Suitable Partner (( Katherine ))

[selmalove]

Charlie walked up to the White Oak Barn. It had been a while since she had been here and it felt weird. The last time she was here, Charlie was with her horse Midnight. The teen felt tears start to rise into her eyes, but she quickly blinked thoose back before opening up the barn. The stalls, the smell, everything was familiar to her, but she just kept walking. This chance was only going to be given to her once in a lifetime so she was going to make use of it.

The blonde walked up to what she was told was the barn managers office. All she had been told was to go see the barn manager - who went by the name Katherine according to the secertary - at White Oak Barn and she would set her up with a nice school horse.

Charlie gave a gentle knock on the door. She wasn't the type to intrude so she just stood there aimlessly on the spot. "Excuse me, Mrs. Katherine. I was told to come here to talk to you about assigning me a school horse to ride for my time here at Blue Ridge Riding Academy." Charlie told the barn manager. She hoped she was there, so she wouldn't feel like a complete idiot.

[Katherine Carr]

Katherine sat at her desk, every now and then her gaze would shift from her computer screen to look out the large window that the desk sat beneath. The brunette woman was wearing her normal uniform of black breeches, maroon coloured polo shirt. Her boot socks were visible under the desk as her field boots were sitting by the door, ready to put on when she was needed out in the barn again.

A knock on the slightly open door drew the woman's attention, and she lifted an eyebrow as she was addressed by a young sounding voice. "Enter." She said. She rose to her feet as Charlie walked into her office. "That would be Ms Carr, thank you Miss Marrazzo." She added as she gestured toward one of the chairs that sat to the side of her desk. With the table being pushed up against the wall, it removed the idea of the students who did come to see here, feel that they were being interrogated by sitting on the opposite side of the desk. "Have a seat and we'll have a talk about your riding and where you want it to take you." She lowered herself into her own chair as the girl sat down. "And I can tell you now that whomever you get assigned now will more than likely change at least a couple of times before you graduate, as I will not leave you on a horse that is no longer challenging you." Just looking at the girl she had a number of horses running through her head, but she needed to hear from the girl first. "I would like to know how confident you are in the saddle and what disciplines you ride."

[selmalove]

Charlie hesitantly opened the door to the women's command to come in. The teen had never seen, or even been around the barn manager and so she didn't know quite how to act around her or what she was to expect from the barn manager.

"I am dearly sorry for making that mistake, Ms. Carr" Charlie gave her a sincere tight grin. She quietly sat down in the chair that the women had motioned to. Charlie nodded in agreement when the teacher stated that throughout the year she wouldn't be riding the same school horse.

Charlie got the cue that she was to tell Ms. Carr about herself and her riding. "I ride basically all English disciplines. I mainly do jumping and cross country, as well as English Pleasure." The teen told the barn manager. She remembered the day she went around her first cross country course. Her dad made it for her when she was younger. Her and Midnight.

The girl woke up from her daydream. She could feel hot tears burning in her eyes, but she quickly looked down at her hands blinking them away, before looking back up at the women politely. "How confident I am in the saddle?" Charlie repeated the question, more to herself than anyone else. How confident am I in the saddle?" She wasn't really quite sure, because the only horse she had ever really rode was Midnight. "Um, I would say I am quite confident in the saddle, although I have only ever ridden one horse before, for all my riding. I would say I can handle and ride comfortably any horse. My horse used to have little tantrums, so I would say pretty confident." Charlie finally answered the women's question. She really hoped she hadn't given a bad answer, or rubbed the women the wrong way. It was the truth. Midnight was her everything, and now, she had nothing, but this school to hold onto.

***Note: Fixing that right now! I am sorry! I forgot to check my words, because I was at school and I... I am sorry! I promise it will never happen again! Cross my heart!***

[Katherine Carr]

Katherine gave the girl a warm smile. "It's quite alright, Charlie." She replied. "Just remember for next time."

She sat back as she listened to the girl. They were actually questions that she had already known the answers to, but she liked hearing things from the mouths of the students. It was funny the amount of them that upped their riding abilities and then the ones who didn't give themselves enough credit - which was the case of Charlie.

She sat forward as the girl finished speaking, a thoughtful frown on her face as she narrowed down the list of horses that she had to only three. She then mentally placed the girl beside each of them, crossing two more off the list. "Charlie, I would like to give you a challenge." She lifted an eyebrow as she judged the girl's reaction. "I would like you pair you up with Twilight Hour. She's a talented eventer, but she also has a mood and will only work when she wants to." She gave the student an encouraging smile. "I get the feeling that you can take Twi quite a long way, and I feel that the two of you will learn a lot from each other." The other horses she'd had in mind were Mayday Madness and Faerie Realm, but May would be too easy a ride for the girl, as she had heard that Aishe wanted to start working her own mare again so Titania would only be free for the odd lesson and students couldn't enter her in competitions.

She sat back in her seat as she waited to hear what Charlie would say.

[selmalove]

Charlie listened to Ms. Carr explain which horse she would like the blonde teen to ride, and the sixteen year old liked the sound of the horse that the barn manger wanted her to ride. "I think we could work well together!" She told the women, with a gentle smile on her pink lips.

The girl started thinking about the horse. She sounded like a good eventer, and maybe just like Ms. Carr said, they could take each other big. "What do you mean she won't work if she doesn't want to? What will she do?" Charlie asked the barn manager. If she was going to be riding a school horse, she wanted to know everything about them. All pros, and cons, and everything in-between about the assigned equine.

The sixteen year old pushed her long curly blonde hair behing her ear, and crossed her right leg over the left one. Charlie tried to think of any more questions that were need to help the teen with her new partner. "Is there anything else I should know? How are her ground manners? And, undersaddle, is it just if she doesn't want to work, she won't, or is there anything else." The girl felt like she was quizzing the adult, and even though she had more questions she kept them to herself.

[Katherine Carr]

Katherine laughed softly at the girl's questions. "Twi is a lovely horse, though on a show jumping course she is known as a dirty stopper if she thinks the jumps are challenging enough. If she doesn't want to work, she will dig her hooves into the ground and not do anything. She doesn't kick or buck - unless excited whilst jumping - she doesn't rear. Her ground and saddle manners are impeccable." The woman shrugged. "She just has those days when no matter what you do, she won't move. Another student has spoken to me about it, and was wondering if it was because she's just never had the chance to bond with anyone."

She turned to the computer and brought up the mare's file. "She's in Red Willow, show name is Twilight Hour, barn name is Twilight or Twi." The woman's eyebrows rose. "Oh yes." She turned back to face the student. "She's fine with her riders carrying a rising crop or dressage whip. She doesn't however like them used on her. She doesn't mind the odd tickle from a dressage whip, but if you actually hit her with anything she will let you know that she doesn't like it. You also can't wear spurs when riding this girl."

[selmalove]

Charlie listened intently as the middle aged women answered her questions, as well gave her a bit more information on the new horse, Twilight. The teen started to get hope that this horse may actually fit well with her, like two pieces in a puzzle.

The sixteen year old made sure to make a mental not about not using spurs on her and not hitting her with dressage whips or riding crops, not that Charlie liked to use that kind of force. Another thing that caught the curly blondes attention was when Ms. Carr said that another student had made the prediction that because Twi hadn't bonded with anyone, she had the off days. To Charlie that was inticing news. She wanted to see if this student was right, and see if the dark bay mare really just needed to bond with a rider.

Charlie really was intrested in this horse and really wanted to try and rider her, as well just meet her would do for the excited teenager. Trying to find a time in her schedule that she could go and see the mare, as well as wondering when the barn manager would be fine with letting her see Twilight. The petite girl tried to hold back her question, but she couldn't hold her tounge and it quickly slipped out. "When will I get to meet her?"