Cross Country

[Kendall Salenk]

☐ Martin Mikael Harrows
☐ Nathan Hanson
☐ Everett Smith
☑ Miranda Florin
☐ Cody Satokes
☐ Quarry Leena Satokes
☐ Lewis Cralt
☐ Luke Bryan
☑ Erica Morgan
☑ Beck Oliver
☐ Bethany Ritchie
☑ Jackson Reinken
☑ Rianna Daisher
☐ Griffen Sauer
☐ Alia Williams

Kendall tacked up Pompeii with the gelding's work tack. Today she would be trying to assess her students' progress, and she was going to have Pompeii on hand just in case, even though she doubted that she would need the gelding, really need him. She preferred to be on horseback during lessons, though, so no one could comment upon her bad leg. It didn't look as bad on horseback, because she had gotten both of her horses to respond to the simpler commands with one leg and voice, while she steered with the reins alone. It wasn't the best way, and certainly not what they had been taught at her many hours of long practice, but it worked best now, and that was all that mattered.

When she had finished tacking up the gelding, Kendall hung Pompeii's halter over hisr stall door, ready to be used when they came back from class. Since the halter was embroidered with the gelding's name and Kendall's own name, there was little chance of it being stolen, and this wasn't the kind of place to worry about that anyway.

The cross country teacher led her gelding outside, limping slightly, but not quite as pronounced as it could get. She led the horse to the mounting block, something she had scorned at before. If only her coach could see her now! She scoffed at the idea and heaved herself aboard Pompeii, settling into the stirrups. Her leg ached slightly, but it wasn't too bad... Now. She rubbed her arms to ward off the slight chill from the wind. Today, for once, she had decided to wear a short-sleeved shirt. Her hand rubbed over the familiar scars on her arm, and she didn't think much of it, but she knew the livid puckered things would catch any student's eye.

She tapped her left heel into Pompeii's side, and they moved off towards the intermediate Cross Country course at a trot. Pompeii had a comfortable trot to sit to, so the gait was easy for Kendall. She pulled the horse to a stop in the center of the field that was their classroom and waited patiently for her students to arrive. She hoped to see Casey in the class, but, as she hadn't even glanced at the roster, she didn't know who to expect.

[Jackson Reinken]

As Jackson had been in Natural Horsemanship before his Cross Country class, he didn't have to go far to get to the next classroom.

Walking into the White Oak Barn, Jackson walked down to Samurai's stall. Hearing him coming, Samurai swung his head over the stall door, whinnying in the process. "Hey boy. The barns fairly busy today, huh?" Jackson asked him, seeing some people walking around.

Walking into the tack room, Jackson grabbed his saddle, girth, bridle, and saddle pad. Walking back to Samurai's stall, Jackson put the saddle and other tack over the stall door. Grabbing one of his soft brushes, Jackson unlatched the stall door, walking inside. He started up at Samurai's neck and then down his body. Jackson continued on, and was done in a matter of minutes. Once he was all groomed and tacked up, Jackson grabbed the reins, and started to lead him out of the barn.

Walking Samurai down to the Cross Country Course, Jackson saw that he was the first, of students, to arrive. Walking onto the course, Jackson slid his stirrups down, placed his left foot into the iron, grabbed some rein and mane, then lifted himself off the ground. Walking Samurai forward a bit so he could talk without yelling, Jackson said, "Hello, I'm Jackson." he said to the teacher who was already atop a horse.

[Miranda Florin]

Miranda walked over to Sye, smiling slightly at the palomino mare. Talking to people had put things into perspective, and really, she had realized that the mare was a nice horse, and a wonderful ride... It was just not her horse. She buckled the mare's halter on and then brought the mare out to the cross ties. She spent a few minutes grooming the mare, then tacked her up. As she worked, she realized that she was actually looking forward to the class. Yes, it would be odd, because Andie and Kent had been in it the past year, and now they wouldn't be, but that was alright. She buckled her helmet, then unclipped the cross ties and led Sye out of the barn. She swung onto the mare's back and then trotted her over towards the cross country courses. She could see Ms. Salenk there with her spotted gelding, Pompeii, as well as a boy that she didn't know with a bay gelding. She smiled at the two, "Good morning!" Sye shifted her weight lazily, and Miranda rubbed the mare's neck.

[love]

Rianna grabbed her helmet and Rafe's crosss country bridle as well as saddle. She also grabbed her grooming box. She went to Rafe's stall and put his saddle over it as she led him out. She held onto his lead as she gave him a quick brushing.She picked out his hooves and sprayed him with fly spray. She carefully worked on his mane and tail. She put her saddlepad a few inches foward from his withers as she set the saddle down. She made sure the flaps were flat. They were and she went to the other side and repeated the process. She grabbed the girth and put it on. She went to the other side and grabbed the girth as she notched it up to notch 4 on that side. It was notch 3 on the side. She dropped his halter and grabbed his head and she slid the cavason on his nose and over his ears. She thern grabbed the bridle and held the bit up to his mouth which she had trouble getting in. She finally got it in and put the bridle over his ears as she fastened the throat latch she put on her helmet and fastened it.

She walked out of the barn as she went to the out door arena. She was doing cross country. She was the thrid student there. She walked Rafe towards the others. She wondered what they would do today.

[Erica Jane Morgan]

Erica lightly dashed over to the White Oaks barn to get Ace tacked up for Cross Country today. Since classes were slowly starting again, there was a fair amount of people going to get their horses. She got a whinny in greeting from the Fresian gelding. She petted his nose as she grabbed the gelding's lead rope. She unlatched the stall door and clipped on the lead rope, she lead the gelding towards cross ties and left him there as she went to get the grooming kit.

She wanted Ace to feel comfortable when at Cross Country. As she groomed him down with the body brush, the gelding stoof still to let Erica groom him. When she finished she closed the grooming kit and went to get Ace's tack and to put back the grooming kit. She came back with Ace's saddle, saddlepad, and bridle. She gently put the saddle pad on Ace's back and making sure it was in the right place. When she was satisfied, she put on the saddle and grabbed the girth as she tightened it so it isn't too tight, nor would it slip off. She then grabbed the bridle and slipped the bit into Ace's mouth, which he accepted. She then smiled towards him as she untied the cross ties and grabbed the riens, leading him out of the barn and towards the eventing courses where Cross Country was held.

She spotted three students were already there. She saw two of the students already mounting up their horses, as well as the instructor. She then put her left foot on the stirrup, grabbed some rien and mane, and pushed off of the ground as she swung her right leg over and her right foot into the other stirrup. She clucked Ace into a light trot over towards where the boy was and waved to the instructor who was on a beautiful spotted mare. "Good Morning." She said to the women with a soft smile.

[Beck Tudor Oliver]

Beck headed over to the White Oaks barn to get Luna ready for Cross Country today. Luna nudged Beck's shoulder in greeting when he stopped at her stall. he petted her nose before he clipped on her lead rope and unlatched the stall door. He lead the mare to cross ties and left her there to get the grooming kit.

He brushed her down, untangled her mane, and fly sprayed the mare down. He went to pu away the grooming kit and came back with Luna's saddle, saddle pad, and bridle. He first aligned the saddle pad where he wanted it and smoothed it out. He then slid on the saddle and tightned the girth, but not too tight that the mare was uncomfortable and not too loose either. He then slid on the bridle and had a hard time getting Luna to accept the bit, yet after a few minutes he finally got her to accept it. He untied the cross ties and lead her out of the barn to the eventing horses where Cross Country was held.

He spotted four students already accounted for. He saw three of them already mounted up, or four counting the instructor. He decided to do the same. He put his left foot in the sitrrup, grabbed some main and rien, and lifted his body off the ground and swung his right leg to the other side of the mare's side and his right foot into the otehr stirrup. He then clucked her into a fast walk over to the group near the instructor and just gave a smile to everyone. "Good Morning.."

[Casey Leigh Hult]

Casey rushed into the barn even though she wasn't running late. In fact, she was very early. Just the way she wanted. Kendall had offered to let Casey ride Ash until she felt comfortable enough with the sport to bring one of her horses to the class, which was such a kind offer that it had brought tears to her eyes. No one had ever been so sweet and accommodating for her. Ever. But that just seemed to be in Kendall's nature. Casey had come to that conclusion when the woman had stopped to talk to her when she'd come across her lying out in the grass of the trail. What a sight that must have been...

Casey shook her head, clearing away the thought as she found Ash's stall and let herself in. She rubbed the mare's neck, smiling brightly. "I promise, we won't be working hard for that long, beautiful," she cooed with a warm smile as she clipped the lead rope to the mare's halter and led her out into the barn aisle. It seemed as though a few others may be getting ready for class around them, but she kept her mouth shut. She didn't have time for chit chat right now. She got straight to work grooming the sweet spotted mare.

After a long grooming session, hoping Kendall would realize Casey was taking good care of the well bred, well trained mare, Casey tacked her up with the zebra striped pad Kendall had used before, grinning as she remembered the experience and silently thanked God for letting her meet such a nice person.

Strapping on her helmet, she nodded contently and led the mare out, mounting up eagerly. She had grown to love riding the mare, as she imagined any sane person would. Ash was a great ride and a wonderfully talented horse. She patted the horse's shoulder as she shifted in the saddle to get comfortable before walking the mare to class. She grinned as she spotted Kendall. "Good morning!" she chimed happily, feeling instantly at ease. Normally, new classes made her nervous. But not this one. Not with Kendall there. "I talked to the office like you said. I don't even have to skip a class to be here," she giggled, remembering what Kendall had told her. She moved Ash off a bit as the others had, letting her eyes then fall to the ground as she waited.

[llb]

Although it wasn't his favorite class in the work his parents insisted that he take some type of English riding class. The attire wasn't exactly his cup of tea. Tight-fitting pants and knee-high boots irritating him, plus the helmet. Even though he knew it was important for the sport he was use to wearing a loss fitting hat. Nite had no problem with the lighter saddle. Walking into the White Oak barn, Luke made his way to the Swedish Warmblood's stall. The gelding stood by the door with his head up and observing things, quietly. As usual his rider took his coat colored halter and slid it up over his face and then his ears. Tying him to a bar along his stall, Luke ran to the tack room and gathered the gelding's English tack. Making sure all of the brown and polished tack was in order for riding. With his biege breeches and his green polo Luke led Nite out to the Cross Country arena. He saw people and horses milling around the arena. Picking out the instructor he knew the class was still on. Tightening the girth on the saddle, he checked his stirrups once more, Luke put his left foot into the stirrup and pulled himself up into the small and in his opinion umcomfortable saddle.

[Kendall Salenk]

Kendall saw the first kid walking their horse up to the course, then swing up into the saddle. She smiled at him, and as he introduced himself, she inclined her head, "Good morning, Jackson." She would introduce herself when everyone arrived, to save the trouble of telling each student her name over and over again. She saw Miranda riding up on her palomino, Sye, and smiled at the girl, "Good morning, Miranda." Another girl walked up, with a buckskin in hand. "Being mounted would probably make jumping a bit easier, you know." She smiled as she spoke, taking the sting out of her words as she looked over the horse. Pompeii shifted under her, but stood in the same position, and Kendall watched the path up to the course, waiting to see who else would arrive. The next two students who arrived, she gave a small smile a simple "Good morning." The next girl to arrive, however, Kendall had been hoping to see, and a smile broke over her face again, "Good morning! I'm glad, I wouldn't want to be the reason behind any truancy." She glanced surreptitiously over the spotted mare the girl was riding, then had to look away as another boy walked his horse over and mounted up. Glancing at her watch, she realized it was slightly after class was supposed to have begun, so she resolved to start.

Pompeii shifted again, and she tightened her grip on his reins for a moment, reminding him to stand still, then called out to the students, "Okay, welcome to Cross Country class. I'm Ms. Salenk, this is Pompeii." She gestured at the gelding. She looked around, "I'd really like it if each of you introduced yourself, feel free to add anything you may wish to let the class know, and when that's done, we'll start actually doing something." She smiled then nodded at the first boy to arrive, Jackson. Just because she knew his name wasn't going to let him off of the hook this time.

After everyone had introduced themselves, she smiled, "Thank you all." She glanced around the large field, "There should be more than enough room for everyone, I'm going to give you all five minutes to warm up your horse as you see fit, and after that, we'll all gather here again."

[Jackson Reinken]

As Jackson had giving his name and a 'good morning' to the instructor, he listened as she said back, "Good morning, Jackson." Now seeming to of been waiting on the other students, Jackson sat there in Samurai's saddle, while he snorted and searched the dirt for grass to eat.

As the students started to arrive, Jackson noticed how most of them and their horses looked so he could pair up names, and their horse's with them as well. The first was a girl, named Miranda, with a Palomino. The second was a girl with her horse, who didn't seem to want to mount? Then as four more students arrived, the instructor seemed to speak up, as it was time for the class to start.

Jackson then listened as Ms.Salenk introduced herself and her horse. She then added that she would like each of them to introduce themselves, and anything they would like to add. Seeing her nod at him, Jackson started off, "I'm Jackson, and this is Samurai." Then he listened to the rest of the students say their names and anything they wished to add in.

After the line of students was done, Ms.Salenk then said, "There should be more than enough room for everyone, I'm going to give you all five minutes to warm up your horse as you see fit, and after that, we'll all gather here again."

Nodding at her instructions, Jackson turned Samurai in a circle, and headed out to the rail, getting him a bit away from everyone else not wanting to be all smooshed together. Leaving him at a walk to let Samurai stretch, Jackson then moved him up to a posting trot. After a lap of posting, Jackson moved Samurai into a steady canter, as his horse framed his head into a nice posture, Jackson smiled. Samurai cantered for awhile, leaving Jackson impressed so he decided to let him break for a bit. Waiting for the teacher to call them in.

[Becca Walsh]

Becca walked Frye out onto the cross country course. From a distance she'd already been able to see that there was a gathering of people. She had hoped to get there earlier, but Frye had given her a particularly hard time that morning. She couldn't wait to take a bath in her room later to soak the bruise that was sure to appear from his smashing his head into her shoulder. It ached already, and she was sure that it would end up turning ugly colors.

She'd mounted him and walked him up the the group. The fiery chestnut gelding was already fighting her hands to go faster, and Becca hoped that he would get a good work out from the cross country class. This was their best discipline, and despite telling herself not to, she kind of wanted to show off.

She arrived just in time to hear the instructor introduce herself, and after Jackson did as well, Becca followed suit, "Hi, I'm Becca, and this is Frye." She tightened her grip on the reins momentarily, wishing for him to stand still. Once the attention turned away from them, she loosened them a bit and let Frye into a working trot, moving away from the group to warm up a little bit. Frye became more well behaved as they continued to work in circles, and after a few laps she changed directions and trotted him counterclockwise. After doing the same amount of laps, Becca let Frye into a canter. He easily picked up his correct head, and kept power nicely in his hind end. Becca did the same in the other direction, keeping him reasonably collected for now. She didn't want to get him too worked up when they were just warming up. After a few more laps, she slowed him to a walk and waited to be called in.

[daine2]

Bronwyn was running, once again, a little late. T'wasn't her fault, though. She'd gotten to the barn, ready to tack up Phantom, her beautiful American Warmblood, but had not been able to find him. Upon asking around, she realized that someone had put him to pasture and had had to go retrieve him. She'd found the gelding to be quite muddy, at least his socks were muddy, and had set to washing the mud off before tacking him up. That's what had taken so long.

Now, though, his blue-black coat shone and his white markings (four socks an a bald face) were super white thanks to her hard work. As if his stunning coloring weren't enough, the horse was also blessed with glass eyes. The eight year old gelding wore his jumping tack, a simple saddle and bridle with a thinner than usual single jointed snaffle bit. Phantom hated the usual sized snaffle thickness, but worked quite well in a bit that was about half the thickness of the usual. The horse also wore protective SMB's on all four legs... white in color.

Bronwyn herself wore a pair of jods and riding boots. A black polo t-shirt was worn under a lightweight grey jacket. Her hairwas done in a french braid and wrapped into a bun att the base of her skull and her Troxel Spirit helmet sat on her head, unbuckled.

The girl fell in step behind another who appeared to be heading to the cross country class, and she was proven correct a few minutes later as she and Phantom followed the other rider and horse duo to the group. Bronnie followed suit and introduced herself after the girl in front of her, moving slightly so as to see everyone. She gave a confidant smile to the ground, then turned and addressed their instructor. "Hello, I'm Bronwyn. This is Phantom." She then focused solely on on their instructor, as her next words were directed to the woman, "He's still a little green." She said shortly before moving off towards the mounting block and, after making sure her saddle was tightened, she stepped into the saddle and asked Phantom to move off at a walk.

The horse mouthed the bit a little, but did as asked. Phantom walked two figure eights before Bronwyn asked for a trot, which he gave immediately, eagerly. The horse slung his head excitably as he got into the mojo of things and, upon the cue for a canter, Phantom showed exactly how he could be a little green still. He was easily excited and hadn't quite figured out that under saddle was wor time though he was coming along well, according to Bronwyn. The horse threw his head up and bolted a few strides upon feeling the cue to canter, throwing in a huge buck when his rider rightened the reins to get him back under control. There was no meanness to his actions, just excitement and hyperness.

It took several strides in a large circle before Bronwyn felt the gelding relax against the rein pressure, and she eased off as he went back to a nice canter, circling and doing figure eights at alternating gaits, walk, trot, and canter, until the horse was sufficiently warmed up and then asked the sixteen hand Warmblood to return to a walk and moved to stop him n front of their instructor.