South Meets South

Chapter 3

Early the next morning, I found myself preparing the horses for the morning ride. I was just fixing my mare's saddle when our foreman, Flep, pulled up after fetching the guests. I ran my hand over my mare's dark bay shoulder and went to greet the guests.

"Good morning! Welcome! I trust you all had a good night's rest?" I called out to them. The Brazilian couple were the first to come up to me. Maria and Lucca were friendly and very curious. After greeting them, I turned to face the other three who were busy looking around the yard.

James caught my eye and smiled, "Morning. Nice place you have here."

"Thank you. My parents' house is just down there and this is basically the yard where most of the action goes down," I said. He gave a kind smile once more and I turned to the other two, Gregory and Liam.

"Good morning you to you too," I said, smiling at them. Gregory stepped forward first and gave a warm smile, "Good morning Miss. Thank you for the opportunity to take us around the cattle."

I nodded, a smile firmly on my face, "It is a pleasure. And please, call me Anna." I turned to face Liam, holding my hand out to greet him.

"Well good morning Anna. It's already quite hot here isn't it?" Liam asked with an eyebrow raised. I tilted my head to the side a bit, a smirk etching its way onto my face.

"This is nothing. Plus, this area is one of the cooler areas! I am sure though that the summers in Australia are warmer?"

Liam laughed and made his way over to where Maria and Lucca were looking at the auctioneer's group's vehicles stopping some distance away. When he passed Gregory, he put an arm over his shoulder and dragged him with. The two of them joking about.

"Is there anything I can help you with?" James asked next to me. I turned to face him.

"Well, I just finished saddling the last horse when you guys pulled up. How well do you ride?"

A cocky look came over his face, quickly to be replaced with a calm look, "I can handle myself well enough. Been riding since I was a small kid."

I nod and look back at the horses, "The grey gelding, Avalanche. You can ride him. He can be a bit cocky, but I am sure the two of you will be able to sort each other out?" I smile at James before making my way over to the others to get them comfortable with their horses.

As Anna was walking over to the others, I found myself staring at the back of her head. There was something about her that was different. Not a bad different, but different when it came down to other females.

I turned and went towards where the grey was saddled up. I approached him slowly and held a hand out for him to smell. The large gelding swung his head towards me, his ears and eyes alert before he slowly smelt my hand and snorted loudly.

"Hello there boy," I said quietly. I moved closer and stroked his neck a bit, allowing him to see me at all times. I heard the others coming closer and kept an eye on which horses they were being paired up with.

Lucca and his wife Maria were paired up with two bright bay mares, Liam and Gregory with two geldings, bright bay and black respectively. Whilst Anna went up to the last mare, a dark bay mare and mounted her.

"We will be going to the camp with the cows and the calves and from there we will also go and see the bulls in their camp. On the way back, we will be passing the camp up there where the first sorting for the auction will be taking place," Anna said, indicating with her left hand towards the area where the auctioneers were busy.

She lead us away from the buildings, through an open gate and onto a gravel road. Maria and Lucca were talking to her up front whilst I was at the back, Liam next to me and Gregory in front of us.