Rescue Horse Class (Part One)

[Cara]

Demeter stood in her classroom in the Equine Rehabilitation Centre. There was a brand new spiralbound notebook, a book that each of her students were expected to keep up to date and would be checked at each class - she would explain what she wanted done with them when the class started. On her desk was a list of portfolios, each contained the information of the students' chosen horse; vet reports, farrier, worming details. The latter two were currently empty as they were up to the students to fill in. Picking up a whiteboard marker, she began to write on the board:

Rules:

1. I am the boss. If I ask you to move away from the horse you are working with you are to do so without argument.
2. Only one (1) person speaking at a time. If you have a comment to add or a disagreement, you wait until said person has finished speaking before you add your four pence worth.
3. Please come to class dressed appropriately. I will not tolerate any student wearing sneakers. Horses are unpredictable animals and at least boots offer a little protection if stood on.
4. Everyone and everything in this class deserves your respect. If you have had issues with something before class, leave it at the door when you enter.
5. As the instructor, I reserve all right to step in if I feel what you are doing is hindering the horse’s well being rather than helping.
6. House Points will be awarded or deducted as I see fit.
7. Any changes in the horses’ feeding regime will need to go past me first – as I’m the one who has to work out feeds when you’re not here.
8. If your equine partner is having a bad day and you are getting upset, please walk away. Go clean tack or read a book, but don’t take your stress out on the horse.
9. Even though you are working on your own individual animal, please remember that you are initially a team, and do support each other.
10. I expect everyone to keep their horse’s journal/notebook up-to-date. There will be consequences if they aren’t.

Stepping back from the board and nodded at the words, pleased with the rules she had come up with.

Placing the pen on her desk she turned to the door, knowing that the first student would be due to arrive.

[Cara]

Cara walked into the classroom above the Rehabilitation Centre. She was dressed in a pair of beige jodhpurs, a yellow polo shirt and a black jacket, the jacket went with one of her many pant suits, but looked casual enough to wear with jodhpurs and not showy enough to look like she was ready for a horse show. On her feet she wore her always shiny Ariat Heritage Sport boots.

She bowed her head respectfully to the teacher before she lowered herself down into one of the front tables. She pushed the notebook that was there to the back of the table as she opened her satchel and began to set up her desk. After taking out her pencil case, she took out a pretty green notebook with a blue boarder. There was a blue butterfly overlapping the blue and green and the cover had Japanese script across the front of it.

During her time in... isolation, she had discovered scrapbooking and was going to use her new found artistic outlet in the notebook that she was going to keep on Risk, and she would rather use this book rather than the one provided. She would ask Miss Carr at the end of the session of course.

She turned her attention to the board. Gone were her reading glasses, as were her cat-coloured eyes for anyone who knew her enough to know of her strangely coloured eyes. She now wore brown contacts that not only helped her blend in with others, but they eliminated the need for glasses. There were days however when she didn't wear them as they hurt her eyes if she wore them too often since she didn't need the corrective lenses for everything, so she just wore them during classtime. That, and they were too dangerous to wear whilst riding should she have a fall.

OOC: I couldn't find an image of the journal on google so I'll scan the one I was describing. I use them to journal my sessions with Cedar.

There's a couple of scrapbooked pages
out of Cedar's book

[Lottii]

Harry chuckled as he wandered out of the broodmare barn, having just checked on his latest acquisitions from the auction. The foal never failed to amuse him and he could have played with the little guy for hours, but right now it was time for the rescue horse class. Sunny was the horse he had first seen - and named secretly - when the rescue bunch had arrived, and his request to be assigned him for class had been accepted. The news had made Harry grin when he first heard it, and even now the thought of working with terrified horse brought a slight smile to his face, albeit creased with worry for the gelding. He briefly wondered what would happen to the horses once they were successfully rehabilitated, if they were used as college horses or found good homes. Sighing, he hurried up to his room to find a clean t-shirt, green slobber rarely went down well with teachers. Pulling on a black polo shirt, he glanced at his jeans which would class as presentable and the well-worn paddock boots he used for when he wasn't riding. Grabbing the rucksack which contain the things he needed for every class, he slipped out of his room.

The boy made his way across the campus to the center, and then up into the classroom where the theory parts of the course would mostly be taught. Raising his head to offer a slight smile towards the teacher, he did the same to Cara, wondering if she had brought the auction mare he had pondered about getting. Now the classes had started, he was glad of his choice not to, he couldn't have given the mare the time she would have needed. Choosing a seat a couple of spaces from the girl, he pulled out the pencil case from his bag and placed it on the desk next to the spiral pad the teacher had provided. He assumed they were to journal the work each student did with their horse, a habit he had picked up from when he first got Casey. Her pad was back in his room, the image of his favorite sketch of her adorned the first page.

Sighing slightly, he wondered when Remii would arrive. The boy hadn't had a chance to see her properly this morning, only a quick glance as he had been feeding Casey. With Magick and co. being on the broodmare yard, the time he normally spent with Remii around the horses had decreased - something he wasn't so pleased with. Half watching the door, he scanned the information on the board.

[Onzy]

Bella walked to the class. She was wearing black breeches, black polished field boots and and a grey polo shirt. The only other item on her was a black sports watch and a messenger bag with her stationary. When she walked into the class there was only two other figures there. She didn't recognise the other students, but rather went to introduce herself to the teacher. Hello ma'am. Bella Black, she said softly before taking a seat. She took out a notebook that she had started for her horse that she had chosen. Glenn was his name and he was a black Friesian. So far she had only watched him in the distance, but he was gorgeous.

Bella sat down and read the instructions on the board making mental notes. Talking wasn't going to be a problem as she did very little of it when she didn't know anyone, and by the looks of it, so did the other students.

Tag: The Class
Words:
Notes: It sucks
Outfit:
Credit: This template was created by DAN at CAUTION 2.0

[Cara]

Demeter smiled as the first two students entered the room. She returned Harry's nod, pleased that he had joined the class since she already knew he was good with horses after he had helped her settle in the horses when they had first arrived.

"Welcome to the class, Bella." She said as the third student entered and introduced herself.

She saw that the two girls had brought their own notebooks and decided that they would probably like the information that the woman wanted them to put in at the front of the books, so she picked up the marker and walked back to the whiteboard. On the other side of the board to the rules, she began to write:

What to put in your books:

On the first page, I would like the following...
Name:
Age:
Height:
Sex:
Breed:
Colour:
Markings:
Brand: (if they have one)

The next couple of pages will be dedicated to farrier and worming notes, followed by a feed schedule.

After that, I would like you to just journal what you are doing with your horse/pony each day (or each week if you aren't the type of person to write in a journal daily). These books will be checked by yours truly at the start of each week.

How you do the journaling is up to you, I just want it legible enough for me to be able to read it. You can add pictures, photos, clippings, I really don't care as this is your work.

She turned around to face the students. "It's not quite time to start just yet, and we're still waiting on one student, so we'll give her a couple of minutes and then we can get started."

[Cara]

While she was waiting for other students to arrive, Cara pulled a small sketchbook from her bag, opened it to the first page and began to doodle tiny horse pictures across the blank page. Once she had finished, she chuckled silently as she looked at the pictures she had drawn. If they had been in the corners of different pages, she could flick through the pages and the image would look like it was moving.

She glanced up as she heard someone enter and returned Harry's greeting with a ghost of a smile and turned back to her doodles as the boy found a seat and got himself sorted. Her hand tightened around the pencil as she was tempted to write a note and pass it over to him, letting him know that she had purchased the mare - she had seen him and Remii as they had walked away. The note never happened however as she didn't know whether he'd be interested or not.

Her attention was caught as the woman at the front of the room began to write on the board once more and Cara carefully wrote down the required headers as well as the information that went with it. At times like this her memory came in handy.

[Sync]

cause the last time you saw me

is still burned in the back of your mind
------------------------------ you gave me roses and i left them there to die

She pursed her lips as she stood watching Fade. The mare was wandering aimlessly around the empty pasture, her cranium held to that her maw was almost touching the floor. Remii's heart twinged every time she saw the little chestnut, she just wasn't improving. The girl entered the pasture, checking her watch and rethought. She only had 3 minutes to get to class, and she was torn whether to skip or go. Chewing her lip as she thought, Fade's movement picked up slightly. She made her way over to the fence where Remii's other horses were stood watching. The girl watched as she made her way straight to Riddle. Remii rose a brow, usually Oscar was the favorite. She watched as Fade hesitantly lifted her maw to press into Riddle's. The girl's lips pulled into an ecstatic smile. Remii made her way to Riddle's pasture, entered and coaxed her from it. She decided that placing Riddle in with Fade could have a positive effect. She let the mare into the pasture and closed it. Riddle, unsure what to do with herself at first, paused. And then trotted over to Fade. Remii, now knowing she was late, turned and knew she would be on edge all class.

Walking reluctantly to the class, she just couldn't get excited for the lesson she was about to partake in. Even if it was a Rehabilitation class. She had her own horse to work with. But, she also knew she had to take some sort of class, or she would be spending most of her time in the principal's office. This seemed like the best choice. So, here she was, dragging her feet as she entered the Equine Rehabilitation Center. Keeping her eyes front, she made her way to the classroom. Her teeth chewed at her lips as she walked, and she fumbled in her bag for her notebook. Glad she'd remembered it, she pulled it out as well as a pen and scrawled down a note for the teacher. She wasn't in the mood for speaking. Pushing down on the handle with her elbow, as she was still writing, she entered the class and handed the notebook to the teacher. "Sorry I'm late, Miss. Horse troubles. It won't happen again." When the woman had finished reading the note, she took the book back and looked at the students in the class.

Spotting Harry, she made her way to him but still was not smiling. She was stressing about Fade and Riddle. Zoning out as soon as she sat down, she hadn't even seen the writing on the board. She wondered what her mares were up to. Tensing as she thought to worse, she finally looked at the board. Seeing what was there, she began to write it down messily. She was aware that she hadn't even really acknowledged Harry and felt bad. With her free hand, she reached over and squeezed his. A small smile played on her lips. Even touching him made her feel much better. Still, there was a niggle in the back of her mind about Fade and Riddle. She hoped all went well, otherwise she didn't really know what she was going to do with the chestnut.
""

so this is me swallowing my pride
standing in front of you saying sorry
--------------------------------- for that night and i go back to december

.tagged. All of youz in this thread. ^^
.words. 536
.outfit. Coming soon
.notes. Hate this, sorry it's so rubbish. "/
.lyrics. back to december - t.s.
.credit. <33 @ CAUTION 2.0

[/left]

[Lottii]

Once he had read the information on the board fully, he pulled a plain exercise book out of his bag and neatly wrote 'Horse Therapy Notes' on the front. Turning to the first page, his neat handwriting slipped slightly as he scrawled out the rules. His attention wanted to be back on the door, for Remii to arrive. His heart rose slightly as the door opened, but it was another girl. Harry's silent observations meant he had seen her around the campus, but he had never heard her name. The sound of her introduction to Miss Carr floated to him, and he noted she was named Bella.

As more information went on the board, this time regarding the note books, Harry flipped to the back of his book and scribbled down what information would be required at the start of the journal before he started doing diary entries. Retrieving the spiral notepad which would be the journal, he carefully wrote down the information needed on the first few pages, filling in the information he could from memory.

A second later, Remii entered the room and a grin spread out across Harry's features, dropping slightly at her unhappy face. Her daydreaming was common enough, but she didn't normally look worried, so he was pleased when he felt her squeeze his hand. Pulling a piece of scrap paper from his bag, he scribbled a note to her. It was short and to the point, but he hoped she would reply to it truthfully, whatever was worrying her. He knew she had been with her horse's before class, and desperately hoped something wasn't wrong with one of them. What's up? he slid the piece of paper over the desk towards her, his features had slipped back into their blankness as he waited for a response.

[Onzy]

Everybody seemed to know each other in the class, but Bella knew that sooner or later she would also know a few people. Her quiet, but sarcastic way talking often had people avoiding her. Her thoughts wandered back to her assigned horse. Glenn was a Dutch name and seeing that the black gelding was a Friesian, it fit. The teacher spoke again, and Bella snapped back to attention. She wrote down the required headings, and on the next few pages wrote in pencil what the page headings would be. She would decorate it later when she had time. Bella was also planning to take some pictures at sunset of Glenn that she would develop.

Another girl entered, and she assumed that this was the student that Ms.Carr was talking about. So now the class was about to start, Bella took out a notebook that she had for the class, and waited, but allowed her thoughts to wander.

Tag: The Class
Words:
Notes: Not much to say...
Outfit:
Credit: This template was created by DAN at CAUTION 2.0

[Cara]

Demeter looked up as the door opened again and a third silent student entered the room, her eyebrows lifted as a notebook was held in her direction with a simply apology written on it. She smiled as she looked up at the student holding it. "If you have a horse who needs supervision, I would rather you brought him or her to the class." She smiled again to show that she was being serious. "I'm here for you, not the other way around."

Once the girl had found her seat and began jotting thing down into a book, the woman looked around at her collection of students. She hoped that more would join the class, but this was it for now. She picked up the top four folders off her desk and placed them on the table belonging to the student who has selected the horse who's name was on the folder. "These are just basic notes that came with your new friend." She explained. "As well as a few notes from me about what condition they were in when they arrived. Apart from the feed I have given them, and what vet care they needed, there has been no other work down with them - so to speak - in the last few days." She laughed. "As much as I wanted the farrier in there and then, I knew that you all needed to see them as they are." She was tempted to thank Harry for his help on the day the horses arrived, but left the words unsaid as she didn't know if he would want her to make his help public knowledge.

She drew in a deep breath. "Okay, before we go and meet the horses. Why are we here? And in what ways can we help these horses?" She was using the royal we, but it made it sound more friendly and less demanding than asking them directly what they were going to do.

She was interested to see how they would respond to her questions, since she already knew that two of them didn't speak - not verbally anyway.


OOC: Just a quick posting order:
Demeter
Cara
Harry
Bella
Remii
Jemma

[Cara]

Cara jumped as the folder was placed on her desk and she ducked her head as she quickly put the pencil down. Upon seeing the name of her chosen mare on the folder, she pulled it closer to her and at Miss Carr's words, she opened it and quickly scanned through the first page, which was pretty much what she already knew about the mare; over grown hooves, ran rot, worms, scarring on back, not liking to be handled. She turned the page and read through the teacher's notes, which wasn't a lot, just another mention of her hooves and rain rot. She also noted that the mare had a wound on her chest but as the vet couldn't get close enough it was untreated as Miss Carr hadn't wanted to have to trap the mare to treat it.

Cara looked up as the woman began to speak. She worried her lower lip with her teeth as she thought of all the things she was going to do with the mare to try and gain not only her trust, but also her respect, but she didn't want to speak out. Turing the page in the sketchbook she had been doodling in, she quickly wrote down a number of herbs she wanted to offer the mare: For worms; garlic, wormwood, cider vinegar, grated carrots, and pomegranate, melon pumpkin, mustard, aniseed and fennel seeds. She also planned to find the mare as many dandelions as she could gather. For rain scald: clivers, garlic, echinacea, seaweed, thyme, meadowsweet, nettle. For her hooves: kelp, comfrey, hawthorn and nettle.

To start things off, she really just wanted to assess the mare. She was a little worried now that she had taken on Missy as well that she may have two mares that needed so much of her time and she could evenly split it between her three horses - as Truss needed as much attention as the other two. There again, Cara was just doing what she did best, She was taking on as much work as possible and forgetting that she were a mere human being who needed to learn to set time aside for herself.

She enjoyed working with horses though. When she was with them, the rest of the world slipped away. Everything else - the past, present and future - just ceased to exist and she had a chance to escape from life, to become invisible where all that mattered was the horse she was with.

"We are here to remind them that it is safe to trust again." The soft words left her lips before she had even realised that they had been formed.

[Lottii]

A sigh escaped Harry's lips at Miss Carr's words. Casey was still prone to the occasional day of being a quivering wreck, and classes simply got in the way on days like that. Being able to leave her in the stables just next to the classroom would give him much better piece of mind, and reminded him again what an awesome class this was.

As the teacher placed a folder on his desk, Harry flipped carefully through the pages. Taking in the information, he recognized some of the first observations were his own. The wound near Sunny's hock had been looked at, and was healing well. Overgrown feet, extremely underweight and what he had suspected as worms were indeed. The thought he was correct should have raised a smile to his lips, being a vet was a job he would love to do, but when Sunny was in such a state anything which worsened it could not get a smile. Harry's mind spinned, already formulating dozens of ideas of how he could help the gelding. The worms could obviously be treated from a veterinary point, but alternative methods would help to. Cara was the encyclopedia on herbs and remedies, and he made a mental note to ask her what would be useful. Other than that, the ideas floating in his head were how to gain the horse's trust.

As Miss Carr asked a few questions, Cara's response came immediately, in a way that made Harry think she had answered automatically. It was very rare for him to answer at all in class, besides the obvious issue of not exactly putting his hand up and replying, there was the constant worry he would be wrong. These questions, however, were so open and not right/wrong oriented that he started to scribble a note on the cleanest piece of paper he could find. We are here to help, to prove that what they have suffered so far is not the only way of life, not the only thing humans are capable of. To help them? We simply prove we are worthy of their trust. Raising his hand a little, the note held loosely between his thumb and finger, the anxiety came back. Although his answer to the first part was probably along the lines she was looking for, the second part spoke in a much more fundamental way, his hand quivered slightly as he thought she probably wanted what things they would actually do. His other hand was the one closest to Remii, and he found it moving somewhat subconsciously towards her hand. Reassurance. Harry often wondered if he provided that for her, but this what the first time he had actively sought it himself. Not that that meant he hadn't relied on her before, he just hadn't known it.


ooc: It doesn't really flow much, and I think the sentences don't always make sense. I apologize for the fuzziness of my head, but I don't want to hold the class up!

[Onzy]

Bella picked up the file once it was put on her desk. Glenn was one of a large scale rescue and the SPCA didn't have space for him, so that's how he arrived at the Academy. Overgrown hooves and teeth, as well as some mental scars. He had a fear of dogs, so Bella knew she wasn't going to bringing Samson with her to any class. TLC and treats was Bella's speciality and she knew that once she gained Glenn's trust that everything would be fine from there. Slowly but surely she would reintroduce everything to the beautiful black and hopefully he would be ready for rider at a much later stage. Bella knew that with these things you didn't rush them and they took a whole lot of time.

Ms. Carr asked a question and she heard the reply from Cara and Harry. We are so that they can see that it is okay to trust, and that not all human beings are cruel. By building a friendship based on trust and respect we can achieve that, was her reply. Sometimes she just didn't speak, and she didn't like to around people she didn't know, but she had answer the question.

Tag: The Class
Words:
Notes: Not much to say...
Outfit:
Credit: This template was created by DAN at CAUTION 2.0

[Myssi]

Melissa had been silent during her entire stay in the classroom after slipping in quietly. She opened her black notebook and quickly copied down the board's information, sticking Top Hat's portfolio into the pages of the notbook. While they waited for the last student, she began to fill in what information she knew, knowing that there would be sketches and photos galore in her notebook.

She stopped writing when the teacher began talking and softly answered her question under her breath, golden man veiling her slightly moving lips. "We're going to show them that they are allowed to protest actions meant to hurt them, and we can do this by becoming their herd."

Her answer was confusing and slightly backwards, but the shy girl didn't really feel like getting her words in order right now. Mostly, she was itching to go and meet Top Hat, and try to get him to trust her. If only her alone, so be it. At least it was a start.