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!.
It had been a year already that Isa and Julia had been under Moses’ care. The year was full of lessons, and the good and bad of it all. It was nice though. Moses had enjoyed being a dad. Granted, he was privileged with a lot of help. His parents and his sister made it known they would easily play fight for time. Granted, it meant Papa and Popop often won, since Dahlia was equally as busy as Moses could be. But Moses made sure to keep his life calmer compared to what it was.
Since school was starting soon, Moses had treated the girls to get some ice cream at the pier. Almost as a last-minute goodbye to summer. He had planned on dropping the girls off afterward since there was a delivery, he wanted to give to a special person. But when Julia learned that Moses would be stopping by horses, she insisted she wanted to go. And due to her starting school soon, he agreed to her coming along. Isa was tuckered out, so Papa came over to look out for her while Moses and Julia went to visit Reni.
The visit wasn’t a surprise, but Julia was. Dahlia had some lavender that had been dried, along with some bee balm. Two things that she knew Reni would appreciate. Sunday was the day they had planned to make work.
It wasn’t a long ride to Blue Acres and when they arrived, Moses made sure Julia’s hand was in his, the bag for Reni in the other. “Wow, Julia look at all the horses that are out!” he smiled, guiding her to one of the pasture lines. Moses didn’t quite know what Reni was doing at the barn that day, but he wasn’t in a particular rush. Well, until Julia would throw a fuss.
Julia couldn't believe that she had been living in her new home for a year now. Everything had been new to her and it was odd being able to eat when she wanted. She was enjoying the last few days of Summer, having chocolate chip cookie dough ice cream as her family treat. It felt nice and refreshing after a hot summer day. She had noticed that Isa looked a little drained, but when horses were mentioned she jumped at the chance to go see some in person.
When Isa was picked up, she waved goodbye and headed in Moses's car. She had heard about two barns from kids that went to her school, wondering which one they were going to. It didn't matter to her as she knew very little about them but she knew they were cute. During the drive, Julia tried not to ask too many questions, focusing on the scenery which changed from buildings to flat farm land.
As soon as they arrived, she unbuckled her seatbelt and got out of the car, holding Moses's hand as they headed towards the pastures. "So cool, do you know how many of them live here?" She glanced at the horses, admiring the different colors and markings each one had. They seemed to all be busy munching on the last bits of grass. "We didn't bring apple slices did we? I hear the love those."
Let your hook be always cast; in the pool where you least expect it, there will be a fish.- Ovid
Serenity had a couple of days off, and she was spending them at the barn with her horses. Jera's training was coming along well, the young mare had taken to the saddle and bridle nicely and would make a wonderful show horse when she found the correct partner, as the mare tended to throw a fit as soon as she was bossed around, so she would need a confident rider with gentle hands who was looking for a partnership. Ca'Daith was as cool, calm and collected s always, enjoying the cooling weather out in the pastures, eating the grass. She was standing in the pasture with her new mare, the large mare she had brought home after a welfare check that had ended badly for everyone involved a year ago. "Easy girl." She soothed the grey Clydesdale cross gently as the mare looked around, nickering urgently for her black colt who had wandered off to explore the chain on the gate. "Shadow is safe, you can still see him." She watch the colt, before she made a kissing sound and caught the weanling's attention, smiling as she looked at the lightning shaped white line that ran down his face from forehead to muzzle.
She looked over when she heard voices, smiling when she saw Moses and a young girl. "Behave yourself." She told the colt as she shook her finger at him, laughing because she knew the colt didn't care what she said, and she slipped the halter off the mare's head before exiting the pasture and heading toward man and child. "Hi." She greeted both with a smile.
To be truthful, Moses didn’t know if that fact was true or not. “Apples and Carrots are quite popular. But if we did, we shouldn’t feed any horses we don’t personally know. Some of them may have an allergy, or their owners may not like strangers feeding their horses.” He only knew this info from hearing conversations at work or out and about. The best thing he heard someone say, was horses were bigger versions of dogs and cats. They all had their personalities and needs.
Moses was going to offer to take a closer look until the familiar voice of Reni broke through. The man found himself wondering if he looked okay. He wasn’t one to wear a suit jacket while driving to wrinkle it up. But he still found himself wanting to look his best for her, sneakers or loafers. “Hey, Reni,” Moses greeted, with one of his big smiles. She looked beautiful as always. Almost like a druid near a spring.
“Julia, this is Ms. Serenity Delca. A close friend of mine.” In practice, he had hoped to ask Reni out today. But having Julia around prolonged the process. “Reni, this is one-half of my foster daughters, Julia. We’re here to drop off a bundle of dried lavender. And she also expressed interest in hand-feeding a horse or two.”
Julia was amazed by the large animals. There was a welcoming silence around them - much different than what she experienced at school. "Ah I knew we forgot something. Maybe we can ask someone if they have treats?" Julia had learned a lot from Isa - who she found out knew a lot about horses. She didn't know if they were meeting someone Moses knew, but that quickly came apparent. "Hello." She waved at the other woman and stood by Moses.
The young girl quickly turned her attention to the smaller darker colored horse, who seemed to be curious about his surroundings. "Nice to meet you Miss Delca. Are any of these horses yours?" She really wanted to help give some horses some treats - though she didn't bring it up. Julia wondered how Moses met this lady - it didn't seem like anyone that worked at the daycare or after school program. "How do you two know each other?" She now took a good glance at the older woman - Julia thought she looked like a teacher - someone who had a lot of knowledge.
Let your hook be always cast; in the pool where you least expect it, there will be a fish.- Ovid
Reni smiled as she was introduced to a young girl, her smile deepening at the child's manners. "Pleasure to meet you, Julia, you can call me Reni. And I know some ponies who would love to have a carrot or two." She smiled up at Moses. "Not sure who else here uses lavender, but I'd guess that your delivery would be for Cara." She nodded toward the arena, where the young woman was working a marble roan Connemara pony, or at least trying to work the pony, who was currently standing in the middle of the arena with her legs splayed out in all directions as though she didn't know how she was supposed to used them.
Her smile moved back to Julia. "I have four horses here. Ca'Daith and Jera." She pointed to the pasture she had just come from, where the young mare was trotting along the fenceline, which Reni silently begged her not to jump. "As well as Kenzie and her son, Shadow." She shook her head in amusement as the colt wandered further and further away from his dam, though raced back to her when Jera took offence to the colt and snaked her neck in warning toward him.
She gave an impish grin at the question of how she knew Moses, that night always brought a smile to her face. "There was a really big snake... that wasn't as big as people try to make her out to be, and a lizard, who got loose in the break room, and some really scared police officers." A night that those men were never going to live down. "Would you like to come and meet some ponies?" She knew that Cara wouldn't mind if she took Julia over to the pasture where the pony herd grazed, and the ponies weren't likely to get too pushy, like her own horses. The mares were all well-mannered, but they often forgot their size in their excitement for attention and treats, and she didn't trust Shadow not to bite the girl.
“Ah, the lavender is for you,” Moses smiled. “I insisted my sister keep some of her best batches aside for you. I may have to cat sit in return, but she knows you have a string around me.” He matched her impish smile when Reni answered Julia’s question. Thankfully she answered, as Moses didn’t know he could have cut it shorter than she did. He could’ve made it sound a lot scarier than it was by accident.
Julia and Issa knew of the reptiles in the house and were never unsupervised when down there. Everything was locked up as well, as a keypad code was needed to access it. Moses was tall enough to still hide the code from the girls and changed it up twice a month.
“What do you say, Julia? We have some time before we need to head home and cook dinner.”
Julia could already feel the warm personality coming from Reni. “It’s nice to meet you too, Renni. I’d love to feed some ponies some carrots. I don’t think we brought any though.” She wondered if anyone at the barn had carrots around - it seemed like the logical thing to do. “Yes, the lavender is just for you. Who is Cara?” Julia used her logic to think that Cara was another rider at Blue Acres, but she could be wrong.
“Four?! How do you have time for them all?” She had read about how much time one horse took - let alone four. The young girl glanced around, laughing at the antics between the horses. Shadow seemed her favorite while she watched him run away from his mother. “They are all very cool!” She could now see why most people in Hickstead had been bitten by the horse bug. “Yikes, I don’t really want to come across any wild snakes either. You picked the right person to run into. He loves reptiles! We have a few at home.” Julia wasn’t a huge fan of them, but it wasn’t like they lived in her bedroom or anything. She felt safe knowing they were behind a locked door. “You work for the police? Do you like it?” Julia didn’t really feel safe enough mentioning what happened to her parents - it was something best saved for later on.
Julia’s eyes widened at the thought of meeting ponies. “Yes!! Lead the way. I’m so excited!”
Let your hook be always cast; in the pool where you least expect it, there will be a fish.- Ovid
Serenity gave a warm smile. Thank you, both. She said, including both of them in her comment. She nodded in the direction of the arena, where the young woman was now leading the pony through a maze of poles on the ground. "That is Cara, she's Naomi's oldest foster child." Well, in all technicalities, Cara had aged-out of the system, but Naomi still talked about the teenager as her foster daughter. "As for the carrots, there are some in a bin by the pastures." At least there should be, unless one of the horses had found them.
She smiled at Julia's question about her number of horses. "At the moment, Kenzie looks after her son more than I do, and I have help from the people that work here if I run out of time to exercise them." She was lucky that Ca'Daith was happy to have other people touch her now, as things had been very different when the mare had first arrived here - back then even Serenity struggled to connect with the mare. "They all came to me, well, other than Shadow, needing a safe place." She laughed and nodded, though she wouldn't change the night she had met Moses for anything. She nodded to the next question. "Yes, I work for the police." She said softly, her nose scrunching at the following question and shrugged. "While I have some cases that make me wish I had taken up a job at the BAU, I know that what I'm doing helps the people who can't speak up for themselves."
She grinned at the girl's excitement at meeting some ponies. "Right this way, my good people." She led the way over to the pasture where Cara's small herd lived and pursing her lips, she gave a whistle, smiling as eight heads popped up at looked toward them. While she knew that Cara didn't give the ponies treats very often, there was a cooler bin attached to the bottom of the gate - where the ponies wouldn't be able to reach it - and she knew that it contained the carrots that were used as rewards during training, and she was sure the owner wouldn't mind if they fed a couple of them to the ponies who came over to say hello. "Most of the ponies in here are Exmoor Ponies. The three youngsters, Ice and two weanlings, were off by themselves at the back of the pasture, and the others were watching the humans by the fence before the Welshie blew out a breath and trotted toward them. "The one coming toward us is Twist, he belongs to Cara's daughter." She smiled as the pony reached the fence and stuck his head between the rails and reached his nose toward Julia, blowing gently toward her, eager to meet someone new.
Moses happily held Julia’s hand as they began following Reni. He wondered why he and Dahlia never got into horses. It wasn’t something they could necessarily afford when they were younger, but even growing in an area with a lot of them – Moses always found it interesting when there were non-riders. Thankfully, there wasn’t anything of a beef between riders and non. However, there was some tension between the two main barns.
He listened, though Moses could not promise how much he was ingesting. The man was observing Reni. How the wind made the small pieces of hair swirl around her face. Her smile. She was utter perfection.
