The Great Escape

[Katherine Carr]

Katherine settled herself down in her desk chair, preparing to get through some of the paperwork that needed to be done before she allowed herself to settle too much into the vacation spirit of the academy. The morning chores had gone by easily and the residents were feed and either in their stalls or out in the pastures as was required and she was going to work on the books before taking Fly out to the cross country course.

Katherine looked up as she heard a shout from outside her office. She rose to her feet to go and investigate, but before she could take more than a step the office door swung open and she was greeted with a nicker from her bay leopard spotted Appaloosa. "You didn't like the idea of being out in the pastures?" She asked him as she quickly walked forward and curled her fingers around the halter that the youngster was wearing. "Let's get out there and find out if anyone else followed you out of the pasture." The gelding had the not so wonderful habit of being able to work the bolt on his stall door loose and letting himself out if the grooms forgot to put the kickbolt back into place, so it wouldn't surprise her if he had worked out how to open the gate. She was just thankful that she had let him out in the pasture that only had one other resident, Cedar, who wasn't young and stupid and more than likely would have remained on his side of the gate.

Holding the gelding's halter, she pressed her fingers on his chest and asked him to back up so that she could exit the office and turn him around. She looked around to see if she could spot a barn hand or lingering student she could send running down to the pastures to check the gate. Her eyebrows shot up as another thought crossed her mind and she grabbed the closest lead rope off a hook and clipped it onto Picasso's halter. "You didn't jump the gate did you?" She asked as she checked each of his legs for heat and/or swelling.

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Jesse finished running the last few strokes of the brush through Bonnie's bay coat. He gave a reassuring pat on the mare's neck as he closed up the grooming kit. "Feeling better, Bonnie?" He asked softly as the mare gave a nicker in response. He's guessing that was a yes as he could tell the horse was much more comfortable and relaxed after their grooming session. He untied the cross ties that were holding the horse and clipped back on the lead rope to the mare's black halter. He wrapped his finger around the lead as he walked the mare down the aisle of the White Oak barn back to her stall. He has enjoyed his time here at Blue Ridge especially since he has been head barn hand of one of the main barns. He remembered that time when he first arrived to the Academy and went to visit the barn manager, Katherine Carr. At first he never even knew he had the potential to even be in the position he was now, getting the spot may be easy, but the hard work that came with it was what counted. He just hoped all this time he has at least met the women's expectations.

He has been keeping track of how the morning chores were going every day along with Ms. Carr and everything seemed to go smoothly. Making sure every resident in the barn was well fed and was either in their stalls or in the pastures. Most of them he knew were in the pastures as every horse liked to enjoy the nice and warm weather of summer break. It was the best time to relax and not worry about training or practices as often. Though it may be break for the students and some staff, he still enjoyed spending his vacation with the horses. He noticed a faint shout down the aisle as he and Bonnie happened to pass by Ms. Carr who seemed to be looking for someone while having the lead rope to the women's horse intact. He knew most of the horses here in the main barn as he would always see a frequency of appearances together.

As they approached he gave a light smile and small wave with his free hand to the women in greeting. "Hello, Ms. Carr." He greeted in a kind tone as Bonnie gave a nicker to the familiar figure. He knew the mare's stall was just near here and it wouldn't be nice of him to not at least say hello to the women. "Everything going alright?" He asked as he noticed her shocked look towards the other horse before he had arrived. He just wanted to make sure if there was anything he could do for her as after he was to put Bonnie back in her stall, he was as free as a bird to help out if needed. He was always in the mood to help out Ms. Carr as he knew the women could use some help once in a while since he knew she was a busy person.

[Katherine Carr]

Katherine smiled as Jesse spoke to her. "Hello Jesse." She returned as she tied Picasso to a hitching ring on the wall. "Once you put Bonnie away, can you please put this little monster into his stall." She shook her head at the Appaloosa gelding. "I need to go and find out how he exited the pasture that I put him in half and hour ago." She tussled the gelding's forelock.

With another smile toward the barnhand, she headed out of the barn and down the lane that led to the the pastures. She checked each of the gates as she walked past, more out of habit than anything as she had checked them on her way back to the barn after turning the gelding out. As she neared pasture three, she wasn't too surprised to see that the gate was wide open and Cedar was grazing on the grass on her side of the gate. "Come on Cedar." She said in a sing-song voice before she got too close, and smiled when the horse looked up and regarded her with large liquid brown eyes. "Back into the pasture." She said as she made a shooing motion with her hands, arching her eyebrow as he flattened his ears toward her and then turned toward the opening and ambled forward. "Good boy." She followed the gelding as he walked into the pasture and she closed the gate behind him. "I'll let your Ma know that you were munching out here." The area was kept clear of poisonous plants and weed killer, but she would let Anastasie know anyway.

Heading back into the barn, she shook her head when she saw Picasso's head sticking over his stall door. "So, it's not only the bolts on the stall you know how to open, you also worked out how to unlatch the pasture gates." However, it also meant that she didn't need to worry about strained tendons from the two year jumping a three foot gate.

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Jesse kept his sincere smile on his face as he gave a nod towards the woman's request. "Sure!" He responded contently as he raised a brow towards the horse's antics of exiting the pasture. He let her pass through as she left the barn. He lead Bonnie towards her stall first as it was close by and then come back for gelding, he shouldn't be able to escape again that quickly.

Leading the mare into her stall, he latched the door closed as he rubbed Bonnie's nose. "Now you don't have the intentions to escape, do you?" He teased as the mare gave a snort in response. He paced himself back over to where the familiar gelding was tied to the hitching ring as he untied it and got a good grip on the lead to make sure the horse didn't have any ideas of slipping through. He gave a gentle smile towards the horse as he lended a hand out towards the gelding and gently rubbed his nose. He lead the equine down the aisle as they approached his stall. Once the Appaloosa was fully in the stall, he closed the door securely behind him and was still fascinated by how quick witted the horse was to even escape the pasture gate. He gave a quiet tsk as he heard footsteps of Ms Carr returning.

He listened to her comment about how he knew how to open his stall and the pasture gates. It was quite impressive that a two year gelding knew how to do that. "You have quite an intelligent horse, Ms. Carr." He gave a grin towards her as he commented on what he mentioned about the horse earlier. He never had an incident where Bonnie or Turk has escaped anywhere, or at least they didn't know how to unlatch a stall door or pasture gate and he was slightly glad for that as he didn't have to worry about finiding a runaway horse everytime.

[Katherine Carr]

Katherine grinned. "Intelligent is one way of putting it." She said with a laugh. "Though I like to use words such as; trouble, too smart and cheeky." She walked over and made sure that the kick bolt had been kicked back into place securely, as she knew that the gelding would be working on the top bolt as soon as he was alone once again.

Katherine couldn't even work out why the gelding let himself out of places. He never raided the feed room, and it wasn't like he got out to go and see another horse, as Picasso was a loner, and he seemed to like it that way. "I'm actually thinking that he needs to get out more for a little more exercise." She pressed her lips together. "If I get time later, I'll take Fly out to the trails and bring him on a lead line." Even though the youngster liked his personal space, he seemed to have a respect for her much older mare.

While she had Jesse at hand, she decided that this was as good a time as any to see if the man needed anything. "Is there anything that needs my attention?" She asked. "Are you preparing yourself for the onslaught of teenagers and horses over the next couple of weeks?" Even though quite a few of the students had remained on campus over the vacation, and quite a few new students had already started arriving, she knew that the couple of weeks before the classes started up, things were always hectic.