Borrowing the Wings we Lack

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Cora led Fin out to the jumping ring that she had chosen earlier for her first show jumping class. She had set up a course in it that had jumps set up in a course, 2’6” in height or lower. She would start small with her class and hopefully move up as they progressed in the year. Today she was also bringing Fin with her so that she could be on horseback while teaching. She had not done it at all in her hunter class the year before, but it was something that she would try out this year. This would enable her to demonstrate the course before the students did it. If she didn’t like it, she’d just leave Fin next time, but she really hoped it would work out, and then she’d bring horses to both of her classes.

Having arrived at the ring, Cora opened the gate and closed it behind her before mounting Fin. She held a clipboard and pen in one hand and Fin’s reins in the other as she waited for her students to arrive. As each student entered, she instructed them to warm up their mounts. She’d warmed up Fin earlier, but she kept him walking to keep him moving.

When it came time for class to start, she stopped Fin in the center and called her students around her. When they had gathered, she began. “Hello, my name is Ms. Addison and I will be your Show Jumping instructor. Some of you may know me already since I also teach the Hunter/Jumper class here. We will be covering a lot this year, and I expect that all of us will make great progress with our equine companion in this discipline. Let’s start by making some introductions. I would like for each of you to tell me your name, your horse’s name, and your experience in show jumping. I will start. You already know my name, Ms. Addison, and my friend here is Finegal, or Fin. Fin and I are both very experienced in show jumping and we hope to share our knowledge with you. I have been jumping for many years, and I have spent most of my time working in the discipline with Fin. You may also see me around with my other gelding Remi, who is a hunter.” She looked to the first student to her left, who was Rose from her Hunter/Jumper class, and nodded to her to begin.

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[Rose Hoff]

Rose tucked her hair into her Charles Owen and pulled on her gloves before bridling Eleanor. It was their first show jumping class of the year and she was hoping that it would go well. It was their most crowded class which put Eleanor on edge, and Rose hoped that she could hold the mare together. When she was ready, she pet Eleanor on the neck and led her out to the jumping rings. She quickly found the ring where their class would be held and entered, closing the gate behind her.

Smiling at Ms. Addison, she followed instructions and mounted, tightening her girth once more before she began to warm up. She was glad to see the familiar instructor and she’d been pleased to hear that Ms. Addison would be taking the position. It was much better than getting used to a whole new instructor. Since she was the first one there, she had a couple minutes of freedom warming up, and did some circles with Eleanor, trying to loosen her up and get the nerves out. When the mare was more relaxed, she cantered her a little bit, but brought her back to the trot and avoided other horses when the ring began to fill up.

When they were called into the center, Rose walked Eleanor to where Ms. Addison stood with her gelding to listen to the introduction. It was the first day of classes, so they would have to introduce themselves, which Rose didn’t like very much, but just did. The instructor gestured for her to go first, so Rose spoke up. ”Hello, my name is Rose Hoff. My mare is To the Nines, or Eleanor. I have been show jumping for quite a while, almost since I started riding when I was very young, though I’ve been competing in it more since I’ve gotten Eleanor.”

[Becca Walsh]

Becca tacked Frye up for their show jumping class, not really looking forward to the crowded ring of horses. Frye was sure to be nasty, so she’d tied a red ribbon in his tail for warning, since there were sure to be new students in the class who had never seen Frye’s nasty side. Once the gelding was ready with his hunter green wraps and pad as well as a running martingale, Becca pulled on her helmet and walked him out to the jumping rings.

Upon entering the ring where the class would be, Becca smiled to the new instructor and walked Frye to the center. After pulling her stirrups down and tightening his girth once more (ignoring his glare and pinned ears at her), she mounted the 17 hh thoroughbred and walked him to the rail to warm up as instructed. She worked on keeping him collected, since the thoroughbred was tense and ready to shoot off at a moment’s notice. Keeping him far from the other rider on her nervous mare, Becca tried to work out Frye’s roughness before the class began.

When called to the center, Becca gathered with the other riders around the instructor, though she kept Frye a safe distance from the other horses. She listened to the introduction, and when it came her turn to speak, she started clearly, Hi, my name is Becca Walsh, and this is Frye. I’m pretty experienced in show jumping, as I’m an eventer and I always have been, since I started riding as a child.”

[Ben Hall]

Ben pet Lady and fed her a pear slice he’d brought with him before putting on her bridle. It was time for their show jumping class, which he hoped would go well. He and Lady both loved the discipline, so the class was their favorite. They probably wouldn’t be jumping high at all since it was the first day, which was certainly a pity, but he’d try to make the best of it. Buckling his helmet, he led Lady out to the ring where the class would be held and opened the gate, calling out as he did so.

Once inside, he smiled at Ms. Addison, who he already knew from his Hunter/Jumper class. He’d been surprised to see her name on his schedule for both classes, but at least she already knew him, and they wouldn’t really need to get used to each other. Leading Lady to the center, he tightened her girth and mounted before gathering his reins and walking her to the rail to warm up as Ms. Addison had instructed him to when he’d come in.

Lady was feeling good and strong, but judging by the jumps, Ben had been right about what they would be doing today. Still, when Lady saw the jumps, she seemed to get excited despite their height. Ben warmed the mare up thoroughly before bringing her to the center when called. When it came his turn to introduce himself, he began, ”Hey, I’m Ben Hall, and this is Cloudy in London, or Lady. I have been riding since I was very young, always in show jumping and hunter/jumper.”

[Peter Holden]

Peter led Thimble out to the ring where his show jumping class would be held, eager to see who the new teacher would be. The class had had a lot of different instructors since he’d arrived, and he hoped that this one would be permanent. Once he arrived, he opened the gate and called out ”Gate!” as he entered since there were already horses warming up on the rail. He smiled politely at the new instructor, whom he sort of recognized, but he couldn’t put his finger on from where.

After mounting Thimble, Peter warmed her up on the rail, asking the mare to extend her trot as much as possible to stretch her out, and then he cantered her, switching directions after he’d gone around a couple of times. Around when he was feeling that he had warmed his mare up thoroughly, the new instructor called the students into the center, and Peter followed, lining up alongside the rest of the students.

Upon listening to the introduction, he realized where he had seen her, and it was now obvious to him that she had already been an instructor here. Glancing at his sister, who stood beside him, he noticed the ease on her face, and knew that she was already comfortable with this new instructor since she already had her for her hunter/jumper class. When his turn to introduce himself came, he spoke up, ”Hello, my name is Peter Holden, and this is Thimble. I’ve been riding for nine years and I’ve always been an eventer, and jumping is my favorite phase, so I’ve always done a lot of it.”

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Kate swept a dandy brush over Cailin’s dark dappled coat, trying to make it gleam as best she could for their first show jumping class of the year. Cailin was the flightier, less certain of her two horses, and she always worried a bit about her, though Cailin always pulled through. The mare wasn’t terribly nervous or anything, she just had odd little quirks that came out at the strangest times. After tacking her up with her jumping saddle and cornflower blue saddle pad, Kate pulled on her Charles Owen and led Cailin to where the class would be held.

Upon entering the ring, she grinned at Ms. Addison. She was happy that her hunter/jumper instructor would be teaching this class too this year, and it was definitely better than having a new instructor altogether. Once mounted, she began to warm Cailin, happy with how the mare was moving, with her long strides and even pace. When called, she lined up next to her brother before Ms. Addison and listened to the instructor’s introduction as well as those of the rest of the students. When it came her turn, she began, ”Hi, my name is Kate Holden, and my mare is named Cailin. I’ve been show jumping for about three years, but I rode for a long time before that in dressage.”

[Serenity Oliver]

Serenity stood in the tack room of Red Willow, bouncing on her toes as she looked from one locker to the other. With a shrug, she finally stepped forward to Plot's locker and took out the halter, lead rope, grooming kit and saddle blanket. Walking over to the wall, she grabbed the mare's saddle and bridle. If she was going to take Red to the class, she'd just be taking out the grooming kit, as the halter beside the mare's stall and she'd be in the grooming stall right next door so there would be no need to carry the tack out just yet.

Leaving the tack room, she walked out to the hitching rails outside the barn and deposited all of the gear on the grass behind the rails. With the halter and lead still in her hand, she made her way to the pastures to collect the bay mare. "Plot." She sang as she arrived at the gate. "Come on." She smiled as the mare let out a whinny - the normal way for her to greet anyone horse or human - started walking in her direction. Since finding the mare at the auction yards, Reni had done a bit of work with the mare, and she decided that she would use Red in her Hunter class and Plot in the Show Jumping - since it was what the mare lived for, supposedly.

Leading the mare to the hitching rail, she was ready for the sensitive Selle Français to start resisting as they approached the barn. "Come on, beautiful." She said gently as she circled the mare away from where they were heading and then continued toward the rail. As soon as the mare worked out that she wasn't actually being taken into the barn, she walked forward happily.

It didn't take long to get the mare groomed and ready for riding, with the addition of tendon boots to protect the mare's legs if she rapped the poles, she led the mare toward the show jumping arenas.

Following the instructions, she mounted, sorted herself out and then squeezed the mare forward as they began their warm-up. When called in, she lined up with the others - keeping some distance between Plot and the mare beside them, as this was the first time she had ridden the mare with other people and didn't know whether Plot was likely to kick out or not. "Hi, I'm Serenity Oliver, but if it's too much of a mouthful, you can call me Reni. This beautiful girl is Unexpected Twist, or Plot. I've been show jumping for six years, but I also do hunter, jumping - which I use my other mare for."

[Athena Achilles]

Athena made sure that she held her emotions in check as she got Bear ready for Show Jumping. She loved eventing, but she loved the precision of show jumping the most, which is why she had got into six-bar and puissance jumping.

With the gelding fully tacked, including his tendon boots, she led him out to the show jumping arena. Even though she was trying to remain as steady as she could, there was no denying there was a little bounce in her step. She had to admit, that if she had to give up skating, at least she had horses to take it's place.

Entering the arena, she bowed her head toward the instructor, sorted the tack, mounted the gelding and started warming him up. She spent her time getting the buckskin into a nice frame of mind, flexed and relaxed.

It seemed all too soon when they were called into the centre of the arena. When they were asked to introduce themselves and their horse and then talk about their experiences, Athena balked. Her eyes widened, her eyebrows pulling back, as she felt the colour drain from her face. The one thing Athena didn't do, was talk, not in public anyway, and especially not about herself. She swallowed and ducked her head, remaining silent as she hoped Ms Addison would overlook her, or at least not comment on her silence.

[Gretchen Holmes]

Gretchen lead Bahir into the ring and walked him from the ground for a minute or two. The white gelding pranced excitedly at seeing the jumps, and Gretchen had to keep a hand on his neck to steady him. After a minute to prepare, she managed to get him to stand still just long enough to pull herself up into the saddle. Shortening her rein, she went over to where the other students were and pulled Bahir to a stop. He chomped at the bit impatiently, but didn't move a muscle.

She listened curiously as each student introduced themselves. Finally when it was her turn she grabbed a fistful of Bahir's mane for reassurance, and then introduced herself. "My Name is Gretchen, and this is Bahir. We've been show jumping together for about 3 or 4 years, but have never shown in it before. So I guess I don't have that much experience in that regard." she said, ducking her head once she was finished.

Bahir shifted under her and she patted his neck before tightening her grip on the reins ever so slightly. She felt a little nervous having Bahir in the jumping ring with other horses. He could be a little reckless and didn't want to accidently run into anyone while fighting to keep him on course. She hoped that she would learn how to control him better here though, and that hope overrode her fear.

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    Cora listened to all of her students introduce themselves, rather pleased overall with the experience that most of them had. Of course, she wouldn't know for sure how they would be until she saw them ride, but it seemed to her that most of them had been jumping for a decent amount of time, so that she wouldn't have to start completely from the bottom, even if their first exercise today was trotting ground poles. Her only concern was the girl who hadn't spoken at all. She didn't acknowledge it now, since she did not want to make a scene, but she would have to talk to the student later on.


    "Okay, well I believe that now that we've finished introductions, we are ready to begin. I know that some of you will be groaning, but we are going to start with ground poles today before we begin jumping, as a sort of addition for our warm up. I would like you to each find a space on the rail and ask your horses for the posting trot. When you come to the side of the ring with the ground poles, I would like you to trot your horse over them, in your two-point position. If you do not have enough room between you and the horse in front of you, please just remain on the rail, outside of the ground poles." She pointed to the six ground poles she had positioned just inside of the rail on one side of the ring. She'd positioned them so that they wouldn't be in the way of the jumping course they would do later.


Walked Fin over to the ground poles, she stood towards the center of the ring, but faced the ground poles so that she could easily see the students as they completed the exercise.

[Deleted]

Cassidy threw tack on her little chestnut mare quickly. She had only just finished unpacking her mother's truck into her new dorm room and said her goodbyes, when she looked at her schedule and realized that she could make it, albeit late, to her jumping class. So she threw on her storm blue britches with a sport shirt and Ariat field boots before running over to the barn to get Melody tacked up. As she tacked her mare up, she slowed for a second to tighten her girth gradually, though her mare still gave her a dirty look and pinned her ears. Cassidy reached forward and patted her on the neck, giving the mare a sugar cube as if it were an apology. Melody's expression softened as she sucked on the sugar. Cassidy fitted her helmet on over her hair and started to bridle her horse, trying to decide whether or not to hunt down her open-front boots for class. Ultimately she decided against it, she was running to late and those tack trunks had been packed full of everything equine she could ever need. After all, how high could we be jumping on the first day of class? she thought to herself.

She grabbed her mare's reins over her neck and started to jog off. The mare stepped out in stride, attuned to her owner's body language and moods from all of the groundwork they had done. Cassidy jogged down to the ring, knowing it was quite a distance from White Oak barn, with her pleather gloves bouncing half-out of her pocket and chin strap swinging back and forth under her chin. They only slowed when the ring was in sight.

As she neared, she noticed the herd of horses in the ring - it looked like the exact number was close to ten. She spotted the instructor, Ms. Addison according to Cassidy's schedule print-out, sitting on a big dark bay, by the fact that the others were listening to her. Since no one was working at the moment, she opened the gate and let her mare in. Shutting it behind her, she began to compose her introduction. Turning around, she began to walk toward the center of the arena. She buckled her helmet and pulled on her gloves, mananging to swing onto her mare as they were walking, before getting to the center of the ring.

"Hello, Ms Addison? My name is Emily Heatherton. I go by Cassidy. I would like to apologize for being late, I just arrived this morning and I came as soon as I finished unpacking. This is my mare, Melody, or just Mel. We're eventers by trade, but I've only been with Mel for a year and a half now. I hope you'll excuse my tardiness," she ended, and ended rather sincerely for her. Though being late for class was something she usually didn't care about (in fact she was usually apathetic about anything that had to do with class), being late to a riding class just felt off. She bit her lip in insecurity and watched the instructor for her response, although she also didn't want to make eye contact with the others just yet. She was a little embarassed by her own tardiness, but she had also guessed from a quick glance that her classmates were on much fancier and more expensive warmblood-type horses than her. She didn't really care, but it didn't help her feel like she 'fit in,' either.

[Gretchen Holmes]

"Might as well make our move now Bahir, before you run someone down" Gretchen said under her breath, glancing at the other riders uneasly while patting her wily horse's neck. It was times like this she was reminded of the thoroughbred blood in him. She's always heard that thoroughbreds were insane, especially ones coming from racing stock. She still hoped, despite Bahir's constant excitement, that he would prove them wrong. 

Bahir tossed his head in an attempt to free himself from her tight grasp on his mouth, and after a moment she obliged him, directing him towards the rail. He took off into a fast paced trot before Gretchen even had a chance to ask him, eyeing the poles on the ground curiously as they circled around the ring once. Gretchen felt her muscles burning as she posted at Bahir's fast pace while trying to simultaneously slow him down. Pull and release, she repeated in her mind, just pull and release. He began to relax ever so slightly just as she turned him towards the ground poles. His ears pricked up immediately at the sight of them and he battled with his rider to take off into a canter, picking up his legs as high as he could as though he were a pegasus attempting to leap into the sky and fly away. She held him firmly, keeping him in a trot as they neared.

As they reached the poles Bahir's focus suddenly shifted from attempting to canter to making sure he didn't let a single hair touch one of the poles on the ground. His strides became long and incredbly bouncy as he tried to figure out just how to navigate the poles without actually jumping over them. Gretchen ignored him and rose into two point, keeping her leg up near her girth with her heel pressed down and her eyes forward. She kept her hands rested on Bahir's withers in order to keep her balance though his bouncy trip over the six poles. Once he's cleared them she resumed her posting trot, patting his neck and praising him directing him towards the rail.

She worked to slow him once more, pulling and releasing the tension in her reins. The white gelding chomped on his bit impatiently, wanting her to let him go. However Gretchen didn't let him go, not wanting him to run into any other horses, and so he began to bgrudgingly relax into a slower and more reasonably paced trot.

[Serenity Oliver]

Serenity found a space on the rail for herself and Plot, and asked the mare to transition from walk to trot, which the bay mare did easily, and the freshman concentrated on keeping the mare's stride even as they travelled around the arena.

She watched the grey horse in front of them and asked for a half halt, increasing the space between Plot and the gelding and then once more as the gelding got closer to the ground poles. After all, the last thing she needed was for her Selle Français to pick up on the other horse's excitement and try to race him over the poles.

When it was their turn, she rose into two point a couple of strides out from the poles and the mare floated over them as though she were a ballet dancer, not tapping a single pole as she trotted nicely over the six poles and then trotted away from them.

The girl rubbed the mare's neck as they continued along the rail, pleased with how the mare had taken the task at hand. After all, this was her first class with the mare and she had had a little trepidation on how the mare would react in the arena with other horses working with her. She had ridden her in the outdoor arena with others, but they had all been doing their own thing then, now they were all doing the same thing so that could alter how the mare's brain processed things, but there were no issues.

[Athena Achilles]

Athena listened to the instructions and guided Bear back to the rail, and once they were a good distance behind the bay mare they were following, she asked him to trot. She now knew her task would be to keep his trot nicely collected so that his long stride didn't eat up the ground under them and bring them too close to the pair ahead of them.

While keeping a little of her attention on the other riders in the arena, those ahead of her and the one directly behind her - as the people behind them were of no interest to her - she kept most of her attention on the horse she rode. Holding the reins gently, but firmly, she kept a good contact with the bit, and used her hands to talk to the gelding, to ask him to drop his head a little and to flex slightly into the middle as they came off the rail and onto the line that would lead them to the poles. "Easy." She breathed as the dunskin seemed to falter a little at the obstacle in front of them. She left the reins slip through her fingers as he slowed to a walk and stretched out his neck to get a good look at what lay on the ground. She then rubbed his neck, took up the reins again and asked him to trot as they trotted around them and found their place on the rail once more.

The next time around, as she brought Bear off the rail in line with the poles, she rose into two-point and urged him forward with her legs as she moved her hands up his neck, but keeping contact with his mouth. "There's a good boy." She whispered as he trotted confidently forward. "Careful." She said as he clipped a pole, but maintained his stride. Once they were through the rails, she returned to the saddle and patted his shoulder, very pleased with how he had taken the poles.