Welcome to Hickstead, home to both Seven Oak Stables, and Blue Acre - two rival stables. Both offer opportunities for their clients to reach the highest level of excellence. Each stable differs from the other, so choose wisely and never forget, loyalty is everything... Meanwhile as the stables battle it out, there's trouble brewing at the university. Be careful, if you don't pick a side you may get caught in the cross-fire...
This is an chilled out rpg with a super friendly and relaxed atmosphere! Remember to sign up with your characters full name in all caps and don't forget to do your claims! Thank you and Welcome, we've been established since 10th March 2009 but unfortunately have had to close guest view of our boards due to multiple sites ripping off our hard work, such a shame! Come chat to us in Discord before joining if you like!.
he was almost done for the day. which meant he was almost free to message adalia and see if she wanted to come out and get some drinks with him. he still hadn't worked up the courage to tell her that he liked her, he might not be a teenager anymore but the fear of rejection stayed with a person and it seemed like she had better options than a lesson teacher. so he'd settle for friends and try and help her avoid picking other idiots to hang out with because he did want to be the only idiot on her life and he felt like one too, because he was trying to be that for her while keeping his feelings for her quiet. it was a circle that was just going to repeat itself until she found someone else. he sighed a little as he let belou out into her pasture and he patted her on the rump as she walked through the gate lazily, lowering her head and eating as soon as she could. he couldn't help but laugh a little as he waited for her to take enough steps so he could secure the gate behind her. once he'd done that he clipped her halter and lead to the gate so whoever brought her in later had them right there.
he was about to turn around to head back to the barn when he heard barking. that got his attention. he didn't think there were dogs at the yard and this seemed to be coming from the back of the property. they didn't have trails as such at this stable but they backed onto the land that boarded seven oaks and there were some trails in there that people could use. it was also where dog walkers could go and all he could think was that someone was letting their dog run wild. it was then that he saw the dog burst from the bushes and he relaxed a little because the pooch looked familiar. "cleo!" he called to the pup, whistling and patting his legs so he seemed fun and interesting enough for her to run over to him. it worked, because before he knew it there was a dog at his feet and he'd used belou's lead rope to clip onto cleo's collar like a dog lead. "what are you doing here hey?" he said with a frown. "where's casey.." he knew the dog belonged to naomi's foster son and they were normally attached at the hip.
before he could think of another question to ask no one, cleo suddenly tugged on the rope he was holding and barked loudly back towards the trees excitedly, almost like she wanted to either play or chase what was there. "settle down you." he said as he took a step forward, thinking that maybe casey was walking down along the trail and this was all a misunderstanding but it wasn't casey he saw just beyond the trees. it was a horse he recognised but it wasn't a BA horse. it had come from seven oaks. "what did you do pup.." he muttered to himself as he pulled out his phone and sent naomi a text message "can you come down to the bottom of the pastures, we have a problem." he didn't go into detail because it would be too hard over the phone. this was something he was sure she'd want to deal with in person. he didn't make a move towards the horse yet, because he didn't trust cleo not to slip her collar if he tied her up and if he went towards the horse with her, it might spook him. he could see from here that there was white foam around the bridle and the girth, meaning he'd run hard and he'd run for a while. it wasn't looking like it was a coincidence he was here.
Naomi was busy in the office, yet her mind was in a million places as she worked her way through the emails that needed her attention, and tried to push away the thoughts of what she would rather be doing. She knew that Rex was getting sick of being ignored by her, and even spending nearly all of his time out in the pasture, it wasn't helping his attitude - was saving the stall though, so win-win in her opinion.
She looked over as her phone pinged, and she brought it closer, opening the text "can you come down to the bottom of the pastures, we have a problem." She frowned at the words, hoping that it wasn't her stallion causing even more trouble. It would be just her luck that he'd kicked out his gate. "Be right there." She sent back as she rose from her desk and headed to the door, pushing her feet into her field boots before leaving the office.
She saw Cleo on the end of a rope as she got approached the back pastures and frowned, the pup should be in the house with Cara and triple trouble, however, Ethan wouldn't have sent her the text he sent just because of the pup, so she followed the direction of the instructor's eye and frowned when she spotted the horse. "Bollocks!" She muttered. "He's not one of ours." She looked at the pup, her brows pulled down. "For someone who should be in the house, you look very pleased with yourself." He held her hand out for the rope. "See if you can get close to the horse, and I'll let Lily know we have one of her horses." She quirked an eyebrow at Cleo and nodded as the pup lowered herself onto the ground, chin resting on paws.
he kept his eyes on the horse as he waited for naomi to come down to the pastures. he was crouched next to cleo, rubbing his hand over her head lightly to keep her attention focused on him and off the horse she was so intent on chasing. hopefully it was just an awful coincidence and the horse had run away from it's rider while they'd been on the ground. it didn't take long for her to walk down to them and he stood up, watching cleo tug the rope to try and get to naomi. he would have smiled had the situation not been one of a serious matter but for a stray horse to rock up was never a good thing. "i think he's from seven oaks. she came from that direction." he said as he looked down at cleo, who did not look like she'd just committed a serious crime and if he could have spoken dog he would have sworn that she was thrilled with herself about what she'd brought home for them. he held out the rope to her so she could take control of the pup and then he brushed his hands down on his jeans before he nodded. "he looks like he's calmed down a little." he said as he started walking slowly down to the bottom of the pasture.
"hey mate." he said gently as he reached the fence that bordered the property. luckily it wasn't a hard one to climb over so he slowly put his foot on the bottom rung, moving slow so he didn't spook the horse. "been on an adventure have you?" he said, watching the horses ears flick and the movement of his eyes. "there's a good lad." he said softly as he softly dropped over the fence and took a few steps toward the horse. when the dun didn't move he walked over to him carefully and gathered the reins into his hand, running his hand down the horses neck. "good boy." he said as he clucked his tongue softly and walked the horse back towards the fence he'd climbed over. "he's got some scratches on his legs, nothing deep. one just under his eye too." he said as he checked the horse over so naomi could give lily as much information. "let her know he's saddled too, they might have a rider out there."
"i think he's from seven oaks. she came from that direction." Naomi nodded, she recognised the dun from when they had been on the other yard while Blue Acres was put back together. "he looks like he's calmed down a little.""He's probably exhausted now the adrenaline is gone."
"hey mate. been on an adventure have you? there's a good lad. good boy." Naomi gave the horse and instructor half her attention, keeping more of an eye on Ethan in case the horse spooked and lashed out - as was known to happen, though it seemed there was nothing for her to worry about. "he's got some scratches on his legs, nothing deep. one just under his eye too." She nodded as she relayed the information into the text she was sending. "let her know he's saddled too, they might have a rider out there." She smiled as she held her phone up. "Say cheese!" She called as she zoomed in on the horse and took a photo.
"Bring him through the gate and we'll take him back to the barn." She walked down to where the gate was and unlocked it. "I'll take this one back to the house and then come and help. Get his gear off and give him a good hose down. That way we can give him a complete check over." If nothing more, the hose down would cool off any heat in the horse's legs.
he ran his hands expertly over the horse to feel for any injuries that he might not have been able to see. for any soft spots, any touch that made the horse flinch and any hot spots on his legs. fear could make a horse move fine for a while but there was always a point when it ended. he gathered the reins carefully once he'd finished examining the horse and had found the injuries that he'd told naomi so she could relay that to lily over at seven oaks. someone would be missing this guy judging by how well looked after he was, it seemed there was just that extra touch of love there.
he rubbed his neck gently as he nodded to naomi and he started walking the horse to the gate, as it was unlocked and opened by his boss. "i'll get him settled, i'll even bed him down in a stall just in case they can't come and get him tonight." he said as he looked over the horses back at naomi. he glanced behind her to where cleo was and he couldn't help but smile a bit at the dog. "don't be too hard on her." he looked at the eyes of the young pup and almost melted.
"i'll even let the vet know just in case we need them to come out to check him." he said with a quick nod as he started to lead the horse slowly up to the barn, letting him take the time he wanted so he could get used to his new surroundings without feeling pressured. eventually they worked their way up to the wash bay and he hooked him up to the cross ties before going to find a halter that wasn't being used right now. he swapped the halter for the bridle and tied him to the cross ties before he looked the bridle over. "rocky huh?" he said as he found the name scratched into the leather of the band. "lets get you cooled down." he said as he went to take the saddle off and saw just how much the horse had sweated.
Naomi watched as Ethan led the other horse, at least all four legs were attached and in the correct place. "i'll get him settled, i'll even bed him down in a stall just in case they can't come and get him tonight." She nodded and grinned. "Good idea, just make sure that there are a couple of empty stalls between him and the other horses. The last thing we need is for them to get in a snit with each other and do more damage." She could feel a headache building. "don't be too hard on her." She gave the dog a withering look, she guessed she needed to get to the bottom of how the pup got out too.
"i'll even let the vet know just in case we need them to come out to check him." She nodded. "Brilliant idea, thank you." She looked down at Cleo again before she tipped her head in the direction of the house and laughed as the pup jumped to her feet and headed off in that direction, though coming to a stop when she reached the end of the rope. Shaking her head, Naomi headed toward the house.
She unclipped the rope as they reached the house and she opened the door, stepping back as Cleo raced into the building. She followed the sound crying into the kitchen and frowned when she saw Cara standing there with Kyoto crying her heart out into the young woman's shoulder, while Cara was trying to get Viola and Sebastian to eat. "What's going on?" She soothed as she swept her granddaughter out of Cara's arms. "Sorry, baba." Kyoto cried as she buried her face into Naomi's neck, and Naomi arched her brows toward the girl's mother.
Cara swallowed hard as she handed the twins the savoury muffins she had made earlier. "I lost Cleo." She said. Technically, she had been putting the twins down for their nap, and Kyoto had opened the door for the pup so she could go potty.
Naomi smiled as she kissed the top of Kyoto's head. "Cleo is back now." She said. "Ethan found her down by the back pastures." She studied Cara. "There was also a horse on the other side of our property fence, so there is a chance that Cleo harassed the horse and his rider." She watched the little colour drain from the teen's face, Cara nodded. "I'll let you know when the owners arrive." She gave Kyoto a kiss on the forehead and placed her back on the ground, she was still sniffling, but she had stopped crying. With a smile, Naomi headed out of the house and back down to the barns to see how the horse was.
it hadn't taken him very long at all to sort the horse out. he'd run the hose over him for a bit and then he'd dried him off as carefully and gently as he could, taking his time to check along his body for any injuries that might not have shown up straight away. so far he could only see some superfical scratches along his body and legs where he'd been running into branches it seemed and none of them looked too deep or bad enough to need anything other than little antiseptic and some watching. he hadn't found anything that needed a vet to look at. there was one scratch near his eye that might cause some concern but he didn't think it was anything too serious but he'd wait for naomi's opinion.
he scratched the horses neck gently and tried to get him as calm as possible as he lead him to one of the empty stalls at the back at the barn, settling him into it as he covered him in a light rug to keep him from getting chilled. "care to tell me about your adventure?" he said softly as he rubbed his hand over the horses cheek gently. "at least tell me you didn't throw anyone." he with a small smile as he let out a breath and wondered if naomi had managed to get cleo home safe and if she'd heard anything back from lily about whether it was the horse he was thinking it was.
he heard footsteps heading their way and he lowered his hands from the horse and he moved to stand at the door of the stall, leaning his arm down on it so naomi would know what stall they were in and he looked back at the horse. "he's all settled." he said to his boss as she came into view in the corner of his eye. he'd let her give him the once over herself before he told her she was okay, as much as he was sure she trusted him, this could turn into something of a situation so he wouldn't blame her if she wanted to double check. he hoped it wouldn't become something between the barns again, relations had been starting to settle and he didn't want anything to ruin that.
Naomi's forehead was creased in a frown as she walked back into the barn, thinking through what had happened in the house. Kyoto had been so upset, yet Cara had said that it was her who had lost the dog.
She blinked as she looked at Ethan and smiled. "Thank you." She trusted her staff explicitly, but that didn't stop her from entering the stall and giving the horse a thorough check over, just so that she could honestly tell Lily that the horse was fine. "I may have found out how Cleo got out." She said with a half smile, her hands moving down the gelding's legs, pleased that she didn't find any heated or wet spots.
She exited the stall and took her phone out, sending a text through to Lily to let her know that they had Rocky at the barn, and that the horse wasn't injured as far as they could tell at the moment. She also offered to drive the gelding home. "I'm sure we won't get in any more trouble if we give you a small feed and a haynet while you're waiting for your humans." She frowned as she glanced in the direction of the house. "Have you ever known Cara to lie?" Why on earth would Kyoto be so upset for something her mother had done?
as he'd expected, naomi came in and checked the horse over with her own hands. he didn't blame her, there was a lot riding on this and it was someone else's horse. as it was they'd probably tell his owners that they'd looked him over and he was fine and they'd still want to check and they'd be right to. he'd be the same if it was one of his horses, not that he didn't trust people, it was just he trusts his own eyes more. "i think the only scratch we really need to tell them about is near his eye, and it's only because of where it is, not because it's bad." he said from his place at the door as he watched her run her hands over the animal.
"is it a story of espionage and adventure?" well it would have been for the dog. for the horse it was probably one of terror and scariness. once naomi had finished checking the horse and had walked out of the stall he crossed back to the horse to rub his neck lightly, hoping to keep him nice and settled so nothing else troubled him while he was here. plus he'd had a really hard day it seemed so what would a little extra affection hurt. "i'll sort it out in a moment." he agreed with feeding him, they had no idea how long it had been since he'd eaten and he didn't think he'd had the chance to eat much while he'd been with cleo. he frowned at naomi's question, and the shake of his head was quick. "never." he didn't know her very well outside of work but he'd never had any reason to question her either, she always seemed really honest to him.
Naomi inspected the scratch by the gelding's eye, narrowing her eyes at it, and deciding that it would be fine now that it was clean and didn't need instant veterinarian attention.
She laughed and shook her head, and it felt good to laugh, a lot of the tension left her body. "Not quite, the door was opened to let her out, and she got away." Well, at least that's what she'd got out of what had been said in the house, and the more she thought about it, the more she was thinking that Kyoto had been the one to have opened the door. She frowned in thought, as surely people would be willing to forgive the actions of a toddler, but Cara was willing to take the blame to protect her daughter? She shook her head as she rubbed Rocky's forehead. "Let's just hope you don't come up lame in the morning." She knew well enough that horses could seem fine after an event than then for the horse to come up lame the next morning.
Lily had already had a rather manic and stressful day given the circumstances. She'd been sorting out the yard and her family after the whole saga with the dogs, Chance and Maya and the fact that they had a lose pony somewhere out there who was still yet to come home. She had just finished saddling one of her own horses, Rebel, ready to go out and look for the blasted pony herself, along with a couple of other stable hands, when her phone buzzed. Frowning, she was quick to bring it out - everyone was on high alert right now and she was trying to settle everything back down. Her brow furrowed as she saw it was Naomi pinging through a text. Upon opening it, her shoulders relaxed. Mystery solved. She shot back a quick text to say that yes the pony did belong to them and to thank her for taking charge of it; she would pop over with the truck and retrieeve the animal. Following that, she shot off a text to Logan to let him know that the pony had been found and was all okay, before she turned back to her saddled horse and then called out to the other hands, "Stand down ladies and gents, the beast has been found!"
<3 LUCAS JACOB COLE | THREE DAUGHTERS (ROSE, FELICITY, CLAIRE) | ONE SON (SLADE) THREE HORSES (SAFFRON, REBEL, ADONIS)
well that was a decent explanation. it wasn't like the dog had been taken out into the woods to cause trouble, she'd just found it on her own. accidents happened, he just hoped that it wasn't going to cause to much trouble between the two stables, after all things were just starting to settle down again after the fire. "so it was a prison break." he said, glad that naomi laughed as well. it was stressful but it didn't need to be frightening, at least not now the horse was settled and cleo was safe at home again.
he heard naomi's phone buzz and figured that she'd let him know what the response was when she read it, there was no point asking about it. he nodded slightly as he rested his hand on rocky's rump and took another look at the horses legs. "he seems sound enough." but he understood the worry about in the morning. "i'll make sure to check on him when i'm there tomorrow." he had to go in and take care of his own horses, so there was no harm in looking in on one more. some thought it strange he boarded at one barn and worked at another, but it was just the way things had turned out when he'd come to town.
Naomi chuckled at Ethan's choice of words. "Maybe we need to give her a kennel and put her on a line." She hated to see dogs chained up, but if they ran a line from one end of the backyard to the other and attached a long lead to that the dog would still be able to explore the yard, but just not leave the yard, and the kennel would allow her to get out of the weather.
She pulled her phone from it's holder as it buzzed and she quickly read the text, more of the tension leaving her body. "Lily's going to bring a truck around to collect him." She said with a hint of a smile as she continued checking the gelding over, also working out what size traveling gear they would need for the horse. "Wonder if I should see if Dem can drop by? At least then we could send him home with a clean bill of health." She knew it was stupid as soon as she said it, as they could both see there was nothing obviously wrong with the horse, and any vet would tell them to wait until the morning.
She gave Ethan an amused smile. "You do know that you could board your horses here, right?" She teased.
