Much Ado About Nothing [open]

A heavy sigh escaped her lips as she put her hands on her hips, staring down Tiberius. Slowly, he lowered his head to the ground, ears flicking this way and that. He had almost started the licking/chewing thing when a voice rang out behind her and made her jump a good foot in the air. Tiberius' head instantly shot up as he gave what sounded like a laugh, and then pranced in place, turning his butt to her. He wasn't going to kick her or anything of course, and even she knew that, but it was still an annoyance. She rolled her eyes and turned to the girl, muttering under her breath as she did so.
"'op jaj 'e' SoH muS jIH tu'lu'." (Translates to There are somedays I hate you in Klingon.)
She landed her eyes on the girl and just smiled. She looked young, maybe the same age she had been when the accident happened. But too young to be breaking an unbroke two year old, that was for sure. She was startled a little bit by how southern she sounded.
"Captain is just being a bit of an...obstinate turd, as most men are in their teens. I'm sure you know that though. Perhaps he just needs some time locked in here ALONE, and he'll be fine. Did you need the round pen?"
She smiled, trying not to be terse but not liking the way the girl seemed to imply that she knew more than her. She shrugged it off though, and leaned against the fence a little to extend her hand.
"I'm Jeanna."
About that time, the chestnut shit head turned his head over his shoulder and saw her leaning against the fence, and so he trotted over, neck arched, cute as could be, and stuck his nose under her arm whacking it into the top bar. Quickly she withdrew it and turned to him, shouting in a language that Charlotte probably had never even remotely heard.
"SoH regh jIH QaD rur DuDwI' pig; quvHa' SoH 'ej naQ tuq!" Translates to I will bleed you dry like a stuck pig; dishonor on you and your entire clan!
The language was very sharp in the tongue, much like German, but German it was most certainly not. It sounded almost inhuman, which it was. He didn't even so much as shy away, but stood their proudly as she grasped her arm a second and rubbed it. She looked to Charlotte.
"I hate colts."

Jeanna was just trying to get things going until the girl went away. She had never been very good with talking to strangers after the accident; generally they recognized her face back home and were always asking how she was doing, how was her grandmother, all that jazz. She just wanted to be left alone, deal with her problems in her own way. Which mostly had been running away from them. She nodded to the girl's comment about how brutal they could be, contemplating what to do next with the horse. The girl had already seen her fail; if she offered to help she had to more or less accept, or she could run and tell others she was endangering herself. Or some such BS, you never know with woman.
Jeanna, for all intents and purposes, wasn't one to mess around with her horses, and since the girl seemed so intently amused by the horse...Jeanna was growing slightly paranoid that she would try to do something to get possession of her Kirk, and that was not going to end well for Jeanna. She had no proof that he was being properly trained, she had no proof that she knew what she was doing, she was prone to fits of frustration and throwing things at the horse with no intention of actually harming him...but it still looked bad. When she asked Jeanna what her plans were for him, in her mind the paranoia was affirmed. The girl was trying something, and that meant Jeanna needed to be on her guard.
"Barrel racing."
She gave her just that as she turned to glance at him, now peacefully munching grass. She really couldn't stay mad at him for long. She looked back to the girl, doing her best to give her a soft smile, and ask the question she had asked before.
"Do you need the round pen?"

Jeanna sighed, rolling her eyes. This girl was all talk and no brain or purpose in her words it seemed. Jeanna wasn't one to stand and idly chit chat. She never was, never really had been unless she was having a geek out moment. But, this was not one of those moments, and the girl was starting to get on her nerves. She had to remain calm though, and so she took a deep breath and tried to still herself before responding to the girl's rambling. When she heard the girl's question about riding, she tensed. Was the girl trying to throw her to the wolves? The annoyance was beginning to show on her face, so she completely ignored her invitation to trail ride with her.
"Perhaps you should go ride her then, I really should continue my work."
This little girl acted like she knew everything, and it really wasn't helping Jeanna's mood. She knew she didn't know what she was doing, but it was pretty obvious neither did this rodeo princess who thought she was all that. She just tried to hold her tongue, there was no use making enemies yet. She turned her attention back to the horse and clucked; to which he flicked his ears attentatively and then timidly looked to her, before slowly moving toward her outstretched hand. She would just try to zone the girl out for now.

Jeanna cringed, she could here the tone change in the other girls voice. She did not want to be judged on her fears, nor did she want it to come to light about her accident. At least, not to someone who would potentially use it against her. She needed to play it safe.
“Charlotte, wait!”
She called out, turning back around as the other girl walked away. She didn’t want to make too big of a fuss about things.
“I don’t have a saddle broke horse yet, but I could take one of the school horses out on the trail with you if you want?”
She gulped. She certainly wasn’t going to do barrels with a horse she wasn’t familiar with; but it was true that Angel and Tibby weren’t saddle broke. Angel was old enough, she was just...still too afraid to get up on her. But perhaps the girl wouldn’t realize that Angel was older than the colt.

Jeanna rolled her eyes at the girls sickeningly sweet look on her face. She should’ve let her walk away, she should’ve just let her leave. This little kid was as bad as Jeanna had been before the real world slapped her in the face.
She let the girl go and turned back to Tiberius, a drive to win fueling her. It was time she got over her fears.
“Jim, we’re going to do something insanely stupid.”
If this girl thought she was so much better, then Jeanna would show her what she used to be able to do. She left the colt in the round pen and went into the barn. Though dusty, her saddle was there with all the bells and whistles of a winning rodeo queen. She glanced to her chaps, her hands shaking slightly as she picked them up. She’d need them if this was going to work.
She fiddled with them a bit; she’d put on some weight since the last time she wore them. Finally though she got them zipped up, and let herself let out the breath she was holding. She grabbed the saddle and looked at the bridle. The ribbons still hung from it. She’d have to adjust it for his head, but the flash of the colors brought tears to her eyes and she couldn’t bring herself to tear them off. At least her grandmother had cleaned the blood off the bit, from where her mare had bit her tongue in the crash and blood covered seemingly everything. Jeanna gulped trying to shove the memories away.
She made her way back to the round pen after grabbing the generic saddle blanket that she owned. She knew this was foolish, but no one was going to talk to her like that and get away with it.
Luckily the girl wasn’t back yet, and she hung the the bridge over the rails and placed the saddle there. She was glad the other girl wasn’t there as she tried to start tacking up.
Tiberius up. He shrugged at the blanket on his back the first time, shrugging it completely off. The second time she put it on, he reached back and pulled it off from the other side; prancing a few steps with it before she gave him a stern look; he flipped his ears, and dropped it. Third time was the charm as she gently placed it on his back, as he stood there but looked back at it, wondering what in the world she was doing. She drew in a deep breath as she went to grab the saddle, noticing movement from the barn-the girl was coming. As soon as she put the added weight of the saddle on the horse, he squealed and began bucking. The saddle went flying, and she only barely caught it as she watched the saddle pad flutter.
Tiberius stood wide eyed, gawking at the saddle. He snorted and slowly stepped closer, sniffing at it. Finally he gave a final squeal and stomped a hoof, but turned his side to her-apparently ready to have it on his back.
She stooped to pick up the saddle blanket, as the girl walked into one of the other round pens. She smiled to her, but it didn’t reach her eyes as she turned back to the horse. Gently, she placed the saddle blanket on his back. He didn’t flinch, looking to her with an almost nod. She placed the saddle on his back, and stepped back-awaiting the fit of squeals. None came, and so she reached under him for the girth. He was used to her doing this; she hadn’t woken up just yesterday and had at least been working with him on ground manners. She fit the girth loosely around him; planning on tightening it in a moment. As soon as she pulled it tighter he squealed and she stepped back, averting her head as he reared up trying to get whatever was around him off. When he finally settled again, she moved closer again; fixed the saddle on his back where it had slipped some, and tightened it a bit more.
It sent him around the round pen bucking and squealing, and she just let him. She looked over to the other girl just in time to see her dig her heels in, and a loud hiss escaped her. It served doubly because Tiberius skidded to a stop and looked at her, wondering if she had sprung a leak.
“Use your legs not your heels! Squeeze with you upper legs to get her to bring her back end under her more and make the power come from her back end. Digging your heels in like that will make her flat and hurt her back. You’ll never win competitions doing that, especially when you have to do that to even get her to walk.”
Her spiel done, she turned back to her project. The saddle had at least not slipped this time, but she knew she’d have to tighten it again once she got on. She’d worked with him about head manners, but he’d never had a bit in his mouth. She looked to the bridle, and decided something to do before picking it up and raising it around his head. Unclipping one side of it, she put the reins around his neck-tying the two sides together for now. she placed the head stall over his head and adjusted his ears within it. She let the one side hang a moment as she fiddled with the strap, adjusting it so the big say where it needed to against the side of his mouth. All was well. She reached into her pocket and pulled out a sugar cube, offering it to him underneath the bit. He didn’t even notice her slide the bit in as he slurped up the sugar cube, and as he chewed it she fastened the loose side of the bridle. She stepped away from him. As he finished chewing, his ears flicked and he chomped at the bit. He snorted, tried to whinny, but felt slightly gagged. He pushed at it with his tongue, shock his head, stomped his hooves, and finally even reared to try to shake it off. Finally realizing it wasn’t coming off, he settled, his ears flopped to the side and he looked to her with a bit of a “What the hell is this I hate you” look. When she produced another sugar cube at his now calm state though, his ears pricked and he gave her a warm look of “oh you sly devil you shouldn’t have.”
She patted him on the neck, taking ahold of the end of the knotted reins. She didn’t pull them, just held onto them as she leaned her upper arms against the saddle, pressing down. He shrugged first; then side stepped away from her. He looked back to her with a snort. She gave him a sugar cube, since he didn’t try to kill her for the pressure. She proceeded with this a few times, doing it on both sides. Eventually, he didn’t even react.
She took a deep breath. It was now or never. She tightened the girth one more time, and did the procedure one more time of leaking on his back. It wasn’t necessarily the first time he’d had a saddle on, but it was the first time he’d had her full size saddle on. She’d been using kids saddles from the barn for ponies. She took a deep breath and handed him another sugar cube; picking up her dusty cowboy hat from the ground outside of the round pen. It was embroidered with a rose on the side of the Black felt like leather material. She ran her fingers over the rose...the hat had seen its years, it had been her mother’s hat before hers. She hadn’t been wearing it that fateful day; so her mother hadn’t been there watching over her.
She glanced up to the sky, gave a smile, then donned the cowboy hat and straightened it on her head. For a moment, you could see the girl she used to be-the determination on her face, the thrill of the sport. Taking the reins, she led him over to the fence and climbed onto the bottom rung. She turned to him; putting pressure on him. He didn’t move. She stepped up a rung, and put her foot in the stirrup, leaning in. He didn’t move. Finally, she swung her other leg over-catching the stirrup before she even put her weight down. She knew she was going to be in for a wild ride, and so she braced herself; but stayed up and off his back. She only hung on to the reins behind the tie; letting him have full range of his head. Heels down; shoulders back; eyes ahead-free arm to help keep her balance as the rodeo ride began.
A harsh squeal escaped him as his ears pinned. He didn’t even bother to shudder to try to get her off; he just started bucking like s bronco. First it was just around the edge of the round pen-trying to rub her off on the fence. He caught her foot a time or twice; making her wince as the metal clanged against the metal rod in her leg. Oh how she was regretting her decision...but she was determined that she’d show this girl not to be messed with.
After a few times around the round pen, a few spins to try to get her off; he finally stopped huffing in the middle of the pen. His ears flicked-he shuddered. She knew not to relax just yet; keeping her legs against his sides but not squeezing. She didn’t sit down yet. Defiantly, she looked over to the girl in the other round pen, giving her a sickeningly sweet and mockingly innocent smile. She knew how stupid it was for her to be doing this, the colt was only barely three...she should’ve at least grabbed Angel who supposedly had background riding.
Without warning, the colt threw himself up in the air. She was ready for it, keeping her legs tight against him and grabbing his mane with her hand that was on the reins. When her hat fell backwards, she grabbed it with her free hand behind her back; leaning forward against his neck to get him to land. It seriously looked like a scene from the Lone Ranger as she flipped her hat back on to her head while he was still tearing. Unsteady he took a step forward with his hind legs, before finally giving up and landing with a thud. She sat up straight again. As he finally stood still; she sat down a little more-her legs were screaming but it was like riding a bike; she still knew what she was doing. She squeezed with her upper leg, rounding it with her knee; but not using her knee-it was still off the saddle. He walked forward with a huff.
She didn’t speak as she untied the reins; just kept looking straight ahead. She let him do his own turning around the round pen, and then closed her knees and squeezed the reins after a few times around. He instantly stopped; throwing his head up at the pressure on the mouth, but settled quickly. She turned him around with her outer leg and opening the rein, letting him walk around a few more times.
“I’m ready when you are; you’ll just have to get the gate for me. I have a feeling he won’t be too fond of that yet.”