New Assignments (Vet Students)

[Demeter Carr]

Demeter stood in the entrance way to the Equine Clinc, waiting for her ever keen students to arrive. She had recently picked up to new horses... well one horse and a pony, and she wanted to know if there was any chance that her already busy students would mind taking on one each, Belle and Cara anyway since Miranda was still working with Fingal.

The aforementioned equines were waiting for the girls out in the yards, Fingal included funnily enough. She knew it would be a lot to ask Cara to take on another animal since she also had a mare in the rehab class that she was working with as well as the Mustang Filly, but she hoped the girl would speak up if she felt that she was having too much heaped upon her.

The woman checked her phone to make sure she hadn't missed any texts - after all she could hardly barrel Belle for ignoring her phone id she didn't check her own every now and then since it was on vibrate while in the clinic - which was all the time - and as it was in between feed for the youngsters, she was hoping that the girls would get a chance to spend some time with their new assignments.

[Annabelle Archer]

Having taken Penny out on the basic trail, just to work the mare, her saddle had viberated. Slightly pulling on the reins to slow the quarter horse to a brisk walk, she stood up in her saddle to pull out her phone. With one hand she slid up the phone and saw that Dr. Carr had texted her. Belle's thumb rapidly hit the small keys, to end up saying, On my way, need to put Penny away. Pocketing the phone, she quickly turned the mare on her hunches and spurred her into a full on gallop, they had only been doing some loping, trotting, and walking, so she was mostly likely warmed up for this. They were pretty well at the end of the trail, but it took only minutes to have the barn coming back into sight. Slowly the Penny to a walk, she hopped off her and jogged to the barn. Clipping her up in cross-ties she quickly hosed the mare off and walked her back to her stall. As soon as she could she put the tack back and off to the clinic, she was running almost as fast as her legs would carry her. Coming about thirty feet from the barn she started walking. Turning into the barn, she saw Dr. Carr a few steps from the entrance. Belle's breathing was getting back to its normal pace, "You wanted to see me?" Looking around the barn she couldn't detect anything new, but who knew the 'something(s) new' could be "hiding".

[Cara-Jean Kitchi]

Cara took her hands off Jewel as she felt her phone buzz. She swallowed hard and was surprised that her hands were shaking before she pulled the phone out of her pocket. There were only two people who had this number and if the text came from her social worker, she was in trouble.

The breath rushed out of the girl's body in a rush , her knees feeling slightly weak when she saw that the text was only from Dr Carr. She instantly felt disrespectful for the thought as she sent back a quick: be there soon. She kissed Jewel on the nose and left the pasture. The text had said nothing more than for her to come to the clinic and a million different situations were running through the small girl's head. What could be wrong that the vet needed her there? Had something happened to Fée or Gem? She broke into a run and raced to the clinic, skidding to a halt before she reached the door and took a calming breath before she pulled it open and say the veterinarian standing there with Belle, another vet student. Maybe it was about the foals?

[Miranda Florin]

Miranda clucked to Aros, sending the gelding to a trot, frowning slightly as she saw the gelding snort and step into a canter for a few moments when the stirrups started thumping against his hide. He started going faster and faster, and Miranda tugged on the lunge line, slowly forcing the gelding in smaller and smaller circles until he stopped. She rubbed his soft nose, then moved to where the stirrups were and patted his barrel. Suddenly, her phone buzzed, and she jumped, spooking Aros away from her. She had managed to drop the lunge line and cursed her jump, calming herself before she stepped up to the gelding again, ignoring the text message that waited for her now, for the moment at least. She held a hand out to the gelding, "I'm sorry, boy. Come on, I won't hurt you. It just startled me." She advanced slowly, keeping up her speech, until she was rubbing his cheek and managed to grab the very bottom of the lunge line. She held on to it and used the lull to bring the stirrups up, so that they wouldn't bother Aros on the way back. Then she started calmly spooling up the line in its entirety, using the time to wonder about who might have texted her. Deciding she would figure it out soon enough, she finished looping up the rope and led Aros towards the edge of the round pen. Although she shouldn't have needed the lunge line, she had started using it for Aros, knowing that once he spooked, she would have no way of refocusing him to anything until he drained all of his energy, or fell, since the stirrups that scared him were just not going to go away. Pausing outside of the round pen, Miranda looked at the text message that had been sent a few minutes earlier, from Dr. Carr. Biting her lip, she replied, Sorry, on my way. Gotta put Aros away real fast. Grumbling to herself about timing, she led the gelding forward, towards the White Oak barn. She knew that if all three of the vet students had been called for, she would be the last to arrive, but nothing could be done about it now.

After taking the time to groom Aros down, using the time to make sure they ended the session on a positive note, she hurried to the clinic, breaking into a run to cover the distance faster. As she arrived at the paddocks, she saw Dr. Carr, Belle, and Cara there already. She frowned slightly as she approached them, planning on apologizing if the vet made note of her tardiness, but otherwise hoping to speak to Dr. Carr afterward, to apologize anyway.

[Demeter Carr]

Demeter turned as the door opened and she smiled as Belle walked through the door, and before she could say anything Cara quickly walked in the door, her eyes darting around. "There's nothing wrong with the foals." The vet said quickly. "I know my message was vague, but I promise that there is nothing wrong with the animals you look after." She stopped speaking as the door opened and her third student entered.

She looked around at each of the girls with her eyebrows lifted. She knew that there should be four girls but Rianna had had to fly home to deal with some family issues so she would leave the spot for the girl until she returned. She pressed her lips together. "Ok, let's get down to it." She led the way through the barn. "Miranda, you have Fingal to work with, so I really didn't need you here, but you deserve to know what I have in store for the other two." She stepped out of the barn to where the yards were and walked over to stand where she could see three yards in full. One held the grey gelding, another held a rose grey Welsh mare and a bay blanket appaloosa gelding in the third yard. "These two recently came into my... possession.. and I was wondering if you two would like to take them on as a working progress?" She looked at Cara, and held the girl's gaze until Cara lowered her eyes. "I understand how much work you have on your plate, so please let me know if you would rather not work with one of them." She already had a feeling which equine the girls would pick to work with, as the 13.2 hand pony was much too small for Belle to be able to ride should they ever get to that stage and she hadn't seen Cara working with geldings. However, she would leave the girls to make that decision between themselves

[Annabelle Archer]

Turning slightly to catch the sight of Cara and Miranda following closely behind her. Once all three of the girls got their breath back, Dr. Carr started immediately on why she had called them all to the barn. When Dr. Carr addressed Miranda working with Fingal, it slightly confused Belle, but she still listened intently. The vet made her way to the paddocks, two new horses occupied a pasture. She went on and asked the girls, Belle and Cara, if they would mind taking a new horse on. Belle personally didn't mind, as she only had two of her own, and she was also working with a mare in a class. The eighteen year old was thrilled. She didn't care which one she would get to work with as she was just happy that she could. Although the pony wasn't exactly the height of which she could ride her. The blond loved appaloosas, escpecially ones with blankets. At this time Belle respected how much work Cara could take on at one time, she was incredibly talented at multi-tasking, if it wasn't more than that. Turning to Cara, Belle honestly didn't care, so she would let Cara pick first. "You can pick first, Cara." A slight hand gesture towards the two equines.

[Miranda Florin]

Miranda nodded as Dr. Carr told them why they had been called, and smiled as she heard that she wasn't really here for anything but knowing what was going on. She didn't mind not getting another charge for a while, with Fingal and Tanya, along with the other horses, she was starting to get together quite a large herd. She followed Dr. Carr out to the yards, seeing Fingal pacing around, although he was only walking rather quickly, instead of trotting. He seemed almost interested in what was going on, Miranda noticed, although he was focusing most of his energy on staying away from them. She wondered, not for the first, time, what his story was. Then, however, her gaze landed on the two other new inhabitants, the scraped-up little pony and the spotted appy. She listened to Dr. Carr as the woman explained about them, and told the other two vet students that these would be their charges, should they choose to accept them. She walked closer to Fingal's yard, leaving space between her and the other three people, although she made sure to keep behind the bucket marker that she had placed. After the humdrum was over with, she would perhaps move a bit closer, but for now, she just wanted to work with Fingal, while still listening to the new goings-on of the vet clinic.

[Cara-Jean Kitchi]

It was as though a huge weight was lifted from Cara as she heard that the foals were fine. Hand-rearing a baby animal was always a little touch-and-go, and she knew that things could happen really quickly in the animal world. She smiled as Miranda entered the office as well, now intrigued on why all three of them had been called in if it wasn't for the foals - which involved the three girls.

She followed Dr Carr through the barn, arching an eyebrow toward Miranda as the girl was told she was there for nothing other than because she was also a vet student. She remained silent though until a gasp escaped her when she saw the two new equines in the yards. Her heart instantly went out to the scrapped up pony, but she also took in the sight of the blanket Appaloosa who was nothing but skin and bones, and even the skin didn't look that healthy.

She blinked and then realised that the veterinarian was looking at her and she ducked her head. "I would be honoured, Ma'am." She said. "I will just work with two when I come to work with Gem." She bowed her head toward Belle as the other girl said that she could have the first pick. Her eyes moved from one animal to the next. She knew that once they were healthy, if she took the Appaloosa then Belle would have no choice but to sell the pony as she was too tall. "I would like to work with the Welsh mare." Just from the mare's face she could tell that the rose grey was a Welsh pony.

[Demeter Carr]

Demeter smiled as Belle gave the smaller girl the first option on which of the two patients she wanted to work with, as the Appaloosa would be the most obvious choice for the taller girl, especially if she wanted to bring the horse on after the gelding gained weight again.

Once Cara had made her choice, she knew it was time to tell the story behind the two newcomers. "Alright." She said softly. "I got a call from the humane society a few days ago about these two horses. The gelding had been reported to them by a member of the public who happened to be driving to work after visiting a family member, so it was a different route than they would normally take, and they saw him in the middle of a completely empty field. And, from the look of his coat, I don't even think he had water." She lifted her eyebrows toward Belle. "There's a chance that he could already be too far gone. We give horses a conditioning score out of ten when we rescue them, he has a one - the number where they normally get put to sleep - but there's something about him that made me think he's not quite ready to completely give up on life." The veterinarian took a deep breath and then continued. "The mare's story is far worse than the gelding. Though you would think there couldn't be anything worse than being abandoned to starve to death? It is unsure where she was purchased from, but the people who bought her didn't have a horse float so they decided to lead her home, from a car window. She had obviously fallen quite a few times before a sheriff car came upon the family, her back legs, dock and buttock have been grazed, to the bone in places. From her knee to the hoof is also badly grazed from where she has fallen forward, and her chest is grazed too and her nose is just a mess." She shook her head sadly as she pressed her lips together, the peppy vet had finally found two cases that hit her hard. "If, at any point, you girls feel this is too much, let me know and they can both head to the rainbow in the sky."

[Annabelle Archer]

Listening to what horse Cara chose, the Dr. Carr about the gelding, Belle's stomach sank. She hoped to God that he would make it. He definantly needed some TLC and much more. As the vet informed them about the poor animal's history the eighteen year old felt a tear come to her eye. Wiping it away she sighed taking in all the horrible information that she and Cara had just been giving. "Can I?" Pointing to the gate, she wanted to get a feel for how the gelding acted around new people, and if Dr. Carr allowed give him food. He was most definantly in need of it, not too quickly though, then he would be gone. Blue gaze settled on the gelding, names ran around in her head, his coloring was beautiful, it truly would be ashame if he was already too far gone. His face was dotted with white blotches, the words Wind Beaten came to her head. That sounded too plain though, maybe in a different language. French or Spanish? Waiting for the approval of Dr. Carr, Belle studied the older looking gelding. With his markings he looked older than what he actually was. Belle turned to Dr. Carr and hopped that her answer would be yes.

[Cara-Jean Kitchi]

Cara thought she knew the length of cruelty that men could do, but nothing she had been through compared to what had happened to the little mare that she had just said she would work with. Her heart had gone out to the gelding as the woman had told his tale, she couldn't begin to understand the grief that the poor horse would have felt when he first realised that his owners were never coming back, and then... She shook her head, it was too hard to even think about.

She also lifted her eyebrows toward their mentor as Annabelle asked if she could approach the gelding. She wanted to get close to the mare... well, closer than what she already was, and get a good idea of who the pony was. First thing first though, the mare needed a name. It was then that the mare turned her head toward the back field with her ears pricked forward. The way the tips of her ears seemed to curve toward each other, a term that most people called Diablo ears, instantly brought the pony's name to the girl's mind. She would call her Pixie Rose, just Pixie while in the barn.

She already had a number of herbs running through her head that she wanted to talk to Dr Carr about using to help treat the mare - both externally and internally - to help her recover from her stressful ordeal. However, she wanted to go and have a closer look at the pony before she spoke to the veterinarian about herbs.

[Demeter Carr]

I'm going to skip over Miranda, just because Stern said that the last thread was a struggle to write since she feels like a third wheel

Demeter was very impressed that neither girl backed away from their tasks with the news of their horrid reasons for being here, there again though she hadn't expected either of them to turn their backs on hard work, and these assignments were going to be hard, both mentally and physically.

She smiled at Belle's question and Cara's look. "Of course." She said with a nod. "Oh, Belle. He is getting half a cup of feed every few hours. Morning and evening feeds are a really sloppy bran mash." She gave a small giggle. "Don't laugh, but he really likes the mash made with Iced Tea Cooler Gatorade. I'll talk to you more about their feeds later." She raised her eyebrows at Cara. "No doubt you already have a list longer than your arm of herbs that you would like to try?" She gave the girl a soft smile as she ducked her head. "Go and meet your new charges, I'll be in the feed room if you need me. Otherwise come and find me when before you leave." She gave the two girls a smile and gave Miranda a wave before she walked back into the barn, leaving the three students in peace with their charges.

Ok, that would be Demi bowing out of the thread for now until you come and find her in the feed room.

[Annabelle Archer]

With a slight nod towards Dr. Carr, Belle turned and smiled at Cara before ducking into the fence. The gelding didn't seem to mind the oncoming girls. Still grazing, violently riping at the grass beneath his hooves. The poor thing probably couldn't pick up the grass when he was in the field because it was stomped down. Standing about ten yards away from him, making sure that he saw her first, his ears flicked around and then his head rose a bit. Taking a few more steps towards the Appaloosa she stroked his withers. Not doing much, she had figured that he had a lot of human contact before he was abandon. And at that, the incident didn't affect him, at least to the point where Belle couldn't see it yet. A quick glance was taken by Belle towards Cara and her new pony friend. The eighteen year old ran her hand over the gelding's legs and stomach, his haunches, and face, when he lifted his head. Making sure he wasn't too touchy about those areas, which people would be touching daily. Breaking from his luscious green plentiful food below him, he moved his nose towards the new human. "Hi there buddy, bet you're very hungry aren't you?" Now that she got a closer look at his face, just as she saw from the outside it was fairly white. Although she had never taken French she always liked the language. Pulling out her phone slowly, the bright blue case might have spooked some horses, but not this one. Quickly searching for what "Wind Beaten" meant in French she found it to be "Vent Battus". "Hmm... I like that. What about you?" Belle raised her hand to his nose, but unfortunately he shied away. With a slight nod, she knew that it would take some time for him to completely trust her, if he ever would. The eighteen year old was very surprised at what he already wasn't afraid of. "Well I like it. Bat...." her words faded "yes..Bat. That will be your lovely new name shortened." Happy with herself she crouched down on her toes, ready for anything and watched him.

[Cara-Jean Kitchi]

Cara bowed her head toward the veterinarian as the woman left them so that they could get to know their new charges. She glance over at Miranda quickly, her eyebrows raised slightly toward Fingal, as she wondered how the grey was getting along since their last conversation and the Valerian.

She didn't instantly head toward the rose grey pony, rather she closed her eyes where she stood. Counting silently to ten, she drew in a breath in a breath through her nose to the count of four and then released it through her mouth to the count of eight, imagining a waterfall washing over her. It was a ritual that she went through before walking out on the floor at a gymnastics meet, as it helped her release all of the tension from her body.

Opening her eyes, she finally stepped forward and walked up to the fence of the Welsh Pony's yard. She didn't move any closer as the pony's head shot up and she skittered backward, almost falling over as her back legs seemed to collapse under her, but managed to remain on her feet as she spread her front legs - much like a foal would when finding their feet.

She saw that Belle was already in with the gelding, but she wasn't jealous of the other student, as she knew that Belle had an uphill battle ahead of her, and she didn't envy the girl of that one.

She turned back as she saw that the mare had taken a step forward with her neck outstretched her nose reaching forward to scent the girl. "Hi." She said. "I'm not going to hurt you." She winced slightly when she saw that the mare's muzzle and nose were nothing but a mass of grazes. And she knew that whatever she used to treat the mare's head would have to differ from what she treated the other grazes with. Already the properties of many different healing herbs were going through her head, being sorted into their different categories of internal or external treatments.

[Miranda Florin]

Miranda saw Dr. Carr wave to her as the woman walked away from the yards, giving her a smile in return before she turned back to the gelding. He was pacing at a walk, but still seemed rather calmer than he had just two days ago. Miranda had bought Valerian powder for him and had started mixing two teaspoons into his feed, that morning. The package had said that the root would work for four to five hours, which made sense.

It seemed to be wearing off slowly on the gelding, and Miranda considered giving him another dose. It had worked on him earlier, calming him enough that Miranda had been able to get right up to the fence, and while he stayed close to the back of the pen, he hadn't pressed himself against the fence, like he would have done otherwise.

Nodding resolutely, Miranda walked into the feed room and began filling a bucket of water for the gelding, then tipped another dose into it. Yes, it might not be the best method for most horses, but she had to do something to break through to him, and she wasn't planning on taking him to any competitions anyway. When they had managed to bond, even just a tiny bit, she would let him wean off of the stuff again and see how he was without it, but for now, keeping him calm would allow that bond to form.

Finishing with the mixing, she walked over to the gelding's yard, seeing Cara and Annabelle getting to know their newest assignments. As she approached the fenceline, Fingal retreated carefully, but watched her. Miranda put the bucket down and moved back a 'safe' distance, until the gelding felt safe enough to come forward and drink the, probably odd-tasting water.