It's not all about you!

[Maeve McKenna]

There was a bittersweet feeling to the thought that classes would soon be starting up, and standing in Narcissus' yard. Maeve knew that the biggest thing she would miss would be working with the large gelding at any time of the day that suited her. When classes started, she'd be limited to before or after school, outside of her after school activities, and while she wasn't looking after Remi.

She swept the body brush over the bay's now shining coat. He looked so different from when she had started working with him two months ago, and he had changed so much in his personality too. Things were going great, until she forgot about what he was really like and moved too fast, or dropped something and then the gelding was off like a shot.

"You know that you can trust me, right?" She asked the gelding as she crouched down to exchange the body brush for the mane comb.

[Kekona Hanson]

Kona whistled on her way to the vet clinic, having left Casper in the pastures. She had decided to take a nice day to hang out with Mary, give her a thorough groom and maybe some time in the arena. She stopped whistling as she came into view of the yards, spotting one of the Equine Rehabilitation students in the yard with her own horse. She raised a hand to greet the girl, then turned and stepped into the barn where Mary's gear was.

She brought out the mare's halter and grooming kit, then let herself into Mary's yard. The mare came over willingly, and Kona buckled on the halter. After draping the lead rope over the fence, she set down the grooming kit and set to work, humming softly as she did so.

[Maeve McKenna]

Maeve nodded to the other girl's greeting, not sure how the Grade Horse would react if she raised her hand to return the wave; and knowing her luck, the gelding would see it as a threat and take off around the yard, spooking everyone around him. And right now, things were going really well, and the bay gelding was actually feeling relaxed.

She watched the dark haired girl, and her horse, over Narcissus' back, and wondered how long it would be until her horse was as comfortable around her as the mare seemed to be around the girl... there again though, this wasn't her horse, and for all she knew the mare could actually belong to the other girl and could be here being treated for something or other. Though the mare had been in the vet clinic as long, if not longer, than Narcissus and his gang, so she didn't think that would be right.

"How long have you been working together?" The question flew out without thinking about how rude it was.

[Kekona Hanson]

Kona looked up as she heard the other girl's voice, stopping in her humming as she considered the question, "Since January, now." Had it really been that long? It was hard to imagine! And yet, nobody had stepped forward, and that left the question of what would happen with Mary. She couldn't live at the clinic for the rest of her life - There was nothing medically wrong with her, and she was taking up space that could be used for an actual case. She'd have to talk to Dr. Carr about the mare and her future soon.

"Mary was found wandering around in the woods back in January, by another student. I just happened to be in the right place to be an extra set of hands, and since then, she's kind of become my project horse." She shrugged, "We enjoy each other's company." She considered the horse the girl was handling, "How's he doing?" She knew the rehab students were working with horses too, but had always found herself slightly outside of their circle - Mary wasn't a severe case by any means, just one with a questionable ownership issue.

[Maeve McKenna]

Maeve nodded as she listened, her eyebrows shooting up at the news on how the mare arrived on campus. "Why would someone do that?" She shook her head in apology to the stupid question, as if they knew the answer to that, the mare would have been returned home by now. "That's really sad, the poor girl. At least she found you." She ran her hand affectionately over her gelding's shoulder and back. "Compared to where he was at the start of summer, he's come along in leaps and bounds." She rubbed Narcissus' forehead as the gelding turned to look at her. "There are just parts of his past I wish I knew more about." But, like the question of why the mare had been found wandering alone, she would never get the answers to her questions.

She crouched down and swapped the body brush for the horse's face brush and then straightened up before walking to stand in front of him. "Do you have any idea to what Mary might be trained in?" Part of her was so keen to take the gelding into the arena one day and just jump on his back to see what he would do, but the logical side of her knew that that would take some more time.

[Kekona Hanson]

Kona shrugged, "If we knew that, we might be able to find them. But Dr. Carr's been looking since we found her, and nobody's shown up. Nobody has even mentioned knowing her, even though she acts like she's a horse that's been well-trained."

She listened to Maeve's response about her own project horse, smiling as the girl showed her affection for the gelding. "You've been doing really well with him, at least as I see it." She frowned, "Not that I'm an expert, but anyone can see that he's enjoying being around you now."

As Maeve asked about Mary's training, Kona shrugged, "Definitely English, and I've taken her over some cavaletti and she knows what they are. I want to try jumping her soon, just haven't gotten around to it with classes starting." She paused, "I'd try dressage, but to be honest, I only know the basics myself, so I'm not sure how to go about it myself. Maybe eventually."

[Maeve McKenna]

Maeve pulled a face, there were some people who didn't deserve to own a toy cat, let alone have a horse to take care of. But then she really couldn't say anything as she didn't even have a cat! Though she was now caring for two horses... ok, she was taking care of one, and helping with the care of another.

She felt her cheeks heat up at the compliment. "Thanks." She smiled. "It's been a lot of reading, studying and taking things day by day." As well as keeping the journal that Dr Carr requested of them, she now had about three of them going for the gelding; the one for Dr Carr, a training one - where she copied out all the cool ideas she found that she could try with the gelding - and one that was an amended training book - where she wrote down the things that seemed to work and rewrote the ones that didn't work as she had read them but worked a different way when she tried it out.

"This sounds like a completely bogus idea, but have you tried those has anyone seen my horse sites? If you wrote up an ad with maybe a photo of her, making it sound like you were trying to look for her, you could find out something about her past, without giving away where she is now?" She laughed and shrugged as she went back to brushing the gelding's face.

[Kekona Hanson]

Kona smiled as Maeve described her learning curve, it sounding so familiar to her. She'd gone through something similar, in her transition from simply riding along the trails, not really worried about which lead a horse was on or if they were collected, to being a more serious rider and focusing on those things.

As Maeve offered an idea, Kona considered it, "It might be worth trying. I'll have to ask Dr. Carr what all she tried, maybe she's already thought of it." She paused, "It's not like we're keeping it a secret that she's here. But as time passes, it seems more and more likely that whoever did own her, really doesn't want her back." That it was on purpose, more than a riding accident that had somehow escaped the news. "But thank you for the idea."

She turned her attention back to Mary, working on a particularly stubborn spot of dried mud, then glanced back over to Maeve, "Do you have your own horse outside of working with him, or are you riding a school horse?"

[Maeve McKenna]

Maeve nodded as she put her brushes away and led looped the lead over the gelding's neck as she carried the kit over to the fence so that it was out of the way. "I think it's probably a good thing if whoever owned her never returns for her. Goodness knows what they might do should she fall back into their hands." She shivered at what lengths a person might go to to get rid of a horse. "I'm totally new to the whole riding thing, so I ride a school horse, named Remi. How about you?"

She returned to the gelding, though stopped before she got close enough to be able to reach out and take the rope. "Would you like to play?" She asked the Grade Horse, as she offered him her hand. Her spirits soared as the gelding took a couple of steps forward and closed the gap between them. "No need for this though, is there?" With a smile, she took hold of the rope and quietly unclipped it, before tying it around her waist. "Let's go for a walk." She knew that the horse couldn't understand her words, but there was just something about talking about what she wanted to do with him, that made it seem less like her commanding and more giving him the choice.

Turning around so she was facing the same direction as Narcissus, she clicked her tongue and then stepped forward, her grin growing wider as the gelding also moved forward. She didn't wander too far from the fence line, so that she could continue the conversation with the other girl.

[Kekona Hanson]

Kona nodded at that, her mind immediately skipping to the worst case scenario, "Yeah. Maybe it's better if she stays here." She smiled as the girl named the horse she rode, "Remi is so cute, lucky you! Our horses back home aren't very well-trained for anything like what they do here, so I'm riding a school horse too, his name is Casper."

She finished brushing the mare, whose coat was now free of any and all dried mud, and started on untangling her mane with a wide-toothed comb. She watched Maeve and Narcissus with a small smile, but then turned her attention back to Mary, not wanting to intrude on Maeve's time with the gelding.

[Maeve McKenna]

Maeve nodded in agreement, Remi was very cute; but she was also biased. "Casper is a really nice looking horse too; very flashy." She said with a grin, and then worried that maybe that was the wrong thing to say.

After a single lap of the yard, she removed the gelding's headcollar and walked over to sit on the fence, where she would write in the gelding's note book. "What do you do with your horses at home," she had been wanting to ask when Kona had mentioned it earlier, but they had both been busy then, "if you don't do the kind of riding taught here?"