Vanessa's POV:

The arrival of new horses prompted a chorus of nickers.  Curious heads popped out of wide stalls to watch the newcomers pass by.  The air-conditioning brought immediate relief from the hot temperatures outside.

"These three stalls here are free, you can put them in there," I said as I pointed, then stepped back to allow them to enter.  

As Lacy led Russo in, she squealed and said, "Oh Tessa, they have those fancy automatic waterers!"  

I nearly chuckled at her enthusiasm.  

"Really?"  Tessa led Challenger in and let him sniff the shavings as she looked skeptically at the automatic waterer.  

"Is this one of those where the horse has to push down on it in order to fill it up?"  She asked me.  

I nodded.  "Yep, the newest state of the art automatic waterers.  They're really nice, no lugging buckets ever again."  

Tessa's eyebrows were still raised as she looked back at it.  "Okay..."  

She unclipped Challenger's lead rope and whispered something to him, then put a kiss on his brow and stepped out of the stall.  Challenger snorted and pawed at the shavings.  She glared at him.  "Don't you dare roll."  

She hung Challenger's lead rope on the bar by his stall and turned to me.  "Well, what now?"  

Just then Ms. Festor came walking up, and I introduced her to the group.  She flashed that wide smile of hers and said, "Why don't the adults come with me and you girls can go out on your own?"  

The adults were agreeable, no doubt wanting to talk about boring things like how much this place had cost to build and how many horses were in it, etc.  Me, Tessa, and Lacy were left to our own devices.  

I clapped my hands while they walked away.  "I'm so excited to show you everything we have here at Vantage Point.  Shall we start with the barn?"  

"Yeah," said Lacy excitedly.  Her head was turning in all directions, she could hardly take it all in.

Tessa, on the other hand, was more calm, her face closed off.  "How many horses do you have here?"  She asked.  

"In this barn we can fit about twenty-five," I said breezily.  "There are two other barns and they can fit thirty-five each.  This barn is more private."  

Lacy was already on the move, gravitating towards the grooming bays.  "Ooooh, you have a solarium!"  

"Two, actually."  Tessa and I followed her over.  

"Each grooming station is equipped with whatever you may need, in case you happen to loose something."  I pointed to the saddle and bridle rack.  "You can put your tack there so you're all ready to go once you're finished grooming.  Of course, if you don't want to tack up your horse or don't have the time, you can always have one of the grooms do it for you."  

"Do you have grooms do the tacking up for you?"  Asked Tessa, leveling me with piercing gaze.  

I debated about lying.  I had a feeling Tessa wouldn't like it if I said that sometimes I did. But I decided honesty was the best policy.  "Sometimes.  It depends on my schedule and if I feel like it that day."

"How many grooming stations do you have?" Asked Lacy.  

"Six here, and six more down at the end to ensure that everyone can use one if needed, and so that you wouldn't have to walk half a mile to do so." 

Once again Lacy was on the move, this time she targeted the two wash stalls.  "Do you have four wash stalls?"

"Yes, two here and two down at the bottom.  Actually, any grooming station can be used as a wash stall if needed."  

She was fidgeting with the water set up, and squealed when hot water came out of the hose sprayer.  "Oh, how wonderful!"  

I laughed.  "It is nice to be able to bathe in winter."  I aimed a pointed look at Tessa.  "Does your barn have hot water?"  

She gave me a small smile, seeing exactly what I trying to do, and she didn't seem riled by it at all.  "We just had it installed last year.  It's been a nice change."

Lacy was looking over all of the shampoos, conditioners, and soaps available on the shelves in the wash bay.  "Oh wow, there's so many here.  Can anybody use these?"  

"Yes, if they want to.  Most just use their own though."  

I turned away from the wash bays, determined to take the lead before Lacy did again.  "Over here is the rug and grooming room."  

I led them to the door just beside the last wash bay and turned the handle.  "It's where we keep everything that isn't leather tack, like saddle pads, rugs, and grooming supplies." 

I lead them in.  The place was very clean and well kept.  I pointed the rug heater in the corner.  "There's the rug heater, that gets used a lot in the winter.  And of course there's the dryer and washer."  

Lacy's eyes got wider than I thought was possible.  "Wow..."  

I walked over to my rack and put my hand on the stack of saddle pads.  I was a collector of them.  "There's another one of these down at the end of the barn.  Each person gets a rack to put their stuff on as needed."  

I turned away and led them back out.  There wasn't much to show them there, the tack room was what I really wanted them to see.  If they thought that was impressive they were going to faint when they say it.  

Or rather,  Lacy would.  I was still having trouble reading Tessa's closed off face.  

I pushed against the tack room's double doors and led them in, spreading out my hands majestically.  "This is the tack room of Vantage Point."  

Bits and bridles gleamed on the wall in front of us, and to both sides were saddles lining the walls.  The leather gleamed in the chandelier hanging from the ceiling.  In the middle were several bridle hooks and stands for cleaning tack.  The whole place smelled of well kept leather.  

As expected, Lacy nearly fell over.  Her face went white and she moved toward the saddles reverently.  

Tessa, on the other hand, raised an eyebrow.  "Looks expensive,"  she commented as she turned to me.  "Which saddles and bridles are yours?"

I lead her over the right and laid my hand on a Voltaire dressage saddle.  "This is my dressage saddle for Win, my current main event horse."  I put my hand on the saddle next to it.  "And this is his jumping saddle.  We had it custom designed for him and it's only been here a few months." 

I ran my finger along the Voltaire emblem.  "Challenger would get a dressage saddle and jumping saddle fitted to him, as I stated in my offer."  

Tessa nodded as she looked up at the nameplates.  "Yes, I remember that."  Her eyes shifted the left.  

"I see Win is not your only horse," she commented as she read the nameplate.  "Medallion.  A pretty name."  She looked back at me, expecting me to elaborate.  

My jaw clenched slightly and I worked to hide my irritation.  "She... was going to be my next event horse."  

"Was?"  

"She and I just aren't compatible.  I don't feel a connection with her and we don't get along."

"In other words, you can't ride her."  

She stated it bluntly and with certainty.  It was the certainty that I hated.  

"Nobody can," I snapped.  

Tessa didn't respond, just looked up the nameplate again with a thoughtful face.  I took a deep breath and regained my professional composure.

"These are the bridles I currently use," I said as I walked over to the wall.  "This is Win's bridle."  

She followed me and looked specifically at the bit, then along the wall.  She was silent for a moment, then said, "Does anyone here use a french link snaffle?"

I shrugged.  "Guess not."  

She nodded, then looked behind herself.  "Say, where'd Lacy go?"  

I wrinkled my brow.  "I don't know."  

We left the tack room and heard voices.  Standing outside a grooming station with a pony in it was a little girl I didn't recognize and Lacy.  They giggled like school girls. 

Tessa smiled.  "Figures," she said.  

Lacy spotted us.  "Oh, sorry, I wandered off," she apologized.  "You guys can go on without me, Anne will show me the rest of the stables.  If you don't mind."  

I smiled.  "That's fine, enjoy yourself.  We should meet for lunch at about 1 in the break room, I'm sure Anne can show where that is."  

Lacy and Anne resumed their chattering as I turned to Tessa.  "Shall we go see the arenas now?"

AN:  How do y'all like Vantage Point so far?  Personally, I'm in love with it... Kinda.  I mean, the luxury is nice, but I'd prefer to do my own work, and the training methods aren't the best.  It just doesn't feel homey enough for me.  

Anyhow, thank you for reading this Sunday update, I'll see y'all next week!  Bye!  

P.S Sorry this is kinda late, I had an unplanned detour in my day.  BUT it is still here on a Sunday ;)