British Class

[Mycroft Hollins]

Mycroft felt guilty that he hadn't had much time for Brolly. The poor stallion had been left very much alone in his stall at the clinic. Of course Mycroft would feed him in the morning and in the evening, but really the stallion had stood idle for quite some time. With the blasted thoroughbred sent back to the track, Mycroft felt happy that he not only had time to dedicate to his faithful stud, but that he finally felt confident enough to ride him as he deserved to be ridden. 

"Hello ol' chap, I haven't forgotten you," he assured the big stallion as he entered the stall with several brushes. He set to work, quickly cleaning the stallion's beautiful bay coat and tacking him up. The stallion stood quietly, nudging Mycroft with his nose gently when the older man came within reach. He'd smile at him and rub his nose before returning his focus to the task at hand. When they were finally ready he grabbed his helmet and lead Brolly to the small clinic arena. It was quite small, half the size of the normal arenas at the school, but it would do. 

Mounting up, Brolly played with his bit as Mycroft adjusted the reins in his hands. Once he was ready, he asked Brolly out to the rail to begin warming up. They walked several times each way, then trotted, and finally Mycroft asked Brolly to canter. The stallion kicked his heels up slightly as he broke into the faster gait, briefly taking Mycroft by surprise, but both englishmen collected themselves immediately after and continued around the arena without incident. They were quiet a handsome pair, in many ways Brolly almost felt like a different horse with his now confident rider. Mycroft felt slightly disheartened that he didn't have much opportunity to show off the big horse, he would have brought quite a bit of British class to the show ring. 

Slowing the stallion down for a minute, he took a break for a moment, letting the reins go slack. Brolly stretched his head and neck out eagerly, shaking his head contently as Mycroft patted his neck and praised him for a job well done. 

[Miranda Florin]

Miranda grinned as she approached Ziggy and Zagg's yard. She let herself in and haltered her charge, then led him outside of the yard. She walked over to the hitching post that they had and tied him before going to put a grooming kit together for him. Upon her return, she removed the gelding's rug and began grooming the gelding, realizing that she was glad for the cold snap in the weather. At least, the mud was mostly frozen, which helped keep the tobiano from rolling, and if he did, between the rug and the ice, the mud didn't stick!

After grooming Zagg, paying special attention to his feet, which the gelding was starting to allow her to handle, although he still took a lot of convincing to even pick them up. After prying out the worst of the dirt, he'd had enough and took his foot back, and Miranda let him, knowing that it was still an improvement from when he'd arrived originally.

Once done, she undid the quick-tie knot and left the grooming supplies, heading towards the arena. She had seen Mr. Hollins working his stallion in the arena, but didn't think that Zagg would cause any issues. They wouldn't be riding, not yet, anyway. Every time she'd taken Zagg to the arena to ride, he had had issues with the approach, playing silly, and today, Miranda wanted to focus on that. As they approached, Miranda could feel Zagg tensing up and stopped, standing a good distance from the arena until the gelding relaxed, then petting his neck, “See? Not so dangerous. Brolly probably doesn't cause as much of a fuss as you.”

[Mycroft Hollins]

Mycroft looked up when he heard another voice, slowing Brolly to a stop near the arena gate. The stallion pricked his ears alertly at the other horse, which seemed wary of approaching. The girl was trying to coax him forward, closer to the arena, but he seemed just hardly relaxed enough in the position he was standing in. Brolly was quite the opposite of the other horse, standing quiet and relaxed, though curious to the newcomers.

"That's an interesting looking horse you have there, are you planning on bringing him in here?" he asked. Leaning down in the saddle, he easily undid the latch and slowly pulled the gate open, being careful not to startle the flighty looking gelding. Once that was done he turned Brolly and headed to the rail, having the stallion pick up a collected trot and circling around at the far end of the gate, giving the other pair plenty of room to enter the arena. Both Brolly and Mycroft seemed to keep their attention on the other horse and the girl though, the stallion out of curiosity and Mycroft out of mild concern. 

Collecting Brolly further, he asked the stallion to perform a piaffe, keeping the stallion working in one place helping him watch the student and the gelding. Brolly arched his neck and began to focus on his work, stepping lightly in place until Mycroft finally allowed him to stop and take a rest, patting the stallion's neck at he did so and praising him under his breath for a job well done. 

[Miranda Florin]

Once Zagg seemed quite relaxed again, Miranda turned away and stepped forward again, stopping once Zagg started looking at the arena they were approaching. Again, she turned to him and began petting him, rewarding him for relaxing as they stood. Sure, it was a slow process, but that was what he needed. Miranda didn't want to even begin thinking of what the so-called trainers had been doing to him to make him so worried about approaching an arena. Especially since he didn't really mind being inside the arena, once one got him there. No, it was just the walk towards it, and the area surrounding the arena in general.

Just then, she heard a voice behind her, and Miranda turned to look at Mr. Hollins, "Thank you, and not quite yet. He doesn't like walking up to the arena, although he doesn't have any issues once inside." She paused, absently rubbing Zagg's neck as she spoke, not willing to give up the work-time. However, neither did she want to irritate the teacher, "If we're disturbing you, though, we can go work elsewhere, I didn't mean to disrupt your work." The last thing that she wanted to do was to displace the teacher and his well-mannered stud.

[Mycroft Hollins]

Mycroft shook his head at the girl as he walked Brolly towards the gate, but not too close so that the other horse who had finally calmed down and made progress approaching the arena was frightened again. "You're hardly disturbing me, we're not doing any real work to speak of. I rather think Brolly enjoys the company anyhow. He doesn't see other horses often," he replied. 

Brolly pricked his ears at the other horse once again and whinnied at him, as though trying to say, "Hey, what are you doing out there? Come on in, the arena is fine!'. Mycroft gave his mane a gentle tug and smiled good humoredly at the stud. Brolly was such a charmer, it almost made Mycroft wonder why the stallion got so suddenly hostile around mares when he was such a gentleman around everyone else. Almost wonder, Brolly was a stallion after all. Still, Mycroft did want to breed Brolly in the spring, it would make his life a lot easier if the stallion could simply remain civil.

He watched the girl with the horse thoughtfully, "I confess I'm quite impressed, not many people have the patience to deal with flighty horses," he commented, a bit offhandedly. He hadn't had to deal with many problem horses, with the exception of his thoroughbred that he'd finally had sent back to the track where she belonged. He was of course going to have to take her back once her racing days were over, but he rather hoped she would grow up a bit by then. She'd been a more than a handful, and he would be lying if he said he wouldn't mind taking another like her. 

This horse didn't look as bad as her, but it was interesting that the horse had such an odd fear for the outside of the arena and not in it. 

[Miranda Florin]

Miranda smiled gratefully as she heard that she wasn't disturbing the pair. As she heard that the stallion didn't see horses as often, she considered, "I suppose that's right." Sure, she'd known that she didn't see the stallion around, although he lived on the clinic's grounds... He wouldn't see horses very often, it seemed, "Maybe we can turn him out in view of the others? I know some of our fences are six feet." That was the minimum for stallions, at least as she remembered it. Not that they had many mares for him to be tempted by, apart from Beauty, "I can ask Dr. Carr later, it can't be good for him not to see anyone." And Brolly seemed well-behaved enough, whenever she did happen to pass him.

As Brolly whinnied, Zagg lifted his head, stepping forward almost as if he was curious about the stud, seemingly forgetting all about the arena fence that separated them for a moment. Miranda stepped forward with him, letting him approach the fence as he wished. She shook her head in amusement, "I think he's gotten further thanks to Brolly than thanks to me." She rubbed the gelding's neck as he looked over the fence into the arena as she listened to Mr. Hollins' compliment. Smiling, she responded, "Thank you." She glanced at Zagg, "He's not nearly as flighty as some of the horses I've worked with since starting to work with Dr. Carr, though." Her mind turned first to the grey mustang, a surprise dumped into one of their pens, and then to the blanket-spotted cob that had followed him, "And I feel like I learn a lot from each of them."

As Zagg looked around him, still relaxed despite their position, Miranda shrugged, "That was all I needed? Really, horse?" Shaking her head, she looked back at Mr. Hollins, "If you're sure, we might just join you in the arena. Perhaps Brolly is just the example that Zagg needed."