Mounted Games Class II

[lottii]

Out Of Character: Please, Please, Please make sure you post your ride on another pony on the first thread before you post here. That ride affects what will happen here, but someone *cough cough xD* wanted me to start this one

Marie wandered around the barns, preparing the ponies that might be used in the class. Today they would be introducing the rest of the games, so most people would be staying on their own ponies. Marie was intending to ride Zeus today, and she had sent out a note or two offering some students a chance to ride a particular school horse or one of hers. She left those horses groomed in their stables, but as riding them was optional to the students who had got a note, she didn't tack them up. Marie made her way to to Zeus' stall, that was who she was riding today, as she knew she hadn't offered him to any of the students.

Vaulting aboard him easily as they exciting the stable, she warmed him up in walk and trot on the way down to the paddock. Reaching the paddock she surveyed the equipment she had set up earlier that morning. Marie spent a little time warming Zeus up, getting him responding well to her and stretching out his muscles before he would have to do the games. The little pony rarely misbehaved, and today seemed to be a good day. There was a hint of a buck when she first let his canter slip into a gallop, but it was a buck of excitement not bad behavior. Taking him down the bending poles at a canter, Zeus pivoted around the final pole and made his way back at a gallop. As Marie settled him back down to a walk, she noted the arrival of a student.

Out Of Character: I will try to message you or catch you on chat inbetween posting in the last class on the different mount, and posting here if I want you to ride a school horse/ Marie's. So please leave 12 hours or so between posting there and posting here, unless I speak to you. If you only rode your horse in the last class, then don't worry about waiting

[Ω-Admin-Cara-Ω]

Cara slipped into the barn, her feet still seemed to drag when she walked through the doorway, but she shook herself out of her thoughts and headed down to Gizmo's stall. "Hey sugar." She said as she looked over the door and saw that the gelding had already been groomed.

Entering the stall, she slipped the halter over his nose and fastened it before leading in out and putting him in the cross-ties. Even though he had obviously already been groomed, it was a good bonding process so she ran a body brush over his coat just to add a little extra shine before she placed the saddle on his back and then the bridle. She looked around as the sound of hooves connecting with a stall wall could be heard, but knowing she had a class to head to she carried on getting the gelding ready before she placed the helmet on her head and fastened it under her chin.

Doing the halter up over the top of the gelding's bridle, she led him out to the paddock where the class had been held the last time. She could already see Miss Kane sitting astride Zeus. Entering he paddock, she removed the gelding's halter and left it over the fence before leading the gelding further into the paddock. Halting him she pulled the stirrups down and tightened the girth before she vaulted easily onto the gelding's back and slipped her feet into the stirrups. She closed her eyes to stop the world from spinning around her and opened them again before she squeezed the gelding forward.

[lottii]

Walking over towards the student, it was Cara, Marie could see now, she smiled. Cara had chosen to ride Gizmo, as she hoped she would. Actually she suspected the girl would have felt she didn't have much choice, she had never known the young girl disagree with an adult. She was pleased, regardless, that Gizmo was being worked by Cara.

"Hi Cara, are you ok? You look lovely on Gizmo, by the way. Well done, you handled him well in the last class. If you just want to start warming him up, hopefully he won't put in too many of his antics," she smiled. Cara had seemed to enjoy Gizmo's spunky behavior in the last class, and she hoped that she would deal with the horse and keep him focused when it counted - which was all you could do really. However hard you tried, Giz was not going to be perfectly behaved all the time, but a talented rider could get him to do the actual games outstandingly.

[Ω-Admin-Cara-Ω]

"Thank you, Ma'am." Cara replied, intentionally bypassing the woman's question as the girl didn't quite know how to reply to it. She shrugged at the comment on the gelding's antics. "He is welcome to throw them, Ma'am. He will learn quickly that they don't bother me." She didn't want a push-button pony anyway. At least with a horse that gave you lip every now and then, you knew exactly what they were thinking. It was the ones that obeyed every single thing that was asked of them without adding their own opinion were the ones that always made her wonder when they were going to snap. Yeah, so pretty much she didn't like horses that responded like robots, like her.

With a respectful dressage salute, the girl squeezed the gelding forward and asked Gizmo to head down to the other end of the paddock so that she could work him through his paces and see what she could get out of him before the real work started. "Walk up, Giz." She said softly when the gelding refused to move, she suddenly got a sense of déjà vu as she increased the pressure from her legs. "There's a good lad!" She praised as the gelding huffed before he walked off.

Down the other end of the field, the young teen worked the pony on a 20 metre circle. Starting off at a walk just to allow the pony to stretch himself out and warm up before she sat deep, gathered the reins slightly and asked for a trot. An eyebrow rose as the gelding did as was asked without the argument she expected.

After they had worked at a trot on each rein for a good while, Cara asked the gelding to move out and work along the fence line, as though they were working in an arena. At the corner she sat deep, shortened her reins again and asked for a canter. "Hey!" She exclaimed with a laugh as the pony exploded into a canter, followed by a series of bucks of varying heights.

She sat deep to each of the bucks, giving and taking with the reins until she knew it was safe to begin turning him around. It didn't take long to get Gizmo back between her legs and focused on what she wanted him to do.