As the Roo Bounces

Luna didn't acknowledge the other woman as she cleaned Neds hooves only glancing up at the sound of Julians voice as she did the last hoof. "Alright." she said placing the clean hoof down. "That's the closest the mares gotten yet." She gaze was over on the grey mare before she turned her attention back to tacking Ned up. She struggled for a few moments as she fought to get the saddle over his back but soon had it in place and was buckling it up.

Claire thankfully hadn't paid much mind to the lack of response from the girl, focusing on Renee she began to talk quietly to the mare. Enough that she could hear, but the two humans at the round pen could not, the mare didn't move any closer, if anything she backed off to the saftey of her herdmates. Once she and the mare had finished conversing, Claire turned and wandered over to the round yard, leaning against the wood mulling over what she'd learned thoughtfully while watching the girl ride. Once Lunas Lesson was over Claire spoke to her "Jules said you've offered to help out with Renee, what have you done with her so far" she'd likely ask the girl to stay and watch as she handled the brumbies so she could hopefully learn how to deal with untamed horses which essentially was what renee was. Her voice lacked the warmth it'd had when she'd spoken to Julian, instead it was quite cold and held little emotion to it.

Luna turned her head sharply at his comment. "I wasn't I was acknowledging your words." she told him looking a bit confused. She lead the gelding into the round yard and worked hard in her lesson until it was over and she was cooling Ned down. Her head turned to Claire when she spoke as she swung down and she lead the bay over to her. "Not much so far. I have been reading to her to try and get her used to me. She normally sticks to the back of the paddock though." she told her, "I sit by the gate outside the paddock." She then lead the gelding over to the hitching area where she swapped his bridle for his halter and began the process of getting his saddle off his back.

Claire studied Luna sharply before speaking "Well if you want to make progress you're going to have to put more effort in. Turn up at five every night on the dot, mix up her feed and tip it out onto the same spot every night, leave the paddock and find the closest spot you can stand that she'll stay there eating. Every night try pushing forward a little bit, not even a foot. You might as well stay this afternoon and learn some things by watching me handle the wild horses, Wild horses are easier than she will eb as they are a completely clean slate while she has been abused. If she lets you near her keep your hands well away from her head" still coming across quite cold, it was just the way she was with people that she didn't know. The reading was a good idea, "What books? Don't read it monotonously, put inflection and feeling into the words" from what she'd learnt, Renee was a gentle soul, some books would obviously not be good choices with her. There were probably some easy chores Jules could give the girl to keep her busy until the brumbies came. Claire planned to do a little work with spotlight plus anything else her close friend needed her to do, which probably would be sorting out lunch.

Luna nearly tripped as she hauled the saddle off the geldings back and she put it on the railing as Claire started to speak again. "We were waiting for you to get here." she replied when she was told to put more effort in, "I don't know much on what Im doing honestly and Julian cant do much cause she is so scared of him. I thought reading would be a good start so as not to stress her out or anything." She brushed her hair back and her eyes light up a little when Claire said she could stay and watch her work with the brumbies, showing her eagerness to learn what she could. "I can? Thank you Claire." she said happily, "I have been reading her the silver brumby books." Her cheeks went slightly pink when she gave the other woman the books she had been reading as she turned the hose on and started on Neds coat.

Lifting a hand when Luna started an entire story about why she hadn't done much, "I didn't ask for any excuses, I expect you didn't ask him for what else you could do with the mare? If you don't ask with Julian you don't get anywhere" lowering her hand she looked over at Renee, the mare needed space now. "I have a job for you to do that will help out Julian alot" gesturing for the girl to follow, Claire ended up at the large mare paddock holdig a shovel which she passed to luna "Spread the horse poo out as thinly as you can. It'll save him a big chore" She knew the book series, having read it herself when she was about 12, it was a good start she would recommend some other books that would also suit the grey mare. Having some of her own chores to do around the place Claire would likely remain quite cold and distant until the stranger had earnt her trust and respect. "After the brumbies have settled, I'll show you how to make the mares feed" she finally added, with that she turned and headed off keepign herself busy until Jules returned.

Bossily ordering him to go find the girl as it was past time for lunch she moved about the comfortable kitchen putting together something for them to eat

Luna nodded at Claires words and she lead Ned back to his paddock once she was done, then she hauled his tack back to the shed. She followed Claire and took the shovel that was given to her. "That's gonna be a lot of poop." she said before heading to the furthest corner to start. She didn't complain or anything just got into it, happy to help Julian out.

Luna had just finished the mares paddock when Julian made his way over to her on Ghost and she gave him a smile at the mention of lunch. She leaned the shovel against the shed and slowly made her way to the house. She tugged her boots off before making her way in quietly.

Batting his hand away from her braid with a roll of her eyes, Claire set the reheated soup down and served herself a couple of ladle fulls as well as a couple of oven toasted buns that had been cut in half. Sitting down she shrugged "her names renee, been used as a broodie, all foals were taken as soon as they stood, as a human she was heavily abused and used by men before Ice got hold of her when she ran away. ice agreed to keep her safe from the men and turned her into a horse to do it not mentioning of course she'd be taking her babies. Wee black pony is named Angus, he and ginger are a bit of an item" when Lunas footsteps were heard, Claire changed topic not knowing if the girl was safe to talk about the truth of what had happened to the horses with. Instead she waited for Jules to sit down before querying "Added anymore to the list of girls Jules? theres at least five in town that want you" Lets see, there was the older woman who believed he was the spitting image of her late husband, the young daughters of the arrogant rich man who lived a few kilometers down the road who wanted him for his looks, money and horses, another was a gold digger, the final one the most decent one of the lot who'd been married off to a man who was her farm and families best shot at a future. It had always been funny watching Julian completely not notice their interest in him no matter how obvious they became, honestly sometimes he was as observant as a blind man.

Claire just laughed "its just funny" observing him she added "Half of the time i reckon you don't notice on purpose" for the small town he was a catch after all, not bad looking, good with horses and had decent money for these parts. Dipping some of the bun into the reheated soup, Claire continued eating quite contentedly, seeming quite happy and at home in here. Her mind was ticking over the brumbies, it'd been a long time since she'd done anything with wild horses and was admittedly looking forward to it.

Luna gave them both a smile as she grabbed some of the soup and sat down chuckling at their banter. She was happy to sit there in silence until she had eaten a few mouthfuls before she looked at Claire. "How many brumbies are you going to be working with Claire?" She asked curiously.

Looking up from her food she replied "Four, one for the challenge, the other three were going to be culled off" along with many others she couldn't save. Still frustrated with the government for ok-ing the slaughter of most of the brumbies, she was keen to save as many as she could. Julian didn't have the time to work with them but he'd often helped her in the past, finishing off her food she stood and quietly placed her dishes in the dishwahser. Satisfied that they'd used up the last of the soup she washed the bowl that'd held it by hand, it was a bit large for the dishwasher.

Pushing his hand away from her plait with a playful scowl she shrugged "Three stallions and one mare, no one was really going for the stallions and the mare was te one that got picked for me for the challenge" she explained leaning back against the bench folding her arms. Claire just laughed at his teasing "I ended up selling my ones at home a couple of months back" she'd needed the money at the time however she'd been unable to sell all of her horse gear as well so that was what was mainly in her car. "I trained some horses in the mean time" and had fallen off a fair few times retraining one sour gelding to not buck whenever someone got on him.

She nodded "Of course, we dont' need more than two stallions running around this place, no clue they told us jack all" it'd be interesting to work with them, the others she'd worked with in the past had broken all of the stereotypes she'd half expected when working with them. "They're arriving in about an hour and a half yeah, gonna stick em in your stock yards until i can halter break them" the yards also meant she could keep the mare separate from the stallions. Depending on her age it was more than likely that she was expecting a foal, until they arrived perhaps she'd go watch the ginger mare and black pony stallion. She was keen to observe and learn their behaviours, it would be hopefully useful in working with Renee, heading outside as well and picking up her hat from where she'd dropped it and slipping her feet back into her short jodhpur boots. Black hair neatly in a plait to keep it out of her green eyes, she wore a light blue polo shirt and pale cream breeches. "Thats the best thing about being an official qualified vet jules, I'll be able to knock them out and tend to them myself" it meant less having to get a middle man in who could stuff things up. With that she began to wander off, tucking her hat back onto her head

Luna looked between the experienced pair as they discussed the brumbies that where coming for Claires challenge and then watched as she left heading towards the paddocks. "Umm Julian?" she said softly picking up her plate, "Is there anything I could do to help the grey mare trust me more?" Her voice was kind of soft as looked over at him with hopeful eyes. Claires words had struck home and she decided to follow them in an effort to be able to learn more about what she was doing.

Luna nodded her head when he mentioned Claire telling her she could feed the mare and she smiled at him when he gave her the go ahead to do so with the other womans help. "Ok thanks Julian." she said smiling as she put the last dish into the dishwasher. She had cleaned up while he had been on the phone so neither he nor Claire would have to do it later. She pushed the door shut and made her way out of the house slipping her boots back before she made her way slowly over to Claires side.