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!.
As Mik warmed Fire up for the cross country, he knew he was in trouble, as the horse was completely full of himself, and that didn't normally end well for either of them, and this was the round that he didn't want the horse to be acting like an ass - something he wasn't shy of telling his large horse.
He rode the horse into the starting box when they were called and he nodded when asked if he was ready, keeping a tight hold on the horse, who felt like a coiled spring, and he spoke softly as they waited, and he loosened his hold on the reins as they were given the go, and he did his best to keep with the horse as they shot forward - thanking all his years in the saddle, as he could have been left in the box if his seat wasn't as secure.
They were over the log and the tires, the horse still going at a flat gallop, Mik knowing that he needed to get the horse listening to him, they needed to work this as a team, together, not Fire going flat out as though he were a Thoroughbred at the Kentucky Derby.
The flew over the next two fences, Fire still bearing down on the bit. "Okay, enough." Mik gritted as he closed his hands on the left rein, bringing the horse's nose toward his knee, forcing the horse to circle, which broke the flat-out stride and the bay dropped down to a hand gallop as they approached the house jump. Throwing a fit at being slowed down, Fire slammed on the breaks, stopping millimetres from the jump and tossing his head into the air in defiance. "Pleased with yourself?" Mik laughed as he looped the horse around and nodded when Fire popped through the jump nicely, as though he wouldn't dream of stopping, and they opened their stride as they continued on.
The next half of the course was taken at a more leisurely pace, but as they approached the final jump, it was like Fire was surprised to see the jump ahead of them, and when he should have been getting ready to take off, the horse shot off to the side. "You start the course as though you can jump the moon, and now you're scared of the jump?" He asked they looped back and he put his legs on the horse as they approached again and this time the gelding continued straight and cleared the tractor and they headed toward the finished line.
Mik hummed a Gaelic tune as he rode Fire around, weaving in and out of trailers. Keeping his horse warm while doing his best to stay out the way of everyone else while he was waiting for his next class, and then rode into the warm up area to pop over a couple of the smallest fences.
When their number was called, he gave Fire a pat and rode him into the arena. Since they were simple uprights, he didn't bother with letting Fire have a look, but he had a good look at them as they circled the arena and looped in to start the line. While puissance was more his thing, this was totally Fire's thing, and with the fact that the jumps were in a line, the large horse didn't have the time to think about anything else other than the next jump.
As they approached the first fence, he sat back a little, asking the gelding to get his hocks under him, and then rose into two-point as he handed the reins over to the horse, letting him do his job as they cleared one jump after the other and then rode out of the arena with a big grin, rubbing his horse's neck, thoughts already on the next round as they sowed down to a walk and kept moving around.
"so I can just stab you when you inevitably annoy me? That's brave..." Mik gave a pout. "When have I ever annoyed you... to the point that you want to stab me?" There were times he knew he intentionally being annoying, just to get a rise out of her. "Or is this some of your secret kinks coming out?" He chuckled and shook his head. "Yeah... no."
"You are full of all the good ideas today - it'd be a great way to feed the dinos." He flashed a grin, "and a great way to offload your enemies if you gave them a free invite to dine at the park." He pursed his lips in thought, as though he was taking this topic very seriously. "So... if the people tried to run away, would that make them fast food or free-range?" And it would be a great way to get rid of people you didn't like, as there wouldn't be a lot of evidence left, and no way of linking it back to you!
He had managed most of the inside of his pie, leaving a lot of the pastry, and some of the vegetables, but he knew that he couldn't keep playing with the food for the rest of the night and he finally put his cutlery together on the side of his plate. "Supply might become a bit of a problem if everyone gets the secret info..." He grinned and nodded. "You make a very good point." He told her has he raised his glass to her and then took a sip. "Would you like some dessert, or should we head home?" He didn't want anything else, but it would have been rude to assume she didn't, and he was happy enough to watch Amber enjoying herself.
Mik sighed as he had to fix four braids in the middle of Glory's mane, as the gelding seemed to have rubbed them out while waiting for his turn in the arena. "You just love creating work for me, don't you?" He joked with the buckskin as he sewed the last one into place and then led the horse to the warm up arena, knowing that they were going to be pushing it to get warmed up before they were due in the ring.
Just as he thought, he had barely ridden the horse forward before their turn was up and he rode the mostly cool horse toward the arena, trotting around as they waited for the person before them to exit and when the bell sounded he asked for a collected canter and they rode down to the centreline, halted at X and saluted before asking for a collected trot and they rode forward before tracking left.
Even without their normal structured warm-up, the gelding took everything in his stride and with a half-halt to alert the horse there was something coming up, Mik was happy that the horse did everything that was asked of him, even if Glory seemed to take offence to something that was just outside the arena and he fell in on one of their circles, though Mik wondered if the gelding though the test was a little below his skills and wanted to add some excitement into the routine.
As they rode down the centreline for their final time, he once again halted the horse at X and saluted before they exited the arena on a loose rein. "That wasn't too bad, eh, lad?" He asked with a laugh as he rubbed the horse's neck. "Might need to challenge you a bit more though."
Mik smiled as he watched her, almost able to see the wheels turning in the woman's head as she took in the thought of daggers. "It'd be far too tempting to use them." He laughed and nodded, as he could actually picture that happening, there were some nights at the club where you did want to carry through on the dark thoughts that were inside. "A set just for home then?"
"Just for you," He beamed, pleased that he could bring that out of her, even if it was just for him. He'd never been much of a drinker - of the alcohol kind - other than the odd beer, a good whiskey after dinner, and knowing what kind of wine to drink in the right setting - he'd never been part of the group of equestrians who would pile into someone's horse truck and drink the night away after a good competition. He smiled as he curled his fingers around hers, enjoying being here, with her, allowing the other people around them to fade into the background.
"speaking from experience?" He gave a wolfish grin. "My parents?" He pursed his lips and chuckled at his very immature answer before he went back to moving the vegetables around his plate, the odd one being eaten though he was feeling full after the pie. "Absolutely, if only they'd had the restaurant, I'm sure nothing else would have gone wrong." He grinned and nodded. "An all you can eat buffet... but then if the dinosaurs learned how to read, that could go very badly. There again, it would be food to go." He might be getting a little carried away with his thoughts, but it would put a new spin on the movies. "It obviously makes the best fertiliser." He nodded. "Indeed, especially if the veg is this good!""Maybe you need to get onto this, Ask them for their supplier?" He pretended to seriously think about her suggestion. "I'm sure the people that do the community garden would be happy for the info. As you can see from the awesome garden we have at home, I don't have much of a green thumb. Wonder if Naomi would like the info too?" He knew that they had a vegetable and herb garden, though it was a joke that would fall flat with the young woman who tended the gardens.
"Not sure I have a sword hidden away in the closet," Mik chuckled, knowing that he could change that, but that would mean heading back to the homeland, and he had no intentions of doing that. "Perhaps if I chuck my handbag at them." He grinned. "I know a good bladesmith. I'm sure she could make you a couple of pretty daggers that you could hide on the inside of your boots."
"Maybe I should quit drinking now then, But I'll never be too tired for you, my love." He placed a hand on his heart and batted his eyelashes at her. "You say the sweetest things." Though she had a point, no matter how exhausting work was, he was never too tired to spend quality time with the woman sitting across from him, even if quality time was no more than the two of them watching a movie at home.
He pouted at the patronising pat, giving her puppy-dog eyes. "yeah... I guess I'd better not order that one again - as you hated it that much." He laughed, and couldn't hold back a shudder at the thought of having another shot, and knew that he'd have flashbacks of that drink the next time he had a strawberry milkshake. "pretty decent choice too, I'll give you that credit." He beamed, as though he'd won an award, pleased that she approved. "It's close enough to home to not be too long a drive, while not so close that we're sitting with people we see every day." He shrugged, knowing that he probably could have done better.
"let's hope they picked the most tender one?" He grinned as he spared a carrot on his fork. "A young dino than. The older ones are tough and stringy." He popped the carrot in his mouth and chewed thoughtfully. "This is what the Jurassic Park movies were missing; a restaurant specialising in dino meat." Enough people got eaten in the movies, why not barbequing some dinos too? "Well, they clearly grow their veg in the right spot." He chuckled, his eyes twinkling with mischief. "In a pile of dino poo?" He asked innocently before picking up his glass and having a sip, though the corners of his mouth twitched with a grin.
Mik rode Glory in the warm up ring, keen to see how well the horse would do in the puissance class, as they hadn't done the class since arriving in Hickstead, and the gelding loved to jump, so he hoped everything would work in their favour... and then wouldn't give the horse ideas to jump out of the pasture when they got home.
Riding into the ring, Mik looped around, giving the horse a good look at the wall he'd be asked to jump, even though it was a good height right now. And when the bell sounded he circled the gelding again before he lined the horse up to the oxer and rose out of the saddle as he let the horse have a look at the fence and then they were over it and heading to the wall. "Behave." He muttered as the buckskin threw his head into the air, though the gelding sorted himself out as they took off and flew over the wall with room to spare. "Settle." Mik laughed as the gelding bucked his way back to the gate. "Save your energy for the jumping."
"Thanks." Mik said as Nat took Glory's reins and led the buckskin over to the warm up arena and Mik finished getting his bay ready for dressage test and then took the horse to the warm up arena and began to work the horse through his passes, getting him soft on the bit and supple, ready for the arena.
He laughed as the Clydie cross all but bounced under him, as they rode around the outside of the arena, waiting for the bell to sound and then as he heard the bell he collected the horse and they entered the arena. The large horse floated from one gait to the next, moving off his rider's cues, while Mik did his best to keep the horse's attention on him and not letting the horse predict the next move, as it was hard to pull things back together once things started to unravel.
The rest of the test went well, in Mik's opinion, and he held back a grin as they rode down the centre line for last time and saluted before he released the reins and turned the gelding to exit the arena on a loose rein, letting his grin surface as he rubbed the gelding's neck, making sure not to mess up the braids. "Good lad" He praised the horse, who walk with his head held high, as though he was proud of his own work.
"now that would have been interesting to see," Mik's brows flew up, mouth dropping in shock. "I'd have had a chance to be your knight for once," He grinned as he studied her for a moment, picturing her as a modern-day Joan of Arc, and nodded. "I could totally see you in a suit of armour, brandishing a sword as you fight for my freedom." Okay, maybe not so modern-day...
He smirked at her reaction to his look. "well, next time I'll be sure to sit beside you, and test out this illusive adventurous side.""Promises, promises." He said with a grin. "I could always show you when we get home. Unless... of course, you're too tired and we need to hit the hay." He stretched, making a show of how exhausted he was(n't).
"And a promise to bring Gay Mik back out at parties" His brows rose with amusement, it could be arranged! "I was generous, it's actually one of the better shots. Play nicely now or I'll make sure the next one has you gagging." He pursed his lips, feigning terror. "Um... yuck, gross, I never want to drink one of those things again!" He pulled a face as though he'd just eaten dirt and then flashed a grin. "Was that a better reaction?" Because he believed that she would have a drink served up that he'd still be tasting the next day, and he'd had more than enough of gagging. "you don't need to thank me, thank you for getting us out, it feels... good... normal again..." He smiled and shrugged. "Normal is so overrated. You're right though, it does feel good to just be out and about." And not always looking over his shoulder.
He smiled his thanks as the waitress arrived with their food and placed the plates on the table. He picked up his sutlery as he looked at the pie and vegetables on his plate, knowing that there was no way he could eat it all, but he also couldn't spend the rest of the evening pushing food around his plate. "Wonder if they make it with dinosaur meat?" If nothing else, the smell was enough to make his stomach growl.
"Huh, I've had worse," His brows shot up with a smirk; this sounded like a story worth hearing! "Yeah I guess that makes sense, plus.. there's that awful embarrassment of not getting any laughs." He nodded. "Plus me mam would have killed me. Or worse, had me locked up with the criminally insane.""And you do it so well," He grinned and bowed.
"if you're too chicken just say, I'm sure I could find someone more ... adventurous..." He grinned in reply, waiting to see where she was going with this. "besides, it might get us a discount off the bill." He gave her a smoldering look. "If you were sitting beside me, rather than across the table, I could show you how adventurous I can be, but alas, we shall have to behave and wait until... later." Creating a display wouldn't likely get them anything, other than trouble, as getting is discount for it was a Hollywood dream.
"there's always a taxi... but okay, okay, just one shot." He arched his brows at the mention of taking a taxi home and shook his head, he wasn't leaving his car here. "I suppose I can do a shot." Dinner would help soak up the alcohol. "I was thinking the same," He smiled and nodded, remaining quiet while she placed her order and then he also asked for the pie. "and we'll take two shots of tequila rose," His brows rose in amusement. "And a Coke, please?" He may as well have something, other than water, to drink.
He smiled his thanks as their drinks were brought over and he lofted his shot glass. "A salute to the time I pretended I was gay." He said with a wolfish grin. "Sláinte!!" He laughed before tipping back the drink and lowering the empty glass. "Other than the disgusting colour, that wasn't too bad!" Though he didn't waste any time washing away the taste with a mouthful of fizzy drink. He gave her an endearing look. "Thank you for coming out with me tonight. Wouldn't have been the same without wonderful company."
"Mistake number one - accessibility fail. a woman would have had that covered," Mik laughed. "And the fact that I'm not a woman, is what you like the most about me." He shot back with a shrug. "perhaps you missed your calling as a comedian," He pulled a face at the thought, serious for the moment. "While I admire those that do it, I couldn't think of anything worse than trying to work out routines all the time. I know that a lot of them use real life things in their routines, but there's always that line, and I'd hate to always be balancing on it." Plus, it would be the one thing he would do that would have him locked away.He grinned and shrugged, banishing his darkened thoughts. "The only person I care about making laugh, is you." He told her with a quick kiss.
He returned her grin, enjoying her reaction to his words. "That's for later, I meant right now... at the table.." He wiggled his eyebrows. "At the table?" He gasped, his eyes sparkling. "Isn't that a little public?" He pressed his lips together in mirth, mostly to stop himself from cracking up laughing and drawing too much attention to them.
"So... if I picked something like.. Grappa? Or Tequila... or ... an old fashioned, you'd just roll with it and say 'sure'?""Damn straight!" He replied. "Just remember that I have to drive us home." However, he wasn't even sure if he should be drinking anything, but he also wasn't going to let the truth get in the way of a wonderful evening. "what are you having to eat?" He raised his brows suggestively and gave her an wolfish grin before perusing the menu once more, suddenly wondering if ordering in might have been a better idea after all. "The pie looks good." He probably could have added a little more enthusiasm to his choice, but he didn't have much of an appetite.
Mik smiled as he listened to Emma talk, her grandmother sounded amazing, though he pouted when the story came to a rather quick halt. "I don't have much of a story. Born in Ireland, attended school in London, went to Cambridge, competed on horses, came here and got a couple of jobs." If you left out his family, being part of the British Show Jumping Team and the Olympics, but that was pretty much his life.
He pursed his lips as he studied her for a moment. "That you're full of life and energy. Both of which in a good way of course." He shrugged at his rather simple assessment of her, and it felt better than telling her that she reminded him of a whirlwind.
He laughed at her enthusiasm about meeting the horses. "Right this way, Ma'am." He said with a small bow as he gestured forward and led the way down the path to the pasture a group of geldings were hanging in, happy to see the horse he wanted to introduce Emma to was watching them from the gate. "This is Water Horse, or Splash as he's known in the barn." He rubbed the horse's forehead affectionately before stepping back to watch the chestnut, who had a blaze that ran all the way down to his top lip and a splash of white near the girth area - which was a marking, rather than a rubbing girth. He's a ten year old Quarter Horse. He likes to pretend that he has no idea what you're asking when you want him to move forward, or to stop once you've got him going." He just needed a rider who wanted to take the time to form a bond with him, rather than being a weekend rider. Mik dug into his pocket and pulled a out a bag of mints that he offered to Emma in case she wanted to give one to the chestnut.
He laughed as the topic turned to his girlfriend. "Her name is Amber, and no, she doesn't ride." He shrugged with a grin. "In her opinion, there's more to life than horses." And he had no problems with that, though he had every intention to get her on a horse at some point.
"such a fancy car such as this and the only name you could think of, was silver?" Mik gave a snort of laughter as he glanced at Amber and then shook his head as he chuckled some more. Personally, he thought the car was a heap of junk, the only good thing about it was that it worked without any issues - after he'd had some work done on it - and he could tow a float with it if the need ever arose, but it wasn't his old vehicle, and that made all the difference. "is this when you suddenly pull them out or something?" He gave a wolfish grin. "I would, but they're in the glovebox." Probably would have been funnier if he'd been able to pull some out with a I prepared these earlier flare.
"Have you been saving up all these jokes for tonight, because you're on fire," He grinned and shrugged, enjoying her teasing rather than being offended. "I'd like to say yes, but I'm just saying them as the pop into my head." He'd never thought of having jokes ready beforehand...maybe he could try that? Though he ditched that thought as soon as if was formed, as he felt that jokes could come off a little dry if you had already prepared them - he wasn't a stand-up comedian.
He watched her face, just enjoying being able to be here with her for the moment, as it wasn't something he could do while they were at the nightclub while they were both working - not that he hadn't tried. "a red wine?" He smiled and nodded, a bottle of red would go nicely with most of the meals he'd seen on the menu that he'd be interested in. "What are you in the mood for?""You." He replied with a warm smile. "I'm easy, happy to drink whatever you want."
He stood a little straighter as though he could almost feel her eyes as she looked at him. "Oh, do you have pre-dinner plans? Looking to work up the appetite?" He chuckled. "Well, I could make a suggestion," and that sounded so good about now, "but then my plans would turn into us ordering in, and that would defeat the purpose of going out."
While a lot of people said they hated to argue with their partners, this was one of the things he loved about Amber, the way she reacted to things he said, even when she knew he was teasing her. "thank you... and I know," He beamed as he caught the kiss in one hand and tucked it into his pocket.
"high ho silver, away - is that the line?" He sat back as he looked at her with his brows raised. "How did you know my car's name?" He asked with mock seriousness and then grinned. "Yes, that's the line." Probably one of the most iconic when it came to horse movies. While he'd never admit it, he didn't mind the music she liked to listen to, and wasn't possessive over the stereo - as he'd seen some guys get, and it was ugly - his music was no more than a background noise in the car anyway. "So you don't start to complain about your ears bleeding," He laughed. "Eh, I would have put in ear plugs if it had got that bad." He teased.
"I suppose you may." He smiled as he made sure that she had her feet under her before he closed the door and locked the car. "I hear the meals here are roarsome." He gave an impish grin as he walked her into the restaurant. "Good evening." He said as they approached the reservation desk. "I booked a table for Thanos." He'd probably be come a little too comfortable having people believe that was his surname, and squeezed Amber's hand as they followed a waitress over to a nice table for two in the corner of the room and he released her hand to hold the back of the chair for her - old habits die hard and all that - and then took his own seat. "Would you like anything to drink?"
"Good luck with that." Mik chuckled at the mention of Cara. "Unless you manage to catch her here with the children, she isn't often in the barn while people are around." Normally the only times he caught her was when he was arriving in the morning and she was heading into the house to help the children start the day, or when he was getting ready to leave at the end of the day and the young woman was getting ready to start her training schedule. "There's a working cattle ranch in the area too," he offered with a grin. "They work with rescue horses... or at least they used to, not sure the direction the new owner is going to take the place." His brow lifted at her excitement about people's stories, but lowered it again, not wanting her to think that he had anything to hide.
He nodded, he did have good horses, Lady Antoniou wouldn't have her son seen on anything less then the best. And that was only because it would look poorly on her if the heir to their legacy didn't perform properly. He had taken on polo to try and get her to loosen the reins a little, but that had the opposite effect. He laughed at her description of her talents. "You work your talents well." He chuckled. "My talents would be that I'm observant well and work hard." Something that did him well in both of his jobs.
He grinned as he curled his pinky around hers and shook on it. "Well... before I show you were to sign up for the lessons, would you like to meet the lesson horses? Are you a gelding or a mare person?" He mentally went through the list of lesson horses, instantly crossing the beginner horses off the list as he felt Emma would get bored on one of them, and thought he had the perfect horse for her to meet, depending on her preference for genders. He smiled as he thought about Amber, wondering what she would think of the young woman with him and shook his head. "Well, outside of barn hours, we both work at the nightclub." He decided not to mention that there were more than just three musketeers, as it was an elite corp that d'Artagnan wanted to join and he was befriended by three of the most formidable musketeers, which gave the book it's name.
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