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!.
Lips pursed on the straw of her water jug. Calli was a bit of a sweaty mess with how much she had shoveled straw today. But she enjoyed it, despite the complaining of some of her friends. She didn’t have to help clean their stalls, but she did. Calli enjoyed it, despite what she came off as. Even though she didn’t have a lesson today, she still came out and did some drills.
Since she had finished cleaning up a bit faster than her friends, Calli found a nice patch of grass and sat down – staring at the blue sky that would be dark in a few hours. As she took another sip of water – Callie’s eyes landed on Ronan Slade. She could tell why Brooklyn found him cute. Maybe it was all the silly movies she had been watching lately, but what would he look like if she was shirtless? Honestly, there were a few people Callie wondered who looked shirtless.
Callie was lost in her brain space until she felt another body sit next to her. Her eyes looked over. “Took you long enough, Brookie,” she smiled. “How was your lesson today? Who did you have again?”
It had been a long afternoon of shoveling horse manure, dirty shavings, and loose hay, but Brooklyn Hazelton was finally done. She set the wheelbarrow done as brown eyes surveyed Twilight's stall - clean as could be, like he had never disturbed it just a mere twenty four hours ago. While the Saddle Club was currently split up, Brooklyn knew one trip out to the pasture meant that she would be reunited once more with one third of its members, Callie Talbot, their other member already getting dragged home by her parents. At least she had managed a goodbye before the tomboy had ran off.
"What do you say, Twilight? Shall we go join our friends?" Brooklyn asked her black mustang now, who gazed at her curiously, clearly unimpressed with the work she had pulled off around him. Laughing, she quickly put away the wheelbarrow and shovels, before returning back to clip the lead rope to his halter and taking him out to the pastures. The fifteen year old would have to ask what Callie's method was to stall cleaning, since she always seemed to get it done so fast nowadays, there had to be a science to it that she was somehow missing.
Putting Twilight into the pasture, she turned around and spotted her friend. Quickly, she ran off and comfortably flopped down besides her in the grass now, "Hey. Not all of us are stall mucking masters, Callie. Besides, I see you found the best viewing entertainment at Seven Oaks," Brooklyn commented with a deep, heavy sigh, as her brown eyes gazed out on the pastures now to see the one and only Mr. Cheekbones himself, Ronan Slade, putting away his own former wild horse. The fifteen year old had a major crush on him, she was convinced they were destined to be together, both transplants from another country and owned their own former wild horse.
The mention of her earlier lesson made Brooklyn grunt obnoxiously loud, "I don't think I want to discuss my lesson." she said, "This barn is kicking my ass. Good thing there are beautiful people here." Brown eyes glanced over at one of her best friends now, "I hope your drills today went better than my ride."
Calli couldn’t help but grin when Brooklyn commented on her masterful skills. “Bah, it’s mainly because I’m sure if I went any slower, my brother and dad would be all up in arms.” While they were never hounding her to go faster or anything, they taught her more efficient ways to get things done. Of course, her father was a firm believer in purposely slowing things down if the pay was by the hour. Or if a client was giving you a hard time. Her brother, on the other hand, was too much of a workaholic.
“Hey! That’s a good thing, right? Just means that the coaches think you’re ready for the next hardest thing.” Calli herself wasn’t that ambitious. Unlike her friends, she wasn’t going out and competing. At least, fully. Calli was looking forward to a jumping event in the spring. But she couldn’t put in the work or time yet. Which is why she was leasing a horse.
“They did. We had a small trip up, but I fucked up my special awareness for a moment,” she laughed. Calli returned her eyes to Ronan, Brooklyn’s little crush. Or maybe it was a major crush. “Have you figured out if he’s actually serious with whatever her name is?” Calli prodded.
Laughter escaped her at Cali's explanation of why she was so good at mucking stalls and being fast at it, "Leave it to a father and an older brother to find the most efficient way to do hard labor." She felt like her father could be the same way, even though he had a vastly different career. But she didn't dwell on the topic at hand, one because she and Cali came from different backgrounds, and two, because there were far more pressing matters in the fifteen year old's life such as riding and boys shed in mysterious air.
Her new best friend always managed to put a good spin on things though, at least when it came to riding, "You're right, Cali," Brooklyn admitted, "I bet they are pushing me because they know I'm ready - plus, with Twilight here now, he and I can go back to being the dream team. I swear, Skye was so moody, she affected my rides." The athletics mare was capable of many things, but being a cuddle bug, she was not, and Brooklyn was glad to give up the school horse for her own once the mustang had cleared quarantine protocols, "We should go for a hack sometime before the weather gets too cold." Although this was England, the cold probably didn't bother anyone.
Cali's matter-o-fact statement about her trip made Brooklyn laugh along with her, just a couple of teenage girls enjoying their time. And perhaps too loudly, since Ronan actually shot them a look before getting back to his work. Even when he was grumpy, he was still awfully beautiful. Cali's question popped up in her ear now, and Brooklyn let out a sigh once more, flopping backwards so that she could stare up at the sky for a moment before her dark eyes looked to her friend, "No, but I think they're heading in that direction. I don't think I have a chance. But...well, he's not off the market yet." And that was the one sliver of hope she had, "Anything new in the love life of Cali Talbot?"
Cali nodded along with her friend’s words. “I’m convinced my teacher is wondering if I’ll ever pick up the pace! But they’re getting my money, so they can’t be too mad.” Some people may call Cali a waste of space and time, but everything is about money nowadays. For the most part, it was her own money paying for her lessons. Cali didn’t come from a wealthy family by any means. Her brain and her work ethic got her where she was.
“Oh, yeah! I hear the forest and the waterfall are pretty this time of year.” Granted, the color changes in leaves were nowhere near the beauty of Vermont – a state she had visited many moons ago. Cali watched as her friend mulled over her question, and her reaction seemed to make her wonder if the question was hurtful. But Brooklyn answered her.
“That is true! We don’t know what they don’t let us know. You know me, I am far too invested in finding information.” Cali, like most girls – was a great internet sleuth. She liked backtracking and all that, something her brother insisted she stop. But he couldn’t complain too much when her abilities helped him locate the dresser that their mom desired from a thrift store.
“Ugh, I wish there was something in my love life,” Cali snorted, twirling a finger in some loose hair. “There are some cute guys that come through at work. But they’re all way too old. Why do people our age have to look so..blegh? Like…that patchy so-called beard ain’t it!”
A rather unlady like snort of laughter escaped Brooklyn at her best friend's sass about the money and lessons, "Exactly! So you do you." And honestly, that felt like the best way to carry on in life, no matter the country. Her gaze took in the changing colors on the other side of the pasture where a few trees lines the fence line, their green leaves looking on the last of their legs before the hues of reds, oranges, and yellows would take over. Cali was right, it would be beautiful, "Deal. I'm sure we'll get great grams as well." Nevermind that cellphones were needed for any ride from a safety stand point.
Brooklyn knew she probably had been dramatic about the boy, flopping over to stare at the sky certainly showed it, but it was hard to not be. Hopefully her best friend didn't think her too entirely immature to be obsessed with a moody eighteen year old boy. Either way, Cali seemed to be handling her well enough. And, by golly, did the other girl have a point. She forgot how good her friend was at internet sleuthing. Brooklyn shot up, or at least, quickly sat up on her elbows now, "Are you friends with Ronan on Instagram? Or the Ledor-Kita girls? I've been too chicken to creep on any of them and have my name linked to the follow" My goodness, why hadn't she thought about asking Cali this before?!
At least she had managed to ask her friend about her own love life before she got too self absorbed into finding out Ronan's and the answers that eluded her. Laughter escaped her at the other girl's explanation, "Cali! You've been holding out on me. Doesn't matter the age of the guys at work, who do you think is cute?" While it sucked that Cali didn't have much of a love life, Brooklyn couldn't help but to be secretly glad that she was single - mainly because the young woman was convinced she would be left behind. A thought did cross her, wondering if it was taboo, but this was Cali Talbot, who certainly was down to earth, "Have you ever thought...that any of the girls around here are cute?"
“I think I do? If not, I can definitely see if they're public or not. We should have a few mutuals so if they are private, I can definitely weasel myself in.” Calli took out her phone and opened the app, and began typing in the sister that would definitely have a public page, Piper.
“They're all college dudes, so I guess they're men. I don't know how Alana doesn't flirt with them.” In reality, Cali knew why. Her boss had a long term boyfriend, who owned one of the local clothing stores. But it made Cali wonder if she could teach a pottery class. Do that classic Patrick Swayze scene. “Girl wise? I think a good chunk of them are cute. Like you! But I think a few of them have a big stick in their ass,” Cali snickered.
She returned to her phone and realized she had indeed followed Piper. When, she didn't know. “I follow Piper. She mostly posts stuff about costumes but I can see if Ronan and Sabrina are on the gram.”
"Callie - you're the best, if I don't tell you enough." Ah well, between herself, Callie, and the tomboy, they made up the best club ever. But lately, one third of their club had been busy, so it had mainly been just her and Callie hanging out. It kinda sucked to be honest, but they were teenagers, things got in the way, she could only hope that priorities weren't changing.
Brooklyn couldn't help but to wiggle her eyebrows at the words 'college boys', "Oh my, look at you," the teenager giggled, "Maybe you can get Alana to allow you to teach a class." Callie Talbot did not miss a beat though when the teenager brought up girls, in fact, she hardly reacted to the question. God, she was so cool sometimes, Brooklyn kinda wondered why the sixteen year old deemed her cool enough to hang with, "Yeah, especially the equestrian girls." Brooklyn lamented now, mock sadness in her voice.
When the other teenager announced that she did follow Piper on the gram, Brooklyn about lost it. The weird sound and fail of her limbs echoed across the pasture, earning her a look from Ronan Slade himself as he walked past them, stalking back to to the barn now. Stupidly, brown eyes watched him before looking back one of her best friends now, "Tell me Calliope Talbot - what does the Gram foretell?"
Calli couldn’t help but giggle at her friend’s eagerness. She didn’t blame her though. Boys were on the rage at the barn it felt, especially with more coming in. Though it was still hard to gauge which team someone was batting for. Heck, Calli didn’t know what team she was batting for either.
Her thumb moved around and Sabrina’s account was picked up. “Her personal is private but it looks like she linked the family barn…” Calli opened it up, and the first block – there was a picture of Ronan in his gear holding the lead of a horse that looked massive. “But what does it mean?!” she asked Brooklyn, knowing full well that she probably didn’t know either.
