I picked up the shavings fork and tossed it in the wheelbarrow along with the broom.
Sighing, I leave the equipment room and make my way down to the first stable. "Same shit different day," I mumble. "Literally. Hey, buddy, you finished your breakfast?" I coo to the horse munching his hay.
As I continue on with the morning routine of turning out the horses and mucking out the stables, I wonder what this summer has in store for me, besides the typical pony camps and inducting the working students into life here.
God, I hate the pony camps; some parents believe we can turn their kids into Olympian showjumpers over the summer when the kid can barely get the pony to walk on their own.
"Hey, Sweetheart, don't forget the first working student should be arriving after noon. Be nice to him," my Uncle Haymitch calls to me as he walks into the office.
It's just after 10 and, as I had just dumped the last dirty load out of the barrow, I put it out of the way and go to find out more about the new guy.
Some of the idiots that have shown up over the years have never been close to a horse, much less know how to care for one.
"Okay, fill me in on the new guy. Please tell me he at least knows which end of a horse the crap comes out of, unlike Cato last year?"
Haymitch chuckles. "Ha, yeah, he didn't last very long did he? No, this guy knows what he's doing. His grandparents used to own a couple of horses before they passed away last winter. You might know him; he was in your year in school. His name is Peeta Mellark and, while he knows how to muck out and that, he doesn't really know how to ride. He won't be much use for the camps at first so you need teach him how to lead the ponies properly."
Oh, god, not Peeta Mellark, I groan internally. "Why can't Gale just teach him the ropes? I'm gonna have my hands full with the kids and the parents," I complain.
"Gale is taking over the liveries and early private lessons since you have camp duty this year, so he'll have his hands full more so than you. And don't even think of trying to pawn him off to Prim; you're the best person around here with the horses, and you know it. Sure, you're the one who taught Gale all he knows about this place, so suck it up, Sweetheart. He'll be here soon, and you've a week to show him how to lead and preferably the basics of how to ride so he'll be able to help the kids as he's leading." Haymitch promptly ends this conversation by picking up the ancient phone on the desk my father used to sit at, probably to order more feed or talk to the insurance company.
As I walk out of the office, I check my watch and see its only 10.15, so I've time for a trek before Peeta gets here. As I run around getting the tack for my mare Bramble, I try to think how I'm going to manage working around Peeta Mellark, my childhood crush, the school valedictorian and most out of my league guy I've ever met. As I've got Bramble tacked up I re-do my thick raven hair in a braid stick my helmet on and lead Bram out to the gate that leads to the forest. After double checking everything, I mount up and nudge my horse towards the forest in a trot.
After a while I spur her on faster wanting to get away from the farm as fast as I can. I trust Bramble with my life so I don't pay much attention to where we are headed; just making sure to lift myself off her back when a fallen tree or log pops up.
When we finally start slowing down I take in my surroundings and see that Bramble has brought me to my dad's old fishing hut on the hidden side of the lake. Jumping down I take off Brambles saddle set it up against the hut and turn back to remove her bridle.
"You always seem to know where I need to go Bram." I say to her leaving her to munch the lush green grass around us. I sink down on the grass and turn my face to the sun while I try to figure out how I'm gonna manage the next 4 months.