour, letting each student know they were free to go when they wished.

OOC;: And with that 800+ word post, kudos if you read it all, this is the end of the class, unless your characters have questions. Woo short class posts, keep an eye for the next one.

[Othello Buskirk]

Othello nodded his head at the idea of meeting their assigned mares. He pushed his cap into his backpack as he waited for the barn manager to take Luka out first. Then, when he heard his name, he rose to his feet, followed the man out to the stalls and down to the stall of a black Arabian mare. "Thank you." He said with a grin as he looked at the horse, taking in to mind about him having to be careful and her testing him.

"Hello, beautiful." He said softly as he stepped up to the door, and stepped back quickly as the mare's head came up, ears flat and snaked her neck around. "No!" He said firmly, not raising his voice, but making it firm enough to reprimand the moody mare. He would like to put it down to her being pregnant, but from the man's words, he got the feeling that she was like this all the time.

Leaving the stall, he made his way to the tack room, found her grooming kit, along with some alfalfa cubes out of a barrel marked treats, and returned to the stall. "Back you go." He said as he grabbed her halter and lead, swinging the rope in her direction as he opened the door and stepped in. "Quit it!" He didn't believe in hitting horses on the nose, even if the horses were biters, so he kept swinging the rope so that if she got too close, she got a quick reprimand by the swinging rope.

He stepped up to the mare's shoulder and quickly put the halter over her nose, with only a little battle as the mare was obviously used to be handled by shorter people, and her putting her head into the air didn't put her out of his six feet. "Good girl." He praised softly as he fastened the poll strap and rubbed her forehead. "Here you go." He pulled some of the cubes out of his pocket and offered them to the mare for standing nicely. "You want some more of those, you behave yourself." He wouldn't over treat the mare, but he was a firm believer on rewarding good behaviour, especially if the mare was going to be a nasty... cow.

[Deleted]

Olivia grinned as she heard her name being called, even though she was the last of the students that had been on time to be called. As she left the classroom, she took a moment to be thankful that she had been on time, because otherwise, it might just have been her in there. She followed Sir Solomon towards her mare's stall, smiling as she looked in on the dainty Dartmoor, "Thanks, Sir Solomon." She reached out a hand to the mare as she heard that Papillon was sweet, "Hey girl. We're going to work together from now on."

She left the mare where she was and went in search of the tack room, finding it relatively easily. She located the mare's tack and equipment and decided she might as well spend the rest of the hour grooming the mare and getting to know her sweet spots. Returning to Papillon's stall, she gave the mare a piece of carrot that she had found, then haltered her, although she had left the lead rope in the tack room, before she pulled out a curry comb and started running over the mare's coat.

Before too long, the hour had been spent, and she had more information about the pony in her backpack. She left the mare in her stall with a promise to come back after the other classes were broken up, then returned to the classroom to pick up her bag before leaving the barn and moving on towards her next class.