Exploring (Open)

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Titus walked around the barn looking around. She had just gotten here, lucky enough not to get lost already. She was bad at finding her way through any campus or compound. She was actually surprised that she found the Main Office! At Julia's barn the first time she was allowed to actually go into the barns and such, she lost her way and actual landed by a pond! Julia had to come back and find her. She had said to Titus, "Your just like ol' Zero." Titus had smiled. She had heard stories about Zero disappearing in his own pasture and coming back all wet and messed up. And there wasn't even a pond in Zero's pasture!
 
Later, they figured out that he had jumped his fence because some kid was teasing him with a carrot. It sounded just like Zero. Titus smiled at the old thought. She had good times with Zero and Julia. She'd already put Zero's tack and equipment in the tack room and her things in her new dorm. She didn't yet have a roommate but the lady at the desk said she would have one soon. So she guessed that that was good. She walked over to Zero's stall. The silly horse was munching on his hay. He let out a soft nicker. "Hey Bozo." Titus said to horse. She looked at the stall, a twelve foot squared stall. "Your going to be happy with this stall." She told Zero. "It's nice and big unlike the one at home." She smiled. Julia should get some stalls like these. Titus sighed. Julia didn't have that money. She needed to get a new job to support her barn.

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John slipped a few carrots saved from his lunch into his pocket, then grabbed a water bottle. Letting himself out of his recently-turned-single room, he made his way towards the outdoors. He had finished his homework for the day, leaving only a half-finished project that wasn't due for another few weeks anyway. As he crossed the campus, he delighted in the sunlight that was finally streaming down, a beautiful change from the cloudy weather they had been having previously. Already, a plan was forming in his head about how he was going to spend his free time, and it included lots of barrels.

As he entered the dusky atmosphere of the barn, he strode forward, his eyes adjusting to the familiar light rather easily. Reaching Lilja's stall, he noticed that there was a new horse next to his mare, and that an unfamiliar girl was with the horse. Giving her a brief smile, he spoke, "Good afternoon." before he turned to Lilja's stall, grabbing the halter and lead from where it hung on the hook next to the door. Buckling the inchworm-green halter around his mare's head, he absently asked, "You're new around here, aren't you? When did you arrive?" He did already know the answer to the first question, but newcomers rarely understood how easy it was to spot them, and he wasn't the type to disillusion them.

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Titus turned herself toward the boy who had spoken. He was about her height, maybe the same age. Brown hair, brown eyes. "Um, ya. I got here yesterday." She said. "Is this your mare?" She asked the boy. She walked over to his stall and looked at the mare. Her coat color was a pretty sorrel. "I like her sorrel coat. It suits her." Titus said to the boy. "My bad, I'm Titus." She tilted her head to Zero. "And that's Sub Zero though you can call him Zero or Bozo. Whichever one, they're both his nickname." She told the boy.

Titus had heard that his mare did barrel racing. She wasn't a big fan on western but she didn't mind other people who rode western. Though she liked watching barrel racing it always went nice and fast. She wasn't interested in rodeo though. Titus found rodeo scary. Once when she was about seven years old, she watched rodeo on TV and the rider fell off his horse trying to get the bull. He was still halfway on his horse though the bull rammed him into the gate. Afterwards he was hurt and stayed in the hospital for maybe over a month. It wasn't that nice to watch.

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John nodded as the girl answered his question, "Are you finding your way around the campus alright, then?" He remembered feeling overwhelmed by the large campus, although the feeling had disappeared with the passing months. He still couldn't believe he was here, sometimes, but he didn't resent his parents for a moment when they had offered him the opportunity. As the girl asked about Lilja, John nodded, "She's mine, like it or not." As the mare nickered again and nudged at his pocket, which still held the carrots, John grinned and held out one of the pieces, listening as the girl complimented her coat, "Lil' would surely say thank you, if she wasn't so very one-track-minded."

As she introduced herself, Titus, John inclined his head, "I'm John." He smiled at the gelding that the girl motioned towards, "He's very colourful, it's a nice pattern." He nodded at Lilja in turn, "Smart Lil' Badger, or Lilja if you're looking at being informal, which she is." Honestly curious, he asked, "What do you do with Zero, if you don't mind my asking? Lilja and I run barrels, for the most part, but she can do various western disciplines with a modicum of talent." He didn't mention the fact that he was well-versed in various disciplines, both English and Western, because he had chosen his path, and it wasn't a big deal in either case.

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Titus chuckled at John's remark on Zero's coat. "Polka-dotted." Titus smiled. Titus nodded at John's first question. "Ya, but I still have my blonde moments at times." She admitted. "Your lucky to have Lilja she looks like a sweet mare. Zero and I do any kind of jumping except hunter jumpers. I don't have a good enough position for that. My old instructor and old owner of Zero, she was first teaching me how to jump. Well, I couldn't remember to release my hands, jut out my hips, and put my heels down. So she made me remember Hey Hey Hey. Hands,Hips,Heels. It usually works unless I forget Hey Hey Hey." Titus told John laughing.

"But it works out and I love to jump and even more importantly, Zero loves to jump. He's not a big fan of dressage though he's a great mover." As if Zero was listening, he let out a snort, shook his head, then went back to eating his hay. Titus laughed. "He agree's." She grinned. She turned towards John. "What other western things can she do? I've only heard of barrel racing and rodeo. I'm not as keen into western as you are." Titus told him.

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John grinned at the girl's self-depreciating comment, obviously partially a joke, although it did answer his question, "At least they have a map around, right? I know I would still be stuck in some corner if I hadn't gotten one." That set him to musing for a moment how long it would have been until a search party was sent out, although he did hear the girl's comment about Zero's coat, "It's pretty unique, too. I think I've only seen a handful of leopards around the school, although fewer of them in my discipline." He listened as the girl spoke about her disciplines, grinning at the little rhyme she recited to help her remember how to jump well, "It sounds like it would do the trick." He regarded the gelding, noticing how the horse seemed to nod on cue to agree with Titus.

As the girl asked about Lilja's western training, John thought back, "Well, of course barrel racing, which is her big talent, she competed in the higher circles for a while before her owner and trainer retired, but I've managed to teach her the basics of reining, although nothing fancy, and we've done some western pleasure competitions that she's done passably well in." He rubbed the mare's forelock, "And then, for your western education, although we don't work on these, among others, there are roping and cutting."