Natural Horsemanship, Part II

[Ω-Admin-Cara-Ω]

OOC: The other thread is still up in case anyone want to post them leaving the first lesson

Ana stood in the middle of her classroom (yeah it was a field but it was the equivalent of a classroom as this is where her classes were held). On her head she wore a blue baseball cap to keep the sun out of her eyes, her pony tail was threaded through the back of the cap.

Cedar cantered around her, the rope passed behind her back as he went around behind her, she laughed as he threw in a playful buck, his front hooves pawed as the air as he gave a small rear, but he didn't stop moving. "Turn!" Her word was clear as she pointed her right hand toward the gelding's hindquarters and in a heartbeat he spun around and moved off in the other direction.

When she was ready for him to stop, she dropped her shoulders, moved her hand down the rope and drew her hand back towards her without shortening the rope. "There's a good boy." She said as he dropped back to a trot, then a walk and finally halted before walking up to her and blowing into her face. She shook the rope slightly asking the gelding to back up a couple of spaces, which he did. She stepped over to his shoulder, and pan her hand down it. As he turned to look at her, she unclipped the long lead and replaced it with the rope reins that she had tied around her waist.

Running her hand along his shoulder again, she took a handful of mane and vaulted onto the gelding's back. Leaning forward, she clipped the other rein onto the other side of the rope halter/bridle he was wearing. Sitting up straight, she took up the reins and squeezed the gelding forward.

She rode him around for a good ten minutes, working on getting him to yield: hindquarters, forequarters and backward while she was sitting on him. She asked the same way as she would had she been on the ground and clapped his neck as he was able to do all of what she asked, even if she had to ask a couple of times for him to move backwards.

She looked over as she heard the sound of talking voices and saw that her students were already arriving. "Please come on in and find yourself a space." She called as she gave a welcoming gesture. "Like last week, I will ask that you start by rubbing your horse over." She leaned forward and swung off the gelding's back, again she ran her hand over his shoulder - yeah, a weird habit and even Ana didn't know why she did it. "Has anyone found that anything is different with their horses since last class?" She led Cedar over to the fence where she had left a large box containing enough 24' ropes (in a variety of colours) for everyone and a few spares in case there were any newcomers, her brown hoodie jacket lay over the fence above the box.

Outfit

OOC: I wrote it that everyone was pretty much arriving at the same time.

[Onzyy]

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And with the faint taste of cigarettes
You write Hallelujah songs
Ain’t it wonderful, you feelin’ alright, so I tickle up your backbone
And at the break of the day you sank into your dream world

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To Jemma it felt like de ja vu. Everything was going pretty much the same way it had gone the last time she had to go to the Natural Horsemanship class. Last time it hadn't gone so well, basically she was told to sort out her issues before she went back. The week had been long, and with Callum's help she had started working with Spartan. When she had first arrived at the Academy, she had bought some of her mother's herbal diaries with. Nights had been spent poring over them, but something just clicked. Spartan needed to trust her again, and she needed to trust him. Once she had stopped trying Join Up, and had just spent time with him, small differences could be seen.

Spartan started coming to her from his paddock. He allowed her to touch him on his face, and soon his neck. Jemma allowed time to play a part in this new found bond, and she wasn't pushing him. In the afternoons, she sat in his paddock, doing her homework, and when he grazed close to her, she spoke to him. It was more like pouring out her heart and all her worries to him. So as she led him from the barn, Jemma was glad that she would be able to tell the teacher about some of her success.

When she came to the field, she noticed that she was the first one, but the others were following behind her. She nodded in greeting to the teacher, a small smile on her face, and she took a spot in the field. She hoped that Callum would come soon, as she really wanted to see him. Listening to Ana, she started doing the exercise. Her expert hands guided themselves over the planes of Spartans black face. As she moved down his neck, and towards his back, she watched his ears. They weren't pulled back, but they weren't forward either. The flicked back and forth, confused to what she was doing. Jemma watched a bit more, and soon he just hung his head in a relaxed manner.

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And on a date by a chocolate lake down at the rotary
And past town at the edge lookin’ down at butterflies
And at the break of the day you sank into the break of day
You sank into your dream world

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This is written for NH classand contains ... words. I used the following lyrics Dreamer: Jenn Grant and my character is wearing the following will create outfit later. I also just want to say

[lottii]

Callum was following a little way behind Jemma up to the field where the second Natural Horsemanship class would be held. However a combination of disliking to speak loudly and not wanting to cause a commotion he didn't call to Jemma as they made there way up. He nodded a greeting to the teacher, intending to follow her instructions and move straight on into a space, but decided to pause and speak to her. "I found Champagne is getting on better with me now. I thought when I brought him that he would improve once he knew and trusted me, and we are already being able to ride at much nearer his true ability level now. I think this class helped speed that up", Callum finished his little speech in response to her question. He figured she had perhaps intended people to share their experiences since the last class with the group, but there was no way he was doing that. As the pause in the conversation took place, he remembered his question. "Miss, I have a temperamental young Saddlebred, would I be able to bring her to the next class instead?" Once he had received an answer he moved away to stand near Jemma.

Keeping Champagne just far enough away from Spartan not to risk upsetting the other horse, Callum smiled towards Jemma who seemed involved in the exercise described by the teacher, so he didn't say anything. He was struck by the similarity between Champagne and Spartan, he knew they were both black Thoroughbred but he hadn't seen them stood next to each other before. The only real difference in looks between the two was that Champagne stood just over a hand shorter than Spartan. With thoughts of Jemma still on his mind he started running his hands over the gelding's body. Since the last class he had made the effort to do this every time he saw the horse - so at least three times a day - and he was confident that he could run his hands over every part of the Thoroughbred without any resistance.