Piaffes, pirouettes, and pucks

Elle
About a week has passed and all my horses have moved in and I have a couple of extra additions, mainly ponies for small kids which are called doughnut and sparkle I think the names are adorable so I’m not going to change them I also got a black Shetland pony called Lucifer which is quite fitting, since he tries to bite everyone he even bit one of the hires, Hannah it was quite funny I told her not to go near him because he will bite her but she didn’t listen and approached him anyway, that’s the ting bout equestrians we are quite brave.
“Elle” I heard someone shout my name, I walked out of the stables and saw Mia another new hire.
“What’s up” I said to Mia I then looked in front and saw a woman and man with two children one looked about 6 while the other was about 4.
“Hi my name is Elle how can I help you” I said to the woman.
“hello my name is Veronique and this is my husband marc-André, I’m interested in signing my daughter Estelle up for riding lessons” she said back to me.
“sure just follow me up to my office where you can fill out some forms for insurance ad safety reasons” Veronique looked unsure when I said insurance and safety reasons but she followed me up to my office. I handed her the forms and told her where to sign and what to fill out.
“will my daughter be safe” she spoke she looked quite nervous after all it is a dangerous sport.
“I can’t say she will be one hundred percent safe but we always wear helmets and body protectors so if someone does fall off injuries a nothing more than a scrape and usually there ae no marks at all” she looked more reassured, mark spoke up at that point.
“what are your qualifications”
“I have an instructor certificate from the UK along with a background check and if I’m not giving lessons to people I compete at the 4-star level which is the highest level so sometimes lessons may not be on as I’m away either in north America or Europe” he seemed quite impressed and it also showed him I’m more than qualified.
Once the forms were filled in I took them to see the ponies “Estelle I would like you to meet doughnut and sparkle” that seems to make the family laugh I must say it was quite cute. They had decided in the office to have the free trial lesson where I judge the person riding abilities and thy also judge me to see if they like my teaching style.
“which pony would you like to ride Estelle”
“sparkle” she replied, I could have guessed it to be honest, I took Estelle and her family to the tack room to show her where sparkles saddle and bridle was, I let her Estelle carry the bridle, I showed her how to tack up the pony and how to twist the reins for if you have to leave the pony. I then showed the family where the hats and body protectors are kept and fitted Estelle.
“let’s go then to the mounting block” we got sparkle and told Estelle how to get on “put your left leg in the stirrup then swing the other leg over” I attached a lunge line to sparkle and we went into the school, it was a large school with a gallery to one side where Estelle’s parents were stood along with her little sister.
“so to make the horse walk you have to give the horse a little kick and say walk on”
“okay” she replied and got the horse to walk on which I haven’t seen many kids do I also told her how to tell the pony to change directions which she picked up how to do quickly.Half an hour later Estelle seemed to really enjoy her lesson.
“how was it Estelle”
“fun!” she said jumping up and down, Veronique and marc seemed happy and impressed
“would you like to ride here again” I asked her
“yes I want to” she looked at her mum asking for approval she just smiled
“she really likes it can she come again for another lesson tomorrow perhaps we might bring along some more people to watch though if that’s okay”
“yeah that’s fine” they followed me back into my office and booked in a lesson for the next day which was a Sunday. I also felt like I recognised marc from somewhere but couldn’t quite think of where. Mia came into the office not long after they left since she un tacked sparkle.
“did you not know that marc is the goalie for the Pittsburgh penguins” she said to me
“oh my god how did I not realise” I laughed to myself because I am actually a fan of the penguins. Mia left as it was getting late and I walked back to the house for some food and to sleep.

Notes