Welcome To Corner Forest Stables

Welcome To Corner Forest (Maria)

Maria could feel her nerves rushing through her as the minivan turned into a driveway. She looked out the window and gawked at the view, the driveway was so clean and long - with large pine trees on each side of the drive with paddocks visible through on the other side with clean mahogany fences surrounding them. Maria watched as a herd of yearlings cantered alongside the fenceline with the van, bucking and squealing as they went.
"Look! Babies!" Anna exclaimed from her seat in front of Maria, causing Noah, Mia and Caleb to come to their side of the van to stare out at the yearlings.
"Aw look at that little buckskin one! He's so cute!" Mia smiled as the five of them watched a buckskin colt gallop out in front of the herd and throw a big buck of triumph as he reach the end of the paddock before his herdmates. Lauren was still sat away from the group, but Maria noticed that even she couldn't stop herself from looking at the young horses.
"I hope you're all ready," Adam called from the front of the minivan as they reached the end of the driveway. Maria looked out the window to see a vast car park, lined with potted plants in beautiful granite pots with plants that had leaves the same colour as the pines trees that lined the driveway.
"This place looks awesome," Maria smiled as she spotted the main building, the outside was a creamy white colour lined with dark grey rooves and assents, the roof was lined with small turrents every so often and the outside had big flower pots similar to the ones lining the car park. Everything looked modern and professional, much more professional than Maria's livery yard back home.

The van came to a stop in the car park and the young adults looked among themselves as they heard Adam exit the van.
"Well, are we all ready?" Noah said to the others, followed by a woop of excitment from Anna and a few laughs from the girls.
"I'll hand you all your stuff and then you all have to meet Finnley up in the office, it's straight ahead through that archway - you won't miss it," Adam said as he opened the door up for them. One by one everyone exited the van and thanked Adam for driving them as they collected up their suitcases.
"I hope you all have fun!" Adam waved goodbye to them all as he got back in the van and drove off, probably to go home - it was six after all.
The six riders looked among themselves, grins across all of their faces, "Alright, let's get going then," Noah took the lead, the rest of the riders following behind him.
"Are you kind of nervous as well?" Maria turned to see Mia next to her.
"Yeah, especially about riding tomorrow," Maria laughed nervously, she was excited to meet all the horses but she was dreading actually riding in front of everyone, what if she wasn't good enough and they sent her home?
"I'm already missing my horse," Mia chuckled slightly, Maria could tell she was very sad about having to leave her horse behind - Maria was already missing Ginger too.
"Me too, it's going to be so strange riding other horses."

The six riders walked through the iron archway and towards the building straight in front of them as Adam ad instructed. It was smaller than the two buildings beside it but seemed to stand out enough that you'd know it was the office even if you somehow missed the big granitr sign that read Office outside the building. Noah, already shown to be the most confident of the group, walking up to the door and gave it three sharp knocks, Maria could almost feel the tension around her as they all waited patiently to meet Finnley - whoever he was.
After a few seconds, a tall man who semeed to be in his thirties opened the door and smiled at the group, "Ah, you all must be our new working students, correct?"
Noah nodded, "Yeah, we just got dropped off,"
"I'm Finnley, come on in then and we'll discuss what's happening," The man propped open the door and gestured for the group to come in. Maria walked in slowly beind Lauren, gazing around at the interior of the room.

The floor was a deep mahoganny colour like the fences of the paddocks and the walls were a very light grey. The whole room felt cool and refreshing, especially compared to the rather hot weather outside. There was a sleek desk at the back of the room, with two door leading to the left or the right and a few black leather chairs around the room for people to sit on while they waited, paired with a few tables litterred with various equestrian magazines and random newspapers. There were a few plants in the corners of the room, much like most of the yard.
"If you follow me through here, we'll first get you somewhere to put your suitcases," Finnley said as he unlocked the door to the left and walked through, holding it open for the rest of them. Maria felt like she was in some five star hotel, except she wasn't going home for ages and she was on holiday with five people she'd barely met.
"This place looks awesome!" Anna smiled as they began to walk up a flight of stairs, carefully dragging their suitcases behind them.
"You can say that again," Lauren said, finally seeming to cheer up after acting very gloomy throughout the whole drive here.
"This place almost looks too fancy," Caleb said from behind Maria as he struggled with his suitcase to drag it up the stairs. It wasn't long until they reached the top and walked out into a large room with a few more doors. At the end of the room to the left was a large TV with a few chairs around it and to the right was a long buffet table, it was currently empty but Maria guessed that would be where breakfast and dinner would be served.
"Here are you rooms, there will be two to a room and then that door over there," Finnley said as he gestured to the door nearest the buffet table, "is the door to the kitchen, your breakfast, lunch and dinner will be served on that buffet table over there which you can either eat in front of the TV or in your rooms - just please clean up any mess you make," Finnley sighed a bit as he said that, Maria could guess they'd had a few incidents with people making messes here before.
"We've already assigned you your rooms, you can all visit each other's rooms throughout the day but at ten we want you all in your own rooms and ready to get to sleep, lights out is lights out, no staying up late or you won't have enough energy to make it through the day," Finnley walked over to one of the three doors and opened it, the six riders all peeked through the door and Maria gave a small gasp in surprise as she saw the interior. The room had flooring and walls similar to all the other rooms, but in the middle was a big, fluffy white rug and the walls were littered with big canvas paintings of horses, a few Maria recognised from watching them compete at top events last year. There was a large modern fireplace with a small leather seats in front of it and a small boolcase with a variety of books in it. There was a small square of the far corner made into a seperate room - Maria guessed it was the bathroom - and in the corner was two very comfy looking bed with wooden frames and black covers, of course with potted plants decorated across the room.
"All three of the rooms look like this, that room in the corner is your bathroom. Noah and Caleb, you will obviously be sharing a room," Noah and Caleb exchanged looks and small smils, the two hadn't spoken that much over the journey but it had been pretty obious they'd be sharing a room for a while now, "Maria and Mia, you two will be sharing a room - and Lauren and Anna will be sharing a room," Finnley said as he glanced down at his phone, probably to check who was roomates with who.
Maria smiled brightly at Mia, "Yay!"
Mia smiled back and glanced around the room once more, "These rooms look so fancy!"
"Alright, Lauren and Anna can have this room - Mia and Maria can have the one next door and the boys will have the room across the hall," Finnley said, "for now just put your suitcases on the floor and then come meet me by the TV out here so we can discuss what you'll be doing."
Maria and Mia jogged over to their room and opened it to find their room looked pretty much like a carbon copy of the other roosm except the bookcase was in a different spot and the canvas were paintings of different horses. Maria placed her suitcase down near one of the two beds and smiled at Mia as she sat down on it, "these beds are so comfy, I can't wait to go to sleep," Maria giggled.
"This is going to be great," Mia smiled widely as the two of them went to join Finnley and the others on the sofas.