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!.
Cara pressed her lips together and nodded, she was very aware of how self-aware she was. She knew each of her own faults and did her best not to allow them to cause flaws in her daughter, or anyone else around her. She was described as a jack of all trades. Yes, jack of all trades and master of none. She could do everything, but wasn't great at any one thing that she did. She gave a small laugh at the mention of some parents being single minded with the direction they wanted their children to go. The Clarke-Thornes were the only family she knew that actually encouraged their children, her included, to be themselves. To follow their own path, rather than it being predestined. Until she had moved in here, everything she did was about how much money she could make for someone else. "I just want her to be the best she can be at whatever piques her interest."
Her nose scrunched up at the mention of art therapy. She'd hated how the psychotherapists went though all of her sketchbooks and diaries with a fine tooth comb as they tried to delve into her mind during the trial, tried to find her psyche through what she had drawn and written. The only problem though, was that she drew what wasn't in her head. "Just remember, that sometimes and rain cloud, is just a rain cloud." She offered with a shrug and a tiny smile. "I did child psychology, when I finished school." She watched as Kyoto stood in the pasture with Twist's forehead pressed against her chest as the girl rubbed the pony's ears, the other ponies in the pasture watching between grazing, waiting to see if anything was going to happen.
Cara sat lightly in the saddle, holding the reins with just enough contact that the horse knew she was still there, and she could check him if he needed a reminder that she wasn't just a passenger, but not enough that the huge grey felt he had to be on the bit. She released a breath as she glanced around, remembering why she didn't often go on trail rides. Out here, without the constant thought about what was coming next; the next transition, the next jump, the next gait, out here her mind was allowed to wander and with half her concentration on the horse beneath her and the path in front of her, the other half was thinking about what she was going to do with her life.
She was now, in the eyes of everyone else, a young adult - not that she'd ever had the chance to be a child - and she really needed to take charge of her life. She'd had a word with her lawyer and any contact between her and the man who had sired her daughter was now gone. Her psychologist had spoken to her about taking back her life, letting go of the past and all that, but the young woman was struggling with that. While other people could just file their past away and tuck it in a box that would remain in the dark recesses of their brains, slowly forgotten over time, Cara didn't have that luxury. She did however, need to take hold of the reins of her present and steer it in the direction she wanted.
She snapped out of her thoughts at the sound of a voice behind them and used her leg to shift the stallion over to they gave the other horse and rider room to ride beside them, or pass if they so wished. "I am she." She replied, grey eyes glancing over at him and the Paint he was riding. "You came to the barn the evening that Ms Clarke's horse, Rex, decided to stand on his shoe when standing up in the pasture and ripped it off, along with part of his hoof. He is not enjoying the stall rest, but is healing well." While she had Dr Katsaros as her vet, she had seen the man around the barn. "Hush, mon petit." She soothed as the stallion spooked at a strangely shaped bush. "Company of a level-headed horse would be very much appreciated, thank you, Sir." She said with a small smile, rubbing the grey's neck as he settled down again. "Unless you have somewhere else to be." Yes, he had asked if she wanted a buddy, but she knew that people asked questions like that to be polite and weren't always genuine.
Cara pressed her lips together, she knew from the other girl's body language that she had said something that hadn't been the answer Molly had wanted, and she wasn't sure what she had said that seemed to have upset the other. "They help as much as they can." She replied. She tried to include the two teenagers into her dinner prep plans as much as possible, but with both of them so busy in the barn, she was often left to her own devices. "Scottish macaroons are a lot nicer, and not as... painful to make, as the french variant."
With her daughter safely in the arms of her grandmother, Cara turned her complete attention to Molly. "Small questions are easy. Catching your horse's attention, is a small question. The correct answer to that question would be the horse remaining still as you approach them. If that question is too big for them, they walk away as you approach. Your next question would be to catch their attention and then hold it. Them taking a step toward you would be the best kind of answer, but them not walking away is still a good answer." She said with a small shrug, hoping she had been able to explain it well enough.
She smiled as Mist and Molly got to know each other, knowing that another grown human would be good for the mare. Sure, Kyoto could ride the mare, but the toddler's riding abilities were as lacking as the mare's training, so Mist needed someone on her back the knew the ropes better than she did, so that she could keep learning more. "Mist is a well-behaved pony... well, as well-behaved as a newly trained adult horse can be, but she needs a human friend who knows more than she does so that she can go to the next level. She know what trotting poles and small cavalletti are, but I haven't schooled her in jumping yet. I have seen her jump over logs before I brought her here, so she has a big jump in her." She rubbed Twists' ears as the Welsh Mountain Pony thrust his forehead into her chest, wanting attention and seeing her as a good substitute to his owner.
“When the winds of change blow, some people build walls and others build windmills.” - Chinese Proverb
With the children being cared by by Naomi, and a comment about Cara not taking enough time for herself, Cara found herself with some time on her hands. Rather than taking some time out - as was hinted - the young woman prepared the small horse truck and gathered the things she would need for a small outing, as well as her stallion's tack, and then collected the giant Irish Draught.
Apeiros was doing well with his training, and even without any shows under their belt, Cara had had a few people, who knew of the stallion, contact her with interest in the horse covering their mares, but they wanted to see what he was like in the show ring first. Now, the issue with this, was that the thought of entering a showring brought Cara out in a cold sweat. She shook herself out of her thoughts as she finished securing the horse into the truck and headed off toward the beach.
She knew that it wasn't exactly beach weather, but it would also mean that it wouldn't be crowded with people or too many other horses, so it would be a great way to add something new to the stallion's training. "What do you think?" She asked the giant dappled grey as they stepped off the ramp and the stallion raised his head into the air, nostrils flaring as he drew in the new scents of the ocean that wasn't too far away. "Easy, love." She soothed as she walked him in a circle just as his front feet were about to go up in a rear.
Once the stallion was calm, she tied him to the side of the truck and then she gave him a thorough groom and tacked him up. After locking up the truck, she clipped her helmet under her chin, untied the stallion and looked around for something to use as a mounting block, as her lack of height was not in her favour with a horse who was almost 18 hands high. "Come on." She led him over to a fallen tree down the path, which she assumed people coming from Seven Oaks would probably use as a jump. After pulling the stirrups down and tightening the girth she climbed onto the trunk and then vaulted into the saddle. "You're such a good, brave boy!" She praised the horse with a pat as she found her stirrups, took up the reins and squeezed him forward. She knew that she probably resembled a bit like a pimple on a pumpkin, but she loved riding big horses, and she had no fear about how high up she was from the ground. "I know it's new, but I'll keep you safe." She soothed as Apeiros leapt to the side as he spooked at a bird in the bush on their left. She kept her hands light on the reins as she began to wonder if maybe they should have come with company, rather than riding out solo.""
Kyoto gave a big smile as her pony's name was complimented. "His show name is Pep... Pep...Peppa..." She frowned as struggled to get her tongue around all the syllables in the pony's name. "The yummy mint that's in candy canes. He's that kind of twist." She gave a nod as though it was all explained. "I'm going to do everything, just like mama!"
Cara sighed as she leaned against the fence, watching as her daughter climbed between the fence rails to that she was in the pasture with her pony. "I'm not that amazing." She clarified with a shrug. "Those that can't do, teach. So I teach, and I can't even do that well." She knew that she had just insulted herself, but she knew that there would be a point that all of the children she was currently teaching would need better coaching, and she just wasn't that person. "Part of me is waiting for the day that she grows out of horses and realises that there is more to the world than riding." There was another part of her that hope her daughter would always be happy as a rider, but id the girl turned her back on riding to pursue other interests, Cara would be happy for the girl to follow her heart, not wanting to make the girl feel that she had to always be interested in riding, if that wasn't her passion.
Do you only draw for pleasure, or do you do commision work too?" Cara caught her lower lip with her teeth as she realised how forward her question was. "Sorry, that was a very intrusive question."
Cara sucked her bottom lip into her mouth, as she could see the amusement the teenager got from her question. And, in hindsight, she guessed her question was probably a touch on the blunt side, and possibly rude. "Most of my baking is done while the rest of the house is sleeping." She offered with a shrug. "Kyoto and the other children I look after do enjoy spending time and creating things in the kitchen with me during the day." Even if those times weren't as much enjoyment for Cara, as the mess the children made would make her anxious and she'd need to centre herself and carry on, reminding herself that cooking was an all around educational activity, as they needed to follow direction, there was counting, reading if they were able, and there was also a whole lot of science too. "What is your favourite thing to make?" She regretted the question as soon as it was out of her mouth, as social ettique would normally mean the question would be given back to her.
Kyoto rested her head on her mother's shoulder and shrugged her own shoulders. "You just need to give your horse questions they can grasp." She said sagely. "If the question too big, they will walk away." Her brows shot up as she lifted her head up and looked her mother in the eye. "Right, Mama? Hi Baba!"
Cara kissed the child on the forehead as she released the girl and let her race off through the pasture to the gate where Naomi was standing. She returned the woman's wave as the child was picked up and the pair walked away. She turned her attention back to Molly. "To answer her question. Yes, you need to ask your horse small questions when you want something from them. If your question is too big, your horse will get confused and will look for a way out of being with you." She smiled as Mist approached them, finally deciding to come up and see what was happening, since the humans had been in the pasture for so long. "Molly, this is Mist." She gave introductions, rubbing the mare's forehead.
Kyoto grinned and nodded as she dropped the brush back into the bucket, as she believed that she was quite the expert on many things. She then beamed up at her mother, both dimples showing. "Mother, may I?" She asked.
Seeing that the four year old's attention had already moved onto the next thing, Cara pulled the mare's rope loose and moved the bucket so that it was out of the way. "Yes you may." She replied with a soft smile, as the child had never referred to her as mother before, unless she was singing that song from Tangled after Cara had asked her to stop doing something. "I'll just turn Swallow out with her friends." She took the pony to the pasture with the rest of her small herd, and released her before returning to where Kyoto was all but bouncing on the spot.
Kyoto gave the man confused look at his question. "The horses." She replied, with as much sarcasm as a four year old could apply. "Mama said I can start jumping soon, and I'll be off lead-rein at our next show!" She headed off, toward the pasture where Swallow had gone into. "This is where the ponies are." She said as she climbed up the rails and pointed out across the grass to where her Welsh Mountain Pony was grazing. "That's Twist, he's mine." She rode all of the ponies, but Twist was the one she didn't have to share... yet. She pursed her lips, trying to whistle to call the pony, like Cara did, but it turned into a pout when she couldn't get the sound she wanted. "It will happen, ma douce" She said softly. "You only want Twist?" She gave the girl's solemn nod a soft smile before looking back at the ponies and she released a sharp whistle. "Come on Twist!" Kyoto giggled as the bay cantered toward them.
Cara shrugged, her going to the Olympics had never been in her plans, and she knew why she had been invited, and had no plans on being a public puppet to make people want to feel sorry for her and she didn't want to become a story of some no-one who became an Olympic champion - and there was no doubt in her mind she would have been a champion - though her pregnancy had halted any Olympic plans, so she was thankful for that.
Kyoto frowned and looked at her mother, not sure how to take the man's words, but smiled when her mother gave a small nod, to tell her that the words had been positive. "It is a pleasure to meet you, Tegan. I am familiar with Piper and Sabrina." She said with a nod. "I can show you around!" Kyoto said quickly as she dropped the brush into the bucket and gave the man a bright smile. Cara chuckled and shook her head at the child's enthusiasm. "I though you were working with Swallow?" She asked with raised brows, though her tone was amused. "I can show you when I's finished with Swallow?" The girl grinned cheekily as she rummaged though the bucket until she found the mare's face brush and began to run the fine bristled brush over the mare's cheeks, smiling as the Cob's eyes closed, she lowered her head a little and sighed in contentment as the girl moved onto her forehead, using the hair tie that had been holding her braid in place to keep the mare's fluffy white forelock out of the way. "Mr Tegan might be busy, chérie." She said, offering the man an out if he needed it.
Cara pulled a face at the mention of genius before she could stop herself, as it was a word that had been thrown at her - as an insult - for her life. "You bake?" She hadn't meet many other young people who enjoyed baking, not that she went out of her way to meet other people, but that was beside the point. "Keeping journals made it easier to keep track of hat I was doing and when it was down on paper I could see what was or wasn't working, and I could plan out what we could do next." It also stopped people thinking about how she could remember so much.
Kyoto beamed at the compliment, though her attention was on her pony as the older people talked. Cara frowned slightly as she thought of how to explain liberty, as opposed to natural horsemanship. "They are similar, but where natural horsemanship is about talking to a horse in their own language - which yes I do - it's more about getting a horse to work with you as though you still have the halter and lead, without using either. Kyoto uses sticks to direct her pony when teaching him something new, but once Twist has the concept, we remove the sticks and she just uses her hands to direct him." She knew that a lot of people got the idea that people used whips, the sticks, to beat the horse into submission to do the liberty work, but it was further from the truth.
"Yay!" Kyoto clapped her hands, causing Twist to jump away from her. "Oops, désolé mama." She apologised as she clasped her hands and ducked her head and then held her hand out to her pony, waiting as the bay Welshie's ears flickered back and forth before he blew out through his nose and stepped forward to sniffle the girl's hair. "I'm sorry." She told the pony. "What to play?" She kissed his muzzle before taking a step back, and grinning as he took a step toward her. "He forgives me!" She cheered as she turned and began to walk away to a section of the pasture away from the others and stopped, before turning to face her mother and Molly, and the pony. "En dehors." She commanded as she pointed away from herself, her brows rising as the pony licked her face, no doubt seeing if she had missed any of her dessert when washing up after dinner, and then the pony turned and walked half a dozen feet away from her before waiting for his next cue. "Marcher!" She grinned, a true performer, as she had the pony worked through his gaits before calling him in again and both pony and child gave a bow before Kyoto ran back to her mother, silently demanding to be picked up. "Ta-dah!"
Cara nodded as she worried her lower lip with her teeth, knowing that she was overthinking everything again, but as much as she tried not to, she couldn't help it.
"Of course. I understand. If you want to write up everything you want me to know, and shoot it to me in an email, that's fine with me. Or if you want to handwrite a manual, I'm good with that also." Her cheeks heated up with a blush. "Each of the ponies have a notebook in their locker with everything that I've done with them journaled." She gave a self-conscious shrug, as she wondered how much doodling she'd done between the writing. Keeping a journal of the ponies she worked with had been something she had started in a foster home she had spent one summer in. The family had owned a riding school and had used her to fine-tune and warm the ponies up so they were ready for their riders, keeping their foster daughter hidden from sight so the owners got all the praise for the well-schooled ponies. Now, it was just habit.
"Mama?" Cara's attention was drawn to a voice by the fence, and her brows arched in question as she saw her daughter standing on the lower fence panel, wearing a unicorn onsie and her paddock boots. She smiled and nodded, shaking her head as the girl released a small squeal, ducked through the fence and hurried over. "I hope Baba and Jiji know your are out here." "Mmm-hmm." The girl answered with a bright smile before she looked up at Molly. "Hi! I'm Kyoto!" Cara released a breath as she shook her head in amusement, stepping away from Twist as the pony's attention was instantly on his itty-bitty human. "I really only use verbal cues when I'm on the ground." She explained to Molly. "I...I do a lot of liberty work." She found it helped establish a better level of trust between them if they knew what she wanted when they both had their feet on the ground, before she moved the lessons to her riding them. "You want to see?" Kyoto asked with a grin. "Only if Molly has time." Cara cautioned.
"A horse to call my own?" Cara's brows shot up, as that wasn't quite what she had said, but she didn't want to impersonate a fish, as she couldn't think of how to reword what she had said and sound like she was taking it back, and she could be taking the girl's words too literally so she decided not to say anything. After all, Mist needed a human to love her, and show her how much fun it was to be doted on.
"Oh, I will. I will not let you or any of your ponies down," Cara bowed her head, knowing that Molly would keep her word there. "On that thought, would I take lessons with only you? Or would you like me to utilize your ponies with some of the other teachers also?" She frowned in thought as she rubbed Twist's forehead. "As long as it's a private lesson, as I have only worked these ponies within their own herd." She gestured to the ponies in the pasture. "And haven't really worked with other horses or ponies, which I shall need to amend. You'll also need to tell your instructor that the pony you are riding at the time is still in training." She wondered if Emma would mind if she took one of the ponies along to the girl's next show, just so that the Exmoor would get a taste of the charged atmosphere of a showground.
As her fingers worked over the Welsh Mountain Pony's ears, she did a mental check of the training she'd done with the Exmoor Ponies so far and her brows rose again, her mouth forming an o, before she looked at Molly with a self-conscious smile. "How good is your French?" She asked, her shoulders making their way to her ears. "I started off by teaching them everything via voice commands on the ground, so that I didn't end up with ponies that respond to every instruction the instructor in the middle of the arena calls out, I've been training them in French." She found that equines understood better when they learned what was being asked of them when everyone had all their feet on the ground, and then reinforcing what they already knew from in the saddle.
"Well, Winnie certainly is a saint of a mother." Cara quirked a smile. "Only because the filly knows her dam won't put up with tantrums." If the youngster had gone up and bitten her bother, Winne wouldn't have just stood and taken it.
"I...er, I won't let Casey distract me." She nodded, wondering if she was missing something here that would be oh-so-obvious to the rest of the world, but then ignored it. "I can work with whoever you think I'm best suited for. Whether that's with Casey and Ice, or with Autumn, Spring, Mist, or Winnie." Autumn and Spring need the most work, because they are going to be Sebastian and Viola's mounts. The young boy was already calling the gelding Tum-tum, while his sister was calling her pony Sing, though it wouldn't be long before she could get the combination of the letters and have the pronunciation for the pony's monosyllabic name. "I think you would get on well with Mist too, and she would enjoy having a rider to call her own." The little dun mare, with her pangaré markings were so bold that she was smokey-brown over her back, while she was a milky caramel under her belly up past her elbows and up to her dock. Her muzzle the same colour that connected with the pangaré lining her eyes, probably felt left out at times; she wasn't destined to be a family mount, and she wasn't nursing a foal, so hang in the background unless called forward.
"This will be so exciting. I've never worked with a horse that wasn't a school horse before." Cara nodded. "Ride them as though they are the best trained horse in the world, and they will meet your expectations."
Cara bowed her head and shook off his apology. "It's not a problem." She assured him.
Kyoto beamed when the attention was on her, along with the dimples, she seemed to have gained her father's charisma - which Cara knew was going to get her in lots of trouble when she was old enough to realise that boys weren't gross - and the three year old shook her head. "I going to be riding horses when old, not brushing them." She said with a grin. "I going to the Olympics, like mama." Cara pressed her lips together and shook her head. "Mama was invited to go, she didn't go." She corrected quickly. "And it was for gymnastics, not riding." She had the background story that would make people want to follow her, or so the scouts believed. However, a lot had happened that year, and her pregnancy, had meant that she'd had to turn down the invitation. "Don't use that brush on her face." She nodded as the child replaced the body brush for the super soft face brush.
After brushing the mare's forehead, Kyoto beamed toward the man again. "I'm Kyoto and my Mama's name is Cara. Who you?"
"Well, no matter what, I know you are well loved here." A muscle jumped in Cara's cheek, but she caught the eyebrow before it could raise as she internally questioned Molly's word. Love wasn't a word that Cara used very much, as it had held anything but a positive meaning throughout her life. Sure, she told her daughter that she loved her, but that was the only time she ever used that word, in English anyway.
She shrugged as she pushed away the curious muzzle of the filly as Ice began to mouth her sleeve, little teeth catching skin, and her brows rose as the filly released an indignant squeal. "And, what?" She asked the filly. She shook her head when Ice, in true toddler fashion, walked up to her dam and headbutted the mare as though annoyed that the mare didn't come to her defence. "If I wasn't the alpha mare in here, that could have been a lot different." She said with a shrug.
"Casey? As in Casey Lloyd?" Cara's brow lifted. "Yes?" She hated that her answer was also a question, but the girl's reaction to Casey's name had thrown her a little and she trying to process the why, especially with the heat in Molly's cheeks. "He commented on the fact that he's only ever ridden fully trained horses, so when we were bringing the Exmoors here, I offered to let him train Ice." She smiled as Molly said that she wanted to help, offering to exchange numbers when they finished. "Autumn and Spring are... will be Viola and Sebastian's ponies, while Mist and Winnie are here to continue their training and then hopefully find their jobs." Or a new home. There were a few in-hand shows she wanted to take the ponies to, but that was for another day.
Cara stood on the side of the aisle, keeping out of everyone's way as she supervised her daughter as the child groomed Swallow, speaking in a mixture of English and French, depending on how excited she was on the topic at hand, as she worked on the silver dapple Irish Cob. The young woman smiled softly as she wrote notes while supervising the girl, adding sketches of jumps and doodles of horses as she went. Working out what she was going to do next with the horses she keep in work for Naomi and Mik. She shook her head as she put lines through the last thing she had and started the plan again, knowing that both Rex and Fire would hate what she'd had there. "Use the soft brush, chérie" She said as Kyoto reached for the dandy brush, though went for the body brush at her mother's words.
She jumped as someone spoke, giving Kyoto a playful frown as the child giggled, while also lecturing herself for not paying attention to her surroundings. Her mouth opened and closed a couple of times as she tried to work out the correct thing to say. "I don't think anyone will have an issues with it." She said with a small shrug, as she sketched the horses all the time while they were playing in their fields.
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