Of All Stripes

[Jennifer Hart]

Jennifer grinned as she saw Spot's distinctive head pop out a few yards away as she approached the mare's stall, "Morning, beautiful." As she reached the zorse mare, the executive director rubbed the bay's forehead, "Are you behaving yourself?" The zebroid's rumble would have to be answer enough, though, and Jennifer contented herself with that as she stepped away to grab the mare's halter. She almost had the buckle done up when the mare pulled her head up, getting loose. Jennifer frowned, "We're not playing this again." She had worked with the mare on her tendency to do just that, and hadn't seen evidence of the issue in quite some time, "Behave, Spot."

Only when the mare lowered her head again did Jennifer try again, this time having enough time to buckle on the halter and fix up the mare's mane before Spot moved her head again, "Got you." She clipped on the lead rope that had been hanging separately from their last session, "You'd think you didn't want to go out today." She unlatched the stall door and stepped aside, making sure that the mare couldn't squish her. After the zorse had left, she pushed the stall door closed again and then made her way down the barn aisle, towards the pastures.

After finding an empty pasture and walking the mare around the edge of it, making sure that there were no holes that would allow the mare easier access to the outside than she already had, with the fences as short as they were to her. Finally satisfied, Jennifer led the mare to the middle of the pasture and unclipped the lead rope, leaving the mare's halter (with a nameplate) on her, "Now behave yourself." She walked back towards the gate's side of the pasture, although she sat further down the land from the gate, her eyes fixed on the mare, who was the picture of content, grazing quietly.

[Anastasie Chevalier]

Anastasie slipped the turquoise halter over the two year old's nose and led the gelding out of his stall - as he'd spent the night in due to heat in one of his legs but had gone over night. "Come on." She said as she tussled his forelock. "Let's get you outside."

She led the gelding toward the pastures, always reminding him to keep a respectable distance away from her. Ana felt that his forgetfulness about personal space was due to him being removed from his dam too early, though she couldn't prove or deny the fact as she didn't have enough information about his history - she was even doubting that he had been born at a breeding ranch, it was probably some backyard dealer who lost the colt's dam during his birth.

She walked down the lane between the pastures and looked for the emptiest pasture as Gypsy wasn't known for being social. "Easy, little one." She whispered as the gelding leapt into the air as he say something. Since the woman didn't walk at the gelding's shoulder, holding the rope right by his chin, Gypsy had quite a bit of lead to dance around with when he did get a fright, which allowed him to settle himself down again.

Reaching the third pasture she could only see one horse in there, a very pretty Zorse, and she led the gelding to the gate, opened it, led the youngster in and closed the gate behind them. Walking him a dozen steps away from the gate, she turned him back to face it and removed his halter. There were days when he didn't like to be caught, but she had a secret weapon for days when he wanted to play hard-to-get, lifesavers.

As she turned to leave, her eyes tracked the fence line and as she was taking a visual of the perimeter, she spotted a person sitting on the grass. Not exactly being a wallflower, Ana decided to head over, after all since the mare's owner was still in the pasture, she wanted to make sure that it was all right for Gypsy to be in here. "Hey Jen." She greeted as she got closer. "You don't mind my little man being in here?"

[Jennifer Hart]

Jennifer had her attention fixed on the mare, forcing herself not to let the zorse out of her sight for even a moment. Long gone were the days where she could sit out in the pasture reading or working on something, but it wasn't something that she missed, especially when she was riding or spending time with the mare. The benefits far outweighed the losses that she had suffered due to the mare's jumping tendencies.

Commotion at the gate caught the zorse's attention, and Jennifer shifted her body so that she could see a younger horse and his handler, although she didn't look long enough to sort the two into categories, or assign them to names. Spot took a few steps towards the gate, and the newcomers, her ears pricked and nostrils flared. However, she kept her distance until the gypsy was released, then took a few steps towards him, interest still written in her every feature.

Anastasie's voice reached Jen's ears, and the woman turned her body to smile at the Natural Horsemanship teacher, although her eyes only flicked away from the mare for a moment, when she was sure that the mare was engaged with her new companion, "Hey Ana." She risked another moment to reassure the woman, "He'll be perfectly fine, Spot is happy with any companions." She paused, "I'm actually glad of the distraction for her, it keeps her from getting funny ideas about leaving."

[Anastasie Chevalier]

Ana watched as Gypsy regarded the other mare, she could sense his fear at being approached by the bigger horse, and he lower his head, lips flapping as he made a chewing motion with his mouth, giving every sign of submission that one horse could give to another before war broke out. The woman shook her head as she headed toward the woman in the pasture.

She couldn't help but laugh at the executive director's words. "I wouldn't count on that." She said apologetically, "Gypsy isn't known for being very social, but there again I've also never seen him bow to a horse like that before." She glanced at the two horses again, completely surprised that the gelding hadn't yet gone to seek solitude. "Wow, I think he might actually be making a friend." The was astonishment in her tone as she stood motionless as she watched the gelding take a step toward the mare, giving all the signals that a foal would to his dam, that he was little and insignificant, and needed protection. "Ok." She breathed. "She's not either in foal or in season is she?" The woman wondered if the mare may have been letting off a scent that her youngster had caught during his show of how submissive he was.

Just watching him made her more and more interested in the gelding's past and she knew that she would be spending the afternoon Googling Gypsy Vanner breeders - both legitimate and otherwise.