An average Tuesday afternoon brings twelve enthusiastic students ready for another day in the barn. The metal stall doors cling and clang, as they are slid open to an awaiting horse. Already groomed and saddled, the horses are geared to go. The soft wood shavings in the stalls are dragged onto the pavement as the horses clomp their way out to the round pen behind the barn. The fine dense grade gravel crunches under the feet of those who walk across it.
Riders mount up, fix their stirrup lengths, and begin steadily walking around the ring.
After a few minutes, the creaking red gate opens up to the trail. Following the winding mulched path through the trees, the birds chirp their melodious songs, and the saddles squeak with the sway of the horse. Rainwater and the other student workers anticipate the riders' return to the barn. The horses go back to the comforts of their stalls. They anxiously partake of a refreshing drink of water and tear morsels of hay between their teeth as a satisfying reward of a job well done.