Horses for Courses [Open]

[Gladys Madoc]

Gladys had a bright smile on her face as she made her way down the central aisle of the barn until she came to the stall containing the horse which she referred to as hers, even if that wasn't technically the case. "Hey, Tommy," she greeted him cheerfully, irrespective of the fact that that was not actually the name by which most people knew him- she preferred it. Briskly, she let herself into the stall, setting down the grooming kit that she had brought with her just outside. That would come later.

[Victoria Greco]

In her hand, Tori held a plastic bag with half a dozen golden Oreo cookies inside - sure, she loved spoiling her horse, but she drew the line at giving him chocolate too often - and she headed down to the barn.

"Hey toy-boy." She sang as she approached his stall after grabbing his grooming kit from the tack room. "How you doing, handsome?" She asked as she blew the Quarter Horse a kiss as he looked over his stall door.

[Gladys Madoc]

Glancing over the stall door, Gladys grinned as she spotted one of her fellow Green Ribbon students approaching. "Hi, Tori!" she called brightly, walking out into the aisle again. "Fancy seeing you here!" After a slightly awkward start, she thought that she'd got on rather well with the other brunette at their last meeting, and she was somewhat more optimistic about not leading the rest of the Academy to believe that she was ever so slightly insane.

[Victoria Greco]

Tori gave a bright smile in Gladys' direction. "Hi-ya." She returned. "Just thought I'd come out and give Poe some much needed love." She said as she approached the horse, who was throwing his head all over the place, top lip flapping up and down. "Yes, I have some of these for you too." She located a couple of the Oreos from her pocket and offered them to the horse.

"Thanks for your help with that bracelet, Mamma loves it!!" The woman had suggested that Tori get one for herself and then they could have matching bracelets.

[Gladys Madoc]

Gladys giggled. "It sounds like he's been looking forward to it!" she commented cheerfully at the horse's antics, blowing him a melodramatic kiss down the aisle of the barn. Of course she loved horses- otherwise she would hardly be here in the first place- but above all, she loved horses with character, and Poe certainly had that in abundance, as she'd learned over her time at Blue Ridge.

"Oh, I'm so glad!" she exclaimed, leaning against the stall door and pushing O'Malley's head gently out of her way.

[Victoria Greco]

Tori nodded her head with a bright smile. "And it's so easy to see that he's completely deprived of attention due to his ugliness." She laughed and tickled the gelding chin as he put his ears back. While she knew the horse didn't understand her words, he's learned to pick up when she was making fun of him.

"How is he to ride?" She asked as she nodded toward the Holstiner. It was easy to see that he well trained and he had beautiful movements, but that alone never told you what a horse was like to ride.

[Gladys Madoc]

"Oh, definitely," Gladys agreed, a smile of her own spreading over her lips. "Obviously you never spend any time with him at all. He's so neglected..." Not. In fact, she didn't think that she'd ever seen a horse better cared for. She liked Tori. The other girl was quite evidently the kind of person who cared deeply about others, and that was always nice.

The brunette shrugged. "He's all right," she commented with a grin. "No, he's fab. Love him to bits." Reaching out a hand, she scratched the horse gently under the chin. "But don't tell him that, else his head'll never fit through the barn door."

[Victoria Greco]

Tori gave a serious nod. "I so need to complain to my personal groom." She looked at the grooming kit in her hand. "Which would be much easier to do if there were a mirror right in front of me!" She laughed. Yes, she'd had grooms in the past, as they had come with the barn she previously ride at, but she also loved doing as much work as she could.

She pushed Poe's nose away from her pocket, only just managing to grab the bag before he could escape with it. "Yeah, the last thing we need is two geldings with huge egos." She stuck her tongue out at her Quarter Horse, who had flattened his ears again. "Do you only ride English?" She was sure that O'Malley was only trained in that style of riding, but wondered if the school assigned two horses to some riders who needed one that specialised in a particular discipline.

[Gladys Madoc]

Gladys laughed. "Well, if you're hinting at me then you can think again!" she pronounced, knowing full well that her fellow Green Ribbon girl was doing no such thing. "I have quite enough to do with O'Malley here, without running around after you as well!" In actuality, she wouldn't mind being a groom so much- at least she'd have an excuse to spend all her time around horses.

She shuddered. "Perish the thought." With a grin, the brunette watched Tori teasing her horse, shaking her head with a fond smile. It was moments like this, she reflected, that made Blue Ridge one of the most amazing places that she'd ever been. So many horse people... "Yeah, I'm boring like that," she confirmed.

[Victoria Greco]

Tori sighed as she snapped her fingers in mock disappointment. "And I thought I was doing so well there." She wasn't a fool enough to con another student into doing her chores for her. She hand't seen the bad side
of the barn manger yet, and she wished to keep it that way. She had no doubt that the woman would hit where it hurt, and she liked being a cheerleader.

Tori's eyes widened at the other girl's reply and she shook her head apologetically. "That's not what I was implying." She said quickly. "I was just curious about how a student who competed in both styles would be catered for." She shrugged, not quite sure how to dig herself out of the hole she had found herself in. "Have you ever thought about asking for your own horse?" She knew that not everyone had the money to buy a horse, but the dream might be there.

[Gladys Madoc]

Gladys shook her head, a grin spreading across her face. "You'll have to get up earlier than that to catch me out," she sang, crossing her arms over her chest and leaning back against the wall. Of course, she was quite mad enough to be talked into doing such a thing if someone really tried; she loved being around horses, and seeing as that was probably going to turn out to be her job when she was older anyway, she might as well give it a go now.

"Relax," she told the other brunette with a grin. "I was only joking." That was the Welsh girl's ground state of being, in fact. Taking life seriously was, so far as she was concerned, something that only happened to other people, and God, she was glad of that, because it sounded just so incredibly boring. Gladys shrugged. "Well, I thought about it. Never actually did it. Dad has enough trouble making ends meet as it is; I'm only here because of the woman whose stable I worked at."

[Victoria Greco]

She gave a shudder. "As early as the gymnasts?" Though she knew that the words hadn't been serious. "I like doing my own work. It keeps me fit, and teaches me humility. Or some such garbage that adults like to feed us."

She ducked her head, her cheeks heating up quickly. "Sorry, some people here tend to take their riding a little too personally." She gave a bright smile. "If you ever wanted to try riding in a western saddle, you could jump on Poe here!" The gelding, while not faced with barrels, was a pretty easy-going animal, even if he was a little more guarded of who he allowed near him once he was saddled up.

[Gladys Madoc]

Gladys shook her head decidedly. "That's not early. That's late for the day before," she commented with a grin. Gymnastics had never featured for Gladys; she'd done a bit of ballet when she was younger, but she wasn't flexible enough for that kind of thing and neither did she have any particular interest in it.

"Don't worry about it," she assured the other girl easily, running one hand through the ends of her hair and wincing as she encountered a knot. "I might just take you up on that one. It looks like a lot of fun, though I doubt I'd ever be able to do it well- I've spent too long on English riding." She gave Tori a teasing grin. "Or, as the rest of the world calls it, normal riding."