Learning curve

[femalefred]

Damien nodded again when Daniel explained that the girth needed to be tightened gradually. It made sense, if you squeezed anything quickly it was going to more likely to react than if you gently applied pressure. He was certain that Michelle, the main reason he'd started riding, had told him she'd been bitten once or twice when she tightened a girth too quickly and pinched the horse's side. Taking the reins, the teenager followed Daniel quietly, trying to pay attention to where they were going and the mare herself. She was still flicking her ears about, but she wasn't skittering around any more and was walking almost placidly alongside him as they headed towards what the boy assumed must be an indoor arena.

It was slightly odd entering the large.. well, it was a huge shed really. Damien didn't think he'd ever been in a single room this large before and it was minorly awe-inspiring. For Daniel and Nell, it didn't appear to be in the slightest bit exciting. Even the slightly skittish mare seemed to almost calm down when they entered the shadowy building.

There was nobody else in there, and he stopped, Nell stopping beside him, about five metres in, awaiting further instruction.

[D E M O N //]

As they entered the arena Daniel looked around. It was empty, that was a good thing. there were no poles or anything out, but they woundn't be needing them. He was still adjusting to the fact that they put everything away after very use here, where, at his old stable there was a jumping course always set up. People would rearenage it and change the height depending on the work out they were looking for.

Grabbing the mounting block Daniel brought it back to the pair of them and placed it infront of the horse. "You know how to got on, right?" he asked. If he had ever ridden before he should, and Daniel was pretty confident that this wasn't his first time on a horse. Tightening the girth a few mor times he walked around to the right side of the horse and applied some preassure to the other stirrup while holding onto the mare. "Whenever your ready,"

[femalefred]

"Yeah," the teenager replied, though Nell was a bit bigger than any of the horses he'd ridden at camp. He carefully put the reins back over the mare's neck, giving her a gentle pat once he had done, and stepped up onto the mounting block. Holding the reins in his left hand which he placed on the pommel of the saddle, he put his left foot into the stirrup and lifted his weight onto it. For a second, he seemed to freeze up, but it was only a moment before he swung his right leg over the mare's back, settling into the saddle.

"Um.. do we change the stirrup length or something now?" he asked, feeling a little more confident now he was successfully sat on the horse and she wasn't skittering about all over the place. He was pretty sure these felt quite long for his quite short legs, but then Daniel would probably be the judge of that. He was the teacher here after all.

[D E M O N //]

Nodding Daniel shortened the stirrup leathers himself until they hit right at his ankle. Stepping back he said, "Walk on the rail," he proceeded to watch what Damien was doing and how he signaled the mare. "Remember, make your signals as subtle as possible, there's no reason to yank on her mouth when a small amount of contact will do the trick. To move forward look up and just close your legs around her side." As he didn't have any experiance he wasn't sure how e had been taught. Begininers were ofte taught to kick the horses side to make them walk forward. Daniel wouldn't care if his student had never even seen a horse before, there was no way that he could pull that in his class.

Of course, if a rider did anything to injure or cause uncomfort in any way, even if it was unintentional., Daniel would not hesitate to pull them off their mount. The horse's safety came first, then the riders, and then his own. Daniel had never really paid that much attention to his own wellbeing, as long as Dose was okay.

[femalefred]

Damien slipped his feet into the irons and nodded, nudging Nell in the side with, rather than just his heel, what seemed to be his entire foot. Fine motor control - other than video games - wasn't really his forte, but at least it wasn't a heavy kick. That, he could thank Michelle for. She'd told him that horses tended to respond pretty well to gentle commands, and the mare did indeed step forwards, moving off in a slightly more confidant walk than when she'd just been being led. Either the arena or having someone actually sat on her seemed to give her some kind of reassurance.

Damien's position was not great. That was to be expected, though, this being his first real lesson, but he tended to hunch slightly and that didn't improve things. He looked toward the rail, and opened out his right rein, intended to head to that side of the arena. That didn't get much of a response from the mare, who carried on walking straight ahead, so he brought the rein back in and tugged on it gently. This time, the mare responded and headed over to the track at a comfortable walk, Damien happy to let her amble on.

[D E M O N //]

"Don't open it, just bring your hand back to your side a little." he said watching as he walked along the ring. His position wasn't great, but that was only to be expected. Nodding his approval as they made it to the rail he continued to watch them walk around the ring for a minute. He wasn't a very vocal teacher, be he knew what he was talking about.

"Bring your shoulders back a bit and push your heels down," he said/ He was looking better then many beginners he had seen, but he still definitely needed some work. Having never really taught a complete beginer before, Daniel wasn't exactly sure what to do with him. Keep him walking or let him trot. Figuring his position idn't need to be perfect for a little trot he walked closer to the pair and asked, "Feel up to a little trotting?"

[femalefred]

The 16 year old nodded. He hadn't really been sure what to do there, but at least he'd been corrected. He hated lessons at school where the teachers just didn't really tell you if you were wrong. Nell was nearly at the corner of the arena now and, though he was pretty sure the mare would turn even without his instruction he tried it, bringing his left hand back to ask her to move around. She did so quite happily, though the boy was fairly sure that was just the edge of the arena. At least he was learning.

At about that point, Daniel spoke again. He wasn't particularly talkative for an instructor, but that wasn't necessarily a bad thing. Damien nodded and tried bringing his shoulders back, which forced him to straighten his spine out else it'd be massively uncomfortable. Pushing his heels down was also a mild strain, but he guessed it'd get easier with time. "I guess," he replied, glancing over to his teacher, who'd come a little closer to them.

[D E M O N //]

As Damien fixed his position and stragtened his back while he did it Daniel nodded his approval once more. As he said he was ready to he walked closer not really knowing the horses and wanting to make sure that everything remained under control. After all, his pupil wasn't exctly ready to take on a run away horse.

"Alright then, close your leg on her side a little and say trot," Obviously his position was still not perfect, but it would help to see where he was at a faster pace. He wanted to see if he would revert back to the way it was before he fixed part of it and such.

[femalefred]

The boy nodded and began to press inwards with his lower leg, and, feeling a little stupid as he did so, saying "Trot," in a clear voice.

The mare wasn't so sure of this though. She did up the pace of her walk, and it looked as though she were about to take up a trot for a moment, but she was still a little unsure of her rider and he hadn't given the best signals in the world. As she sped up and didn't actually pick up a different gait, Damien squeezed again, and this time Nell broke into a slightly half-hearted trot.

When he'd ridden at camp, he'd been told that he ought to rise and sit to this gait, and it was certainly pretty uncomfortable trying to sit to it. He couldn't quite remember when you were supposed to rise up, but after a brief period of experimentation across five or six strides he settled into what he felt was a pretty comfortable rhythm - albeit on the wrong diagonal, not that he knew that. His position was suffering a little bit but his shoulders hadn't hunched and he was still sitting up fairly straight. His heels had come up, and that was the major change that the trot had made so far.

"Umm.. should I carry on doing this?" he asked, a little nervously, turning to glance briefly at Daniel as they came around one of the arena's corners. He hadn't been told to, and it was probably better to wait and see what your teacher said before you did anything. Hopefully he wasn't doing too badly.

[D E M O N //]

Daniel nodded. He was doing pretty good. Better then he had expected. Teaching him was bring back memories when he first started riding. Good times, good times. 'Puch your heels down," he said watching the pair of them make their way around the ring.

Walking into the barn for the fist time, the smell overwelmed him. He saw the orse tied up to two ropes not really sure. They were so gorgeous. They had some seriously stunning animals at his barn, home to several ex-racehorses. Daniel remembered seeing a huge thoroughbred stallion and thinking he wanted to ride him. Of course, they had given him a much smaller easier to handle horse. But the little school pony had his qualities. He must have, because Daniel fell in love with the sport instantly. And ever since then he had practically lived at the stable, before he even knew how to trot.