Equine Reproduction Class 2.I

[Sir Peter Solomon]

Peter walked around the arena, biting his lip, trying to decide what he wanted his students to do today. He was having them meet once a week, along with their 'bonding time' with the mares outside of class. Remembering what he had seen Cara doing, measuring her mare's stomach and how she was rounding out, he decided that the class could do something similar today, and do it every week, just to track the growth of the foal. He nodded slightly and walked into the tack room, picking up a box of tape measures that he had happened upon while looking around. He moved them towards the table in the arena, in the shaded part, then hurried back to his office. Time was running out, and he wanted everything to be done.

After printing out a sample grid, which he wanted students to copy into their notebooks, he walked into the classroom and wrote onto the whiteboard, with his scripted handwriting, "Please halter your mare and bring her out to the arena." Walking back out to the shaded half of the arena, he nodded at his plan. After measuring, they would come back in and discuss what was going inside of the mare's wombs. He placed the sample grid onto the table beside the tape measures, then leaned against the fence, waiting for his students to arrive.

[Henrietta Charleston]

Henri walked briskly into the classroom of the Evening Primrose Barn. She was excited to get started working with her mare and while she knew she was a class behind, the girl figured she could catch up fast enough. Blue eyes sparkled with delight as the brunette looked up at the clock. She was far from late, something quite impossible for her that she had seemed to be doing for the past few days.

She had gotten to know Red a bit and realized the mare was quite playful. She had certain youngness to her personality, one that Henri loved. The brunette had also heard quite a bit from her, many nickers and small vocal noises from the mare as she tried to communicate with her. It was definitely going to be helpful about the fact the mare would attempt to communicate with her throughout her pregnancy. Henri had dealt with many horses that she had to push to get their willingness to connect. Red seemed to want to have than anyway.

Henri focused her gaze on the board, and went to go do it. She wondered what they would be doing today. A loud whinny was heard from the barn as Red greeted her. Henri laughed at the horse before giving her a pat and stroke. She slipped the halter easily over her head and led her over to the shaded part of the arena. “You are such an interesting horse aren’t you?” she told the mare, a chuckle falling on her lips. Her eyes went over to her patiently waiting teacher. Henri gave him a friendly smile "Good afternoon Sir Solomon." She then copied the chart into her notebook.

OOC: Arghhh, sorry Stern. Half asleep these days :P

[Cara-Jean Kitchi]

Cara stood in the tack room of the White Oak Barn, she pulled off her Field boots and slid her feet into her paddock boots. She would like to have been able to change her clothes, but knew that she was cutting it short to reach rehabilitation so she grabbed her mock leather satchel, that she had left in her locker, and left the barn wearing her beige jodhpurs, canary yellow shirt and pale blue sweater vest. She then jogged over to the Evening Primrose barn and skidded to a halt before she got to the door.

Walking in, she stopped off at Shiloh's stall and gave the mare a pat and then looked over the door of Papillion's stall to greet the Dartmoor pony before she continued on her way to the classroom. She rose her thin eyebrows at the instructions and slipped back out to grab the mare's orchid coloured halter and then walked back down to Shiloh and entered the Haflinger mare's stall, slipped the halter over her nose and then led her out to the arena, scooping up her satchel on her way out of the stall.

She took the walk down to the arena at a nice gentle pace, not wanting to rush the mare. Entering the arena she bowed her head toward the teacher before walking too far and then led the mare toward where Sir Solomon stood behind a table. She lifted an eyebrow at the contents of the table and looping the lead over the mare's neck, she left her standing while she took her satchel over to the fence, removed the mare's notebook, her own tape measure and her black and blue pens. Walking back over to the mare, she gently took the rope back and smiled when the mare nudged her gently, as though asking where her raspberry leaves were. "Later, my sweet." She whispered. The leaves were in the satchel, but she would give them to the mare when she returned her to the stall rather than here where they had an audience - even if it was only of two other people.

Holding the pens in her fist, she opened the spiralbound notebook to the page with her graph. Since the mare had been inseminated, the girl had kept a close record on how the mare's stomach was expanding, and on the mare's vital signs. She even had a stethoscope in her bag, which she had asked Dr Carr's permission to borrow, but again that would come out later. She was pleased with the mare's progress and was being as careful as she could, even making sure that she was the only one who fed the mare, so that the mare would be able to carry her foal full term.

[Rose Hoff]

When Rose's academic classes came to a conclusion for the day, she rushed up to her room, changing quickly into comfier clothes to go see Papillon for her Equine Reproduction class. Once clad in jeans and an over-sized thick cable knit sweater, she pulled on her paddock boots and ran out her door, hurrying up to the Evening Primrose Barn.

She speed-walked past Papillon's stall, greeting her on the way past, and promising her to give her more attention in a moment. She was quite alarmed to find the classroom empty, but was quickly calmed when she noticed the message on the board. She made a trip to the tack room, grabbing Papillon's plum halter and lead rope, then returned to the mare. She talked to her quietly as she put the halter on, clipping the lead rope on and leading her out.

She made her way out to the arena, and was happy to find that there were only a couple other students there. Papillon stood quietly at her side, her ears perked as she checked out the other inhabitants. Rose had brought her bag with her and had left it outside the arena, so seeing the supplies on the table, she grabbed them and made her way slowly over to the table, Papillon at her side.

She stopped at the edge of the table, leaving room for other students, and greeted Sir Solomon. She copied the chart carefully into her notebook, and grabbed a tape measure. She then walked Papillon nearer to the center of the arena, stopping to talk to her and rub her ears.

[Lindsey Bradshaw]

Lindsey walked to and from her dorm room all day long, but yet it never seemed to stop; as she walked out again sighing heavily. Walking down the house's stairs, and then out the door, Lindsey left the Red Ribbon House, and walked down the hard pavement to the White Oak Barn.

Her "roomate", Milisa, who was also her sister, had just currently left her, got up and left. Without notifying Lindsey, or anyone really. She had even suprised her parents, as they told her, "She called on her way home she said, and then she arrived twenty minutes later." Lindsey was ticked off, and didn't like this at all, but she got happy again as the thought of Bio raced across her mind. The mare had been "rounding out" lately, and wasn't having any signs of problems, so that was good.

As Lindsey reached the White Oak Barn, she walked in and down the aisle to her tack trunk, unlocking it and taking out the notebook and pen, that she had for the mare. Keeping track of her wasn't the hardest, but determining it all was the hard part. Lindsey had never done anything like this, but thought she was doing good for her first time. Touching her chestnut's soft nose, Lindsey heard the dapple grey, Titan, huff out. You know it wouldn't have to be like this, if you wouldn't isolate yourself bud. Lindsey said to him. Again nothing, no motions from him once so ever; just ears flat on his head. I try, Lindsey said not wanting the horse to get mad. Tapping the stall door, she turned on her heel and headed towards the Evening Primrose Barn.

Walking inside the classroom that was used for Equine Reproduction, Lindsey saw that they must of been meeting outside, based on the nice handwriting on the board. Sir Soloman must be planning something for them to do. Now turning again, Lindsey headed back out into the aisle of the mare's barn and walked down to her stall. Seeing the Gypsy in her stall, standing nice and pretty, Lindsey smiled.

Hey girl, how are you today? she asked the mare, taking her halter and unlacthing the stall door. The mare's head lifted from the low stage she had moments ago, and she nickered softly. Stroking her neck as Lindsey placed the halter over her head, she cooed Good girl, Bio. She then stroked the mare's cheek, and ran her hand down her back, then moving to her stomach area. Be a pretty baby, huh Bio? Lindsey asked her, then taking the lead and clipping it onto the halter.

Leading the mare out of her stall, and then latching it back up, Lindsey carefully led the mare down the aisle and out to the arena, not wanting her to feel rushed. Bio took her time, clearly knowing that she was carrying someone else to. Now LIndsey knew what moms felt like, as she seemed like one, making sure the mare had safety all over the place.

As she made her way outside, and then walking the mare into the arena, she saw that two students were already there. Cara, and two others she hadn't met. She also noticed Sir Soloman, and tape measure's on the table in the shaded part of the arena.

As she walked into the ring, she said, Good afternoon, Sir Soloman. She then awaited the class to start, stroking the mares neck and playing with her mane.

OOC: I didn't know the colors of Bio's halter or lead, so I didn't list them.

[Miranda Florin]

OOC;: Guys, they weren't supposed to do anything other than bring the mares into the arena yet.

And also, the broodmares (And almost all other school equines) now have their stable colors listed on their bios, so you can go look those up.

Miranda rubbed Sye's forehead before walking out of the White Oak Barn. The mare was healing rather well, luckily, and Miranda had started giving her just a bit of exercise every day, between classes when she could slip it in. She walked towards the Evening Primrose barn, her backpack on her shoulders. She looked in on the classroom, noticing the note on the whiteboard. Her eyes skimmed over the message before she walked over to the tack room, picking up Lee's aqua lead and then returning to the mare's stall. She wasn't looking forward to leading the mare, since she knew that the mare didn't have good manners on a lead.

After a struggle, Miranda managed to bring the mare into the arena, although the mare tried to squish her against the gate when they entered. Miranda finally led the mare to an empty area of the arena, close to Cara. She smiled at the girl and her mare, "Hey Cara." Then she glanced over to Sir Solomon, who was standing near a table of what appeared to be tape measures. She called to him, "Good afternoon." Lee tried to pull away from Miranda's grip, but the girl held her steady, "Stand."

[Annabelle Archer]

From her dorm she left Lily in the room and headed over to the Primrose Barn. The reproduction class was meeting today. Belle was pretty excited with that because she had only joined the group two weeks ago. Making her way down to the classroom she looked at the instructions and nod to herself. Glancing at the board once more to be sure of what she read, she made her way into main part of the barn where the pearl colored mare was being stalled. Pearl's head was stuck out of the stall as usual when Belle approached her. Stroking the mare's forelock and took her halter and moved inside the stall. Running her hand over the bulge of the stomach that the mare had recently gained. Pearl flattened her ears slightly and turned to look at the eighteen year old. "Alright girl." Removing her hand she replaced it on her neck. Fingernails scratching the probable itch on the mare's neck. Haltering her, the black limp halter slid upwards on the mare's head. "Good girl, are you ready to see the sun." A giggle escaped her lips as she had guessed that the mare had been inside all day.

[Samantha 'Sam' Lawrence]

Sam walked quickly to Evening Primrose, out of white ribbon. Her dark hair bounced in the fishtail braid she had it in. She may have been flaunting her new hair off, trying to get people to compliment on it. Probably not the best thing to do with her time, but it kept her busy from doing something completely stupid. The ends of the hair reached over the left shoulder of her bright green and pink long sleeved shirt, the sleeves pushed up to her elbows. The skinny jeans she was wearing tucked into her dark brown, leather, cowgirl boots evenly, leaving no visible wrinkles.

Her eyes wandered until she reached the classroom in the barn. The blue orbs turned up towards the board, seeing the not Sir Solomon had left for them. Her lips formed a perfect smile as she turned toward the tack room. After Sam grabbed the mare’s red halter and lead, she returned to the pretty Arab’s stall. Seeing Memo peak her head out towards the incoming girl, Sam offered a little greeting to the mare. ”Hey honey, you ready to go?” Her hands rubbing the mare’s face before she slid the halter on.

The pair approached the arena where a large group was already waiting. Sam frowned lightly, seeing as she was the last to arrive. Had she really left late? Or had everyone else come early? She pursed her lips until her face was in full view then she smiled lightly at the formed group. Deciding to keep quiet, she gave Sir Solomon a quick nod, and turned her attention back to the black horse.

[madison]

Madison was excited for the class; she had missed the first one so she wasn’t exactly sure what things were going to be like. No matter the case she headed out of her dorm and towards the primrose barn, pulling her coat around her as the wind bit at her exposed skin. She wasn’t in her barn clothes, though she had put horse appropriate footwear on and added her Ariat ankle boots to her outfit. They actually worked quite well with the maroon skinny’s she was rocking today; one advantage to having no curves was that the current fashion statement worked for her. She zipped her coat up, the walk wasn’t far but she wished she had grabbed a jacket with a hood. She had curled her hair that morning; she had added a pinup headband to the tight curls. Though with all the wind and time passed her curls had fallen and were much looser now. Pulling the barn door open she was thankful for the warmth, she stopped for a moment and greeted Suede. The mare was growing on Madison, she had spent some time with her and felt like they were going to get along great with some more work. Madison never had an interest in the gaited breeds, they weren’t designed to go over fences so naturally she turned a blind eye. Though after some research she was both fascinated and appalled, the naturally moving and flat shod horses looked smooth and comfortable to ride. The other kind not so much, she was just confused by the entire idea and felt horrible for the animals subjected to such extremes. What was important was the fact that Suede was safe and healthy thus far, watching a fellow student head to the classroom she followed and found herself reading the board.

Heading back to Suede’s stall she smiled, the mare’s olive green halter was hung outside her stall. Picking it up her chilly fingers fumbled with the buckle for a moment, opening the stall door she peeked ahead and was happy to see the mare was not eating at the moment. She could be a little protective around food, Madison needed to watch herself at all times – but more so when the horse was eating. Stroking the mare’s neck first she found an itchy spot by her withers and smirked as the champagne colored mare twisted and turned her neck with delight. Watching horses pass by Madison decided it was in their best interest to head towards the arena, slipping the halter over the mare’s plush nose as she snorted Madi was content she had zipped her jacket up – her white shirt was saved. Suede followed Madison nicely, her ground manners were great and Madison had worked with her on stopping when she did and moving away from her when she turned. The mare already had the schooling and manners, she just needed to be reminded every now and then. Entering the arena she closed the gate behind her and watched carefully on the other side, she knew not all horses liked each other. Walking the mare around the group that had gathered with plenty of time to spare she found herself a spot on the end with plenty of room to spare.

“Afternoon”

ooc: meh, not great.
clothes here

[Sir Peter Solomon]

Peter smiled as he saw the first of his students walk into the classroom, with her chestnut horse in tow. He nodded as she greeted him and walked over, “Good afternoon, Henri.” He watched as she walked up to the table, still leading the mare, and set about copying the piece of paper he had laid out, “As much as I appreciate your excitement for the class, Ms. Charleston, next time, I would prefer if you were to wait for instructions before copying anything down.” He nodded at the empty arena, “For now, why don’t you go find some space for the pair of you, so you can listen to the instructions before I turn you guys loose.” He noticed that Cara had entered the arena and smiled at her, watching as she left her mare standing to put aside her backpack. He watched as she went back to her mare, who hadn’t moved from the spot. He appreciated how well the petite girl had gotten her horse to work with her, and was willing to believe everything good he had heard about the girl’s horse skills. The rest of the things he had heard, he had never seen, save for the quiet personality, but he didn’t believe the implications.

The next student in the arena led her charge right up to the table, copying the chart and taking a tape measure. Peter's displeasure showed only slightly, in the set of his mouth, but he kept his voice even, "Rose, waiting for instructions is a good thing, especially in a class where you are working with not only one, but two lives that depend on you. Please take a space in the arena and wait for me to introduce you into what we are doing today." He didn't like it when things went off-plan, but he knew that, since he was only working with children, he couldn't expect them to perform according to plan all of the time.

He nodded at the next few people to enter, noting that they had followed his instructions, but didn't come up to the table except to greet him. A few moments after the arrival of his last student, Peter decided to start with the class, even though his newest student hadn't shown up. He would speak to the boy later, as he had asked him to show up for this class before they had parted ways last time.

Smiling slightly, he stepped away from the table, "Good afternoon, everyone. I'm glad to see you all with your charges. Today, we're going to be measuring how thick your girls have gotten. One at a time, please, I want you to come up here and copy the chart that I have printed out into your notebooks, and then take a tape measure. You can leave your mare standing, if you are sure she will behave, or you can bring her up, which is why we are coming up one at a time." He looked at Henri, "Why don't we just go from my left to right, so just come on up." He smiled and stepped back slightly, waiting for each of the girls to do as he had asked them.

After everyone had had a chance to grab their tape measure and chart, he stepped forward once more, "Now, today's date is November eighteenth, so that's the first box. You will be measuring your mare at the roundest part of her stomach, and recording that in the second box." He smiled, "After you are done, please return your mares to their stalls, or you can turn them out to pasture, and meet in the classroom."

[Henrietta Charleston]

The brunette blushed slightly as the man asked if she could wait for directions before beginning. Henri nodded sheepishly “Sorry, sure.” she replied softly, her smile returning as he instructed her to go find a spot in the arena. Henri led Red out with a nod of her head in acknowledgment, finding a nice spot where she could easily see Sir Solomon and hear him as well. Red whinnied as more horses entered the arena, making sure they knew she was there. Henri chuckled giving her a pat “Yup, Red’s in the house.” she said, small grin lighting up her features

Henri listened intently as Sir Solomon began to tell the class what they were going to do. She shot a grin at Rose and Miranda, happy to have someone people she knew in the class. The girl looked at Red’s stomach excited to begin. The thought of a little foal coming out excited her, and it drove her to try and be perfect in the class. Not that she didn’t strive to be perfect in every other class as well. Henri in truth, was a perfectionist due to her need to prove to her parents she was just as good as her sister. Not that they listened.

She nodded with a smile, a bit nervous at the fact she was going to go first even if it was to go grab a tape measure. There was no need to copy down the chart again as she had already, much to her embarrassment but Henri led Red up to the table. As fond as she was with the horse, she didn’t know or trust the mare enough to leave her ground tied. Her hands closed around a tape measure before she returned back to her spot to begin. Henri proceeded to measure the horse around the middle, and wrote down her result in the chart as well as the date.

After she was all done, Henri moved her and Red to go put back the tape measure and led the Friesian back to the barn. Red snorted slightly as she placed her back in her stall, giving the mare a pat and walking out of the barn to the classroom where Mr. Solomon had stated where they would meet.

[Cara-Jean Kitchi]

Cara stood with Shiloh, rubbing the mare's withers as the man finally addressed the class, she had felt his eyes on her earlier but had kept her eyes downcast. As the man mentioned a chart and measuring tape, she looked back at the chart she had been keeping.

As the girl, Henri, had done, she walked up to the front of the arena, this time leading the mare with her as she didn't want any of the other mares in the arena to do anything that could upset her. "May I please continue using the chart that I started when the mare was first inseminated, Sir?" She asked quietly, making sure her voice didn't carry. "And I have my own tape measure." She released a shaky breath, using the mare as her rock. Even if Sir Solomon said she had to use the new chart, she would just start keeping two size charts to keep her own need for perfection satisfied. Once she had been given a reply ((which I am going to take as her being able to continue with what she's already working with)), she returned to her space in the arena and set to work with measuring the mare around the middle, easily grabbing the other end of the tape from under Shiloh's belly - and the mare, who was so used to it didn't even blink - and recorded the measurement.

Rather than taking the mare back to her stall, Cara led her into the barn and tied her up outside the tack room where she went to grab the Haflinger's turnout rug. She then strapped the rug onto the mare and took her out to her pasture where the mare could graze while the girl was in class. She then offered the pretty horse half of the raspberry leaves.

Kissing the mare on the nose, she removed the halter and carried it with her as she walked back into the barn and into the classroom where she took her seat at the front of the room and set her table up for her to be able to work.

Just a note, a lot of pregnant horses don't like having hands reaching under their bellies, so I would like at least a couple of the newer students, who don't know their mare as well as the others, to have at least one or two issues.

[Rose Hoff]

Rose's stomach dropped as the teacher called her back, and he bowed her head. She couldn't believe she'd made such a stupid mistake, and for no good reason either. She was being scolded like a child, but it was best to just take it and move on. She returned the tape measure to the table, and apologized quietly, "I apologize, Sir." She then walked back to the center of the arena with Papillon, waiting for instructions.

When Sir Solomon explained what they were to do, Rose waited her turn to approach the table. Once Henri and Cara had already done so, she stepped up, leading Papillon with her, and took a tape measure, having already copied the chart down. She chose to lead Papillon with her, as she'd only met the mare a couple of times and wasn't quite comfortable with her yet.

Once she'd returned to her spot in the arena, she placed her notebook on the ground so she'd have both hands, and proceeded to try to measure around Papillon's barrel. When Rose tried to reach around her middle, the little Dartmoor lashed her tail in annoyance, and began to pin her hears back, turning her head to look at Rose. The girl was quite surprised, as the mare seemed rather sweet and she'd expected that she wouldn't have any problems with Rose's activities. "Okay girlie, it'll only take a second. Bear with me..." she soothed her quietly, looping the tape measure once more around the mare barrel, but keeping her hand on her neck. When she pulled in lightly to make it snug, she quickly read the measurement and rolled up the tape measure, as the mare still wasn't very happy with her. She wrote down the number in the chart, and then led Papillon back to her stall.

Once the mare was inside, she removed her halter and pet her for a couple seconds before returning the halter and lead to the tack room, and making her way in to the classroom. She took a seat besides Henri, smiling at the girl, and placed her notebook and pen on her desk, waiting.