(3/2005) - The classroom has a fine dirt floor raked into neatly curved furrows and a ceiling of deepening blue sky. The posts and rails that form the oval walls allow an expansive view of tawny fields, while in the distance, a stand of ponderosa pine rises in front of great cottonwoods that seem to stretch higher, now that they have lost their leaves. A short distance away, Fountain Valley School (FVS) students begin to arrive at the stables. The late November air has a bite, so teenagers’ conversations with friends they have missed over Thanksgiving break are short. Each student grabs a halter and a lead rope to fetch his or her horse form the corral. After 10 days without being ridden, the horses are feisty.

This is the School’s oldest standing classroom, once led by the legendary Deck Cheney, who in the School’s first quarter of a century taught serious horsemanship as he encouraged students in the joy of riding.

In the last two years, under the leadership of Riding Director Ann Hanna and Assistant Riding Director Randy Lewis, consummate horsemanship, fresh ideas and facility improvements have reinvigorated the FVS Riding Program. Hanna is a lifelong horsewoman who has competed in national hunter jumper competitions, worked as a professional horse trainer and been known to herd cattle on an English saddle. She has established an English riding component within the FVS program. Lewis supervises the Western program. Trailed by his herding dog, Snazzy, he wears his boots and hat with the assurance of a real cowboy. He has trained, raced and bred Quarter Horses while managing ranches in Colorado and as far away as Ireland. In addition to instructing students, Lewis rides herd on FVS cattle and supervises the campus hay production, which feeds the 36 horses and 30 roping cows owned by the School. Both Hanna and Lewis are involved in every aspect of ranching, including irrigation, soil conservation, farming, livestock procurement and sales, and herd management.

Safety is viewed as paramount. Hanna insists that students wear helmets, informing those who are less than happy about her rule that “You have to protect the only thing that can’t be replaced.” Students learn how to tie quick-release knots. Should a horse rear at the hitching rail, a single yank on the lead rope will free him and prevent injury to other animals and humans. Hanna also employs peacock stirrups, which have rubber bands on the outside that release if a rider falls and catches a foot. “Safety and knowledge go hand in hand,” she says.

Knowledge translates into horsemanship. Students learn how to catch, tether, feed and groom their animals, as well as how to saddle them. They develop the skills to sit properly in the saddle and control the horse, be it during a barrel race, a trail ride or on a jumps course. Horsemanship also means understanding that you are responsible, as Lewis says, “for taking care of a living, breathing animal.” Good manners are encouraged. Students learn to treat their horses and the people around them with respect. Hanna and Lewis stress fundamentals in the care for the horse. What is the difference, for example between grass and hay? What is colic – and what are the signs when your horse has it? Whenever the veterinarian comes, the students watch, listen and learn. Not long ago, a horse suffered an injury that involved considerable bleeding. The students observed the vet suturing the wound.

But along with hard work comes incredible fun. The English riders work on gait, jumps and form. Hanna can barely sit still in her chair as she talks about her latest addition to the program: an Interscholastic Equitation Association (IEA) Team. In an IEA competition, experienced riders from different schools are assigned a horse they don’t know. As each rider takes his or her horse through a variety of events, judges note the rider’s ability. Hanna remarks that this type of contest “truly levels the playing field,” as the riders must rely solely on their individual horsemanship skills. The School’s first IEA show took place in December, with squads from Colorado Springs and Golden, Colo., competing. Meanwhile, Lewis trains riders form competition in Gymkhana, a collection of horseback games that demonstrate agility and partnership. Groups of three can also compete in a team penning competition, where they attempt to separate certain cows from a herd. He is looking forward to a “belt buckle” competition this spring, which will involve riders contending for prizes.

Those riders who demonstrate exception knowledge gain the highest accolade, a term first used by Deck Cheney: Horseman. This year, four FVS students have obtained such status: Elsie Black ’05, Emma LaRocque ’05, Kim Lovelace ’06 and Paul Repenning ’06. The Horsemen are akin to teachers’ assistants. They help newer student riders, often by answering questions such as how to make a lead change. Sometimes a student wants to go to the next level. The Horsemen help them learn more advanced skills. “This isn’t just a classroom,” Black says, holding onto a horse’s lead rope with one hand and sweeping her other hand toward the stables. “This is the place I like to be most of all.”

The FVS stables are a friendly place for both experienced riders and new ones. From cantering in the ring to the cuddles of the three black-and-white barn cats, variably called Do, Re and Mi or Snap, Crackle and Pop, the stable is, Black says, “a little piece of home.” That sense of comfort provides an environment in which students feel able to try new things. Lauren Weinberg ’06 has ridden Western for four seasons. This fall, she is on an English saddle, saying, “I know it will improve my riding skills.”

On this sunny but cold afternoon, the English students enter their classrooms atop their gray, sorrel or black horses. Concentrating on their mounts and the position of their hands, knees and feet, they don’t seem to notice the honking of a flock of geese passing overhead. Before it dips behind Cheyenne Mountain, the autumn sun makes the horses’ eyes glow and enflames the garnet red Fountain Valley School sweatshirts of two of the riders. In a small corral, Lewis demonstrates to a student how to lunge her horse. Standing centrally, the teacher controls the speed and direction of a paint horse with a ghostly white face that circles the periphery of the ring. “Whoa,” he commands, and the horse, magically, stops. His soft voice does not carry beyond the fence, but the student nods as she listens to his words.

In the far ring, Hanna literally puts her students through their paces. “Pick up posting trot,” she calls, and the riders shift gears out of a walk. “Check your diagonal. Is everyone on the right lead?”

A major Colorado city lies within minutes of this place, but one would never know it. The people and horses seem a world apart, not only from the city hidden beyond the pastures but from the more conventional classrooms just up the hill and from the playing fields where the shouts of lacrosse players, classmates and friends of the riders, can be heard. But the students and teachers at the barn can certify that the Riding Program is, and has been for many years, a place of hard work and fun, of sport and competition and respect – and integral part of Fountain Valley School.