The Compound Effect

[Jennifer Hart]

It had been a slow day in the office, and Jen had let them know that she would be spending a longer lunch out, to make use of the pretty day. It seemed strange, though, as soon as she had turned around, about three quarters of an hour in, the weather had seemed charged. Jen had kept a tighter rein on Spot, although she tried to relax, hoping that her mount wouldn't compound the problem.

They were almost back to the academy when the thunder started grumbling, and Spot tensed up. Jennifer spoke to her, stroking the striped fur, and kept her moving, casting an eye to the ravine, which was, luckily, further away, obscured by a tangle of bushes. A flash of lightning set the zorse mare to prancing, almost dancing in place as she refused to move forward. Shaking her head, Jen grabbed a bit of the mare's mane, collected her reins, and planned to dismount, but just then, a sound in the brush, coming towards them, reached the mare's ears.

As the mare bolted, Jen had to bite back a string of curses, and focused on calming the mare. Luckily, they weren't on a narrow piece of trail, and it only took a few minutes of pulling the mare to the right before the zorse stopped, shivering. Jen dismounted and held the mare's reins, "Not the best day after all." She led the mare off of the trail and checked her for injuries briefly, luckily finding none, before she looked towards the spot where they had heard the noise from the bushes.

[Serenity Oliver]

Serenity sat deep on the mare's back as they moved slightly up hill, she kept the mare at a steady trot as they headed up the trail in search of her bay mare. The only problem with their search, was the fact that the trails went on for miles and she had no clue which direction the Selle Français had gone as soon as she had entered the trees. She didn't even want to think about the ravine, knowing that in a blind panic, the mare wouldn't think about where she was going in her naturally born instinct to flee from danger.

The young rider glanced up at the sky, that was only partially visible through the leafy canopy, and noticed that the dark grey clouds had now obscured all of the cornflower blue sky from not even an hour earlier. She placed her hand on Red's neck, and considered asking the rose grey to canter, but she tossed that idea aside as she thought about how slippery the trail would become if the sky suddenly opened, especially while she didn't have the safety of reins or a saddle if anything did go wrong. So, keeping the mare at a trot, they continued on down the trail.

Allowing the Swedish Warmblood, Thoroughbred mare to choose where they were going, she was putting her trust in the mare to find her paddock mate, hoping that her faith wasn't going to get her in trouble... there again, she hoped that her own actions didn't get her in trouble as she was riding bareback on the trails with no more than a lead rope to guide the mare. "What is it?" She asked as Red skidded to a halt and lifted her head, scenting the air before releasing a whinny. Reni sat still as Red's call faded and moments later was returned from somewhere in the distance. "But is that Plot?" She asked the mare as Red started forward again, taking a path to the right.

[Jennifer Hart]

Jen bit her cheek as she held on to her dancing mare, rubbing the mare's neck and then starting to speak to her, trying to calm her. Things would not go well if the mare bolted on this trail. Finally, she had managed to calm the mare enough to think about walking her back to the barns, although she didn't want to mount up again, just in case they ran into issues when the trail was not as forgiving.

However, before she had taken too many steps in the direction of the academy, she heard the whinny of another horse, although she wouldn't have wanted to wager on where the call came from. However, Spot didn't have that issue, her head raised towards the trail they were on, returning the call with maybe a touch too much enthusiasm. Jen, standing next to the mare's head, winced, but she didn't mess with the mare as she might have done, although she did allow herself a few choice words.

Once her ears stopped ringing, she started leading the mare back down the trail. However, it wasn't too long before they could see a horse and rider on the trail. Jen glanced around, finding a slightly thicker piece of the trail, and led Spot to the side, but when she noticed that it was a student, bareback and with only a lead, she stepped out slightly, waiting for the student to approach her before she asked, "Is that the safest practice for a trail ride with the weather right now?"

[Serenity Oliver]

Reni leaned forward as her mare went up a slope, taking the weight off the mare's back and straightened up as the ground beneath them became flat once more. "Where are we going?" She asked Red as they turned onto yet another trail. With the mare's ears pricked forward, it was obvious she knew where she was going.

"Oh, Loki!" She muttered, her version of swearing, as a woman stepped out slightly onto the trail ahead of them, and she applied a little pressure with the lead rope, sitting deeply and squeezing ever so slightly with her legs as she let out a breath, as she thought stop, and the mare came to an easy halt. The freshman's eyebrows shot up as she looked around and then back at the woman who had spoken to her. "No Ma'am." She replied as she pressed her lips together. "I realise that I am breaking a number of rules riding out on the trails like this." Her words were now a mile a minute. "I had just finished getting my horses feet trimmed when my other mare got spooked by the sudden change in the weather, and mayhaps the dog." She shook her head. "Ma'am, she got loose and took off into the trees. You must believe me, I did think about taking Red back for a saddle and bridle, but I don't want Plot to harm herself, so I came as I was." Her eyes darted around again and once more Red lifted her head and whinnied.

Reni looked in the direction Red was staring in, deeper into the trees, and moments later there was a responding call - a call slightly different than the one the girl had heard the last time Red called out.

[Jennifer Hart]

Jen didn't hear the words that the girl spoke as she was seen, but she knew that the girl said something. As she stopped her mount in front of Jen, and then responded to her question, the woman listened, trying to figure out the girl's rationale. However, once the girl had explained the situation, it made sense, and Jen nodded, "I know all too well horses that get away, and I know your first priority would be your mare's safety." She glanced down the trail, "I think we might have heard her a bit further down the trail, crashing through the trees."

Considering the prospects, she shrugged to herself, the office could wait, "Would you like some help in trying to find her? I don't want her hurting herself, and I don't think the weather's going to be getting better, and possibly worse." The other reason behind helping this girl was that she would be able to be on hand should anything happen to the girl, although she didn't mention that, not wanting to make the girl feel like she was in more trouble. Yes, it had been a risky manoeuvre, but then, sometimes quick decisions needed to be made.

[Serenity Oliver]

Reni winced when the woman mentioned possibly hearing the mare crashing through trees, so Plot's panic was just as bad as she had thought, if not worse. She bowed her head in thanks to not getting in trouble for not going to the barn first.

She turned her head from looking up the trail ahead of them when the woman offered her assistance. "That would be gratefully appreciated, thank you, Ma'am." She replied. "I wouldn't want to impose on your ride or your own horse's safety though." She looked down the trail again as Red pawed the ground. "Plot is a bay, Selle Français, she's a little unpredictable though. She's wearing a light blue nylon halter." Reni released a breath, so glad that she had opted not to put the rope halter on Plot that morning. At least if the halter she was wear got caught up on something, it would break, whereas rope halters weren't so forgiving. "She's the same size as the mare I'm riding. And she hates enclosed spaces!" The girl's eyes darted around the path ahead of them again as Red's head bobbed up and down. "Ok, Red, I am listening to you." She released the tension on the lead rope - not that she had a lot - and her rose grey mare trotted forward down the trail, head up, nostril flaring and ears pricked forward.

[Jennifer Hart]

Jennifer kept Spot in check as she stood talking with the girl, even though the mare was slowly calming down again. There hadn't been any more loud noises, and while there was a charge to the air, it didn't seem to be bothering the mare too much. As she heard the girl agree, she inclined her head, "The office can wait for a bit longer, I've spent long enough in the darned thing already this week, and Spot will be fine." She smiled, "I'd like to see your mare back safely, and I know I won't get anything done if I worry about her all day."

She listened closely as the girl described the mare, nodding when she was confident of the details, "Okay, that's alright." She wasn't going to stick the mare into a stall in the middle of nowhere, after all. She saw the girl's mare getting anxious, and turned to check Spot's gear before turning the mare and mounting, falling into pace behind the blonde girl. As they reached the spot where she had heard the mare earlier, she spoke up, "This is where we heard her before, although she's probably moved further along, it's a place to start."

[Serenity Oliver]

Even though she knew she would have coped if the woman had indeed had to head back to her office, the relief that she could have company was evident on the girl's face when the woman said that she would accompany her. She watched curiously as the woman turned and mounted her striped equine. "You have a Zorse." She said with a grin, as she hadn't paid any attention to the woman's horse up until now, and then blushed when she realised how stupid she must have sounded. "She's beautiful."

Leading the way down the trail, she reined Red in as she heard the Director's voice. She looked around and could see the path the mare must have made after she had reached the trail and her panic had driven her on before common sense could kick in. "Easy Red." She whispered as she turned to look at Ms Hart. "I want to follow the path she made." She turned Red down the track that Plot had created through the underbrush and they hadn't gone much further until they reached another trail which opened into a field and there, in the middle of the grass, Plot stood with her side heaving as she looked around herself. "Easy, Red." She said as she reined the Warmblood in and slid off her back. "Stand." She said as she put her hand on the rose grey's nose and unclipped the lead rope, knowing the Plot had snapped hers at the clip back at the farriery.

On foot, she walked to the start of the field and then whistled gently to catch the attention of the mare who was still a good distance away from her. "There's a good girl." She said soothingly as the bay mare looked in her direction. "You're all tuckered out, and you want to go home?" She asked as she crossed the grass to stroke the mare's neck. "Let's go home then." She clipped the rope onto the mare's halter and began to check each of the mare's legs.

[Jennifer Hart]

Jen smiled as she heard the girl's comment, "Yes, and yes, her name is Spot. No, I did not make a mistake on her paperwork, it's deliberate." The question about the mare's name came up far too often, so as soon as Jen introduced the bay mare, she added on the last bit. People could still ask about it after that, but clearing it up in the first place reduced the number of silly responses or jokes she heard. At the compliment to her mare, Jen grinned lightly, "Thank you."

As they came to a halt, Jen kept enough space between the girl's mount, Red, and her own mount, not wanting to push any of the horses too far today. There had been enough drama already. When she heard the girl's plan, she nodded, "Sounds reasonable, lead on." She and Spot followed the girl, although she reined up much closer to the edge of the meadow, letting Serenity move ahead without her. Who knew how the bay would respond to a strange horse? As the girl switched lead ropes, Jen twisted in her saddle and dug through her saddlebags, knowing that she at least usually carried a longer lead for the trail. Finding the light green rope, she dismounted and slowly led Spot over, holding the lead rope out to Serenity for her inspection, speaking once the girl had finished checking the bay's legs, "Would you like me to pony Red, so that you can focus on Plot, or have you got it?"

[Serenity Oliver]

"Spot?" She repeated the zorse's name with a grin, and a slight question in her tone. "I love it! She's a contradiction in herself." Out of all the horses and ponies that her parents had had in the past, she had always wished that they had picked up a zorse.

Reni was bent down by the mare's off-fore, running her hands expertly down the mare's leg when a shadow fell over her. She looked up at the proffered lead rope and smiled. "Thanks" She replied. Truth be told, she actually hadn't thought about the fact that Red now had no lead rope, as she knew that the mare would just follow her back without the need for one. "It would be great if you could pony Red." She said. "She's really good. The only problem you'd have, is if you were carrying a whip." She glanced away from Plot's leg to look toward the other equines. "If Spot doesn't like her though, I can pony her back." Red was a dream to pony, with or without a lead, and would happily plod along behind, or beside, another horse.

She returned her attention to Plot's legs and when she finished her examination, she had found a few cuts on the mare's legs, but nothing that was life threatening. She would however take her to visit the veterinarian once she had Red back in the barn.

Finding a tree stump, she led Plot over and vaulted onto the mare's back, sitting quietly as the mare danced beneath her, almost unseating her a couple of times. When the mare was calm, Reni asked the horse to walk forward and rode her in a couple of circles before she joined Ms Hart, Spot and Red. "We'll follow you."

[Jennifer Hart]

Jennifer nodded at Serenity's request, "That'll work." She held out her hands, showing there wasn't a whip in them, "I don't need one for Spot, most of the time. She's happy enough to go where-ever, it's more the question of pointing her in the right direction." She looked over to where Red was standing, then shook her head, "I doubt we'll have issues, but we'll see." She walked over to the mare, bending down to exchange scents with her before she ran a hand along the mare's neck. Only then did she clip the lead rope to the mare's halter. The light green painted an odd picture, paired with the mare's fuchsia-coloured halter, but then, it wasn't a beauty contest.

She frowned at the rope, then moved Spot closer to Red and held on to the very end of the rope while she mounted, trying not to tighten it so much that she pulled on the grey's face. She managed it, and then gathered her reins in one hand, holding the lead with the other. After Serenity had mounted and approached them, Jennifer nodded and asked Spot to move back down the trail, smiling as she saw Red falling into step.

It didn't take them too terribly long before Jennifer could see the academy, and once the trail ended, widening onto the campus proper, she turned to Serenity, "Which barn does Red live in, and would you like me to put her into her stall for you to look over once you've tended to Plot?" She didn't mind, she was late either way, and there was no one that could reprimand her for it in the office, as she worked parallelly to the other administrators and their structure.

[Serenity Oliver]

Reni kept a calming hand on Plot's shoulder as the mare cautiously picked her way across the ground as she followed the others, the girl's comforting legs seemed to be the only thing that was holding the mare's nerves together.

"When I took the mares to the farriery to have their feet done, Plot was looking toward the building with interest, so I asked the woman farrier. Funny, she never actually introduced herself. Sorry, I asked the woman if she had any other animals around; cows, cats, dogs, anything that had an unusual scent that Plot may have picked up on. It was after she brought the dog out, with no lead, that the air became electric and then the thunder and lightning, which sent Plot into a panic." She looked at the Executive Director. "It wasn't the god's fault, but she really should have had him on a lead. What if the dog had been spooked and chased Plot, and then been kicked?"

Before long, the Academy came into sight. "Red's stall is in Red Willow, and that would be wonderful, thank you." She massaged the bay mare's shoulder. "I'll take Plot to Dr Carr to make sure that she really is alright."

As they reached the barns, Reni slipped to the ground and left Jennifer and the two mares as she made her way down the path that led to the vet clinic, placing her hand on Plot's nose as the mare began to dance around, as the path was the same one as they had taken earlier to get to the farriery.

[Jennifer Hart]

Jennifer listened to the girl as she spoke about what had happened to spook the mare. As she heard that the farrier hadn't introduced herself, she raised her eyebrow, "It's Ms. Bales, if you come across her again." She continued listening, keeping her eyes on the trail for all that she was paying attention to the girl and her tale. As she heard that the dog hadn't been on leash, she frowned, pressing her lips together. It was part of the campus rules that dogs be on leash unless they were in an enclosed area. If she heard anything about it again, she might have to have a talk with Michelle.

She nodded as she heard the girl's concern, "Yes, she should have. If I hear anything about it again, I'll make sure to speak to her about it, because it's not fair to the dog, or the horses." Once was a mistake. If it happened again, though, it was a serious flouting of the school rules.

Hearing where the mare was stabled, Jen nodded, "That's good, that's where Spot is too." She turned towards the branching to the barn, where their paths would split, then looked back at Serenity, "I think she is, but I'll keep my fingers crossed all the same." With that, she walked the two mares down the path, dismounting only when they reached the barn before leading the horses inside and dropping Red into her stall.