A Small Success (Open)

[Miranda Florin]

Miranda let herself out of her room, just as the sun was rising above the horizon. She wanted to work some more with Fingal, who had been calming down slightly around the other horses, although he still tended to stay away from people, and still seemed anxious. It had been four months since they had started him on a regimen of Valerian, and while there was seemingly no difference between the gelding's day to day behavior, he had shown serious improvement from the morning that she had first found him in the yard.

As she arrived at the equine clinic, Miranda made her way through the main barn, instead of heading all of the way around to get straight to the yards. She stopped for a moment to say good morning to Tanya, smiling as the filly came to the front of her newly-acquired private stall. After spending a couple of minutes scratching the filly's forehead and behind her ears, Miranda walked to the feed room and started measuring out Fingal's feed. She measured out the gelding's morning dose of Valerian and stirred it between the other components, then picked up one of the carrots that had been left in the feed room and stuck it into her pocket, planning on giving it to Beauty before she started dishing out the rest of the feed.

She walked out towards the yards and stopped a few feet away from the grey gelding's yard, raising an eyebrow at the gelding's posture. He was standing at the near edge of his yard, ears pricked, the picture of a happy horse waiting for his breakfast. As she resumed her approach, without saying anything about the gelding's apparent change in mood, Fingal continued watching her. She slowly made her way towards where she usually fed the gelding. When she had nearly reached the fence, Fingal took a tiny step back, but otherwise didn't move, and his ears continued tracking her. With a slow motion, Miranda put down the bucket of food, then had an idea. She straightened back up, then pulled the carrot out of her pocket and held it out on a flat palm to the gelding. Fingal sniffed at it, seemed to consider, pulled away slightly, and then suddenly moved forward and snatched it from Miranda's hand, his soft lips tickling her palm. Miranda felt a smile on her face, and wished she had brought a few more carrots. Instead, she carefully, slowly, put out her hand and moved it towards Fingal's shoulder. The gelding turned his head, one brown eye regarding her, and the other watching her hand. Miranda's fingers brushed the matted fur, and she could feel Fingal's skin twitching, but he didn't move away.

[Cara-Jean Kitchi]

Cara stretched her arms above her head, wincing as her shoulder made an audible crack. The sun was just beginning to kiss the tops of the trees to the far east, and normally she would just be finishing her gymnastics, but Coach had put the studio on lock down for the last week, opening it again for training the next day. So she had been working out in her room. Standing up, she changed into a her winter riding clothes, left her dorm and stepped out into the coldness that was morning.

Heading across campus, she walked to the equine clinic. Walking into the barn, she went straight to the stall that house her beautiful little filly - with her sister right next door. As the two of them weren't pressed against the wall - as they normally were first thing - Cara guessed that she wasn't the first to arrive that day.

Leaving the filly, she continued down to the feed room to start sorting out feeds into buckets - taking note that Fingal's bucket wasn't in the stack so it was easy to know where Miranda was.

Once she had put the feed into the buckets, she then dispensed out the herbs and other supplements that the animals had added to their feeds. She bounced on her toes as she waited for the other vet student to walk back in. Cara had accidentally overheard a conversation that Dr Carr was having on the phone the day before and even though she knew she shouldn't, she wanted to share what she had heard with the younger girl.

[Miranda Florin]

After a moment of touching, Fingal seemed to have had enough and stepped away, although he didn't seem to be bothered, but rather bored with the contact. He moved over to his bucket and lowered his head. Feeling that her audience had ended, but feeling hopeful about the gelding's progress for the first time in a few days. She walked back inside, planning on finishing her barn chores, and then perhaps go back out and see how Fingal felt about her being near him again.

Feeling the urge to skip back to the feed room, but forcing herself to walk back calmly, she thought about what had just happened. She had managed to touch Fingal, not by deception, but by his consent. He seemed to have realized that she didn't mean to hurt him, which had officially made her day. As she walked back into the feed room, still smiling happily, she saw Cara, who had already filled up the rest of the feed buckets. She laughed, grinning broadly at the older girl, "I touched Fingal and he stood for it!" It had only been for the slightest of moments, but it was a breakthrough for the gelding.

[Cara-Jean Kitchi]

Cara had just measured out the last supplement to put into Fée's bucket when Miranda walked into the feed room. The measuring cup fell from her hand at the younger girl's words and she turned on the ball of her foot to face the other girl. "Tell me everything while we hand these out!" She said as she quickly turned back and put the powder into the bucket.

Handing Miranda half of the buckets - her half including Tanya's - and she led the way out of the feed room. As she distributed the feeds she had, finishing with Fée's as she listened to the younger girl recount the story of how she ended up touching the horse she had been working with since their fillys had been tiny foals. She shook her head in amazement. Many people would have either given up on the gelding within the first month or tried to beat him into submission, though she got the feeling that if any form of abuse - well any more - would have just made the grey horse shut down and pull into himself even more than he already had.

She also wanted to talk about where she wanted to talk about where she next wanted to take Fée's training, but she didn't want to take the talk away from Fingal, as she had a few ideas about him too.

[Miranda Florin]

Miranda continued to grin broadly as Cara turned to face her, noticing that her words had shocked her friend as much as the event had surprised her just a few short minutes ago. She nodded eagerly as the girl asked her to recount the entire tale while they worked, and as Cara handed her half of the already-measured feeds, she grinned and took them, “Thanks.” She knew that Cara’s attention to detail would mean that the buckets would all be perfect, so she didn’t have to worry about what was in them.

She followed the older girl out of the feed room and started telling the story of what had happened, pausing then and again to take a breath or to make sure that a feed bucket was placed securely, “Well, when I went out with his breakfast, like every day, he was looking at me, like he was interested, and he was up against the fence. When I went over to him, to put down his food, he only stepped back a tiny bit, but he stayed close. I held out a carrot, which I'd actually meant for Beauty, and he actually took it out of my hand." She paused to grin as she remembered what had happened, then continued, "After he'd taken the carrot, he still hadn't moved back, so I just stretched out my hand, and he didn't move away, so I touched his shoulder." She finished, still smiling, as she put down the last feed bucket, "Isn't it great? I've finally gotten through to him, just a little bit."

[Cara-Jean Kitchi]

As they handed out the feed, Cara listened to Miranda's tale about Fingal. She gave the girl a warm smile as she finished her story. "I'm so pleased to hear that he has finally clicked." She said. Part of her wanted to step forward and hug the younger girl, but she held herself back.

She entered Fée's stall and emptied the bucket into her manger and stood there playing with the filly's ears as she inhaled her feed. She frowned at the speed that the young Mustang was eating. If the horse had been a year or two older, Cara would think that she had been starved, but she knew for a fact that Fée had never wanted for food during her six months.

She left the stall and looked at Miranda again as she closed the stall and drove the bolt home. "Do you want to see if he'll do it again for an audience?" She asked. Her tone held no doubt that she believed the girl, she just also knew it was good to reinforce the behaviour that Fingal had started to display. After all, there was no point in having a good experience and then leave it for too long and give the gelding a chance to rethink what he had done wasn't as positive as he he had hoped. "And anyway, someone owes Beauty a carrot."

[Miranda Florin]

Miranda nodded as Cara commented on her story, "I was honestly starting to worry that he would never understand that I didn't mean to hurt him, because it'd been so long." She glanced away, feeling bad for having nearly given up on the gelding, when all he had needed was some time to process what was going on around him, and the change of pace.

As Cara asked if she thought that the gelding might do it again, with someone else watching, she paused, thinking about it, "I think he might, he hasn't ever seemed bothered about the other people in the farther pens when we had the rehabilitation class meeting, he was always just watching me, since I was the closest." She shrugged and grinned, "We can try it, anyway." She started walking towards the yards when she heard Cara's admonishment. Laughing, she rolled her eyes and changed course, towards the feed room. She picked up two carrots, then came out, tucking one into her pocket. The other one, she walked up to the bay mare's stall with and held it out, "I'm sorry, Beauty. I gave Fingal your other carrot." The mare's ears flickered, although she crunched up the carrot.

Once the mare had finished, Miranda turned to Cara, "Happy?" She smiled, then made her way back out into the slowly-lightening outside. She pulled out the second carrot she had tucked away and held it out to the gelding as she approached slowly. He raised his head and looked at her, then seemed to consider before walking over to lip the carrot from her hand. As Fingal chewed on the treat, Miranda slowly stretched out a hand and touched the gelding's shoulder again, close to where they had touched the first time. Fingal turned his head and smelled at her hand, then snorted and shook his mane before he stepped away again. Miranda wiped her hands on her jeans and slowly walked back to Cara, smiling, "See?"

[Cara-Jean Kitchi]

Cara nodded and gave the other vet student a sympathetic smile. "I get the feeling you weren't the only one about to give up on him, though." She said. "I think he was also giving up on himself."

She laughed as she followed Miranda toward the feed room and nodded at the question. "Blissfully." She replied as she then followed the other girl out to the yards. Knowing the gelding, she didn't step much father than out the door. Since Fingal was making such good progress, she didn't want him to suddenly feel over-crowded.

She watched in silence as she watched the gelding and girl interact, even if it was just for a moment. She gave Miranda an encouraging smile as she walked back up to join her. "It's good." She said. "Just little steps at a time, and like that, you let him be in control of how things move along." She looked at the gelding and then remembered what she wanted to share with the other girl.

"As I was leaving the barn a couple of days ago, I walked past Dr Carr's office and she was on the phone talking about some horses. I feel horrible for listening in where I wasn't meant to, but..." He voice broke off at the sound of a truck grinding to a halt.

[Demeter Carr]

Demeter pulled up the drive of the Academy and drove her large horse truck around to the Equine clinic. She winced as she heard and felt one of the horses in the truck kick the side of the vehicle, she didn't have any doubts which of the horses that would be, and the sooner she got them unloaded the better for all of them.

Changing down gears, she halted the outside the gate that led into the yards. She would normally have no issues with driving straight in, but with her passengers, she didn't want to do that if either of her students happened to be working with any of their charges.

Jumping out of the truck, she left the door open and strode through the gate, smiling when she saw the two girls she was hoping to find. "Should I be worried?" She asked with a smile. "The two of you just standing idly without a horse in sight other than the one who won't let anyone near."

[Miranda Florin]

Miranda smiled happily as the older girl praised her work with the gelding, and encouraged her to just keep going with him, as far as he would want to work with her. As Cara started talking about something she had overheard, however, Miranda's eyebrows shot up in surprise. Just as Cara was about to share what she had heard, something about a few horses which was obviously pretty important, if Cara wasn't just keeping it to herself, she could hear the same thing that caused her friend to stop short. She glanced to the gate, spotting the horse truck with Dr. Carr at the wheel.

As their mentor jumped out and walked over to them, Miranda grinned broadly, ready to tell the woman about what had happened, but then heard the woman's question. Laughing, she shook her head, "Wrong on two counts! You shouldn't be worried, and the one horse in sight let me touch him today." She continued smiling as she told her story again, "I still can't believe it, but he has to have clicked to the fact that I wasn't going to hurt him." She held her tongue from saying 'finally', which would have portrayed her frustration, but was a bit too harsh. The gelding had just had to take it in his own time.

[Cara-Jean Kitchi]

Cara's eyebrows flew to her hairline when the veterinarian jumped out of the truck and strode toward them, she could feel her cheeks heating up. It was almost as though the woman knew that she was confessing of having eavesdropped over a conversation that had nothing to do with her.

She jumped as the woman spoke, but relaxed as Dr Carr continued speaking. The woman was obviously in a good mood.

She remained silent as Miranda once again recounted what had happened with Fingal, and she couldn't help the feeling of pride she felt for the younger girl.

Her attention was drawn toward the truck as she heard the resounding noise of hooves meeting steel and the truck seemed to rock slightly. She met Miranda's eyes and mouthed 'a call about horses?', and gave a subtle head tilt toward the truck.

Part of her wanted to ask their mentor who the horse in the truck was... would there surely be only one horse in such a big truck? However, her training, as much as she was trying to break out of her training, stopped her from being so direct toward one of her elders.

[Demeter Carr]

Demeter, for the time being forgetting about the truck, listened carefully as the younger of her students spoke of her break through with the grey gelding. "That's wonderful Miranda!" She exclaimed as she hugged the girl and then clapped her hands together in delight. She was pleased for both the horse and the girl, for she would have hated to have had to put the gelding to sleep due to his inability to want to connect with anyone.

The sound of the horse kicking out again drew her back to the task at hand. "Well, since neither of you have anything to do at present, I was wondering if you would like to help me unload a few horses?" She had six horses in the truck, and one was obviously not too happy about being in there. "I have the horses for the next rehabilitation class intake." She looked at both of the girls, her gaze serious. "And possibly your next assignments. I'll explain more as we unload them." She arched an eyebrow. "That is, if you two don't have anything better to do."

[Miranda Florin]

Miranda continued smiling as the woman praised her work with the gelding, unsure of what to say. He had done it mostly by himself, she thought, although she had been there a lot. She glanced over to the gelding in his yard, who seemed rather interested by the goings-on, although he had retreated to the middle of his yard again as he observed. She turned her attention back to the two people in front of her, just in time to see Cara's mouthed words. She glanced at the truck, which was still shaking slightly, and turned back to Cara, nodding slightly and shrugging with a tiny smile.

As Dr. Carr started talking again, she looked back at the woman, wondering why the woman had brought another horse to the clinic. As the woman asked them to help unload the new horses, Miranda nodded, smiling. This would be a way to see the newest inhabitants. As she heard that they were for the next rehab class, she perked up, interested in learning more about the horses. As the woman suggested that they might have something better to do, Miranda snorted and shook her head, "I'd love to help!" She glanced at Cara, raising an eyebrow and grinning. It looked like they would be figuring out what was going on in the trailer sooner rather than later.

[Cara-Jean Kitchi]

Cara felt slightly envious that the veterinarian could just so freely show her emotions the way she did when she embraced the other girl. Cara wished that she could trust herself enough to be so free with her emotions, but those thoughts were for another day. She quickly chased the feeling away with a shake of her head, once again feeling thrilled for the younger student and her accomplishment. She was already thinking of ways that Miranda could convince the gelding that she really wanted to be in the girl's presence, and thus wanting her in his own personal bubble.

She looked at Dr Carr with askance as the woman spoke about the horses in the back of her truck. "I would be honoured to help, as always, Ma'am." She replied. True, she had been thinking of doing something with Fée, but that would be impossible while new horses were being unloaded anyway, and she was always keen to get to know the new arrivals that Herself and Miranda would be working with - albeit only feeding - on a daytoday basis.

She turned toward the truck again as one of the horses inside yet again showed the discomfort of being in such a closed environment.

[Demeter Carr]

Demeter grinned as both girls said that they would be happy to help. "Great! If you two go and grab me some lead ropes and meet me back here, I'll bring the truck in and I can start introducing you to the new brats." She wiggled her eyebrows before jogging back to the truck and climbing in.

Revving the large horse transporter up, she drove in through the gate and then after turning around in the large area, she turned the engine off and jumped out of the vehicle once more, wincing as she landed on the flat of her feet rather than the balls and ended up hurting her calf muscles.

She walked around to the back of the truck and started loosening the bolts and then lowered the ramp down. Standing back, she looked up into the darkened interior of the trailer and the couple of ponies she could see that stared back at her. "Easy." She soothed as a chestnut mare reared up, obviously no longer contained by the tethering strap. "Easy girl." The mare in question, who went by the barn name Em, was the third pony in, so Demeter's main focus now was to try and get her to calm down so that the two ponies, a mare and gelding, in front of her didn't get hurt. "Miranda, can you please grab some alfalfa cube, if you haven't already, and we'll try and use those to get Em to settle down enough to get the others out." Knowing her two students, they probably already had treats for the new arrivals.