Early mornings had never phased Meredith. They were usually the only times she had been able to get away from Tony. For those who didn't know, and that was most of the population of Virginia, Tony had been Meredith's husband. He had been a rich Welsh land owner, but he'd also been a complete git. So, Meredith had spent as much time as she could away from him, either with the horses or out with her dogs. She'd become quite the country lass with all the dogs and the small herd of horses in the stables. Except, here, she'd only brought in two. Well, one. Her second was in quarentene at the moment. But, she did have her handsome prize-winning Paso Fino and her long rider Duran. Caro was a handsome chestnut stallion, but quite well behaved as stallions go, whilst Duran was as calm as an Endurance horse got. She'd wanted to bring all the horses over, all fifteen of them, but she wouldn't have the time looking after and excersising them all without the grooms, two was fine.

Yes, it sounded very poncy, but when you were married to a Welsh lord you had house staff. She'd enjoyed the company of a few, mostly the stable staff who she'd converse with early in the morning whilst Tony was still in bed. Another reason why being up early didn't particually phase her was the fact she was, for a short time, living with her brother. Robbie was a mounted cop and usually had the morning or night shifts with his partner so getting up early or returning early was something of a trade for him. And Meredith was a light sleeper. It all added up. That morning Robbie had left early and she'd taken her time, getting up, having a shower, getting breakfast, the usual morning routine.

The kitchen, as usual, was filled with dog. Well, there were only two of them but they tended to follow you around just in case. One was her brothers and one was hers. Hers was rather younger and much more active than Robbie's. He was a bright, cheerful, although pretty well trained, border collie named Syackin who followed Robbie's elderly dog, Kimmic, around religiously. Towling her long hair, Meri, rifled through a drawer on the old table in the study. Robbie and Meredith hadn't been living in Pinewood for very long. Two weeks at most and not everything was unpacked, but Meri was sure Robbie had used the car keys sometime in the past two weeks, she just didn't know where he kept them. Which was why she was rifling.

It took her a good twenty minutes to locate the keys. But, it wasn't like she was in any hurry. Her stallion would still be out in the field eating grass and there was no-one waiting for her. The car was parked outside in the large driveway to the shared house. Robbie had inheritted a lot of money and Meredith's allamony didn't exactly leave either of them coming up short. And that could really be seen with the house and the cars. Robbie was a bit of a petrol head, which was odd considering he was a mounted policeman rather than a squad car copper. She started up the engine of the car and backed out. Neither were very careful drivers and the Audi convertable Meri was driving at the moment was probably made for them. They tended to push the cars a little too hard and break something. The drive to the stable was quiet and uneventful. The car's engine wasn't one of the unexplainably noisy ones, so it simply cruised along the roads gently. As gently as Meri's driving style allowed, but the car was surviving so far. Robbie was still working on the Land Rover after, as a joint effort, they'd put it through it's paces. It had lasted longer than many of the others they'd broken over the years.

Meri ran a hand over Caro's sleek coat. The handsome dust coloured gelding shifted his weight slightly, flicking his tail lazily. Meri should probably trim his tail soon, since it was getting just that little bit long. But, personally, she prefered it long. Caro's coat was sleek and newly brushed down. Meredith had always taken good care to brush down her horses after a ride, even if it was just briefly. It meant she spent more time with the horses than the jerk that she used to be married to. Used to being the joyful part of that sentence. Just twenty years old and already divorced! Meredith had only moved to Pinewood a week or so ago with her two horses, Caro and Duran. It had been a welcome escape after the long divorce proceedures.

She'd been leaving the horses out in the pastures for the last couple of nights, and tonight was no different. Well, not night it was late afternoon now. She haltered up Caro with the slightly worn pressure headcollar she'd bought for another horse owner when she was sixteen. But, it worked perfectly well for Caro and it fitted him well. The dust bay gelding walked calmly out beside Meredith as she let the rope run through one hand before flipping it over her arm. It was the easiest place to keep it whilst leading Caro around. He tended to try and chew the end of the rope, which was just annoying. It was what two of the three house dogs did, Syackin and Kimmic. Well, mostly Syackin since Kimmic was an elderly mutt. The third, Porthos didn't do anything like that, he was an incredibly laid back, more or less just lazy, dog.

The yard lead onto the parking lot just outside the stables and Meredith was just exiting the darker area of the barn aisle when a piercing whinny ripped through the air. Caro's head shot up, ears flattening against his pole. From another barn across the yard a horse appeared, hooves skidding on the concrete. It was a large palomino stallion Meri had seen a couple of times before, followed by two muscular stable lads. One seemed to be carrying a rope whilst the other just had his hat in one hand. The stallion obviously had other ideas than getting caught and lashed out, hooves smacking into the nearest car. Caro snorted, raising one hoof to paw randomly at the air. The alarm on the car blared out, causing the palomino to skid around and take off full stretch with the two stable hands in tow. Caro made a slight attempt to look like he was about to follow, but there wasn't much point, he might have a slightly tattered headcollar, but it was a pressure headcollar, which he did respond to well.

It didn't take long to calm Caro, he was more or less placcid as life went. It wasn't Caro she had any problems with, but she had brought Syackin along today and the dog was nowhere to be found right now. Great, life was...turning out like life usually did. Sighing, Meri brought Caro into a quick walk, making sure not to startle him as she hurried on their process towards the feild. Caro was still in his stall, ready to be ridden that day. Caro's ears were back up, although still flicked back and forth occasionally, as they neared his fields. Meri let the stallion off, who made a few strides in a sprightly trot before settling into a more regular rhythm of eating.

Returning to the stable block at a light jog, the halter over one arm, Meri started the search for the runaway red setter. It didn't take her long to check the stable hall, only a few stalls down from where she'd left Duran. Syackin had simply followed the fresh smells of two new canines, the shined coat setter padded around towards the two other dogs, coming to a less than elegant halt with a clatter of non-retractable claws. With the ceremonial greeting of the setter, Syackin barked, tail waving quickly back and forth in some unknown beat. She barked again, looking up cheerfully towards Dustin, not quite being able to chose between looking towards the puppy, the pit and the owner. Meri rounded the corner, sighing. "Syackin." She called, well, she said, you don't shout in a stable hall. The dog looked over at her with the traditional completely blank look Syackin always possessed. Resisting the urge to click her tongue, as was a habit of hers, Meri walked briskly up the aisle, leaning down and grabbing the red setter's collar. She glanced up at the young man with an apologetic smile. "Sorry, my dog is an idiot and I have very little control over him." She said lightly, quite a bit more confidently than she usually would from the annoyance of her dog.