Best Foot Forward

[Bruce Ropata]

Bruce walked into White Oak and set to work collecting the ponies - or small horses - that he needed and tied; Grace and Pixie to the hitching rail before he walking into Red Willow and collected Rocket and Mo. Unable to convince Dolly that she would much rather stay in the stall, he allowed the Ragdoll cat to remain stretched over the Welsh Pony's back.

With all four equines tied to the hitching post he went over each of them with a brush and picked their feet out before putting the hoof pick in to the back pocket of his navy Fortitude moleskins and buttoned up his black Belltrees Driza-bone vest that he was wearing over his raw denim coloured Stockwell shirt. He then led the ponies across campus toward the Wolfhart building so that they could have their feet trimmed, shoes replaced and seen to before his next class. He had the ponies' feet seen too more often than a normal horse, mostly because more was asked of them then the average riding horse and during competition season, their feet went through a lot more wear and tear than normal due to the different terrain at the places they competed.

Arriving at the building, he left the animals tethered up to the small hitching rail, two on each side and walked up to the door. Walking in he smiled at the woman he saw. "Kia Ora." He greeted her. "I'm Bruce and I have four ponies here that need their feet seen to if you have the time." He knew that, technically speaking, two of the ponies were actually horses, but he referred to all of the mounted games mounts as ponies. He'd even been known to call Boss a pony from time to time., and the Stationbred cross was seventeen hands. "Currently they are tied up outside as I didn't think it's be fair on you to bombard you with six brutes at once."

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The blonde headed woman jerked her head up when she heard his voice come from behind her since she was in the room where she kept her different shoes that had been thrown all over the place by the old owner so she was in there to put the room back in order so that it would been easier for her to go in the room and grab the shoes she needed without having to hunt them forever.

Michelle stood up and dusted herself off. "Of course, I have time right now." she said as she started for the door. "Do they need shoes?" she asked him. Some people wanted shoes on their horses feet then some did not. She just thought it was polite for her ask the person if they wanted them or now so she would not waste the time getting the equipment ready to shoe when the owner would not pay for it. She had that happen to her once already and did not want it to happen again. The owner had asked for the shoes to placed on his horses feet but then changed his mind right in the middle of her doing on horse so she had to do back and take the other two shoes off the hooves.

She opened one door and picked up her equipment before looking about back up at him. "Do you want to them outside or in here?" she asked him. She just knew that it was supposed to start raining sometime today. She reached up while she waited for his answer to her leather mask and scratched the skin under the soft lining of the mask.

[Bruce Ropata]

Bruce smiled as the woman who answered his question, he blew out a breath at her question as he thought over the ponies he had brought over with him. "Yes please." He replied. "The last change before their hooves slow down on their growing."

He smiled at the masked woman. "Afraid that the horses might be able to recognise you when you're in the barn, so you wear a mask to disguise yourself?" He quipped as he looked at the leather mask that hid half of her face. "Kind of like how superhero's hide behind a pair of glasses." He shook his head. "Do people honestly look that different with a pair of dorky glasses on?"

He arched his eyebrows at her next question and glanced at the sky. "From the looksee of the clouds, I might bring them in. The ponies won't mind a little rain, but it's pointless you getting soaked if you don't have to." With a nod he walked over and brought the ponies into the building. He tied Rocket, Mo and Grace to hitching rings and put Pixie into a set of cross-ties. "This is Pixie. She was in a bit of an accident before arriving at the academy, so you'll need to watch how you handle her legs. She won't kick or bite, but she will jump away from you." He rubbed the pretty Welsh Pony's forehead as he looked down at her scarred forelegs, an everlasting reminder of her previous home.

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Michelle nodded her blonde head. She lifted her hand to allow the mare to smell her hand before stroking the horse's soft coat before going down the leg to show her that she did not mean her no harm and that she was not hoing to hurt her. "Easy girl." She said to the fae. She lifted the leg up and placed it between her legs. She picked up the trimmers so she could trim the extra hoof wall that she needed to, which was not every much.


 " By the way, I am Michelle Bales. And no I am not a super hero. I am just normal woman but just have have a bunch of scars from a barn fire when I was a little girl." She said as she put the trimmers down and went to pick up the file and filed the hoof where she had trimmed it. The mare pulled back slightly. "It is okay girl." She said to resure the female. "You are okay." She said to the female. She lowered the leg. She liked to trim the hooves before she got the shoes ready so she did not have to waste time trimming when she already had it done. She sighed and placed the hoof down and smiled. " she is a good mare." She said to the male before stroking doen to the hind leg and picking it up.

[Bruce Ropata]

"Pleasure to meet you, Michelle." Bruce replied and then chuckled at what the farrier said next. "Pity, I could have been your Lois Lane." He stood at the mare's head while her feet were worked on, rubbing her ears when she needed the reassurance.

The man nodded his head in reply to the woman's comment on the mare. "She was rehabilitated and trained by one of the best horsewomen this school has had since I started here." He replied, and it seemed to be - with the rest of the Academy equine staff - the shared opinion of the girl who had worked with the mare.

Once Michelle had finished with the mare's feet, Bruce took her back to the others, tied her to the rail and brought Mo, cat and all, over to the cross-ties. "This is Mo, and that's Dolly." He pointed to the cat. "I had no idea that when I went to pick up the gelding I had purchased I was also getting a kitten." He fitted the ties onto the sides of the flaxen chestnut's halter and rubbed the Welsh Pony's nose. "This guy here has no vices whatsoever. The only problem you might have with him is that he'll fall asleep while standing on three legs and you'll need to wake him up to pick up the next leg."

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The blonde nodded her head as she did the same thing for the gelding as she did for the mare, let him get her smell before working her hand down the horse's leg and picking it up. She made quick work of his hoof since there was not much that she had to take off. She placed it on a little stool like thing and filed off the uneven edges of the hoof from where she had used the trimmers.

"How long have you been here?" she asked the male. She placed the hoof down before making sure the male horse was awake before stroking her way down to the horse's hind leg and picked it up. She was glad she did not have to do too much to the horse's hooves since the school took care of the horses but then again what is a horse if it is lame in a riding school. She picked up the trimmers and started to cut the extra hoof wall off before checking for anything that she may need to send the horse's to Guy to be checked out but she did not see anything that needed to be seen, which was good. She sighed as she picked up the file and evened the hoof out.

[Bruce Ropata]

Bruce covered a yawn with the back of his hand, he was feeling a little bored just standing here. With the horses in cross-ties, the farrier didn't exactly need him to hold the heads of the pony she was working on, and after you'd seen one horse get it's feet trimmed, you'd seen them all.

He looked up as she asked him a question. "I've been here about two years." He replied. "I brought most of the ponies with me and collected a few more since my arrival." Even though he owned a majority of the mounted games ponies, they were still treated as though they were Academy horses as they worked as part of the Academy programme, and it also meant that the school didn't have to finance the purchase of however many ponies were needed for the team.

Once Mo's feet were finished, Bruce returned the Welsh pony to the others and returned to the ties with a bay tobiano Arabian, Thoroughbred pony. "This is Grace." He said as he clipped the ties onto the side of the mare's halter. "She can be a little funny with her legs as she has a small phobia of things that sting." He rubbed the pony's pretty face. "Pretty much, just watch any straps and things around her legs and belly. How long have you been a farrier?"

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The blonde headed woman nodded her head as she did the same greeting to the mare. She is a beautiful mare." she said to the male who was at the mare's head. She did not mind the man standing there since he knew the animal better than her so he could see the cues that she could not know.

She finished the first hoof and stood back up to look at the dark skinned man. "I have been a farrier for about three years." she said to him. "My father owned a horse farm before there was a fire which burned me and I decided not to torture anyone with my face like if I was a vet so I went the farrier route since they would look at my jean cladded rear more than my face." she said to the man as she moved over to the other side of the mare so that she could do them.

She picked up the hoof but the mare pulled it away. "It is okay girl." she said softly as she picked the hoof up again and placed it on her lap. "Do you like it here?" she asked him. She had not known many people here.