Anything but an Encore (Cara)

[Sir Peter Solomon]

Peter felt his eyes slowly unfocusing as he read through the informational page he was reading and chose to take a break, leaving the other half of the page to wait until another time, or at least until after he had taken a walk around the sleepy, quiet barn. Usually, he would have gone to bed already, after taking Mei out for a walk, but today he had ended up staying, since he had a student in the barn. Cara was on foal watch with her mare, Shiloh, and Peter knew that she would do fine. He had heard from Dr. Carr how well the girl had done when one of her charges at the Equine Clinic had gone into labor.

Dimming his screen before mousing through the procedure to lock it, Peter left his laptop running and stood up, stretching away the aches that had accumulated in his period of sitting still. He made his way towards the door and let himself out, leaving the door ajar behind him. He and Cara weren't the only ones in the barn, as he had asked Andie to be present as well. He had heard plenty of stories, based on rumors, and he didn't want his or Cara's reputations besmirched in that way, especially since he had been told that Cara's quiet manner was just an act... A story that he didn't quite find plausible, but he didn't need to add any more fuel to the fire, either. Andie was around to make sure nothing could be held against either of them.

He came to a stop at the stall door, leaving enough space so as not to disturb the mare, and saw Cara already inside. The mare was showing most of the signs of labor, a textbook case, and Peter could see that Cara had already gotten the mare's foaling kit. Smiling slightly, he looked over the mare, then quietly asked, "How's she doing?" He knew that the mare had given birth to a stillborn foal her first recorded pregnancy at the Academy, and he hoped that it wouldn't be repeated.

[Cara-Jean Kitchi]

Cara pulled her shoulders back, stretching her back as she looked over the door at the beautiful flaxen chestnut. She had spent the past week staying overnight in the barn, only returning to her dorm each morning to shower and change before gymnastics and then classes. She knew that she was being paranoid - as she knew that Sir Solomon would have everything covered - but if anything did go wrong, she wanted to be there for the mare.

The night was getting late and as the time ticked by, the mare was showing more and more signs that everything was about to happen. She left the mare as she went to pick up her foaling kit - something that Cara had put together, adding a few extra things to the normal kit - and returned to Shiloh's stall. She then went to the feedroom, removed her jersey and scrubbed her hands up to the elbows before returning to the mare again. Opening the kit, she removed the tail bandage, picked up the mare's halter and lead, and entered the stall. "Hey, ma belle fille." She whispered as she held her hand out to the mare. She slipped the halter over the mare's delicate nose and fastened the poll strap. "I'm just going to put this on your tail." She told the mare as she put the rope over her back and ran her hand down the mare's side as she reached the tail. "Good girl." She quickly bandaged the mare's tail, making sure that it was tidy and out of the way for when everything did happen.

The sound of approaching feet drew her attention away from the mare and she walked back to stand by Shiloh's head before rubbing her nose and unclipping the rope - leaving the halter on though.

She bowed her head toward the man who had spoken. "Her contractions are regular, Sir." She said as she took a step away from the mare. "The hay net is secured, high enough for her, but not too low that the mare or foal can get caught." She pressed her lips together as she turned to look at the mare. "Wejust need to pray for a live birth."

[Sir Peter Solomon]

Peter listened to Cara's report, nodding as he heard that the mare's contractions were regular. That was a good sign, and he was hoping for the best of luck for this mare, after her first birth going badly. As the girl spoke about the mare's hay net, Peter glanced at the mentioned object, nodding in approval. Cara had, as always, been thorough, and the box looked well prepared. He could see that the mare's tail had already been wrapped, and that everything seemed to be in order. The Haflinger was still showcasing a typical birth, with most of the signs of labor present, and Peter took that to be a good sign, or at least imagined that it was, because good signs were better than... Well, bad signs.

As he heard Cara's last comment, about a live birth, he nodded thoughtfully, his eyes still on the mare. He wondered briefly if Cara was religious, although he never made it a business to look into students' personal lives, her choice of words seemed to imply that she was. He had been raised in a religious household, but could hardly consider himself to be a true this, or a true that. He did agree with parts of most religions, but he had studied enough of them to decide for himself that there wasn't any one religion that had quite got it all right, at the least, in his opinion. He turned his attention back to the mare, noting her sweaty coat glistening, and hearing her heavy breathing.

[Cara-Jean Kitchi]

The barn manager didn't say anything, but this didn't bother the girl that spoke as little as possible herself. She glanced over her shoulder as Shiloh pawed at the ground, and Cara took this as her cue to exit the stall - the mare being very polite about asking the girl to leave - and she left the mare in peace. She made sure the lid was on the foaling kit so that none of the dust particles that were floating though the air could fall into the sterile container.

She stood on the balls of her feet as she looked over the stall door. She wasn't so short that she couldn't see over while standing on the flat of her feet, but balancing on the balls of her feet helped her feel slightly less nervous as she watched the pretty little horse as Shiloh resumed her pacing, stopping every now and then to kick at her stomach. She watched with interest as the mare lay down, stood up and then returned to lying on the ground. Another contraction rippled through the mare as she fell onto her side with her legs fully extended. Cara frowned though as the mare's perineal region was facing the back of the stall, hiding the birth from the humans.

Cara licked her lips and looked at Sir Solomon. "May I go in there with her?" She asked. She knew that she owned the mare, but while she was under the care of the Academy, she knew that she had to ask. She also knew that the mare would remain where she was if she entered the stall. She just wanted to be able to watch, just in case the foal was breech - which would then require the help of the barn manager.