Evaluation Session

[Emo]

Seb sat on the ground outside of the arena, watching boarders go in circles with their horses. She felt like laughing but held it in despite the facts. Her evaluation wouldn’t be for another half hour or so. Seb felt that she might as well be early in case Hope came out early. Wouldn’t want to be late either. She knew that if she got into something that needed all her attention she’d totally forget about her evaluation session and wouldn’t make it or, at the least, be late. That would be very bad and for sure she wouldn’t get the job even though she really needs it. So she came early. Not to show off to Hope but merely so she wouldn’t be late. It was a good thing.


Seb patiently waited for the half hour to tick by as she watched the riders and the people doing ground work. A few trot poles were set up and a cavaletti or two, she wasn’t sure if the second one was a cavaletti since one side was down and the ‘X’ was missing. She didn’t worry too much about it though since it wasn’t her problem. But it got her thinking. Would Hope clear out the arena for her session or not? She couldn’t see why she would but then again, it was business and none of their business.

[Arya]

Liz walked down to the ring to find Seb already there. Who knew, they may get to ride the horses together. It didn't really matter to Liz because she just got to help Hope and the others out. Hey, looks like we may be riding together today. And it seems that we are both excited since we have like 5 minutes to go and showed up extremly early. Liz wathced the other riders trot over some polls. They where riding well, and Liz didn't know what Hope would have her do. Once again, Liz didn't care what Hope had her do, just as long as it wasn't dressage.

[DJ]

Hope lead Prim up to the gate slowly. The two-year-old was walking nicely, but twisting her head in annoyance of the teal halter pulled onto her face.

The buckskined body of the filly was stong and elegant. Hope planned to turn her into an eventer as she got older, but a proper lesson in manners and groundwork should show up first.

The filly was bought from a large breeding barn last winter. Her gender and color were not what the owners had wanted, so they put the equine up for sale cheaply, and Hope rushed at the chance to get such a fantastic looking filly. Because the owners were not interested in her, she went out to pasture as soon as she was weaned off of her dam, and not handled, thus turning slightly sour at her loneliness and lack of human contact.

Hope really wished for the filly to learn her manners correctly, with a gentle hand, but correct training.

Hope waved to Seb and Liz, the extra length of the lead in her hand. "Almost ready?" she asked the girls, giving Prim a small scratch on her untrimmed muzzle with the young, soft, and short foal hairs still growing.

She peered into the arena, looking at the other riders and one of the girls looked at Hope before pulling up her sleeve and checking her watch.

"Oh, no," she cried, feeling bad. "Sorry. I didn't see the time. We'll clear out of here quickly," she told Hope, as she dismounted and began dragging cavalettis to the rail of the ring, getting them out of the way.

"It's all right," Hope added, asking the impatient filly to stand, not wanting to circle her, allowing her to get what she wanted by walking around.

[Emo]

Seb smiled as she turned around to the sound of boot steps. Liz was also doing her evaluation at the same time? That was different. Not that Seb minded. It would be nice to have a bit of encouragement from a friend. ”Hey Liz! We might be, it depends on what Hope has planned. It’s so agonizing to have to wait, it makes me nervous.” Seb leaned forward as she watched a dark grey take cues from his rider. Possibly a Quarter Horse or an Appaloosa. It didn’t matter. Seb had been playing this game for a while but it was still hard for her to get it right. So many breeds, yet so many characteristics that don’t stand out.

As more boot steps came closer, and the sound of hooves, Seb stood up. Standing beside Liz she smiled to Hope and the filly. She was so gorgeous. Seb didn’t know her background but she wouldn’t have to for the evaluation. It should be simple to get her to pay attention. Although Seb did prefer the round pen, so she didn’t have to use a line, she could easily work with a line and have the same results maybe just slower. ”Wow, Hope where did you find her?” Quietly Seb walked up to the filly, holding out her hand palm down so as not to frighten the young animal. When she finally reached the buckskin toned filly she allowed her to get her scent before rubbing down her neck and back.

[Arya]

Liz nodded when Hope came down. Most of her attention was on the beautiful buckskin filly that Hope had brought down. Liz could tell that the filly was annoyed by the halter as she kept twisting her head. She is beautiful, Liz murmerd before looking up at Hope then Seb. So, what is her name, and what will we be doing? Liz knew she was being impatient and she held back, allowing Hope to explain the rest. Seb was just as amazed as Liz was with the filly, and she wonderd where Hope had gotten her.

[DJ]

"This is Prim." Hope turned to the filly and stroked her neck. "Basically, if you'd like to take her, you can bring her into the arena and do whatever you'd like." Hope smiled and watched the larger horses exit the ring.

"She's pretty bold, so that can be a pro or con depending on what you'd doing." Hope handed the teal braided rope to Seb, opening the gate for her to enter the ring.

She could explain more about the filly after. Hopefully, she'd behave and not do the trick she enjoyed doing. Hope studied the filly's movement, and she seemed relaxed.

I didn't look like she was planning to do the annoying habit today of refusing to move, then, after coaxing the filly, she'd bound forward, cantering and bucking and spinning in delight, and it was almost impossible to hang onto the strong mare.

But for now, she happily followed Seb at-shoulder and her head was bobbing in delight.

[Emo]

Looking back at Liz when she heard the murmur, Seb smiled briefly before she stepped away from the foal, not wanting to be in her personal space for too long. As the riders cleared out the arena and left Seb watched them go. It wasn’t a surprise that Hope would have the ring cleared. Turning back to Hope as she started to speak Seb listened intently. Given the name Seb could only guess trouble. Prim was a name normally used for energetic horses. It didn’t take long for Hope to confirm her suspicions. No matter, Seb has had worse. Taking the rope Seb led the filly through the gate and into the arena. Somewhat near the middle she gave the horse some line and sent her away into a warm up trot. It was more habit than ever to turn the filly at the fourth lap.

After eight total laps of trotting Seb put her into the canter. It would most likely take much longer for her to respond since this would probably be her first time. So as not to bore her Seb turned her every now and then, usually every second or third lap. When the filly turned in her inside ear Seb stopped turning her, allowing her to go in circles as she pleased. But when Prim started gnawing on air Seb instantly turned away, keeping her back to the still cantering equine.

When the hoof beats stopped abruptly Seb stayed turned away. A took a few minutes for the foal to come into her, to accept the fact that Seb could be trusted. When she felt the velvet nose on her neck she walked away, more so to confirm Prim’s trust in her. When the filly followed Seb slowly turned around to stroke her nose. She knew that the rider couldn’t do this every day of a session if it was a lesson and they expected manners. But she wasn’t finished.

Seb set herself in front of the foal. Pushing her back Seb played the Yo-yo game, bringing her back and then out again repeatedly. It taught Prim to respect the leaders space. If Prim decided to get into the person bubble she knew to back off when they touched her neck or head and pushed lightly. It was one of the most important things a foal needed to learn. If allowed to be all over the person it could become dangerous, which is partially why Seb decided to do this first. So as not to bore the young animal Seb quickly moved on. She would come back to this after a bit.

Pulling a string from her back pocket she loosely tied it around the filly’s neck. She had forgotten to do that earlier. It wasn’t needed as it had little significance, though. Asking Prim to stand still Seb played the Circle game. Lightly she pushed on the area between the filly’s barrel and her hind end, asking her to move over a few steps. After every step or two she was reward with a stroke and kind words. If she refused, Seb pressed slightly harder. The longer the filly refused, the harder Seb pressed.

[DJ]

She's doing great! I'll be so thrilled when we back her in a year or two. Hope was slowing going to get around to tacking the filly, allowing her to walk in it, but was not quite ready for it yet. She'll need more time and work being handled, Hope though.

But Hope enjoyed and agreed with Parelli horsemanship for ground manners, training, etcetera. She didn't like it as much under saddle, but loved the ground part.

Hope was impressed with Seb's training and Prim's willingness.

She continued watching.

[Emo]

Seb smiled at Hope’s exclamation. She was also glad that she had a year or two to work with the filly. The Circling game, not the same as Parelli’s game, was quicker than her warm up and the Yo-yo game. Prim was a fast learner and Seb was glad for it. Seb didn’t use Parelli’s circling game, she found it useless when lounging because the horse doesn’t respond very well. She preferred her own game, as egotistical as that sounds. In her game the horse must stand still with the front legs but move with the back. Pivoting on her feet with ease. Some call it the Porcupine game; she calls it the circling game. It depends on who you are.

Putting that out of her mind Seb rubbed down the filly’s neck and back as encouragement and reward for her work. Within a few minutes Seb had her responding on the opposite side. Now Seb was no genius but she knew that if she wanted to hold the animals attention and keep her from becoming bored she’d need to step up the pace a bit. Still within touching range she lightly tapped Prim without response. Tapping harder got an ear swivel but that was it. Pushing on her hindquarters Prim finally moved over a couple of steps. And so she tried again until Prim was responding with a simple tap and then a tap of the air around her hindquarters.

Moving on to the Driving game Seb relaxed into it, blocking out Hope and Liz all together. She used every possible angle she could to teach the filly to move away with a simple tap. Tapping her cheek Prim moved her front and pivoted with her back. Tapping her shoulder Prim moved over. And since Seb had already used the Circling game to move her hindquarters she didn’t bother to bore Prim with too much repetition. After the games had been played Seb rubbed Prim down with soft feeling and kind words. Leading Prim around the arena Seb stopped and backed up every now and then. If Prim didn’t follow Seb pressed her elbow into the filly’s chest with the pressure becoming harder slowly. The moment she responded Seb stroked her nose and continued to walk. When she made it to Hope and the gate she stopped and backed up to get Prim out of her space. ”She really isn’t so bad, Hope. She just needs to learn to trust people, that’s all. I’m guessing she was either neglected or abused as a foal? It can be very traumatizing for foals if they are neglected. If she seems to become excited a bit too much start putting chamomile in her water bucket. It’s not toxic. It just makes her calm down. It’s really good for shows. Some of my clients used it before shows on their stallions and mares. Geldings don’t usually have problems. And if it seems she’s having a bad day, before a lesson use a warm up session of what I was doing at the beginning.” Stroking Prim she left the arena and gave Hope the lead rope. ”So Liz, you excited?” If Seb had been feeling nervous she wasn’t showing it now. She always felt better after a calming session.

[Arya]

Liz was shocked my Seb's knowledge. She really didn't know what to say, and Liz felt like she hardly knew anything! Very excited. You did really well, and I don't think I could match up to that! Liz had to tell Seb this, because it was the truth, and Liz couldn't lie. She was horrible at it and anyone could tell. It was getting cooler out, due to the fact that the clouds where hiding the sun.

Liz couldn't wait until it was her turn to work with a horse. Doing ground work wasn't as much fun as riding. Liz preferred to longe the horses, to see how their movements where. If Liz was working with Prim, she would probably do that since Seb had already used Parelli.

[DJ]

Hope nodded. "I know. I've been putting some Bach Remedies in her water."

Hope looked over toward Liz. "Ready?" She watched Seb hand the rope over to Liz and was interested to see what Liz would do with the young mare.

[Arya]

Liz greatfully accepted the lead rope before turning back to Hope to ask a simple question. I'm ready, but do you have a longe whip and longe line? I'm thinking of longing cause I want to see her movements. I already know that she isn't ready to be ridden yet since she is still young. I also want to see how well she responds. Something knew. Liz hoped that this wouldn't be a problem, and if it was, Liz would find somehting else to do. She wasn't sure just yet, but something would come to mind. Liz stoked the filly's neck, whispering what a great girl she was.

[DJ]

"I'd give you one, but she's never been lunged before. It'd be totally new and I have no idea how she'd act." Hope coughed lightly, not wanting to embarrass Liz too much by the filly's lack-of-training.

[Arya]

Liz was a little worried and she had no idea what she was to do next. Oh, okay. Then, I'm not sure what else I could do. Liz paused, thinking of different ground exercises. Then she thought of join-up and how she sometimes used it on Song. What about Join-up. It is pretty much a trust excersice and I use it on Song. That is probably why she is always calm, she trusts me. I don't know if you would approve, so I'm asking you for your opinion. I also don't want to ruin her training. Liz bit her lip, hoping she wouldn't spoil her chance of training Prim.

[DJ]

"I guess you could try that," Hope shrugged, a bit unimpressed by Liz's cluelessness with what to do with the filly if she couldn't lunge her.

Hope looked down at the sand and kicked a bit lightly with her foot, almost annoyed at Liz's cautiousness. It wasn't Hope's evaluation and she didn't mind being asked permission, but liked Seb's training time with the filly.

Now, Prim was a bit impatient of standing and pulled back on her halter, locking her knees leaning onto her hindquarters looking like she'd pop up or rear in a bit if she wasn't payed attention to.