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!.
Leo clapped his hands together and let out a breath onto them, trying to find some source of heat against the unusual cold of the April morning. He wasn't for this - the cold - he preferred heat, and warmth and sun. Summer boy through and through. At least he had a full diary of lessons for the day which would keep him going. He'd ridden his early, much to his own displeasure at being up that time, but at least they were out in the field and their beds were done for the day, ready for their coming in later.
He grabbed his coat from the gate post and slipped it on, zipping it up and feeling a little less of the chill as he milled about, waiting for Othello. He remembered the name, and so he was pretty sure it was the same kid he'd met a few weeks previously. He was looking forward to having a lesson with him and seeing what the young lad was made of.
Dice roll
Odd number - lesson goes poorly Even number - lesson goes well
"Bless you." Othello said as Harry sneezed while being groomed. The boy felt a little nervous while he finished grooming the liver chestnut and then tacked him up, wondering if he was as ready for this as he thought he was. At least this was a lesson his mum knew about, and he'd had a video call with her last night talking about stuff - her nagging him for not eating enough, because she could see he'd lost weight, her telling him to be careful around horses, blah, blah, blah.
"Let's do this." He gave a grin as he zipped his jacket up and led the horse out to the arena, while he pulled his riding gloves on. His grin deepened when he saw the man who was going to be his instructor. "Not late, am I?" Maybe he'd be lost in his own world for a little longer than he should have been?
Hearing the sound of hooves, Leo glanced up the path to the stables. It seemed his student was on the way. He'd been right at least - it was the young lad he'd met a little while ago, and Leo praised his memory. Usually, he wasn't too good at names and faces, that was more his sibling's talent. Othello must have made a good impression on him for it to sink into Leo's mind from their one and only meeting.
"Not late, am I?" Leo smiled quickly and shook his head. "Nope, right on time!" He promised, swinging the gate shut behind them once everyone was inside. "This must be the famous Harry?" He guessed, digging the name out from the sign up sheet in his memory. He gave the lad a moment to get himself sorted and then situated on the horse, taking in the horses' mood and how well he stood, and how Othello sat in the saddle. You could learn a lot before people even got moving if you were looking. "Alrighty, so... dressage! I understand you're just starting out, so how far have you got so far? Feeling comfortable in trot and canter yet or just getting used to the movements?" He didn't want to be presumptuous, and even the more advanced rider could still learn to sit a little deeper, be a little more stable in the saddle in the three gaits.
"Nope, right on time!" Othello mimed wiping his forehead - or as close as he could get with a helmet on - at that news. "This must be the famous Harry?" He grinned and nodded, letting Harry stretch forward as the gelding stretched his nose toward the man and sighed when he worked out no treats were on offer.
He tightened the girth before pulling his stirrups down and swinging into the saddle, closing is eyes for a moment as the ground seemed to vanish from beneath them from moving quickly, and he blew out a breath as he opened them again and patted Harry's neck before slipping his right foot into the stirrup and sorted out his reins. "Alrighty, so... dressage! I understand you're just starting out, so how far have you got so far? Feeling comfortable in trot and canter yet or just getting used to the movements?" He shrugged, suddenly self-conscious. "I've done basic showing, walk, trot, canter on command around the judge." He shrugged again. "Even though my mum as an aneurysm every time I talk about wanting to do it, I want to give enventing a try, and I from watching it on the telly, I know that dressage is a bit more than just walking, trotting and cantering around an arena, and I want to know how to turn my riding into what they can do." He shrugged a third time, knowing that he was babbling but hoping that Leo would get the gist of what he was saying.
Leo grinned at the horse as he felt the soft twitch of whiskers on his hand, giving the horse a quick pat to show he was no harm. Then he took a small step back so as not to distract the horse from his rider's commands. Whilst the horse should always look to the rider first, he knew that it was easy for a horse to find someone on the ground more interesting, particularly if there was a possibility of treats involved - or an escape route from the work they were about to start.
He gave Othello all the time he needed to get himself settled in the saddle. There was never a rush, and Leo was always happy to give a little extra time if people needed it. He didn't have anything else to be doing after this class. He focused on Othello for the moment, seeing the small shrug and wondering if he'd put the young lad on the spot too much. "I've done basic showing, walk, trot, canter on command around the judge." Leo nodded, "okay, nice!" he said with a quick smile. "Even though my mum as an aneurysm every time I talk about wanting to do it, I want to give enventing a try, and I from watching it on the telly, I know that dressage is a bit more than just walking, trotting and cantering around an arena, and I want to know how to turn my riding into what they can do." Leo nodded along in understanding.
"I got you," He promised, "with eventing, dressage can make or break your score. The jumping is important too, you want to be going double clear, but if you don't get a decent dressage score, then the clears won't put you in the ranking." He explained - half to show he understood what Othello was on about and half to explain why being good at dressage mattered. "It's also a good foundation for your jumping - dressage will help on both you and Harry's balance and flexibility, all good things to help with eventing." He added another grin, then took a few steps back. "Alright, well let's see where we're at. If you take Harry out wide and just start warming him up. Get him on some big circles and then smaller circles, change the rein and do the same. Through in some halts and such too.... let's get him listening to you and warm. Take your time, there's no rush."
"I got you," Othello grinned, glad that someone seemed to be in his corner. "with eventing, dressage can make or break your score. The jumping is important too, you want to be going double clear, but if you don't get a decent dressage score, then the clears won't put you in the ranking." He nodded, this much he knew from what he'd read and seen on the TV. "It's also a good foundation for your jumping - dressage will help on both you and Harry's balance and flexibility, all good things to help with eventing." He pursed his lips in thought as he had his horse walk slowly around the arena. When he really thought about it, he could understand how the foundations of dressage would help out in other riding events...kinda.
"Alright, well let's see where we're at. If you take Harry out wide and just start warming him up. Get him on some big circles and then smaller circles, change the rein and do the same. Through in some halts and such too.... let's get him listening to you and warm. Take your time, there's no rush." He grinned as he sat up a little taller, and squeezed the reins as he asked the gelding to wake up and move from his hindquarters as they began to actually work, rather than the trail-ride plod the gelding had been doing before. At K, he brought the gelding off the rail as they rode a large circle, which Othello thought he managed to his most of the right places, sure that it was more circle than hexagon...ish, and then rode along the rail again as they continued to work around the arena, with a few more circles of different sizes, change of rein, more circles. Asking for a half halt right before he asked for something so that he knew the gelding was listening before he asked for something new.
Leo returned the grin with ease - as annoying as he was, his chilled out, fun loving, slightly goofy and childish nature meant he loved kids and to be honest, people in general. It was hard to piss him off or get on his bad side, things just seemed to glance right off the guy, which gave him a surprising amount of patience. As he spoke, he saw Othello nodding along, listening intently. He hoped he was making sense whilst not overwhelming the young lad - it was a lot to think about, and to consider. Most people got into eventing because they didn't love dressage, but it wasn't something you could escape. You could love the jumping as much as you wanted, but the dressage was the foundation of it all and made the difference between doing well and doing poorly.
He wandered toward the middle of the arena so he could give Harry and Othello all the space they wanted to use, and so he could see them across the whole school. He watched them lightly to begin with, giving them both time to get warm and moving before he started watching more intently to see what he could pick up - where the improvements could be made, where their strengths were, where their weaknesses were clear. He nodded as he watched, "looking good!" He called out, he knew how important and confidence giving compliments were - lessons could be daunting, especially in the beginning when you didn't know the instructor very well, and he liked people to know what they were doing well as much as where they needed some help. "He's listening to you nicely, you guys clearly have a good partnership." He added, able to see the way the gelding's ears kept tabs on his rider, and how quickly he responded to the commands. "Just need to add a little more inside leg on those circles, and a little firmer hold on your outside rein to support him - it'll help smooth out those circles a bit more and make sure he doesn't fall in or fall out as much."
"looking good!" Othello sat up a little taller, pleased with the praise - though knew it probably had nothing to do with him, and everything to do with the schoolmaster he was riding. "He's listening to you nicely, you guys clearly have a good partnership." He nodded as his fingers tickled the side of Harry's neck, the gelding had really helped get him out of a dark place. "Just need to add a little more inside leg on those circles, and a little firmer hold on your outside rein to support him - it'll help smooth out those circles a bit more and make sure he doesn't fall in or fall out as much."
The teenager frowned in concentration as he tried to follow the instructions. "I knew that having my grams as my instructor was going to bite me at some point." He chuckled. There had always been a part of him that wondered if he would be pushed a little more if his instructor wasn't related to him... or his nurse, as the case may be, and he wondered how many bad habits he'd picked up while learning. He shook himself out of his thoughts and actually applied the instructions given, a little more inside leg and outside rein. "I'm guessing that there's always the change of using too much inside leg and outside rein?" He asked with a shrug, and then wondered if it was something he should be looking up later.
