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Post by Val Stanton on Jun 5, 2011 1:05:28 GMT -5
Val Stanton:
Val stood by and watched as her trainers took one of her latest acquisitions through the course. The three-year-old bay Hanoverian gelding sailed over the jumps, much to Val's delight.
"Good boy, Maximus," Val applauded. The rider smiled, and gave the horse a pat of approval.
"He's a fine horse, Mrs. Stanton!" called out one of the trainers.
"He'd better be," Val muttered through a forced grin directed towards her trainers in a show of tacit agreement with their assessment of the animal's capabilities, "he sure cost me a fine sum."
"Since when was money an issue, Val?" a new voice asked.
Val turned around to see Lisa Stillman standing right behind her shoulder. Slightly startled, she said: "Oh, Lisa! When did you get here?"
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Post by Lisa Stillman on Jun 5, 2011 1:12:54 GMT -5
Lisa:
"Oh, only a minute ago," Lisa answered. "Your new jumper certainly looks like he has a lot of promise."
She observed the gelding's markings: two short white socks on his hind legs and an attractive, narrow white blaze across the front his head. He had a strong gait, and Lisa could tell the rider already had a lot of confidence in the way Maximus approached the jumps.
Lisa knew better than to ask exactly how much Val had paid for the horse, but also knew Val would find some way to work the cost into the conversation out of pure vanity.
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Post by Val Stanton on Jun 5, 2011 1:46:59 GMT -5
Val:
"Yes, he does," Val agreed. "His sire is Tailor Made, and his dam is Queen Betty of the Grosvenor House line, so his pedigree is simply impeccable."
Lisa nodded noncommittally. She dealt almost exclusively with Thoroughbreds and a few specialty breeds on occasion; Hanoverians weren't often present at Fairfield.
"I paid nearly a hundred-thousand for Maximus," Val bragged, earning an impressed nod from her visitor, "so I have great expectations for him."
"Perfect segue," Lisa commented, "it brings me to the reason for my visit."
"Oh?" Val said, turning her attention away from the action in the training pen. "So you didn't just show up at Briar Ridge to shoot the breeze, eh?"
Lisa smiled. "I came to see if you would be entering a team for the W.E.N. events," she said.
Val smiled back and put her hands on her hips. "Hmm... why do you want to know? Are you thinking of sponsoring a team of your own?"
Shaking her head, Lisa said, "Not me, but I did run into a couple of your new stable hands at Maggie's today: a young lady of about eighteen - Alice, I think, was her name - and a young guy about the same age. I understand they're into showjumping, too..."
"Ah, and you want to know if I've hired them to be part of a team out of Briar Ridge?" Val asked, believing Lisa to be fishing for information. "Well, as you know, my Ashley has been very successful with Apollo, and Cindy Norton, who trains here on her jumper, Stargate, is already a professional show-jumper, so..."
"So... is that 'no', you're not entering a team for W.E.N., or 'no', you didn't hire Alice to shore up your chances for a win?" Lisa asked, realising she hadn't received a straight answer.
"Oh, Lisa!" Val said with a laugh, "you'll just have to wait and see!"
"Mrs. Stanton!" called one of Val's staff from the entrance to the spacious and luxurious indoor 'stable'.
Val turned her head at the sound. "What is it?!" she called back in annoyance at being interrupted.
"You've got a phone call!" the staffer yelled back.
"Well, take a message," Val said, "I'm busy!"
"It's your daughter, and she says it's urgent," said the staffer.
Val raised her eyes to the sky. "Excuse me, Lisa," she ground out, and stalked off towards the stables.
Lisa took that opportunity to leave, slightly disappointed her 'fishing expedition' hadn't been fruitful.
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Post by Lisa Stillman on Jun 5, 2011 1:57:26 GMT -5
Lisa:
As Lisa turned to go, some instinct made her hang back. She waited to see if Val would return from whatever crisis her daughter had called about. Based on her earlier demeanour, the mention of Alice's name hadn't resulted in any overtly hostile reaction from Val.
Lisa guessed that Val had not yet heard of the jump-off.
If she had heard, she would have been spewing flames when I talked about Alice, Lisa thought.
She glanced over one more time at the training pen to see the trainers urging the gelding over the jump with whips, two on either side. The sound of the crack of leather made Lisa cringe. Yep, Alice certainly has her work cut out for her.
A few minutes later, a visibly upset Val came storming out of the stables. She looked up and caught Lisa's questioning expression.
"Oh, you're still here, Lisa," she said tersely.
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Post by Lisa Stillman on Jun 6, 2011 0:57:19 GMT -5
Lisa:
Lisa nodded in the affirmative. "See you later, Val, I've got to be on my way," she said.
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Post by Val Stanton on Jun 7, 2011 23:45:35 GMT -5
Val:
"Well, I've got to be on my way, too, as it happens. I've got to get into town. It seems my latest stable hand is planning something completely without my authorization! Thank goodness Ashely walked into Maggie's when she did, otherwise I might have been too late to stop this ridiculous plan of Alice's."
Lisa simply stared and waited for Val to finish her rant.
"Honestly," Val huffed, obviously still irate, "who does that Alice Gordon think she is? A jump-off? This Saturday?! Well, I can tell you there will be no such thing I have anything to say about it!"
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Post by Val Stanton on Jun 15, 2011 2:18:11 GMT -5
Val:
Val still had the crumpled poster in her hands from Maggie's Diner when she approached the training pen. She could see Cindy was indeed exercising one of the horses - Stargate, as it turned out. While she wasn't keen on interrupting the young woman's routine, what she had to say to her was important.
"Cindy!!!" she yelled out in a strident tone. Val was satisfied to see Cindy pull up and turn to face her with a puzzled expression on her face...
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Post by Alice Gordon on Jun 30, 2011 5:00:26 GMT -5
Cindy: Wow what's got Val so excited? Cindy wondered as she turned and trotted Star upto Val. "Yes?" she asked noticing how mad Val looked.
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Post by Val Stanton on Jul 2, 2011 0:44:36 GMT -5
Val:
A still livid Val began methodically un-crumpling the poster she had in her grip. She held it so Cindy could see what it said.
"Did you have any idea this was going on?" she demanded, almost screeching the question.
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Post by Alice Gordon on Jul 2, 2011 11:24:18 GMT -5
Cindy: "Ah yes the jump off," Cindy said frowning in anoyance. "I can't belive that, that stable girl actually thinks she can take me on! Who does she think she is? She actually tried to tell me how to ride!"
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Post by Val Stanton on Jul 2, 2011 14:39:39 GMT -5
Val:
Val lowered her arm and balled up the poster again, feeling some of her frustration dissipate.
"You know there's only one way, and one way alone to deal with this," Val said, "if she's gone ahead and issued this challenge, I suppose I can't force you to back down, even though you know I am not amused by this at all... She's no match for you and Star. Come Saturday, you beat her at this silly jump-off, and you beat her soundly! Do you understand me?"
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Post by Alice Gordon on Jul 2, 2011 15:41:51 GMT -5
Cindy: "Completely," she replied. "This going to be easy," Cindy added with a smirk, "No stable girl is going to beat me at anything."
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Post by Val Stanton on Jul 2, 2011 20:06:45 GMT -5
Val:
"Ugh! This is already such an embarrassment. Imagine! Ashley had to call me to tell me about this. I should have taken down all of those posters in Maggie's, but what's the point? Everyone in Hudson has heard about it by now... Anyway... I won't keep you from your workout. You are my top jumper, Cindy. Don't disappoint me."
With that, Val walked off to tend to other business, the first of which was to decide if Alice and Jason ought to be disciplined somehow for their betrayal.
They work for me, and this is the thanks I get? I wonder how eager they'll be to challenge Cindy if I toss them out. Then where would they stay? Where would Alice train? Maybe once Cindy beats her, she'll come to her senses.
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Post by Alice Gordon on Jul 3, 2011 14:29:38 GMT -5
Cindy: Feeling satisfied that Val wasn't going to bother her any longer she turned Star back to the course and quickly scanning the grounds for a groom.
When she finally found one she yelled a quick: " Raise the jumps" then while waiting she secretly started planning on how she was going to spy on Alice's next training session. She has never seen the girl ride before and she didn't want to get any nasty surprises at the competition.
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Post by Val Stanton on Jul 4, 2011 18:21:10 GMT -5
Val:
Val turned back around before reaching the stables.
"And Cindy," she called out to the young woman, "consider this jump-off a way of serving notice that the Briar Ridge team is going to be the one to beat at the W.E.N. events. Not that we really need the publicity, but Alice might actually be doing us a favour with all her pathetic advertising."
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