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!.
"Be somebody who makes everyone feel like a somebody!"
Kayleigh had just finished another lesson with Stephanie. They were hard at work preparing for another upcoming show. The dark bay gelding smoothly sailed over the course, Stephanie smiling as the two went along. It was clear the pair were ready to go. The darker haired woman clapped, impressed on what Kayleigh had done. "Clearly, you two are ready. Depending on how this weekend goes, you can probably move up afterwards." Stephanie said, waving goodbye to Kayleigh before she left.
The blonde was left to cool Boss out on her own, leaning over and gave the gelding a few pats on the neck. She let out a sigh, it had been awhile since she had competed. Running the tack store had kept her away from it, which made her gelding cranky. She let the gelding walk around the arena, glancing to see someone and their horse approach the arena. Kayleigh smiled and loosened the grip on her reins, holding them on the buckle.
"I'm just cooling Boss out, but feel free to join us." She called out to the other rider, taking her feet out of the stirrups and letting her legs dangle - it felt nice being able to stretch them out.
Nathan 'Nate' Drummond and his vet tech, Lachlan, were at Blue Arces for the day, dealing with a number of dental appointments. The last client on the list was one Harlow Alenko and her senior horse, Aristocrat, which meant that he was going to have a number of questions thrown his way. The man didn't mind the young girl all too often, but every one in a while, she managed to hit him with something that needled in through the ribcage. Thankfully, despite her English warmblood's growing age, they were still a pair that mainly relied upon routine check ups verses constant visits. Although, he could see why Hickstead Veterinary had been happy to pass her off to him during their boon of clients.
The appointment thankfully went well, Aristocrat as good as ever and handled everything like a pro, although he needed to get a dosage of relaxant, "Alright boy, ready for a nice walk in the area to wake up?" He asked the English warmblood, his head still drooping just a little. A snort of laughter escaped him before the man glanced over at the pint size equestrian, "Harlow - Lachlan's going to take care of check out and writing up your bill. I'll walk him a lap or two out in the arena just to make sure he's good to go waking up before I hand him off to you. Lachlan will also take care of your questions." Before either woman could get anything in, he and Aristocrat were off.
It was a nice August day, shockingly, one of the few off days in August due to an overcast. The outdoor arena was ahead of them now, and he could see Stephanie King leaving now. He nodded his hellos as he and the English Warmblood walked by now. Green eyes looked at the pair, and he was quick to recognize them as Kayleigh Haydn and Boss, "I'm just cooling Boss out, but feel free to join us." Ushering Aristocrat into the arena now, he made certain to secure the gate behind him before he started to walk shoulder to shoulder with the large stallion, "Hey Kayleigh! How are you and Boss doing? Thanks for letting me and Aristocrat here crash the arena while he wakes up from his injections. We'll be out of your hair soon enough."
My thoughts are scattered and gritty underneath my feet
"Be somebody who makes everyone feel like a somebody!"
The blonde gave Boss a pat on the shoulder, it seemed that her flat work away from jumping with Stephanie was starting to pay off. The bay gelding was basically like a puppy - listening to what she had asked, though the woman knew he wasn't a robot horse. There was always something for the two of them to work on. Today the jumps were set up to practice roll back turns, preparing them for an upcoming local show.
It only took her a moment to recognize the newcomer. It was the newer vet in Hickstead. He seemed to be stuck walking Harlow's horse - though Blue Acres was more his retirement home. "Hi Nate! Long time no see, thankfully for my pocket book." She laughed. Boss had stayed sound for awhile now - only needing his necessary vaccinations. "We are good thanks, just finished our lesson with Stephanie. How are you? Whitney still wanting to spend time with you after your late hours?" She teased, only having met Whitney a few times when she tagged along on calls.
She steered the gelding in a circle around one of the jumps. Kayleigh wanted to allow Boss to catch his breath - the lesson was a bit more strenuous than the two of them were used to.
A laugh escaped Nate as he undid the latch to let himself and Aristocrat into the arena now, the stallion, true to his name sake, walked in and waited like a gentleman. Perhaps the drugs helped a little bit though, "Nah, your check book is safe for the time being," Nate replied, "Although, it looks like Boss is far from needing my services." Kayleigh Haydn and her Canadian warmblood weren't his clients, but the man always made sure to be friendly to everyone at the barns and get to know them and their horses nonetheless. After all, if an emergency were to happen and Dr. Kastaros, Dr. James, or Dr. Glover were unavailable, Nate was a good and fast alternate to call with his smaller client list.
"Ah, I must have just missed Stephanie. I hope your lesson was good," the man replied now, locking the gate once more before starting his walk. Aristocrat walked along besides him now, head hanging down low as he moved alongside Nate at just the right pace. He dragged a bit, but Nate knew it wouldn't be long before he would be step and step with his tiny human strides, "I'm doing good. Between routine shots and vet visits, and pre-checks for the horse shows coming up - I've been pretty busy. Whitney's always happy to see me late, she's a bit of a night owl, I just have to make sure I don't interrupt her time with her bats." He came to a stop as the English warmblood did, investigating a jump pole on the ground, "I suppose you must be busy at the store due to the show season picking back up soon?"
My thoughts are scattered and gritty underneath my feet
"Be somebody who makes everyone feel like a somebody!"
Kayleigh had dealt with her fair share of vets - not just the one that came out when Boss needed medical help. Most of them had horses of their own, meaning they came into the tack store to buy tack or horse apparel from her. She hadn’t dealt with Nate very often, however, as he didn’t have a horse, but he seemed friendly enough.
“Oh good, I was worried you’d take all my money.” Kayleigh laughed, glad that Boss wasn’t accident-prone for the most part. “He has been feeling great lately! I’m dusting off my show boots here finally.” She entered herself for fun - there wasn’t really anyone she really wanted to be better than. Some of her clients didn’t believe she competed, so she wanted to prove a point. There were already bets going on behind her back that were silly in nature, though Kayleigh laughed when she heard about the latest outrageous one. “Yeah, she just left before you got here. She’s probably in the barn getting a horse ready if you want to chat with her on your way out.” She knew her coach often left one last of her three horses to ride after she was done teaching for the night.
She reached her hand down to check Boss’s temperature - feeling that he was still quite warm and needed more of a cool down. “It was! I feel like we’ve known each other long enough to have worked out the kinks.” Though there was always room for improvement, this was one of the best lessons she had had in awhile. “Any interesting cases lately?” Kayleigh didn’t really want to hear if one of the horses had broken it’s leg, but maybe there was one in particular he wanted to talk about.
The dark blonde nodded, she understood what it was like to be happy when a significant other came home late at night. “Is Whitney teaching at the University still? I just hope she doesn’t bring the bats home with her!” She smiled before giving Boss another pat on the shoulder.
