Natural Horsemanship ((Group A))

[Miranda Florin]

When bidden, Miranda followed the other students into the field, making sure to leave a lot of space between herself and the next horse. That didn't help too much, as Cray surged ahead of her, pulling the girl through the gate. Once they were through, the mare slowed, though, probably confused by the organization of the field. Miranda took the lead again and found a spot as far away from the rest of the students as possible, unsure of how Cray would act. Already, the mare was pulling away from her, and it was only by willpower that Miranda didn't let go of the lead rope, "Behave yourself, Cray." She suddenly wished she had brought Harr, just for this lesson, to see how it worked, but now it was too late.

She saw Aurora lead her gelding in and get crushed, and felt grateful that Cray hadn't managed to do that. As the girl found a spot close to them, she smiled over slightly and asked, "Are you okay?"

As Ms. Chevalier started speaking, Miranda quieted. She didn't take the teacher up on her offer to release her horse, although she saw many of the rest of the class did. She knew Cray would be off and racing to the other side of the field before another word was said.

Quietly, she listened to the information that Ms. Chevalier was imparting to them, realizing that she knew a lot of it already, from Rescue class or just from working with various horses at the Equine Clinic.

There, three Stern girls all in a row. :- ) I know, the posts got boring after a while, sorry. -whistles and goes to Class B-

[Monique//Aurora Chambers]

Rory finally found herself a spot in the field, not too far away from Miranda and her mare. She gave the lead rope a hard tug to try and get the gelding to settle down, but all it did was make him swing his hindquarters around and almost knock the young girl off her feet. Tears filled her eyes as she struggled to get him in check.

She looked over at Miranda as she heard the older girl's voice. She bit her lip and nodded her head, she just felt like she was a little over her head.

She let go of the breath she was holding when the gelding dropped his head and began to graze happily. The girl turned her attention to the woman and her gelding, choosing not to remove the gelding's lead rope as she listened to every word that was being said soaking it all in, wide-eyed. She struggled with a couple of the words, but she caught most of it. She bobbed her head in reply to whether she had taken it all in.

The next thing Rory knew was that she was sitting on the ground. She shook her head and rubbed her chest. Looking up she found herself face to face with Globe's blinking eyes, one ear pricked forward and the other back. It was almost as if the horse was trying to work out why she was on the ground. Rory was just pleased that she was still holding the rope, and she scrambled back to her feet, feeling that her cheeks had heated up as she was embarrassed that she had been pushed over by her horse.

[Lucy Davis]

Lucy then listened as the instructor introduced herself to the class, following along very easily, Lucy nodded at what she had all said. Then as she continued on with all her main points of the class. Lucy glanced around the class, taking in all the information, as well as all the horses and their riders, or owners.

Ticker nudged her shoulder, apparently very happy to be here. Hearing that they could let their horses loose if they were not to harm anyone else, or their horses, Lucy decided to keep ahold of Ticker, but then gently let the lead rope drop down to the ground, unsure if she could take the rope off, but decided against it.

Askign if they had taken it all in themselves, Lucy nodded a yes and then notcied that Ticker had stayed by her side the whole time, standing there like he was still being held onto. Well that could be a nice sign, she guessed, it depended on how the teacher, and others took it. Although she had her mare, she didn't need to bring her to this class, as Tink was already trained enough than she needed to be.

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[Anastasie Chevalier]

Ana smiled as she got the affirmative from the others. "As I said, it was boring stuff that you all already know about in one way or another, but still important nonetheless and is important to reaffirm in your minds." She looked around at the animals, her gaze landing on Aurora and her gelding. "Ok, watching you and Globe lets me know what to talk about next. Protecting our personal space. Imagine you have a bubble all the way around you at about an arm's length from your body. Learn to think of this space as off-limits to your horse unless he is invited in by you. Once you start taking notice of your bubble, you will be surprised how much your horse comes into your space uninvited.

"Stand with your arms outstretched and turn in a circle until you get the feel of the extent of your bubble. If your horse is already standing in your bubble, get him, or her, to move backwards until they are not standing in your space any more rather than moving your feet.

"Block their entry by defending the wall of your bubble. You may do this with your hand, arm, rope of stick, please note I do not mention using a whip, on the edge of your bubble. If you move your arm like a windscreen wiper at the edge of your bubble and the horse walks into it, they will receive a bump on the nose and think twice about doing it another time. To your horse this is very different from you stepping out of your bubble and hitting him on the nose. The consequences of his actions will be clear to him and because he understands it, this process does not result in him becoming fearful around his head." As she spoke, she demonstrated what she was saying as she asked Goldie to come up to her and with a wiggle of her fingers, she got him to back out of her personal space. "As you can see, Goldie knows well when to back away.

• Do not perform this action with anger, be firm but fair. Keep it Unemotional and the horse will see you in a positive light rather than a negative one.
• Make sure your horse stays outside your bubble once you've moved him. You need to set clear boundaries and be consistent.
• If you move your feet, your horse may thing you are showing submission; if you cause your horse to move his feet, you are showing you are in charge.
• Match your horse's velocity - in other words, if he comes into your space gently, you don't need to respond violently, just firmly enough to keep him out. However, if he is going to trample on you, you should defend your space as strongly as you can as your life may depend on it!
• The more threatening you find your horse's behaviour, the bigger your bubble should become. He is only allowed in when you feel you can trust him to be respectful.
  

Understanding this principle alone could save you from injury around horses every day." She nodded her head toward her gelding once again and he stepped forward, pressing his nose against her and she rubbed his ears. "If you horse still comes into your space - you weren't negative enough, you might need to repeat the exercise several times until they understand where your boundaries are and that they must respect your space. If your horse becomes defensive and looks worried - you probably did too much. Just smile and rub them at arm's length."

[Jackson Reinken]

Jackson then listened in as the instructor informed them on more of the basic info. He hadn't know everything about Natural Horsemanship, but was starting to think that he should of taken Andonis instead of Samurai.

Him and samurai had a unique relationship compared to him and Andonis's. SOmetimes he could be in a nice and calm mood, but others Andonis would kick, buck, just trying to be disruptive.

As her eyes landed on a student and her horse, she then started to talk off about Protecting Personal Space. Jackson had already gotten some work on that with his past insturctor, so he shouldn't have many problems, if he even had any.

Then as he listened to her speak, Jackson nodded, and moved Samurai away from all the other horses, giving them all more room to work with this. Standing with Samurai back a few feet, Jackson outstretched his arms, turning in a circle, until his hand hit a soft nose. Seeing Samurai back up, Jackson then started to turn agaiin. Samurai tried again, but then backed off, as if not seeing the wall.

For the rest of the time, he hadn't moved an inch, he would've rather been eating some grass, but he seemed interested in Jackson's movements. It could be a good sign on that, but he wasn't sure himself.