As the Roo Bounces

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Luna is discovering her passion for horses and riding, and is in need of a teacher willing to give her the basic idea. Julian, as always, is busy with his stud farm and training horses, but might have time to squeeze a student in.

He let them go round a few more times before calling out to her. "Good, you're going well. Slow him to a walk, then cut through past me and go the other way around the circle. It'll even you both out, and by then the vet should be here to do the two horses."

He nodded. "That would be great, thanks. The vet was thinking he'd knock the pair of them out at the same time, make it easier on both of them. I can do their feet no worries, and if you can do their manes and tails, it would help hasten the process a lot." Pushing his hat back, he kept his eyes on her, making sure that she was still staying relaxed.

"Thanks, mate." He let them go around another few times before speaking again. "Alright, slow him down. Go round a few times to cool him down, then you can hose him off and turn him loose. Vet should be here any moment."

"That would be good, see if you can hook a leadrope to her halter. It would help John a great deal more. Hopefully the pony will stick close to one or the other of them." And fingers crossed the red mare wouldn't make them flighty and hard to dart. He opened the gate for her, tilting his head towards the hitch rail. "Show me how you tie him up then."

He inspected the knot, and fixed the dragging tail. "Try to keep that off the ground, don't want them stepping on it. Otherwise, good job." Leaning on the rail, he chewed on some straw. "Keep going then. You're skilled enough to untack him on your own. Just put the saddle on the rail. I'll put it away."

He just grinned. "That's an amusing side effect, I assure you," he said, gentle teasing in his eyes. "You'll get there. Once you get on a smaller horse, it won't be so hard to lift them." Seeing that the vet's car had arrived, he left her there, confident that she'd be able to look after the gentle gelding. Greeting John, Julian indicated the two horses in the paddock. "These two. The mare's scared stiff of men, Luna's gonna try and get a leadrope on her. The pony, I'm not sure what he's like. he sticks close to them. They seemed to be herdmates of the ginger, so same sort of condition she was in when I got her."

Julian nodded, pushing his hat up a little. "Here's hope. The red's protective of them all almost to the point of being aggressive. I'm going to try and put the pony in with her, see if that will calm her down a little. She's healing well though, thankfully. Won't let me do anything, but I can get close enough to see the wounds. Gaining weight nicely, too. I'll be seeing if I can't start working her in a few more days." Spotting Luna, he handed her a leadrope that he'd picked up. "See if you can get the grey mare, darling. Be careful of the pony, he's a cheeky one."

Julian followed her to lean on the fencing. "Don't force her. As long as she's still, it doesn't matter where she's facing. She needs to see what's scaring her, so ease off on that pressure." His voice was firm, almost annoyed. "Just need a good shot to knock her out." As he spoke, the pony charged forward, aiming for the girl's legs to knock her over. She was scaring Renee, that wasn't allowed. As the stocky black animal barrelled into her, Julian sighed, glancing at the vet. "Need to dart both of them and work on them at the same time. They're too flighty, and she's managed to frighten the mare enough already."

Ducking through the fence before the vet had finished talking, Julian headed for the pony, grabbing his halter to ease him more gently onto the ground. "Keep her steady, Luna," he ordered. "Ease her down so she doesn't collapse." Pulling a hoof file out of his back pocket, he got to work on the pony's hooves now that he was completely out to it, whistling softly under his breath. "There's a pair of shears in my back pocket, use them to cut out the dreadlocks. They're not as bad, so don't cut her whole mane and tail. Just the dreads is fine."

Julian shook his head. "No. She's a broodmare, they're usually much more well taken after." Busy with the pony's feet, he finally finished them before moving onto the mare. "Round and fat, John. Reckon he might have worms. He hasn't really changed condition since I got him last week. Eats like he's starving, but he doesn't gain or lose weight." Moving to the mare's teeth, he began whistling again. "She's pretty alright teeth-wise. Much better than the pony and the ginger."

Not really listening to the vet, Julian checked the mare's teeth, making sure that they were fine before moving back to the pony. His were worse off than the mare's, but it was nothing that a good bit of work wouldn't fix. Hooking the file back into his pocket, he swapped it for his pocket knife and began sawing the halters off both horses. They were tight, probably to stop the others from pulling them off, and he wanted to get rid of them. Hopefully that would make them a little bit more comfortable. Straightening, he considered the red mare for a moment, then looked back at the pony. "I want him in with the chestnut, it'll make it easier to work with the grey mare. Let's reverse his anaesthetic first and move him before we do her. Otherwise she'll just try to follow and make a nuisance of herself."