The Non British Princess

Part 20

Riley helped me change into a cosy black coat and comfy grey leggings, matched with black boots with silver zips.
The outfit was comfortable, suitable and stylish.

I tied my hair up loosely with a silver hair bow and thanked my maid before exiting my room to find Hadley before heading outside.

"Isabelle!"

I turned to see Hadley down the hall, waving me over to her room.
I made my way over, my boots hitting the carpet softly, to find her struggling with her hair pins.

"Hey, ready to go?" I ask, my hands tucked in my coat pockets.

"I'm kind of having a bit of trouble. Could you help me with these pins?" Hadley showed me the back of her hair where she was getting gold pins tangled everywhere.

"Sure." I pulled the pins out of her orange hair to start and brought them back in closer to the front to keep the hair out of her face.
"There."

Hadley sighed with relief, "Thank you Isabelle. I had no idea what I was doing and I couldn't find my maid anywhere." She said with a huff and pulled on a coat that was draped over her arm.

We started heading down and out of the hallway to the elevator.

"Shouldn't you be able to use the intercom to call her?" I asked, pushing the button for the first floor.

"I tried, it said she was unavailable or something. I'm not really sure." Hadley shrugged her shoulders and followed me out as I headed out the entrance to the stables.

I saw Lola first, holding a horse by the reins, in a teal coat that made her blonde hair stand out.

Then Harriet came out from behind her with a furry red coat that matched her lipstick and nails, her blonde hair matching with a red bow at the back.

Hadley and I jogged over and met with the two who already held onto their horses.
"Hey." I said and waved to the girls, Lola giving me a cheery smile.

"Go in and choose a horse, if you need any help let me know." Harriet said, giving us both a smile. She seemed to be much more comfortable around the horses than she was a few weeks ago.

I went in through the doors of the stables, big and wooden, with Hadley in tow.

The ceilings were high and there was so many stalls full of horses. I noticed a horse immediately that drew my attention.

Mainly because it neighed in my direction and didn't look too intimidating.
The name on the stall said Juniper, so I grabbed a saddle and bridle and went into the stall with the grey horse.

"Hey there." I say softly, so not to scare the creature as I gear it up. After a quick check I lead it out of its stall.
I took one of the ridding helmets off a hook on the wall and fastened it to my head.

Taking my horse out of the stables, I met with Lola and Harriet who were chatting away beside their ponies.

Lola chose a nice brown horse and Harriet stood beside a tall, intimidatingly large black horse.
A moment later Hadley came out with her brown horse.

"Ok, let's go, I think we could head out through the trail in the woods." Lola suggested, pointed over to a trail leading into the trees.

We all agreed and got up on our horses. I hurled myself up and over onto the saddle, settling onto Juniper's back.
The air was chilly in the afternoon, luckily winter hadn't set in fully yet.