Good morning, I think

[superswede]

The barn seemed to be fairly quiet, this time of day: after the early morning feeding, but before any horses were being taken out to ride. The midmorning lull, one might say, when the trusty steeds might comb through their bedding, searching for dropped feed, or doze off contentedly.

Alex Riley walked briskly through the door, pulling off his light jacket as he went. It was spring, and even though the afternoons were often gorgeous when it wasn't raining, the mornings could be nippy. The jacket was slightly damp from the remnants of glittering mist hanging in the air outside, so he gave it a gentle shake to get rid of the worst of the moisture. His eyes glanced inside each stall he passed, until he reached one located about halfway down the row. He draped the jacket across the door, and pushed away the muzzle that stuck out to greet him eagerly.

''Chill, big guy,'' he told the chunky pinto gelding. Zodiac did not appear to get the message, and first shoved his nose into Alex's face, then his shoulder, a greeting that was quite a bit more enthusiastic than necessary. But that was how Zodiac behaved: do it big, or don't do it at all. He was usually one of two things- a monster, or a dream come true. It was very rare that he had a plain old 'normal' day.

Opening the sliding door a crack, Alex placed a palm on Zodiac's chest and firmly pressured the horse backwards. Finally having achieved some breathing space, he ran his eyes up and down the gelding's body with dissatisfaction. ''You pig, you,'' he commented, ''I have no idea how you manage to get so dirty standing in a stall for one night. I am not looking forward to bringing you in from a muddy pasture.'' Zodiac was a mess. His mane stuck out in all directions, dust and debris from the bedding clinging to his coat, hay caught in his tail, some mud caked on his legs left over since his last excursion into the outdoors. Alex shook his head, though he couldn't suppress a smile at the too-innocent gleam in the horse's eye.

Stepping out for a second to retrieve Zodiac's brushes, Alex squared his shoulders resolutely. Zodiac would be clean. Alex would prove to the world that this horse could, in fact, look decent for once; or, at the very least, collapse from exhaustion in the attempt. Once again, the pinto insisted on being a troublemaker, and snatched up a curry comb in his teeth, holding it just out of Alex's reach. ''Give that back!'' he scolded, and spent a good minute struggling to get the comb away.

Finally, he gave up, and tied Zodiac to keep him from causing too much trouble. The gelding made a show of acting indignant, but was soon half-asleep, neck stretched out, quite clearly believing he had died and gone to heaven. Alex groomed him carefully, lingering over Zodiac's favorite spots, occasionally pausing to rub the horse's neck. ''That's better, ain't it, big guy?'' he murmured softly, ''We could have gotten to this part much faster if you didn't always act like such a doofus. You ain't a colt anymore, time to grow up, dude.'' Alex hadn't known Zodiac for too long, so he was happy to take the opportunity to bond with the horse, and relax a bit in peace and quiet. Or at least, as much peace and quiet as was possible with the pinto around.

[Nicole]

Usually the barn was quiet in the morning. When there was a good deal of voices echoing through them it was often giggling banter of girls. Their groups always had some degree of gossiping or silliness about boy crushes. This time, though, Claire found it was different. Their was only one voice and from what she could tell, it was not female at all. She could recount that whomever it was must be new, because she herself was among the few who came in so early and it made her eager to meet this person. Namely because it meant a prospective student and as she tended to work one-on-one, she liked to know her students as much as possible.

So on she went, passing the stalls of her own horses with a kind, loving smile on her face. Her helmet in hand, her feet in paddock boots, and her calves covered in half-chaps she walked with the light clicking of her boot heels. Claire readjusted the zipper height of her riding vest which sat over a sweater and turtleneck combo and approached the stall. The door itself was cracked open ever so slightly and she peeked in through the barred window to the paint and the young man inside.

"You could cross-tie him." Claire suggested with a patient tone and a smile. "No one would hold it against you if you do." She told him, since he was new and so was the horse, there could be a reason why he remained in the stall and tied him within. "Then you could clean the stall, too, if you're not going to set him loose in the paddocks."

[superswede]

Alex hummed softly to himself, going through Zodiac's mane carefully, daydreaming a little. He had some homework to do, later, when he got home; quite a lot of homework, actually. Graduation was coming up, and it was doubtful he'd get the marks required. He'd switched schools so many times that his transcript was checkered with incompleted classes and a curriculum so varied he had never really been able to learn much at all before having to adjust to something new. If he was left behind on graduation day, Alex wasn't sure what he would do. Maybe redo the year, or just skip high school, eradicating his chances at getting into college, and getting a more steady job. His mother had scolded him for lacking ambition, using Kelly as a distinct contrast, but he didn't really care. His ambition was more centered around the horses, these days.

Alex heard footsteps, but didn't really think much about it; obviously people would be coming in and out all day, and even though this was a quiet hour it wouldn't necessarily be empty in here. Not until he heard a feminine voice did he look up over Zodiac's neck, to the other side where a pretty woman stood against the stall door. He recognized her; she seemed to be one of the senior riders of this place, giving lessons and often around. He'd never had a chance to talk though.

Running a hand through his hair, slightly embarrassed but not any more than that, Alex answered, ''Guess I could, ma'am. But I'm not so good at thinking ahead, if you know what I mean, and the last place I rode at was too busy for any cross-tying whatsoever, so I just got in the habit of doing 'em up in the stall.'' He shrugged, giving her an apologetic smile. ''He's not too much trouble, not right now anyway... I actually think he's falling asleep, to be honest...'' Alex trailed off, slowly, absent-mindedly, rubbing the gelding's neck.

[Nicole]

"I suppose you haven't been here for too long then." Claire said with a smile. If he hadn't noticed, Chasing Hills was a very quiet stable and even when the most amount of people were around it was hardly enough to warrant a crowd. "But I can see why you decided to remain in the stall, just in case things were the same." It was an easy enough deduction, though his not thinking ahead didn't make nearly as much sense. In any case, she decided that it was best not to say much more beyond it.

"Does he fall asleep often?" Claire asked, deciding to turn the conversation, though young as it was, to horses. Anyone who did anything with horses should surely be interested with horses immensely. So if she wished to know more about him and the horse, it was the most direct path aside from asking right out. "He is a nice looking gelding, though admittingly I tend towards the solid horses." She then added a little bit after said, "I'm Claire LaCroix by the way, though I don't think I'm quite nearly the same big name as Chasing March is by far."

[superswede]

Alex shook his head. ''Nope,'' he said cheerfully, ''Only been around a couple of days, actually. Still learning the ropes around here, I guess you could say.'' It was a lucky thing that people around here were so friendly; he could not handle unpleasant types very well, and an inconsiderate or mean comment was just the sort of thing he would brood about pointlessly for several days.

Upon receiving her introduction, he gave a low whistle. ''Well, Chasing March is one of a kind, but the name of Claire LaCroix will take you quite a ways, ma'am,'' he said with a touch of admiration. ''I'm Alex Riley, pleasure to meet you,'' he added.

Looking back at the relaxed pinto, Alex spread his arms wide, gesturing at the horse. ''Him? I don't really know. Zodiac is as new to me as I am to Chasing Hills, I've been working on getting to know 'im. He's a bucketful of energy, most of the time, it seems, but I guess he liked being brushed, he stopped trying to distract me constantly at least.'' He stroked the sturdy gelding fondly.

[Nicole]

"Then let me be among the first to welcome you to Chasing Hills." Claire told him. She knew that he was new, but she hadn't known that he had been here for a few days. It was good to see that he was already beginning to make himself comfortable in the place.

"Will it?" She tilted her head to one side as she asked. It was an odd thing to know that her name was beginning to get around. "Did you know it from riding Reverie's Dream Catcher or Hotshot Shotgun?" Claire asked mostly out of pure curiousity. If her name was known from the first horse, then she would be very happy about it. If not, there would be no love lost. Just knowing how much better she had become was reward enough.

She smiled as he spoke of the gelding in the stall with him. "Is he then? Well, I'm sure the two of you will bond quite nicely and soon you'll know him like the back of your hand. You'll learn a lot about each other in time. Especially if I end up being your trainer." Claire chuckled a bit at the end. She'd push the limits and make them find themselves, but it always worked.

[superswede]

Alex smiled cheerily. ''Thank you, ma'am, I look forward to getting to know everyone around here.'' It was true; Alex was a socially outoging kind of guy, it was the only reason he'd been able to make friends so quickly each time they moved to a new town. Hopefully, he'd be able to form more long-lasting relationships here, now that they appeared to have settled down for once. His mother certainly seemed to love Georgia.

''Hotshot Shotgun sounds more familiar.'' He shrugged apologetically. ''I've never really followed who's who much, I bet my sister knows about Reverie's Dream Catcher, she was always so obsessive about show results and stuff, I just concentrated on not falling off. She's taking a hiatus from horses for a bit, studies and such, but she still tracks major competitions.'' Laughing, he added, ''I'll be satisfied if she sees my name on those lists one day.''

Picking up a soft brush to go over Zodiac's body for a final touch, Alex nodded, caressing the gelding's back dreamily. ''Yeah, he's a real good guy... I think we're going to get along nicely. And I have no doubt in my mind that this is going to be a real learning experience,'' he joked, ''Zodiac's always got some sort of mischief up his sleeve, it seems.'' At that moment, the gelding chose to wake up, and swung his muzzle around to look at Alex, eyes glittering intelligently. Then he snorted, and faced Claire instead, regarding her with exaggerated interest. He was the sort of horse who, when he was dead bored, picked a random person or object and obsessed over it, fooling himself into fascination.

[Nicole]

"Hmm, I think it makes sense." Claire replied to Alex. Not many saw her and Ream as they had started out and they didn't have the chance to make the splash that she had with Gunner. That and it had been earlier by a couple of years. "Gunner has been my big show horse for the past two years."

She did smile and laugh a little at Alex. He had a bit of a sense of humor. He was young and admitted his weakness and was well set up for the pending doom of adulthood. "And that is why you're here, to become a better rider." Claire smiled at the gelding and started to make silly nickering sounds. Silly because they were coming from her. "And get you into some shows where you can win and start making a name for yourself where your sister can see."

"And you'll help him, won't you boy?" Claire directed this question towards Zodiac with a smile. "Mischief usually indicates intelligence. You just need to learn to identify it before it becomes trouble. Yet, I don't think he is the kind to make trouble, just annoyance." Granted she didn't know the horse terribly well, but it was her educated guess at the moment. If she had the chance to work with Alex and Zodiac she would be able to determine the personality of the horse better.

[superswede]

Alex bent down to pick Zodiac's hooves, digging out the muck and mud lodged in them, then stood up again, stretching his back painfully. ''He's smart, sure; helpful, not so much.'' The gelding had very heavy feet, and had made no effort to lift them himself. Naturally, the horse only stared back innocently when Alex frowned at him, and pushed the human's shoulder.

''Hmph. You need to get off your lazy butt, you,'' Alex shot at Zodiac. Glancing at the stall's condition and deciding it wasn't so bad that it couldn't wait until later, Alex patted the horse's neck and said, ''I think I'll take him out for a bit, he's just being pampered without working for it right now. And I haven't been on a horse much lately, been too busy settling in at home, so I could use a ride too.''

ooc: blah, crappy post. Sorry bout that, I've been trying to catch up on every RP site I'm on so my muse is pretty burned-out. -.-

[Nicole]

Claire just smiled simply at Alex. He might not realize it yet, but he had a very nice little relationship with his horse. It was a heartwarming thing to see; the relationship between a horse and their rider. She remained quiet and listened to Alex as he spoke.

"Sounds like a good idea." She nodded in agreement. "Would you mind if I watched at all?" Claire asked him. She had her head tilted to one side as she inquired of him if her presence would not be welcome. "I have some time open this morning and maybe I could give you a few pointers, even I won't be your trainer." It was an offer she would give to anyone. Especially to one who was a young rider looking to improve in someway and Alex sounded as if he was one of those. Still, if he didn't want it, there were plenty of things she could come up with to do.