Well Versed in Etiquette

[Deleted]

    Anna stopped in the tack room after entering the White Oak Barn and grabbed Essie's grooming box, checking it over once as she always did to make sure that none of the brushes had been misplaced. They never were, of course, as Anna kept her locker impeccably neat, and there was nothing that could happen to her brushes, but she checked every time all the same, out of habit. 
   
    Grooming box in hand, she found her way to Essie's stall, tracing her finger over the words Caviar and Cigarettes before unlatching the door and sliding it open. Her pony greeted her by snuffling and nibbling on the ends of her wavy hair that hung over her shoulder. Clipping a lead onto Essie's halter, Anna led her to the set of cross ties outside of her stall and set the brush box down beside them after clipping the Connemara in.

    Grabbing a hard brush first, Anna worked over the light grey pony's coat, which was growing in for winter. She'd have to start blanketing her soon and clip the pony, who got very fuzzy during the winter. Anna worked her a lot, and she didn't like Essie getting sweaty with her winter coat, so she always clipped her and bought her extra-warm rugs.

clothes

[Deleted]

Willow walked toward the White Oak Barn looking forward to a relaxing afternoon of riding William for the first time since the pair had moved in. Most people wouldn’t consider William’s quick, feisty movements relaxing, but Willow never felt so at home and at peace as when she sat on that horse’s back. Having run into people at every turn since arriving at Blue Ridge, she hoped more than anything that she would have the barn to herself.

Isn’t there anywhere I can get some peace and quiet, Willow thought with a sigh and a roll of the eyes. ”Excuse me,” Willow said with a demeaning voice and a sneer, not bothering to wait for the girl to make room. Willow simply ducked under the cross tie and barged through, greeting her nickering gelding with a quick hello and kiss before finding herself in the tack room. She hastily grabbed her grooming box out of her less-than-organized trunk, stuffed a treat or two in her breeches pocket, and made her way back to William.

After sloppily accepting a peppermint, William lowered his head for Willow to slip the halter on. Willow led the high strung gelding to the nearest set of cross ties, not far from where the other girl was with her horse. After getting him situated on the cross ties, Willow glanced back to the other girl, taking in the horse she was with. ”Nice, uh, …pony,” Willow said sarcastically with a mocking chuckle, turning back around to take in her well bred, well muscled, 16.2h warmblood. To be honest, she didn’t care if the other girl had some backyard bred pony or the next World Equestrian Games champion; Willow just liked to push people’s buttons, and she never failed to do just that.

[Deleted]

    Anna found herself focusing hard on a stain near Essie's withers, and took note to bath her soon, before it got any colder. She was leaning into the brush when another girl blew by her, stepping right under the cross ties without looking back. Essie reached her nose towards the receding girl curiously, and Anna just shook her head slightly, returning to the little spot that was annoyingly yellowish against Essie's light coat. Buying a nearly-white pony probably was not the best plan for a person with OCD, but Anna wouldn't change anything about Essie.

    Looking up as she heard the near clattering of hooves that announced a horse exiting a stall, she noticed that the girl that had passed earlier was leading her warmblood into the set of cross ties in front of where Essie stood. The black gelding was obviously quite high strung, and Anna could see this even with the few steps the gelding had taken out of his stall. He was gorgeous though, she had to admit that, and she was sure that he was a stunner in the show ring.
   
    Competing against warmbloods and thoroughbreds in the hunter and equitation rings was something that Anna faced all the time, and it was tough usually being the only pony, but she'd won her share of champion ribbons to prove that ponies could do it too. Even so, she knew that if she were competing against this horse, it would be difficult to get the judge's attention. Judging by his quick movements though, she didn't think that this horse would fare well in the hunter ring, and he was probably a jumper or an eventer by her guess.

    The girl's next comment forced Anna to look up, her eyebrows raised in a cross between shock and disdain. Was she being serious? Apparently so. Anna's shyness and intelligence warned her not to say anything rude, but her pride and ego flared up. Pushing back cutting words, Anna decided to give the girl another chance, ignoring the sarcastic tone, and pretending that the doubt in the girl's words were due to the fact that Essie bordered right between horse and pony. "Thank you. Your gelding is quite impressive himself. What you you do with him?" 

    She'd make conversation out of politeness, and then tack Essie out and get her to the jumping rings as quickly as possible to work on a hunter course. At least she had a place to go to make an excuse for not staying and chatting longer. Hopefully this girl wasn't headed to the jumping rings herself. As much as Anna liked friendly competition, she wasn't in the mood to try to outdo this girl and her muscled warmblood.

[Deleted]

Willow, brushing the dust and patches of dried mud out of William’s thick black coat, was reminded of how well bred the Oldenburg really was. She thought of what is price tag could have been if only he’d been born with the temperament his breeders had desired. Lucky for her, their program was so specific that a horse with a fiery personality like his was simply a waste of space in their barn, and so Willow’s trainer bought him for a deal, which meant Willow was able to buy him for a bargain.

William was getting politely antsy on the cross ties, taking one step to the side here, one step forward there… He was always brimming with energy, but also tried so hard to please. Still being an immature warmblood, he was always just too excited to stand still. Willow had to smile – his personality was one that she admired. He reminded her of how she was like when she was a child – curious, inquisitive, excitable. Unfortunately, spending too much time in the real world has a way of stripping a child’s most endearing qualities away.

Willow let out a quiet chuckle as the girl thanked her, as if she had given her a compliment. Some people are just so naïve. ”Impressive is an understatement…” Willow said under her breath, always the first to talk up William’s impressive physique. He is, after all, perhaps the only thing Willow takes true pride in. ”More than you’ll ever be able to do with that inbred hippo,” Willow shot back, breaking through the veil of politeness the other girl had seemed to drape over their conversation. She moved on to brushing William’s thick mane and forelock, as if she had simply made a comment about the weather.