Beautiful Morning [Open]

[Dr. Adrianna Bowen]

Oh the sweet smell of the early morning barn. Nothing really beat it. She had a few things to do here today, mostly a bunch of shots and blood work. Oh how she and the horses would enjoy all those needles. She rolled her eyes at the thought. Who liked needles anyways? These rambling thoughts carried her into the barn, a few people bustled around but other than that it was fairly empty. She would wait till someone came and helped her hold the horses.

Her red hair was tied back in a pony tail, dark wrangler jeans were complimented with a black polo. And she stood in the barn wearing no makeup. Adrianna was naturally beautiful and rarely wore pounds of make up to begin with. Her complexion was cool and slightly pale. This was her typical vet look. She had no one to try for, and even if she did she was nearly 40 years old the men she would go for were probably a little bit different than those 20 year olds.

Until then she could at least start doing a routine check up on the horses and make sure everyone was still in the pristine health she left them. The stable hands and other workers made life so much easier for her because they actually did a good job looking after the horses and keeping their nutrition. Before she moved here she was finding it hard to find someone who knew a little bit about proper nutrition.

Setting her bag down she went into the first horses stall, he came up to her instantly. Smiling she gave him a scratch on the nose and then closed the door almost all the way behind her. Moving her hands of his body she looked for anything that might pose a problem now or in the future.

[Markus Martins]

Markus gave a yawn as he quietly made his way down the aisles of the stables. Dr. Bowen had set up an "appointment" for Ace's check up and annual shots. Though a stable hand did always offered to handle the large unruly horse, Mark usually handled the horse for such things for the very reason that he was unruly in the first place, and when it came to Ace seeing Dr. Bowen, the horse was just straight up uncontrollable. He went to Ace to check on him and make sure he was alright first. He sensed something was going on. The large horse was antsy, but he seemed to calm down a little when Mark talked to him for a few minutes.

Mark asked one of the other riding instructors to cover for him while he was with Dr. Bowen and Ace. He happily accepted the extra hours, and Mark didn't mind the break for himself this would allow. Although he'd probably end up going to his dad's office and helping with what paper work he could.

He came to a stall door and noticed Dr. Bowen in it with the horse. He leaned against the stall door, watching her and the horse quietly. He waited until she was done before he cleared his throat. He stood up straight and walked over to the horse, stroking a hand along it's forehead. "Ace is all ready for you when you are, Doc." He said gently as he pet and cooed to the large animal they stood next to, calming it from it's antsy manner.

[Dr. Adrianna Bowen]

The horse she was working with was so kind and gentle. He sniffed her curiously as she worked around him. She had given him his shot easily, probably the only horse she could work with alone other than her own who was also stabled here. She would have to remember to stop by and see him after she was finished. She had been so busy she hadn’t had a chance to ride the poor boy in a few days; if this kept up she might have to get someone out to ride him for her. But that would be a hard decision for her because she was so very particular.

She thought of Markus’ horse Ace, who she was really here for today. He didn’t take well to her, it almost made her feel like her knew about her and Jared’s relationship though in some way. It was probably just her guilty conscious for keeping Markus unaware of the relationship. Lucky for her horses can’t speak. But it was easy to understand why Jared would be worried about him finding out; the poor kid lost his beloved mother. Adrianna could easily relate to that, other than the fact that she was much older than he had been. At least she got to have a mother into adulthood. Nonetheless losing a parent unexpectedly was not easy. Markus seemed like he was doing better than her, she couldn’t even have a legitimate relationship now.

Most women would have left Jared long ago, upset he didn’t want to share his relationship with them to the rest of the world even if his reasons were fair. But not Adrianna, no in fact she preferred no one knew...her thoughts were cut short.

Hearing Markus voice she turned around and smiled. Jared should be proud of this boy he had grown into a fine young man. Giving the horse a final pat she left the stall to follow Markus. “How are you this morning Markus?” She looked at him.

Adjusting her pony tail she closed the stall door and picked up her bag to continue on to see Ace. Markus had done a good job with him, even if the horse hated her. He was well cared for, fit, happy...when she wasn’t around at least. “How has Ace been?” She inquired, wanting to make sure there wasn’t anything going on with the horse that she may need to know about.

[Markus Martins]

He gave a small smile when she called him Markus. He had given up telling her to call him Mark. Her and Jared always seemed to be the only ones that called him Markus. Most everyone around the stables and town called him Mark. He sighed as she asked how he was doing. All he could really do was shrug though. He was kind of tired. "Kind of tired. Didn't get much sleep last night." He said gently as he rubbed the back of his head, ruffling up his dirty blond hair. He had that dream again. About his mom. He didn't have them as often as he did when he was a boy. They used to come to her daily and as he got older they started coming less often. Now they only happen every few months. And when he did have them, he never got any more sleep once he woke up from them. He didn't say anything to his dad though. Jared had enough stuff on his hands as it was. He didn't need more stuff to deal with.

Something was up with him, and it had Mark slightly worried. He thought over her question as they made their way down to Ace's stall. He did recall one thing that he needed Dr. Bowen to check out on the horse. It wasn't going to be easy for her considering what the problem was and the horse, but as long as he kept Ace's attention they would be alright. "I noticed yesterday in one of my classes that's he's favoring his front left leg. I checked to make sure that he didn't have a rock or something wedged in his shoe, but everything seemed fine in that area. Then I noticed that his knee area seemed kind of swollen." He answered as they walked down the aisle. "I think it may have happened when I took him for a run on the cross country trail on our break." He said as they came to the large black stallion's stall.

When they came to the stall Markus stepped into the stall first to get Ace. He had put a muscle rub on the swollen area in the hopes that it would help sooth the horse a little, and then Mark wrapped it up. Mark reached to the beast's head when Ace spotted Dr. Bowen. Mark always thought the horse's dislike of the in-house vet had to stem from his past. Ace came from an abusive home. His previous owners had treated him poorly, only using him for breeding, and that was it. Apparently, Ace had a very nice family blood-line, but that was still no excuse to treat him they way his last owners had. When the Colt came to them at the age of four, he had been a very wild and uncontrollable thing. Mark had done wonders with him so far, but he wasn't done with Ace yet. There were still some things he had to work with him on. "It's alright boy." He murmured, stroking a hand over the stallion's cheek when Ace gave an indignant snort and his ears laid against his ears. Mark got the stallion's attention away from Adrianna and to Mark, petting and murmuring to the horse as he held a good firm hand on the halter and lead rope.

[Dr. Adrianna Bowen]

Adrianna smiled and he spot. Markus always impressed her with the way he carried himself and spoke, he was more mature than most men his age. Most would love to be out partying and living an easy life, but Markus, here was working hard. “I hope you don’t work as hard as your father does, you’ll burn yourself” She said kindly smiling at him. She followed him to Ace’s stall, praying he would be good today. She couldn’t blame the horse, and was never nervous around him, just cautious because you never knew what he would do. At least when Markus was around he was relatively agreeable.

Her thoughts drifted back to the day Markus didn’t happen to be at the barn and the stable hand and her struggled to no end to try and stitch up a wound. She couldn’t even get close enough to sedate him. It probably didn’t help matters with that relationship that she literally had to chase him around till she got lucky enough to get the needle in and give him the shot. She was even skilled with needless and he always gave her a run for her money.

“Maybe he’ll like me one day” she chuckled. When Markus pulled him out she didn’t say much more, she let Jared almost put him in a trance. The first thing she did was his shots, it was better to get them done and over with before he realized what was actually happening. Then she moved on to his knee, she removed the muscle wrap and gently felt around waiting to see his reaction and if he moved it or not. “It may just be a strained ligament but I think we should do some X-rays next week if he’s still unsound, I’m wondering if he has a bone chip in there that got irritated.” She looked at the knee for a moment longer. “We need to get that swelling down first though. You definitely did the right thing with the wrap.”

She stepped back from the stud, writing on her note pad so she could keep records on the swelling. Then turning once more to Markus “Cold hose it a few times a day, icing it would be great to if you can do that. I actually have an Ice boot in the tack room you can use, I would leave it on for an hour then take it off for a few and repeat. Cold hosing it before you put the boot on will help make the ice more effective as well. I would wrap his legs overnight as well to help compress that swelling. I’ll come back out in a few days and see if the swelling it down enough to do some X-rays”. Her look gazed kindly over the stud, he was stunning, and underneath it all he had a kind soul.

[Markus Martins]

He chuckled and shook his head. "If anyone around here works too hard, it's Dad." He said jokingly, but it wasn't necessarily untrue. Mark had been saying for years that Jared needed to take a vacation and do something relaxing. Go fishing or camping or something. He needed to get away from Willow Brooke, but of course... he would hear nothing of it. Usually just sighed and shut his mouth and went about what he'd originally been doing. There wasn't much hope in arguing with Jared when his mind was made up. Lately that attitude had Mark worried, but he didn't voice his worries cause even if something was bothering his dad, he knew Jared wouldn't say anything.

He laughed softly and nodded. "Yeah, the day you stop poking him with those needles will be the day he happily welcomes you." He teased lightly as he pet a hand along the forehead of the giant head. Mark kept talking and murmuring to the giant horse as Adrianna took care of the shots first. Ace wouldn't realize what was going on before it was too late. He gave a soft squeal and a snort of anger, stomping a hind foot in agitation when he realized what Dr. Bowen had done. He gave another snort and bobbed his head. Mark frowned and forced his head back to get him to stop. Once he was sure the horse was calm again he loosened his hold a little and looked down to his leg as Adrianna looked over it. Ace tried to pull his leg away a couple of times while Adrianna was touching it, but he relented and let her take a look once he understood that she was just trying to help. Mark was probably one of the few who really understood the horse's behavior. He wasn't such a bad guy. He was just slightly misunderstood by most. Mark understood him though, which is why he was so patient with Ace. On the inside the stallion was a big ole' softie. He just didn't show anyone except Mark.

Deep blue eyes looked to Adrianna as she explained. He nodded his head gently, hoping it was only a strained ligament. That was easy enough to care for, but even a chipped bone could take a while to heal. He stroked and patted the long black neck soothingly as he nodded gently at Adrianna's instructions. He sighed and looked to Ace after a minute. "Guess you're gonna have to take it easy for a while, boy." He said gently as he brushed the forelock of dark hair from his face. Ace gave a soft snort and shook his head as Mark looked up to Adrianna. "I'll be sure to keep it good and cooled down. Hopefully it's nothing too serious. He would go stir crazy being stuck doing nothing." He said as he gave a gentle nod. He reached into the pocket of his jeans and pulled out some baby carrots. Ace seemed to perk up at this as Mark opened the bag and offered a few to the horse for being a good boy. Ace lowered his had, happily taking up the carrots from Mark's flattened palm and munched on the carrots for a moment before nosing at Mark's palm. "We're not done yet, big boy." He said gently as he looked back up to Adrianna. The hardest part would probably be his actual physical examination.

[Dr. Adrianna Bowen]

“Hey I’m all for handing the needles over too you, but its better he hates me than you.” She smirked and laughed a bit, “Plus, I don’t really want to be out of a job, you might show me up”. Adrianna enjoyed watching Markus and Ace interact. They definitely had a strong bond, and the stud clearly adored him. It’s a shame a horse that stunning had been so mistreated, she couldn’t figure out why anyone would want too. Adrianna made sure to be very aware when working around the stud, she wasn’t jumping, just very in tune with the movement he was making. She wanted to have enough warning to get out of the way should he decided to try to get her. Although he had never really tried to seriously hurt her, more just try to be a pain.

“Now onto the fun part” She laughed a bit. Looking at the stud she spoke “If you just stand still, It’ll be so much quicker.” Taking her stethoscope she moved towards his barrel to check his heart beat, once again being aware that she was easily in kicking range. Adrianna tended to avoid the hospital, the last time she had been there was when her parents had died. One has to give her a bit of credit for being able to avoid a hospital for nearly 19 years.
After listening to his head she checked over his body looking for any unusual findings other than his knees. Then she moved up towards him. “Let’s see if he’ll let me check his teeth”. After a bit of a struggle (ooc: sorry not trying to power play him too much – you can make him do something else)she was able to check his teeth. Stepping back from the horse, “He looks great Markus, he’s really come a long way from when you got him. His heart beat sounds good, teeth don’t need to be done yet”

She returned her stuff back to her bag and safely disposed of the used needles. “I’ll come back in a few days just do check his knee. Hand walking should be okay, I just don’t want him out anywhere where he can play really hard. I’d put him on some bute as well, 10cc twice a day.” She turned around to face the stud once again taking in his beauty “I wouldn’t worry too much about it being a bone chip, basing on what he was doing I’m guessing it was likely a strain.”

[Markus Martins]

He chuckled and shook his head gently. "I highly doubt that. I'd end up killing him if you gave me the needle to work with." He said playfully as he kept the stud from moving around too much. Ace had never made any attempts on Adrianna's life so far, but the large animal did make it clear that he was quite capable of doing it if he didn't like something she did to him. Mark- and maybe Jared- was the only person who really knew how to handle the high spirited horse in such situations. Ace could be a rather mean booger when he wanted to be. And he had proven that the one time a stable hand and Dr. Bowen had decided to try and handle the massive animal without Markus's help.

He looked to Adrianna when she made the comment about the fun part. He smirked and chuckled slightly before looking to Ace, offering some carrots. The carrots were to keep the horse distracted for the most part while Adrianna looked over Ace. It was a helpful aid when it came to the annual check ups. Deep blue pools watched as she worked on the dog. And then the time came for his mouth check. Mark struggled for a moment to get the head to stop swinging about. It took good, firm hands before his head finally stilled enough for Adrianna to take a look. Mark made sure to keep an eye out for any chance of the horse pulling something while the vet did her examination. Once she was finished Mark let up on his grip and the horse swung his head about for a moment before shaking it and lipping at his gums for a moment.

Mark gave a gentle smile and looked up to Ace, releasing the halter so he could move his head about a little more. His ears swiveled about as he listened to Adrianna. Mark gave him a final carrot and put he rest back in his pocket for later. "I do my best to take care of him." He said gently as he stroked Ace's neck soothingly. The horse calmed down for the time being as she told him what all he needed to do. Mark listened, nodding his head gently. "I think were it anything worse he'd be in a much meaner mood to." He said gently as he glanced down at his knee. The swelling had gone down since he rubbed it down and bandaged it up, but it was still pretty bad. He would have to be sure to ice and hose it down throughout the day. "We're just going to have to take it easy for a while boy." He said to Ace. Ace gave an indignant snort in answer as if he had to disagree to it, but Mark knew he wouldn't be doing much more than just walking around for a few days. He wasn't going to leave the horse in his stall all day long. He knew Ace needed room to move about. He needed some space. He would get it. Just not as much.

[Dr. Adrianna Bowen]

Adrianna leaned against the stall as she once more watch the stud and man interact, “You know you have your father’s gift with horses...” She paused for a minute, “You might even be better than him” she laughed, “don’t tell him that though it might hurt his pride”. It was true, Markus did have a way with horses, I mean Adrianna herself wasn’t bad with horses, but Markus’s skill went above just being good around with horses, he could truly connect with them and understand them on a deeper level. Adrianna found it fascinating to watch.

“Are there any more that need anything done today?” She looked at him curiously. It was looking like today was going to be an early day...at least at the barn. There was lots of paper work to catch up on at the office. Hopefully Jared would be there, she hadn’t seen him in a few days and oddly felt herself missing him. She wasn’t exactly the relationship type of person, she had had her fair share of relationship but the minute they got serious she bailed on them. Those poor men...She figured the reason her and Jared worked was because it was kept such a secret, it was just them. Almost like it wasn’t truly real, and if it wasn’t real it couldn’t get serious, and if it wasn’t serious she couldn’t get her...Her thoughts wandered to how messed up you have to be to think like that.

Unlike these kids Adrianna didn’t get help when her parents died, all but her one brother hated her and blamed her for her parent’s death. They were all adults then so they didn’t need to look after her anymore. Her life fell apart before her and the only one to pick up the pieces was her. These were things she didn’t tell people, yes quite a few people knew her parents died when she was younger, but not many knew how badly she truly fell apart, in fact no one but her brother did.

The stall she was leaning back on happened to be her own horse BamBam’s door. She felt his soft nose nibbling on her shirt, which returned her thoughts to the reality before her. “Hey” she pushed his nose away gently and turned around to face the horse, “I hope you’ve been a good boy while I’ve been gone.” She gave him a scratch on the face, the stud pricked his ears curiously giving a soft nicker to the stud standing before him. “You know Markus if you ever have nothing to do, feel free to take BamBam out, I’m sure he would love it”. There was a sarcastic note to her voice with regards to the never having anything to do, she knew that would be a rare day. However, she was very genuine about him taking BamBam out if he ever wanted to. “You could even use him for some of the more experienced kids, he jumps and does dressage.”

[Markus Martins]

He smiled faintly and chuckled. "Dad's got all the skills. I inherited it all from him." His mom had a way with horses to, but not like his dad had. Markus was a bit of a combination of Willow's skills and Jared's but it still wasn't like Jared's touch with horses. Willow had been more of a book keeper, but she was fairly decent with horses. He looked to Ace and softly stroked a hand down the black forehead for a few minutes, trying to sooth the jittery horse.

He had to think for a moment before he gave an answer. "Well, if you do have any others today, then the stable hands will have to help you out. I was going to go help Dad with some of the paper work." He said gently, scratching Ace behind the ear gently. He hoped that some of the lack of paperwork would help his dad get a little rest or something. Jared needed to get out a little more often than he really did.

Mark looked up when he saw BamBam's head poke out of his stall. A soft smile spread across his lips as he watched the dappled stallion and Adrianna. He glanced to the vet, grining softly. "I'd be willing to use him for my classes for demonstration purposes." He said as he reached a hand out to stroke over the large head of the horse. "Bet you'd enjoy doing a little show jumping for a bunch of kids wouldn't you?" He looked to Ace when he felt the large head nudge his shoulder. He smiled and gently hugged his head gently. "Don't worry. I haven't forgotten about you." He said as he pet and soothed the black stud. He gently led Ace back into the stall. He left the horse in the stall and hung up the lead as he stepped out. He locked the stall door, smiling when Ace stuck his head out and he started to lip at Mark's hair. Mark would take care of his knee once he and Adrianna parted ways so that Ace would be a little less jittery and dangerous for him to take care of his knee.

[Dr. Adrianna Bowen]

Adrianna smiled, “I need to check my records but I think a few more need some shots. I’ll hunt a stable hand down to help me.” It was good Markus wanted to help his father, “I’m sure you father would love the help.” Even if Jared didn’t admit it to himself, he couldn’t do it all on his own anymore. He had worn himself down much too fast. Or maybe Adrianna was just a worrier...

The dappled stud almost nodded his head as Markus spoke, sniffing at his pockets looking for treat. Adrianna smiled, “I’m sure he would love it, he likes it more than I do” she laughed a bit. Patting the stud’s neck... “Anytime you need him though just take him, I trust you” It was true, she knew that as long as he was in Markus hands he wouldn’t get into too much trouble. Plus the stallion was a gentle giant who was very forgiving. Adrianna would have gelded him sooner, but his attitude was so great and he had so much potential in the Dressage she couldn’t bring herself to do so. Maybe one day.

She noticed a stable hand passing by and called them over. Picking up her binder she flipped through the pages to figure out what each horse needed then gathered things up. Looking up to Markus she smiled once more, “Well I better get these horses finished up, I’ll probably see you at the office later.” She turned and started to leave then turned around once more, “Have a good day” Then she walked off with the stable hand in tow.