sway with me ` AMY

[b.ounce]

Tanner Poll

[/font][/size]

After spending nearly his entire life helping his father run the ranch that he grew up on, Tanner was finally taking an actual step into the real world and taking a chance on running a new farm. A farm that didn't belong to his daddy and if he screwed up he wasn't going to get a 'It's okay, bud. Just try again', he was going to get the boot. Well.. that was IF he got the job. Either way, this was where he was living now and he'd have to board Lady here, but it was always a plus if you were the boss, right? Or.. well.. the second boss.

He walked into the barn, dressed in a pair of tan Dickies, a white undershirt and a light blue button up shirt. He looked casual, but at the same time, classy. Like he knew what he was doing. And he did. Or in his opinion he did. Slowly, he made his way towards the office door where he knew Amy would be. He swallowed the large lump in his throat and continued walking. Strangely enough, he felt confident. I mean, he'd been doing this whole 'business' thing since before he could remember, he felt like he knew what he was talking about. He slowly outstretched his hand and lightly knocked on the office door, it would be rude to just open it.

[/size][/font]

[<Amy>]

Amy Garland && Frisco

Amy heaved a sigh as she flipped through manila folders, glancing at the labels before tossing them into the appropriate haphazard piles on her desk. Her feet were up on another chair, a stack of unfiled files on her lap, her desk covered in disarrayed piles of folders. Under Amy's desk was a heap of silver and white fur that just so happened to be named Frisco, fast asleep leaving his mistress to her boring administrative tasks. Sorting through student, horse, adoption and staff files was never fun and always exceedingly boring. She would much rather be doing the outdoor maintenance on the trails with Dutch or Captain. The recent number of applications however, was just getting rediculous.

Bending over out of her chair to the laptop plugged into the wall and sitting open next to her desk chair, Amy opened her iTunes and hit shuffle and play on her playlist. She'd had enough silence to last a lifetime and since Frisco was snoring, she'd prefer Toby Kieth over dog snores. Adjusting the volume so it wasn't overly loud but enough to fill the silence, Amy straightened up in time to save the files in her lap from falling on the floor. She really needed a bigger office....

Opening the file on a rowdy Appaloosa adopter, Amy nearly jumped out of her skin when someone rapped on the door over the lyrics of "Honkytonk U." A file in Amy's lap slid onto the floor making her growl. Putting her feet down, Amy put the other files on the chair her feet had been on and leaned over to grab the papers and folder.

"Come in!" she called.

Her voice woke Frisco and the sounds of the door opening made him hop up, past Amy and circle around to the front of the desk looking at the door curiously.

"Frisco, come here" Amy said, straightening up with the messed up file gathered in her arms. The husky came and sat, watching the new guy. "What can I do for you?" she asked over a stack of files on her desk, one of many stacks in fact with the fallen file gathered in her arms and the song in the background shifting from "Honkytonk U" to "Poor Poor Pitiful Me" by Terri Clark.

[b.ounce]

Hearing the girl speak, he slowly turned the knob of the door and walked in, looking at her and offering a small smile. He closed the door behind him, approaching the desk slowly and holding out his hand for her to shake. Hi, I'm Tanner Poll. You wanted to talk to me about Co-Owning Southern Blues. She seemed nice enough, she also seemed like she was beyond belief with stress and could definitely use some help, and that's where Tanner could come in. Tanner always worked better under pressure, and frankly, he was excited to be needed somewhere again. Since his father sold the ranch, Tanner wasn't really needed anymore.. he was always just there. That's why he moved. All he wanted was to find a job and a new town, new scenary, but this just topped it all off. A possible job Co-Owning a stable? That'd be perfect.

[/size][/font]

[<Amy>]

Amy shifted a few files and put down the haphazard one she'd dropped and looked over at Tanner as he opened the door. He looked semi-professional, semi-casual, almost making Amy feel unprofessional sitting behind a messy desk in old jeans, a white t-shirt and denim jacket. She knew she probably looked either insane or damn close to it but Amy put on an impassive face as she studied him. Dirty blond hair, tall, looked reasonably strong. Not bad for stable work but Amy was always picky about her employees except in the cases in which she was told by some judge that a teen delinquent would be working at her stable for service ours. Then she had no choice. This however, was not a new stable hand. He wanted her to share her family's work with him. Even though she'd put out the ad, she was still uneasy about agreeing to anything.

"Hun, no offense but you don't look like someone willing to chase around rescues all day" Amy said, eyeing his khaki pants and overall professional look. "Oh well, might as well give ya a shot." Amy opened a drawer and put several files into it before closing it. "How familiar are you with Southern Blues and what we do?"

Frisco sat next to Amy, watching the guy curiously with his tongue lulling out of his jaws. Overall the canine didn't look like a working dog but he was a very good working dog and loved what he did just as much as he loved getting his ears scratched. The husky/collie mix got up and padded over to Tanner again and this time Amy didn't stop him but watched. Frisco wagged his slightly curved tail and looked up at the tall guy with his tongue still out and panting slightly.

If dogs had had their shots, weren't in heat and were well trained, Amy let her students have their dogs in the stable as long as they didn't hurt the horses or scare the rescues. If this guy was allergic to dogs or something, this would be no place for him and wouldn't be even if he came in dressed like an old fashioned cowboy.

[b.ounce]

For some reason, and he wasn't sure why, but he knew that this whole 'professional' look was going to screw him over. He winced when she first spoke after looking him over, his thoughts proving him correct. Okay... Honestly, this.. He looked down at his outfit, picking up part of the blue long sleeved button shirt material like it was something filthy. This isn't me at all. If it were possible I'd wear nothing but jeans and tee shirts everyday of my life. I've been around horses all my life.. I'm more myself in a saddle than I am walking. My father used to raise wild mustangs and part of our land was used as a reserve for them to protect them. But.. In order to get them into the gates, we'd have to catch them.. and it wasn't easy. I've had my fair share of dangerous horses since before I can remember. Trust me.. I'm willing to handle recues.. all day.

When she said that she'd give him some what of a shot, a sigh of relief came over him. I have looked around a lot, and my friend Tim gave me a small tour after I dropped my mare off. He swallowed. He was still a tad bit nervous, he didn't exactly have the job yet, and she didn't seem like she trusted him too too much.

[/size][/font]

[<Amy>]

Amy raised a brow at him. He came to interview for a job at a stable dressed like some office guy. What did that tell her about his common sense? He was either an over achiever or didn't really know what the hell he was doing. When he mentioned a Tim at the stable, Amy knew who he was referring to. She may not personally interview every single person but she knew her staff. If she didn't absolutely have to know their name, then they were doing their jobs. If she didn't instantly think of one student's name when trouble arose, her students were behaving. With Amy it was just better she didn't know your name unless it was for things like interviews or just a student she took interest in such as Armelia or one of Matt's floating around the stable.

"Touching, honesty" Amy said, a hint of sarcasm in her tone as the laptop switched from Terri Clark to "Neon Moon." "Do you have a criminal record, are a registered sex offender or are well known by the local sheriffs?" Amy asked, her questions blunt but amusement in her eyes.

Pulling a file from the bottom of a stack, Amy flipped it open. The tab was labeled "Poll, Tanner" and contained his resume and other information he'd turned in with his application. Glancing over the top of the file, Amy nodded to one of the chairs in front of her desk. "Take a seat. Frisco, get your tail over here."

Frisco padded back over to Amy and laid down once again under her desk as Amy crossed her legs and scanned Tanner's file.

"You have no other experience apart from running your dad's ranch?"

[b.ounce]

Great. She hated him. He might as well just walk out of the office now, he wasn't getting this job. He slowly took a seat, shaking his head in her direction. Um.. No. To all of those. I've never had any runs ins with cops in my life, I'm still a virgin until I'm married and I just moved here.. so it wouldn't be very possible for anyone to know me very well. He leaned back in the chair slowly, lifting his leg up and resting his Chipewa against his left knee, watching her scan his file.

There wasn't too too much he could say at this point to make her understand that he really was good for this job, but hey, she hadn't kicked him out yet. Maybe she liked him a little? Well.. My father died a few years ago, and I ran the ranch by myself since I was 17, so I was basically running my own ranch. And for the past few months I've been teaching advanced western lessons in Oklahoma. Teaching lessons probably didn't make him anymore qualified for this job, but it was a job he'd had in the past. Maybe she wanted to know about it.

[/size][/font]

[<Amy>]

Closing the resume, Amy put it back on a stack. Believe it or not she would remember exactly which one even if more were put on top. She had an amazing memory for her "organized chaos" as many called it. Leaning her elbows on her desk, Amy's fingers interlocked and she studied him, up and down again as if judging his worthiness. "Well Mr. Poll, like your dad's ranch this stable is my family's pride and joy, at least on one side. There are students here that will be your best friend and think you're amazing just because you give them a horse to heal and they do it. There's nothing better than watching your students fly over jumps on a horse that used to buck and scream. You won't be training show ponies and some people don't know a thing. Of course as a co-owner you wouldn't be teaching as much as advising, keeping track of every horse, student and piece of equipment. This right here," Amy put her hand on a stack of files, "are the files for half the new studs registered here. I know their show names and barn names, know their owners and if they're a rescue. Can you do that? It takes a lot of memory and a lot of patience and in your case hormone control."

Amy smirked as she leaned back, just to let him know she was teasing a little on the last part of her mini-rant. Still, part of it was serious. There were girls from ten to nineteen riding at the stable plus female staff. She had to know that her male staff could control themselves and had their right heads in control.

"You need to be able to read people as well as horses. Looking at me, what would you say I would ride and what discipline? Give me a breed and event."

There were two right answers. Double Dutch was an English pleasure horse, Noriker stallion though she would accept draft. Her other acceptable answer would be western because of Captain, a western all around and a mustang. Also, on the back walls were various pictures of her in her younger years mounted on various stallions especially a dappled grey named Chico but he didn't know that.

[b.ounce]

Tanner listened to her talk, his lips pursing a small bit when she mentioned 'horomone' control. Being a Christian raised boy, he found it insulting when people questioned his morals. And she wasn't questioning them, she was almost mocking them. Making fun of them. Not even beliving them. But, he respected women, and he said nothing about the comment she made, he simply leaned forward in the chair he was seated in, letting his boot slip off his knee and go back to the floor, supporting his weight as he leaned more towards her. He stared at her for a moment, leaning back against the chair. Well, you're everything. Only, I don't think you like the lanky horses much, like Thoroughbreds. You like the big bulky ones, the horses that can really tread some milage. The strong ones. Quarter Horses, Mustangs.. Stuff like that. Maybe even a little draft. Big drafts. And as far as your riding style goes, I don't think you're held down to one. I think you ride in whatever saddle you wanna ride in that day. English.. western.. bareback.. Anything. She definitely was hard to read, but he did what he could.

[/size][/font]

[<Amy>]

Normally Amy would be highly tempted to knock a guy's lights out for staring but since she had invited him, told him, to, she didn't. Instead she leaned back in her chair and waited, a small smile on her lips. She wasn't mocking anyone as much as she was just testing his tolerance, pressing on pressure points someone might hit harder later during a big event. Amy smiled. "Very good Mr. Poll. Dutch and Cap would enjoy that answer I think." Amy smiled and pulled out a piece of paper from one of the files and glanced at it. "You kept your tongue at my sarcasm. Very good. Can't have someone blowing up at some offical that oversteps their bounds." Amy flipped open the file, paper still in hand and pulled out a second sheet.

Stacking the two together, Amy offered them to Tanner. It was a work contract that also more or less covered Southern Blues for job related injuries. Offering a pen as well, Amy opened a drawer in her desk. "That's your contract. Read it and read it well. I'll see how you pan out for the next few weeks. If you don't hear from me you're fine."

Pulling out another file Amy put this in front of Tanner on her desk. "This is a TAEA information packet given to administrators at stables participating in the program. Read it, know it, marry it for all I care. This explains the adoption and delivery procedures as well as gives you a list of horse profiles for the equines currently being offered to Southern Blues. It changes every few weeks if someone's not adopted but you'll get those and copies of horses being delivered."

[b.ounce]

So many he wasn't as bad as he'd thought he'd been. Or maybe she was just that desperate for someone to help her out that she'd be willing to hire a 50 pound 8 year old for the job, so he really shouldn't be that confident. A smile slowly came to his face as he reached out to take the papers she'd given him, his eyes scanning them over slowly as she spoke. He knew better then to sign something he hadn't read yet, so he'd read it, but for some reason he trusted her to not give him something foolish to sign.

Once his eyes had skimmed over most of the paper's words, he slowly took a pen off of her desk and scibbled his signature above all of the lines that he had to sign, handing the papers back to her and setting her pen back where he'd found it. Sounds good to me. But I think I can handle it. He smiled a small bit. He didn't think he'd be having any trouble with this job as far her having to talk to him, once he'd been given a direction he usually followed it pretty well. He'd never had much trouble with anything before.

[/size][/font]