Roses and Thorns (and Mares with Attitudes)

[Laura Gentry]

As predicted, it was strange for Laura to be in the barn without Hawkeye. The dog was in his crate in their new apartment. It was one of the few things she'd actually taken the time to set up. She'd just have to start officially moving in later. For now, it was time for Rosie.

Laura pulled up to the barn. On her way to open the trailer, she heard a metallic bang come from the inside. She tapped the side of the trailer firmly, making a similar sound. "Cut that out, Rosie, I'm on my way." She swung the door open and backed the impatient mare out. Rosie sputtered and pinned her ears at Laura, but the blonde was far from intimidated. She walked the mare back and forth to try and cool her off. It had been a long trip and Laura paused to check the map again. The vet wasn't too far, she thought, so if there was any trouble at least she knew where to go.

When Rosie wasn't quite as mad at Laura, they stopped pacing. Rosie pricked her ears and flared her nostrils, looking all around. "How's this for a new home?" Laura said with a chuckle. She looked around, too. The man at the office said the stall was prepared, but Laura wondered if she could just take Rosie to a pasture instead. It seemed like it'd be okay, but she couldn't know for sure until she asked. If there was someone around to ask, that is.

[Kate Richardson-Hall]

Kate whistled cheerfully as she let herself into the barn. She was having rather a good day, if she did say so herself. The summer was always wonderful, of course; it offered her a much-needed chance to catch up with her not insignificant backlog of work, as well as such beautiful weather that one could hardly help but enjoy every moment spent outside. That was, indirectly, the reason for her being in the barn this morning; she had never been able to resist an invitation to go out on the trails, and she was aware that she'd been neglecting her mare inexcusably over the past few weeks. It was time that she gave the Lipizzaner a bit of loving care and attention.

What she had not been expecting, admittedly, was to find someone else in the barn, although come to think of it, she couldn't have said why, since there was every reason for other people to be in there, attending to their horses or doing the same that she was; preparing to go out on the trails. "Hello!" she called brightly, bypassing her mare with a silent promise that she'd be back in a second, and making her way over to the other woman, who, now that she was a little closer, she was at least mostly sure that she didn't recognise. "Lovely day, isn't it?"

[Laura Gentry]

Laura smiled at the other blonde and waved her hand, still holding the lead rope. "Hello!" she replied, "It is very nice. A little hot, but what are you going to do?" As if to remind her that she was there and not a fan of small talk, Rosie bumped Laura's arm. "I'm Laura Gentry and this is Rosie. We're new around here. I thought I'd take her out to the pasture to let her settle in." As she spoke, she glanced over at the pastures. Hopefully, this English woman would let her know if there was a problem with her plan. Better safe than sorry.

[Kate Richardson-Hall]

Kate blinked at the woman in confusion for a moment or two before finally working out that it had been a figure of speech rather than actually a demand for her to do something about the weather, which was something of a relief since, remarkable as the blonde might be- or not, depending- she was most definitely not a weather goddess. More was the pity. "Well, nice to meet you, Laura! I'm Kate Richardson-Hall, but please, don't bother with the Richardson-Hall; I never did understand why they couldn't just settle on one or the other." She flashed the newcomer a grin. "Sounds like a good plan to me. She probably wants to stretch her legs- don't you, beautiful?" She held her hand out slightly towards the horse so that the mare could sniff at it if she so desired.

[Laura Gentry]

Laura chuckled, charmed by Kate's friendliness. "Nice to meet you, too!" she replied. Meanwhile, Rosie pricked her ears at the friendly woman, extending her neck to sniff at the offered hand. "We've had a long trip and she's a handful at best, so stretching her legs probably sounds great to her."

She was pleased with Kate's reaction; it was as she'd suspected and she felt safe to take Rosie out to meet the other horses in the pasture. For the time being, however, she was curious about her coworker. "You have a horse in this barn? It's such a nice facility." she asked, looking down the aisle at some equine faces peering out of the stalls. All looked healthy and about as happy as they could be in the stalls.

[Kate Richardson-Hall]

The blonde nodded with a grin, eyeing the mare appraisingly and finding herself really rather impressed. A pretty face and a nice temperament. Yes, definitely. And was she talking about the horse or the owner? Really rather difficult to decide. She liked them both, and despite the fact that she'd only known them about ten seconds, she had a feeling that they were going to get on.

"I do," she confirmed, indicating her mare's grey head poking over her stall door. "That's Misty, or Maiden of the Mist when we're being long and boring. She's my Lipizzaner mare; had her for ages. And yes, the barns are nice, aren't they? The whole campus is nice. And the staff, too." She grinned. "I'm not trying to sell you the place, honest! So, Laura, what do you teach?"

[Laura Gentry]

"Oh, how nice! That's a pretty breed." she said when Kate introduced her mare, so to speak. "It's also nice to see that you like it here. Oh, I'll be teaching Western riding. I used to work at a camp with much younger kids, so I'm hoping I'll do alright here. Anyway, what do you teach?" Laura switched hands with the lead rope as Rosie started to get impatient. She stepped away from Laura to sniff at the ground.

[Kate Richardson-Hall]

"I think she's beautiful, but then I'm biased," Kate commented with a grin, tugging a piece of straw from her hair. "And I'm sure you'll be fine." Her grin widened slightly. "I'm sure that if you wanted the kids to act like toddlers then they'd be delighted to oblige." They weren't that bad, of course, but then there were always one or two... "Oh, me? I'm jack of all trades, master of... well, one, if I'm lucky. I teach showjumping, driving and horse judging."