Welcome to Hickstead, home to both Seven Oak Stables, and Blue Acre - two rival stables. Both offer opportunities for their clients to reach the highest level of excellence. Each stable differs from the other, so choose wisely and never forget, loyalty is everything... Meanwhile as the stables battle it out, there's trouble brewing at the university. Be careful, if you don't pick a side you may get caught in the cross-fire...
This is an chilled out rpg with a super friendly and relaxed atmosphere! Remember to sign up with your characters full name in all caps and don't forget to do your claims! Thank you and Welcome, we've been established since 10th March 2009 but unfortunately have had to close guest view of our boards due to multiple sites ripping off our hard work, such a shame! Come chat to us in Discord before joining if you like!.
When he was first planning his lessons, Bruce had thought to hold them in one of the smaller pastures, so that the students and horses would have room to space out. However, with one student, the arena worked fine.
"Good girl." He said as he rubbed the Vanner's forehead as he unclipped her lead, leaving her where she was standing while he gathered the things he needed. Leaving a selection of rope halters on the arena fence - because he wasn't sure what size the horse attending the lesson would need - as well as a carrot stick and 12-foot lead rope. "Are you going to listen today?" He asked Ash as he returned to his mare, smiling as she gently butted him in the chest with her nose. "I think you'll be fine."
He gave a welcoming smile as a man entered the arena with his horse. "Welcome." He said. "You must be Everett and Sunday. I'm Bruce and this lovely lady is Ash." He patted the bay tobiano on the neck. "Over there you will find everything you will need, a rope halter, a long lead and a carrot stick. It may look like a riding crop, but the stick is an extension of your arm, rather than something to use to discipline. Once you've swapped halters and found a space for the two of you we'll get started."
While he waited, he clipped the lead back onto Ash's halter, not that she needed it, but it was easier if he needed to demonstrate something. "I thought that today, we could start by playing some games with our horse. The first game is quite simple, it's called the friendly game. What you are going to do is run your hands all over your horse." He demonstrated by running his hand down and over Ash's back and down her hind leg. "It may seem silly, but it helps create a strong bond between horse and human, and it will give you a good idea of any no-go zones your horse may have." And those no-go zones, was what the carrot stick was for, but he'd go onto to that if there were any places that Everett couldn't touch.br]
Dice roll
Odd number - lesson goes poorly Even number - lesson goes well
Everett knew he needed to start taking lessons. He rode well enough to ride on his own, but there was always something for him to learn. The man was excited, deciding to go with Sunday to test out Bruce's lessons.
It was odd for him not to have to tack up the blue roan mare, but that was the whole point of natural horsemanship after all. With the mare brushed, he clipped the black lead rope on and led the mare towards the outdoor arena. It seemed the mare had finished her Spring fever, settling down to her usual self again recently. He opened the gate, leading the mare inside the arena before closing it behind him. "Hello Bruce, thank you for having us today. We are excited to see what our lesson brings." He continued leading the blue roan towards the pile of equipment and switched halters first, leaving his own halter and lead rope set on the other side of the arena fence.
Once they were ready, they found a place around the center of the arena. He made sure his mare was halted nicely before dropping the carrot stick on the ground beside him. "And what does this do?" He held the long lead in one hand and began touching the mare with his other one, starting with the mare's face.
Bruce played the game too as he ran his hands over Ash's body, smiling as the mare moved into his touch as he ran his hands over places she really enjoyed. "The long line will come in handy as we move along in the games."
When he was happy that is seemed Sunday was happy enough to be touched all over, he decided to move onto the next game. "Now we're going to work through the porcupine game. With steady pressure, from your finger, you are going to get your horse to move backwards." He held the rope loosley in his left hand while standing in front of his mare and lifted his right hand, index finger pointing toward the horse's nose and laughed when Ash obediently took three steps backwards. "I'm getting the feeling I should have used one of my greener horses for my lesson." He joked. "The idea is to get them to move with the slightest of touches, till you get to what Ash did, and she moved from a suggestion. The reason for the name of the game is because you work through phases." He brought the mare back to him. "The first phase is a light touch, nothing more than the weight of a fly handing on their skin," His finger touched the Vanner's nose and she backed up. "And if that doesn't get the horse to move, your pressure increases until you become as firm as a fence post. Just remember, a fence post doesn't move though, so they are rewarded when they move away from pressure. Then, once you have your horse backing up from a simple touch to the nose, you can move the lesson on and have then yield from the fore or hindquarters, get them to move sideways, stuff like that."
Everett was glad the lesson was going well. Sunday was used to being close to humans - Everett had done chiropractic work on both his horses since he knew of their existence. He took his time finishing off the friendly game, Sunday kept calm and swished her black tail at the feeling of flies landing on her body.
He moved to stand in front of the mare, standing beside her as he watched Bruce's demonstration. "You have more than one horse as well?" Everett had a hard time keeping track of what horse belonged to who - but usually the owners showed up for their appointments. He smiled when Ash backed up before turning to face the blue roan's face. He held his long lead in his left hand, lifting his right hand and using his pointer finger to press gently against the mare's velvet nose.
Sunday flicked her ears forward - unsure what her human wanted. Everett shook his head and applied more pressure - Sunday tucking her nose towards her chest before backing up a step. Everett smiled and removed his finger from her nose. "Yes! Good job Sunday." He reached up with his hand and gave the mare a good scratch with his fingers under her forelock.
