Kholo Mzi | 33 | D / NH | Elinor

Kholo couldn't help but restrain a giggle at the woman's polite tone. "Nice to meet you, Elinor," she said, shaking her hand firmly. "But please, call me Kholo. Ma'am is too proper for me."

She quickly gestured to the clipboard in her hand. It showed a list of the riders and their schoolhorses, horses and roommates. "You," she began, her eyebrows furrowing slightly as she searched for her name. Her face brightened. "You have Phantom for your schoolhorse, and you'll be sharing a room with Emilyn."

She turned to the redhead. "You're Emilyn, I assume?"

Kholo Mzi | 33 | D / NH | Elinor

Kholo smiled at the woman's enthusiasm. "He's a bit hot-headed, but can be a dream if you handle him well. I'm sure you two will get on like a house on fire."

Leading Elinor to the barn, she opened the large double doors and motioned for her to follow. As they passed different stalls, she began talking about each horse. "This is Victory. He's an absolute sweetheart. A good friend of mine rode him in the 2016 Olympics, winning a Silver medal in dressage." She paused outside the bay's stall, giving a moment to pet him.

"Over here is Mozart. Some people call him a bad horse, but he just needs an understanding yet stern rider. He does nibble hair, so watch out!" The cheeky piebald stuck out his head, demanding a stroke.

Finally, they arrived at Phantom's stall. The striking grey kept his head up haughtily, unsure of the stranger. "This is Phantom. He doesn't like strangers much, that's why he's behaving like he is." Kholo paused to murmur some comforting words as the stallion shuffled nervously in the stall.

Kathleho Mahlope | 22 | D/R | Ash | Heather

Kathleho slung the bridle over her shoulder, the sleek leather bending easily. The gentle snaffle bit glimmered in the cool sunshine, a forewarning of the rains to come.

Ash nickered as she neared his stall, his friendly face sticking out of the Dutch door. The bay followed obediently on a slack lead to the stable yard, taking the bit well. He was clearly in a good mood, his ears pricked as Kat worked around him. She sang as she tacked up, a heart-wrenching German melody.

Checking the girth once more, she mounted in one swift movement. Nudging Ash with an almost invisible aid, she guided him towards the arena, noting a brunette atop a pretty roan mare. She nodded coolly, passing the woman on the left.

Judea | M: Edhas, Jay, Athens

When Judea came up by Edhas, he halted rather abruptly, his presence naturally upbeat and even a bit startling. He gave a blink and a nod of acceptance to the man's words, but he didn't register any need for change in his mind. Getting under control was not something on his to-do list.

The young brunette allowed the ebony haired adult to fiddle with adjustments, simply wiggling his fingers impatiently. Anyone that had been around him more than a few seconds new that it was nearly impossible for the boy to stay still, and he always needed something to hold his attention. Athens knew that well enough by that point, and it seemed to be part of his motivation behind gently speakig out, "Hey Judea." Stopping his motions, the teen flicked his brown gaze to his friend slash father figure, eager curiosity piqued due to his interest in riding already fading. "Remember how you learned to act toward Belle?" The blonde spoke once more, referencing the young horse he had once owned which, all too soon, had recently passed. A spark of mourn flashed in Judea; he missed that little gypsy mare, even though she hadn't been his own. As Athens' sidekick, he had gotten to grow close with the horse.

Sadness didn't last long, though. It wasn't in his character to stay down for long, and either way, only happy memories came at the mention of Belle's name. Focusing on what Athens had said, Judea looked back on the learning curve he had went through with the mare. Belle had been a shy and anxious pony. It had taken everything in him to figure out how to be gentle enough for her to let him near, and even more effort to be calm and subtle enough to touch and ride her. If he had to be that still with every horse, how could he manage? The thought flashed concern and distaste across his boyish face. "She was much more fun when you were calm, no?" Athens continued. Slouching his shoulders, Judea gave a groan of protest, reluctantly muttering, "Yeah," in agreement. The point was clearly made.

Redirecting his attention back to Edhas, the teen perked up a bit when given an order. Holding his glasses in place, he quickly obliged, more than happy to be able to wiggle a bit.

His interest was brought back up when he "finally" got to mount Ricki. After pushing up the overhang of his sleeves, he followed each word that Edhas said intently, gaze flicking about quickly. "Nah nah, I got it!" Judea replied happily, a bit loud. Before he did anything else, his eyes caught the sight of Athens flinching. The brunette focused on his friend, noticing some concern on the blonde's face. He followed his gaze to see a man on a different horse, being a bit rough. Judea didn't express nearly as much as Athens did, simply giving a curious blink before losing interest and looking back down at Edhas and Ricki.

-Heather would notice the woman to her left as she simply nod a bit to her in acknowledgement before regaining her focus back to her mare as they were having a invisible conversation by body language, Mystery was responding very well to it as they both performed a circle a few times since the mare was loving the training so far from the looks of it while her gelding was calmly eating his hay in his stall-

Kholo Mzi | 33 | D/NH | Elinor, Emilyn

Kholo gestured towards the barn door. "Emilyn, I've assigned you Secret. She's a mare though, so we'll have to go to the other barn." She began to move towards the exit. "Elinor, you can settle in so long if you'd like. Your room number is R12. It's on the second floor of the main building."

As they neared the barn on the opposite side of the farm, she began rattling off the set-up of the facility. "We keep the mares on the other side of the farm," she explained matter-of-factly. "Since this is a working stud farm, we have to make sure none of my mare-crazy stallions manage to hurt either my own broodmares or a student's horse."