"Thank you," Rowan said to the compliment about his mare. Rowan nodded to the woman's words, Dyna squealing when the other mare touched her nose, he pulled his mare back when she felt her stiffen as if she was about to swing her rear to the other mare and start kicking. He calmly pulled her face away from the mare watching the woman with a curious gaze. "Anything will work," He admitted calmly, Dyna still prancing under the saddle which wasn't like her, she was hardly ever energetic, causing a frown to grace his features momentarily. He followed behind the woman's mare at a distance.

"So. What made you take the job here?" Emma said, making light conversation as she manuvered any puddles that would scare Fury. "I, personally, came to get some experiance with ranches so I can own one someday. I also really want to make it to the NFR in the future." She said, sharing a bit. She leaned back as Fury stepped carefully down the hill, hoping to even out the mare's balance.

Rowan hummed in response to her chatter, coaxing the very lazy draft horse along, her bell shaped hooves stomping through the puddles uncaringly. "Eh, wanted to escape the gunfights, I guess, use my trade school degrees for something," He shrugged, urging his horse to speed up a bit to keep with stride with the other mare. He took a deep breath. "That's nice," he murmured. "Thought they could use another farrier along with my other degree, but guess not," He huffed softly. Dyna with skilled precision and practiced ease got down the hill. He leaned back naturally both to keep himself balanced and to help Dyna move.

"We should probably head back." Emma said, glancing at her phone. She clicked to Fury, urging her horse into a lope, going all the way back to the barn. Fury acted as thoguh it was no problem, but Emma was currying out sweat for a half hour. Once she had blanketed the mare and fed her a snack, Emma walked out to talk to Rowan. "Hey. Thanks for coming with. Where you headed?"

Rowan followed behind with a slight frown, they had only began riding, but he didn't say anything as he was led back to the barn. He watched silently as she combed the sweat from the mares hair. "Gotta help round up cattle," He responded with a small smile, slowly reaching for the reins that lazily sat on Dynas neck.

"Oh. I'd help, but Fury is tuckered out. Sorry, Rowan." She said, embarassed she was useless for help. "I'm gonna head to the ranch office and see what I should do about the other ranch horses here. Maybe I can help next time?" She smiled and walked to the main office, closing the door behind her quickly as to not let in the brisk winter air. There was an older woman sitting at a desk on a computer, clicking away. "Hello. I'm Emma, one of the new employees. What do you want me to do to help with the ranch horses?" She asked, sounding slightly bored. "Well, hon, you probably should groom and at least lunge the studs. Don't touch the mares in the box stalls, they're expecting foals. Off you go." She woman gave Emma a parting smile before going back to clicking on her computer. Well that was such a gentle answer. Emma thought sarcastically. She walked back outside, and back into the barn. She pulled out a Stud named Secrets Best Left Unspoken and his halter said 'Spook'. "Why, hello spook." Emma said, grabbing the grooming tote and currying out his roan fur.

Rowan nodded reluctantly before pulling Dyna away and coaxing her harshly into a trot, the beautiful, natural gait looked a lot like a moose walking, which he always loved. But Dyna herself looked like a mule, with her big ears that looked like a donkey's, and her face was shaped close to a mule's. Yet she was a Percheron no doubt about it.

---

Rowan breathed heavily, condensation leaving him as he exhaled heavily, it seemed herding cattle wasn't his strong suit as he urged Dyna into making a quick turn to herd a lost heifer back to the herd, other cowboys snickered as he struggled, yelling at the damned thing as his mare tried her best even with her limited agility to urge the heifer into its herd.

---

It was long past sundown when Rowan returned. Rowan led his mare into the barn, slipping off her bridle to put on her halter he removed her tack and combed out her sweat, picked her hooves before untying her and leading her into her stall where he took off her halter, going out and locking the stall door behind him he went and got some hay, giving her a little extra for her work.

Emma had groomed and lunged all 4 stallions, plus a fiesty yearling colt by the time it was pitch black outside. Emma sighed, slipping the halter off of the colt and deftly avoiding a nip. "Yeah, I don't like you either." She said, locking the stall door. She moved tiredly down the barn aisle and spotted Rowan. She didn't talk to him, as he seemed upset to talk to her. Like she was a problem. Well, Two can play at that game. Emma thought bitterly. She walked to the cabins, getting dressed in a pair of sweats and a t-shirt. She sighed, pulling out her phone and watching Tiktoks until she fell asleep.

The next morning, Emma got up with a headache. She quickly changed into jeans and put on a sweatshirt over the shirt she was already wearing. She walked into the barn and fed the outraged mare, patting her neck before leaving the stall and doing her tasks. It wasn't at all bad today, a mercy. All Emma had to do was lunge out the non-expecting mares and make sure the expecting mares got their feed. "Thank god." She said, reading off the tasks.

Rowan huffed that next morning, already he had fed his mare and had tacked up, preparing another day to help with the cattle again. He was definitely not amused, but he was glad he made a neutral, maybe even positive impression on some of his co-workers. But the cattle was another thing, yet he would learn, eventually...

---

Rowan spotted Emma before she spotted him... luckily, he frowned slightly but said nothing focusing on tightening Dyna's girth one last time, he let out a grunt of effort as he pulled at the latigo, which he personally thought sounded pathetic. He couldn't help but glance a few times at Emma, at the way her jeans hugged her hips, how- He immediately shoved those kinds of thoughts away from his mind, not wanting to think of his co-worker like that. He frowned to himself as he unclipped Dyna from the cross ties and led her out of the barn, greeting Emma with a hum of acknowledgment as he and his mare walked past.

Emma watched as Rowan walked to the cattle, leading his huge mare. She quickly averted her eyes to the tackroom, walking over and grabbing a lunge lead. The first mare's stall said she was on stall rest, so Emma skipped her. I'l talk to the owner later. She thought to herself, leading out a horse who's halter said: 'Beauty Defined'. "Very fancy name, pretty girl." Emma said, leading the bay mare to a round pen. After repeating this with 8 other mares, Emma was wanting to spend time with her own horse. Just need to feed, then I can go do some runs. She poured the alotted amount into each mother-to-be's feed pail, then turned and spped-walked to the tackroom, grabbing her tack. She rushed to Fury, yanking open her stall. "Hey, sweetheart. Let's get some runs knocked out, yeah?" She said, lifting the blanket off of the horse. She quickly tacked up Fury, not bothering with cross-ties today. Fury was reluctant to have her bridle put on, so Emma waited for the mare's fit to pass. When it eventually did, Emma slipped the bridle on and led Fury out of her stall and out of the barn. Emma mounted up, walking her horse to the covered arena. She let Fury walk around in the enclosed arena while setting up the barrels. They were light, and required little pushing to fall over. That was going to be a challenge for the both of them. Emma walked back over to her horse, mounting up once more and taking her position at one end of the arena. Fury danced in place, excited, before Emma let her run. The mare was like a gunshot, expertly manuvering around the first and second barrels. Emma had a mental clock going, hoping to break their 16.72 second record. "Fuck." Emma muttered to herself as Fury's hoof glanced the corner of the barrel, knocking it over with a light thud. She urged the mare to go her fastest back to the start, but their end time was still 22.38 seconds. Emma patted the mares neck, "Shit. Gotta work on her turns at that third one." She hopped off the mare, putting the barrels away and loping the edge of the arena. Once Fury seemed calm, Emma practiced the cresent shape while turning around pretend barrels. She was sure she looked stupid, but it helped her horse, not embarassing her as much as she thought it would.