His Royal PITA

[Liana Mars]

Liana glared at Nasir as the gelding yet again attempted to invade her personal bubble, sending the lead rope swinging towards him to make the gelding step back. She'd been walking him out of his stall, planning on riding, but the gelding's antsy energy and inability to remember manners suggested that that wouldn't be the best use of their time today - Frustrating for both rider and horse. He needed to burn off energy first, and so Liana skipped the grooming stall and led the gelding out to the round pen instead, figuring she'd give him a good session, turn him out, and try again with the riding later in the day.

As they approached the round pen, Liana was glad to see that there was a lunge whip by the door, as there tended to be, and led Nasir into the pen. She unclipped the halter before draping that over the fencing, and only then picked up the whip, stepping out into the middle of the arena and sending Nasir around the edge. While she had been planning on warming the gelding up properly, starting with some trotting, he had other ideas, and took off at a canter. She reached out in front of him with the stick and turned him, using her voice to remind him to trot. She would have to outstubborn him today, and luckily... Liana was very good at being stubborn.

[Tara Macmillan]

Tara was not in a good mood. And this was a rather unusual occurrence so far as the blonde was concerned; she could very nearly always find something to be cheerful about, starting with the fact that she was Tara Macmillan. Today, however, she was just not happy. She didn't even know why that should be the case- it wasn't as though her cat had just died- but she was feeling as though she needed to find someone, or possibly something, on which she could take out her negativity in a suitably vitriolic fashion. And if there was one thing that Tara was good at (although the blonde herself would hasten to point out that there were, in fact, many, and that she could quite happily list them all if the orator required it), then it was being vitriolic. It was a talent which she didn't visit on many of her fellow students- after all, that was hardly the way to achieve popularity, was it?- but it was also a talent that she held in reserve and was quite happy to use as a weapon of last resort, should it be required.

Ambling through the grounds of the academy, she happened to catch sight of Liana, and paused automatically to consider the situation. Things were always interesting when Liana was in the vicinity.

[Liana Mars]

Her battle of wills with the gelding took most of Liana's attention, and as he attempted to break into yet another bout of cantering, she switched the whip to be in front of him yet again, turning him and sending him off at a trot - For the moment. And then they were back at it, the gelding tossing his head and snorting as he took off again, the process repeating. As she turned him yet again, Liana spotted Tara and gave a small, tight smile, all she could manage while keeping her attention on the Arabian. He seemed to finally be getting tired of their game, and trotted along, although his high head and pricked ears suggested the good behavior was just a matter of time.

[Tara Macmillan]

Tara returned the other girl's smile and paused to lean languidly against the fence, watching the situation with interest. She was an entirely competent enough horsewoman to recognise an animal that was being difficult when she saw it, and although of course she wouldn't dream of wishing to make life harder for dear Liana, she did have to admit that there was a certain satisfaction in the confirmation that she was not the only one who had an occasional battle with her mount. Not often, it had to be said; the blonde knew what she was about, and Jenny was not an especially contrary horse, but then every animal had its moments... "Anything I can do?" she called, trying not to sound smug.