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Post by Natoli Joss on Jul 11, 2010 17:44:36 GMT -5
Natoli stood in front of the stables, waiting for her first students to arrive. Hopefully she wouldn't get anyone who would mistreat her precious babies, but if someone did, they would get a detention faster than they could name what species they were! While they weren't actually going to ride the horses this class, she decided to still meet there to get the students used to it. She was wearing sensible work clothes that were all various shades of green and work boots.
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Post by William Jason Fredericks on Jul 11, 2010 17:53:02 GMT -5
Groundsman Fredericks walked into the stable, a pitchfork over one shoulder. He didn't seem to notice Natoli at first.
"Hear they're giving lessons now...leave stable open...bloody stampede...heh, trampled..."
He finally looked up and his eyes narrowed briefly before going back to their customary spot on the floor. "Afternoon professor."
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Post by Natoli Joss on Jul 11, 2010 17:59:11 GMT -5
Natoli smiled at the groundsman. "Afternoon, Groundsman Fredericks right?" She looked around the grounds. "While we're not riding today, I was wondering, where would be a good place for teaching riders. I don't want to ruin the lovely grass and all."
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Post by William Jason Fredericks on Jul 11, 2010 18:12:24 GMT -5
"...place to ride...next...polo field."
He stabbed the pitchfork into a pile of hay nearby and then turned back to Natoli.
"I s'pose for starters the shoulder along the road might work, don't really get much use fer cars. If ya' want a longer ride, the trail to the beach is pretty level. I'd recommend staying out of the forest, trails pretty trecherous at times."
He stops as if to accentuate that last point.
He turns to one of the stalls. "Ya' 'ear that Frank, one of those snot nosed brats is gonna sit on yer back."
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Post by Natoli Joss on Jul 11, 2010 18:42:51 GMT -5
Natoli smiled. "Thank you very much. Those sound like very good spots. And yes, I don't think that taking students through any forest if they are only beginning riders is a good idea, no matter how peaceful the forest is." She glanced towards the stables, confused. "Excuse me, but who if Frank?" She had met with all the horses and didn't think any had been named that.
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Post by William Jason Fredericks on Jul 11, 2010 18:50:41 GMT -5
Fredericks jabbed his thumb at a older looking horse (to those who could tell) in the stable next to him.
"'e's Frank. Not 'is real name of course, but then neither is the name on the stable door, so it doesn't really matter I s'pose. Frank's getting on in years, not too fond of people."
The horse whinnied.
"Yeah Frank, that makes two of us." He chuckled.
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Post by Natoli Joss on Jul 11, 2010 19:01:14 GMT -5
Natoli glanced at the horse. "Ah, the one that the others call Maxwell. I already promised him that I wouldn't let any of the students ride him. He seemed like a nice enough fellow when talking to me though."
She then processed the last bit. "Oh, I apologize if I'm bugging you. I just happen to have a great love for animals in general and can go on about them. So sorry."
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Post by William Jason Fredericks on Jul 11, 2010 20:16:30 GMT -5
"Eh" Fredericks shrugged. "S'pose I should be gettin on though. Lots a ground to cover an' all."
Leaving the pitchfork behind he turned and headed for the door.
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Post by Natoli Joss on Jul 11, 2010 23:59:20 GMT -5
Natoli called after him. "Good day Groundsman!" She then turned back to waiting for someone to show up to the class.
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Post by Kahlen Jeanne Nox on Jul 12, 2010 14:28:45 GMT -5
Kahlen skipped up to the stables, Mikhail in tow. She liked riding horses and thought this would be a fun class to take (and also crash). She also had gotten along rather well with Mellianne's sister.
"Hullo, again. Are we going to be riding today?" Kahlen had prepared and wore her riding boots.
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Post by Natoli Joss on Jul 12, 2010 14:59:54 GMT -5
Natoli grinned at Kahlen. "Probably not today. If we do, it will be towards the end of class. I want to make sure you guys know how to take care of the horses first. If you want to go riding outside of class, just stop by my office, and if I have time, I'll take you out on easy trails. If we don't get enough people, I'll need help exercising the horses that didn't get a rider."
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Post by Kahlen Jeanne Nox on Jul 12, 2010 15:05:32 GMT -5
"Oh, okay," Kahlen said. "I'd love to help exercise the horses, though. I've taken lessons for walking and trotting. I haven't gotten around to cantering, yet."
She peeked into the stables to see if any horses were poking their heads out. She hadn't riden last semester because she was too busy with other things. This class would allow her to expand her ever increasing list of hobbies.
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Post by Natoli Joss on Jul 12, 2010 15:38:22 GMT -5
Natoli grinned wider, happy to find someone who knew how to ride already. If the girl was good, she might find herself offered with a TA job, if they had such a program here of course. "I'm glad to hear that. Hopefully more students will show up so we don't have to exercise them all by ourselves. As much as I wouldn't mind, I have other tasks that I need to do as well."
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Post by Natoli Joss on Jul 13, 2010 17:10:16 GMT -5
Natoli sighed after a few minutes of waiting. She loved the fact that Kahlen had showed up to this class as well, but she had rather hoped for other students as well. She really didn't have the time to exercise them all, even if one other person decided to help. Looking at her watch, she said, "A few more minutes, and if no one else shows up, we'll just go over what you know and hope someone joins in later. That alright with you?"
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Post by Kahlen Jeanne Nox on Jul 13, 2010 17:15:49 GMT -5
Kahlen, who had been petting the head of the horse closest to the stable doors, perked up. "Sounds great!"
The horse snorted when she stopped petting him. Kahlen scratched his head beneath his ears. He reached his head around and tried to take a bit out of Kahlen's ponytail. She stepped back and said, "I'll stop petting you if you keep trying to eat my hair, you big silly."
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Post by Manuel Alvarez on Jul 13, 2010 21:20:19 GMT -5
Mannie was late to class, but he had a reason! See, this amazingly interesting pattern had formed in the turf, and he had to stop and study it. Sure, it was probably just from all the students walking on it, but it could possibly have been because of the burrows of underground animals! So he just had to examine it, you understand? Sure, there was a large chunk of missing grass outside right now, but in a few weeks you'd hardly notice the difference! "I'm here!" the boy called out as he entered the stables.
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Post by Natoli Joss on Jul 13, 2010 21:27:22 GMT -5
Natoli smiled at Kahlen. "Animals seem to love your hair, don't they?"
Turning to the late arrival, she sighed. Hopefully he wouldn't try to do anything to the horses, though since they were normal, she hoped that would curb his fascination with them. "Hello Mr. Alvarez. I hope you will be on time in the future. We won't be staying here the entire time during future classes."
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Post by William Jason Fredericks on Jul 14, 2010 6:52:47 GMT -5
"Bloody 'ell!" came a started exclamation from outside the stables.
"Damn brats....destroy everything....no respect..."
Anyone who peeked outside at that moment would see Fredericks staring at the large patch of destroyed lawn left by Mannie. Fredericks put down his hedge clippers and closed his eyes. His lips moved as if speaking but not even his usual mumbles could be heard. New shoots of grass sprouted from the bare earth and within a minute the lawn was back to its original pristine state.
"Back in my day...whip of cords...too good for..."
He picked up his hedge trimmers and moved off.
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Post by Scott Logan on Jul 14, 2010 7:12:02 GMT -5
Scott walked into the stables. "Hi, umm, Professor Joss, is it?" he said, looking admiringly at the horses in the stables. He'd done a fair bit of horseriding with his parents, but hadn't ridden since starting at SDA - there hadn't been time over Christmas break.
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Post by Natoli Joss on Jul 14, 2010 11:17:04 GMT -5
Natoli grinned at the newcomer. Finally, her class was looking a little fuller, it still would be really hard to exercise the rest of the horses, but at least she wouldn't have all of them. She loved the horses here, but she had other duties that left her without all the time she would have needed. Though three students still wasn't a class size she wanted to see. "Aye. I'm Professor Joss. Welcome to Horseback Riding. You are?"
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Post by Aurora Lumina Robinson on Jul 14, 2010 16:41:01 GMT -5
"Am I late!" She really hoped she wasn't late. Aurora, too excited to wait for the horseback class, had started googling pictures of horses and wound up spending half an hour filling up the flashcard on her PDA with nothing but horse pictures. She'd lost track of time.
She came skipping in, her waist-long red hair wildy tumbling about, her form-fitting silver dress it's regular liquid consistency, stringed with little flashing blue and purple lights. Her feet looked more like they were wearing silver socks than boots, but that didn't' matter since they weren't real feet.
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Post by Kahlen Jeanne Nox on Jul 14, 2010 16:47:39 GMT -5
"Heh, yeah, I suppose so," Kahlen said to the professor. She removed her hair from the horse's mouth again and gave him a quick pat before going outside to join the others who had shown up.
She waved to Mannie, who she didn't know that well, and said "Hello!" to Scott and Aurora.
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Post by Natoli Joss on Jul 14, 2010 17:16:32 GMT -5
Natoli smiled at Aurora. "Not today. But in the future, try to be a little earlier so you can have more time with the horse that you've chosen to take care of." She looked around the grounds. "Well, I'll start now and anyone late today can get a free-bee."
She straightened up. "Today's class won't be too terribly long, and unfortunately I don't plan on there to be any riding today because I want to see how far each of you are. Please, would you one by one introduce yourselves to the class and tell me how much practice you've had with horses in general as well as riding?"
Hopefully this part, as well as going over the rules, would go by fast so they could go and choose the horse that would be 'theirs' for the semester.
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Post by Scott Logan on Jul 14, 2010 18:06:23 GMT -5
"I'm Scott Logan, professor. I've done a fair bit of horseriding with my parents, of course, and I used to play polo, but haven't had a chance to ride since I started at SDA, so I'm probably a bit rusty."
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Post by Aurora Lumina Robinson on Jul 14, 2010 18:16:30 GMT -5
"I'm Aurora Lumina Robinson," she said with a smile that could melt a mountain and an adorable curtsy. "And my mom took me to ride a pony when I was little I think..." As she was only 12 years old, 'little' took on a much greater meaning.
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Post by Manuel Alvarez on Jul 14, 2010 18:26:39 GMT -5
"Mannie Alvarez," the boy said. "I've never been on a horse before. I tried riding a mule at the fair, but it tried to bite me and I got scared. That was about eight years ago." One might notice that he was keeping a wary eye on the horses. He didn't know whether or not they were as temperamental as that mule, but he wouldn't risk it unless the teacher said they were okay.
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Post by Jane Ebonwood on Jul 14, 2010 18:46:58 GMT -5
Jane showed up late, of course. It had taken everything just to force herself to go outside. She was hunched over slightly, the hood angled as if she was looking at the ground. One arm was held up to her face, the sleeve held up against her eye. "Sorry I'm late. I had some trouble getting here." She didn't add that the trouble was the fact that it was so damn bright that she could barely see anything. The horses were getting slightly agitated by her presence.
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Post by Kahlen Jeanne Nox on Jul 14, 2010 20:05:55 GMT -5
"I'm Kahlen," she said. "Earlier I said I ride, but I haven't had a chance to last semester. I'm pretty good at taking care of the non-horse-related things, such as grooming and taking care of the equipment."
Kahlen noticed the odd girl who showed up. She wondered why she was dressed so strangely for riding.
"So we get to choose the horse we can take care of? Can I have dibs on the one that I was petting earlier?"
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Post by Destiny Valencia Everett on Jul 15, 2010 0:51:40 GMT -5
Destiny had tiptoed in while the others were introducing themselves, and was now gazing dreamily into the stable.
"I'm Destiny Valencia Everett," she said. "And I don't think I've ever ridden a horse before, but I'd love to meet one."
The calico cat called Tigger had appeared from somewhere and was winding herself round Destiny's ankles. The girl surreptitiously dropped a hamburger scrap to the waiting cat.
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Post by Natoli Joss on Jul 16, 2010 15:30:16 GMT -5
Natoli nodded at all the ones that listened. She raised an eyebrow at the vampire that had shown up and at the hamburger eating cat.
"Well. Mr. Avlerez, I won't start you out with a horse. Ours are all, if not gentle, still able to put up with quite a bit more than a mule. But I would still feel easier if you lose your fear before riding a horse. Or even choosing one. So if you wish to stay, the first few lessons will probably be you watching the others ride and helping me take care of the extra horses, by giving them treats and brushing and the like. If you're ever too scared to approach a certain horse, just let me know, and I won't force you.
"Those of you that haven't ridden a horse before will still pick one out, but in this class, I would rather you get a bit of practice with me leading you before you ride on your own. Those of you that have experience, next class we'll see how much experience and you'll most likely be able to ride on your own around the corral while I help the less-experienced ones."
She paused for breath and took a quick look at the assembled students. She thought that would address everyone's riding skills.
"Ms. Nox. I don't think the horse would let you choose another. He seems to be quite taken with you, and your hair. Ms Everett, while your cat may like hamburgers, please don't feed the horses any. They don't eat meat.
"If any of you wish to have extra practice outside of classes, as long as it doesn't interfere with my other class or my meal times, I'll see about taking you out here for extra instruction. And you in the robe. Name and experience please?"
She hoped she didn't sound too demanding to the young girl, but she didn't really want to call her back to talk while the others were choosing without knowing her name and if she had any pre-death experience.
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