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!.
“Yeah, that’s right. It makes coming to work here harder sometimes, but at least I’m not stuck with the afternoon shift before the 4 am shift.” She smiled and shook her head. ”I don’t know how you get up that early.” She stated. Skye got up early enough for the barn but the girl loved her sleep. The bed would not be leaving her back before 7am unless it was for a show. Her attention turned to the door as the bell dinged, announcing a customer’s presence, giving them a smile as Violet greeted them. “How's your photography going?” Her brows furrowed for a moment. ”uhh I don’t do photography.” She said with a slight grin. ”Unless you count taking endless pictures of my horses and dog on my phone” She joked.
21 - goof ball - competitive - show jumper - crushing on Kolton
"Well, you two may be rusty then.” She nodded, agreeing that they were indeed a little rusty. ”I'm not your mother. I'm like...a wise little old sage. Like that green fellow in Star Wars." She snorted and gave the guy a small smirk. ”Yoda? Okay if you say so.” She hadn’t watched the movies but everybody knew who yoda was, unless they lived under a rock. "Ah. Guess you have a thing for grey horses then? I didn't realize the trio belonged to you." She grinned and ran a hand over Ghost’s neck. ”I have a soft spot for them. .yep they’re mine.” Her love of grey’s had only started after getting Ghost, then she found Apollo and fell in love with him too. Echo had been a birthday present from her parents and she was still in the process of loving the little asshole. "Ah...before I got here. I get it now, if it helps, I wouldn't have guessed that by what I saw. Sorry I was a dick earlier, I get caught up in watching jumping. Miss it...guess I was taking it out on you. If it helps, you two did look pretty good." She exhaled with a smile. ”Thanks. I’m sorry too, I get defensive as a safety mechanism I guess.” She said, happy the tension was gone. ”Why don’t you jump anymore?” She asked.
21 - goof ball - competitive - show jumper - crushing on Kolton
"Is Apollo a work in progress then? I think a person would be worth more than just a horse treat." She grinned a little and shook her head. ”Yeah Echo is definitely a work in progress. . he’s a bit of an ass.” She admitted. The youngster certainly had a lot to learn when it came to manners. "Sounds good, I usually have it on in case the vets need to bring me in for an emergency. So even if it's a text at 2 AM, I'll get it." She nodded, hoping she would never have to call him that late at night. ”Noted.” She smiled. "Nothing but sunshine and beaches right? I bet the rain really gets to you sometimes." She sighed longingly and nodded her head once more. ”Yes! Ugh I miss it. . british weather sucks.” She complained. "Germany is nice. Lots of different landscapes. I do love the Winter though, we do get a bit of snow too." She listened to him describing his country and smiled. ”Sounds nice; I’ll have to get there one day.”
21 - goof ball - competitive - show jumper - crushing on Kolton
"I'm everyone's type." She held back a snort at his remark and smirked, her eyes twinkling ever so slightly in amusement. Great, another guy who had an ego the size of a football field. ”Well clearly there’s a first for everything.” She retorted. "Well, if you're already out on the local shows, then spectators shouldn't distract you," She ran her tongue over her teeth and exhaled through her nose. He was right which was annoying. At least when she was at a show her focus was always razor sharp. It was in most training sessions but this was just an assessment of how Ghost was doing after his recent lameness. ”And when I’m at a show they don’t.” She defended. "This not being a show arena shouldn't change that reality, nor should the horse.” She lifted a brow, suddenly feeling like she was back in school. ”Who are you, my mother?” She asked, suppressing the urge to fold her arms across her chest, choosing to run a hand down the grey’s neck instead.
"Ah, a name to to the owner's plate. I guess I didn't recognize your horse without him sneezing on me." She laughed and glanced down at the horse. ”He likes to do that if he isn’t given immediate attention.” The gelding was definitely a dog in a past life. He’d be anyone’s best friend if they provided him with enough scratches. "River, I'm one of the newer stable hands." She nodded, memorising the name. ”Well forewarning, Echo will try and bite you and Apollo will try to drag you to the field if he thinks he can get away with it.” She said, talking about the two other grey’s stabled on either side of Ghost. "Consider me curious. What exactly were you working on improving besides not knocking over poles?” She relaxed a little more now the interrogation seemed to be over. ”He had a little heat a couple weeks ago so I’ve been easing him back into work for the past week.”
21 - goof ball - competitive - show jumper - crushing on Kolton
"Do you now? Your horses think so too?" She laughed and half shrugged her shoulders. ”Apollo and Ghost would likely agree but Echo would probably sell me for a treat.” She mused. The young stallion definitely had no loyalties to her yet. He was a work in progress. A long one at that. "At least with people I can explain things to in English, but my equine patients don't understand until they feel better." She looked at the horse again and smiled. ”I’m sure they sense you’re there to help them then feel a hell of a lot better once you do.” She assured.
"That would be great thanks. Now you have my personal phone number so... no excuses." She turned her head slightly for a moment as she felt a blush rising to her cheeks. ”I’ll be calling in the future for sure.” She smiled. Skye had no doubt her horses would need a chiropractor in the future. "A good friend of mine runs the rescue they came from. Said they were brought in together. L.A? Hickstead must have been a huge change then?" She grinned. ”Yeah it was an adjustment but I’ve grown to love the place. .I still miss the weather though.” She admitted. ”Nice, I’ve never been to Germany, what’s it like?” She asked.
21 - goof ball - competitive - show jumper - crushing on Kolton
She refrained from lifting a brow when the man looked her and Ghost over. He’d interrupted their session and now he was judging them. "Distracted? I know I'm handsome but I'm a bit old for you." She supressed a scoff and snorted a laugh in response. ”Yeah you’re not my type hun.” She remarked, letting her own eyes look him over as he did her. "You know, if you want to advance out of the local shows, you can't be letting your horse save your ass like that." She loosened her reins, allowing Ghost to stretch out his head, taking advantage of their unplanned break.
If she didn’t have hold of the reins, she’d have folded her arms in response to the man’s audacity. ”we're already out of local shows and Ghost only needed to save my ass because of you.” She hit back. No she shouldn’t have gotten so easily distracted but it was beside the point. She couldn’t stop her eyebrow from raising when the man walked into the arena. Who did he think he was. "Do you get---er, what's your name?" She collected her reins back up, signalling Ghost the break was over. ”Skye, and you are?”
21 - goof ball - competitive - show jumper - crushing on Kolton
"He hasn't even known you for five minutes and you are his new favourite person." She grinned and let the horse lip at her hand. "Well what can I say, I have that affect on people" She joked, giving the palomino another rub on the nose. "He sometimes feels like I torture him but once he starts relaxing, he changes his mind." She let out another laugh and looked back to Everett. "I think I'm the same when it comes to massages, it always hurts before it gets better." She said sympathising with the horse. "Perfect, I'm sure I have a stack of them in my bag. I've also have some at the tack store for people to pick up." She smiled again. "Perfect, I work there so I can always let you know when you're low on cards." She offered. Skye watched as the man did some more work on the horse, watching his hand placements. "Yeah, they practically came as a pair, so I couldn't say no to taking on a second horse. That must be fun! Are you not originally from England either?" She grinned, knowing she would have probably done the same thing. "They have to have a friend. . Nope we moved over here when I was 16 from LA. .dad got a new job. . where are you from originally?"
21 - goof ball - competitive - show jumper - crushing on Kolton
Skye lifted the bridle in her hand and glided it over Ghost’s head, slipping the bit into his mouth gently before securing all of the buckles and rearranging his forelock to sit comfortably. She double checked the girth then headed out of the stable, holding onto the horse loosely by hanging an arm through the right rein while she secured her riding hat on her head. It had been a while since she had jumped her oldest companion as the dapple grey had been on rest after feeling some heat in one of his legs. She had eased him back in gently over the last week or so and she felt he was ready to get back to it.
She walked into the indoor arena, making sure to close the gate behind her to avoid any wandering barn animals or children getting in and distracting her, which had happened before. Skye lifted her foot into the stirrup and pushed off with her other, lifting it over and swinging gently into the saddle. She kept her reins loose as she nudged the horse forward, spending longer than usual warming him up, working up to a few small jumps to see if there may have been any signs of lameness. So far so good. She scratched Ghost’s neck affectionately before pushing him into a canter, directing him towards the start of the small course she had set out. He sailed over the jumps with ease, making her face break into a smile. Her boy was back on form.
They flew over the double oxer and turned towards the combination. Movement in the corner of her eye made Skye momentarily lose her concentration causing the grey to make decision to skip a stride and take the jump early. They managed to somehow avoid landing on the jump but the contact of hooves couldn’t be dodged. She involuntarily winced as she heard the clattering of poles behind them and mentally cursed at herself for allowing herself to become distracting. She rubbed Ghost’s neck for saving their asses, a less experienced horse may have had a different outcome. "You miscounted your strides! You should have fucking had that!" She looked up, her eyes landing on the guy leaning against the arena gate. He was the cause of her distraction. ”I know, I did have until I got distracted.” She said, walking over to the gate and stopping in front of it.
21 - goof ball - competitive - show jumper - crushing on Kolton
“He’ll be alright, I promise.” She couldn’t help but feel sympathy for the gelding but nodded anyway. ”good.” She moved closer gain and reached out a hand to stroke the horse’s soft muzzle gently. ”Notice how he’s lowered his head. That means he is starting to feel better too. You’ll notice him licking and chewing too when I hit the right spot.” She watched as the horse relaxed and smiled. ”well he certainly seems to be enjoying it.” She’d probably have a similar reaction if somebody cracked and realigned all of her joints. “Oh, that is a good idea! How many do you think is good? I have some pinned to the board by the indoor arena too.” She shrugged her shoulder as she thought for a moment. ”Hmm maybe like 5 to start with? Then just replenish as and when you need to?” She suggested. “Have you always had gray horses? Or was it just a coincidence that they all are the same color? My other horse, Sunday is a blue roan, so it’s almost like having a gray.” She grinned a little at the question. It probably was odd to have 3 horses of the same colour but she loved how they changed over time. ”Aw you have another? A coincidence I guess. .my first two horses were bay then when I moved to England, I got Ghost then Apollo caught my eye at a show and my parents actually found Echo for a christmas present, they thought it would be funny to give me another grey.”
21 - goof ball - competitive - show jumper - crushing on Kolton
“Hey Skye! Just started, and it’s slow so far. Just chugging away at the tornado of clothing," She smiled and glanced around the quiet shop – not ideal if you wanted a shift to pass by quickly. ”Yeah it’s always quiet in the morning isn’t it.” She moved to the rack Violet was sorting through and had a quick flick through some things. “I’m hoping it picks up a bit. Hours at the other place have been earlier and earlier..” She glanced at her phone to check the time and nodded. ”Should pick up soon. .you work at the ranch right?” She asked, looking back to her co-worker.
21 - goof ball - competitive - show jumper - crushing on Kolton
Skye somehow found herself wandering into the tack store on her day off. She had a rare day off from the barn, well more like her parents had forced her to have a day off from the barn. They'd already rang the stables ahead of time - the evening before- to pay a stable hand to have her horses lunged, turned out and mucked out by the time she had even gotten to the barn. As much as she wanted to be annoyed, she had been grateful for their gesture, having noticed how tired she had been lately with training and work. It was her own fault, she never rested on her days off and it had caught up to her.
However, she still couldn't keep away from everything horse related. She had put aside some things in the shop to buy after her next shift but the day off meant she could pick it up early and have a good nose through the new stock. Skye pushed open the door to the shop and headed inside, having a quick glance around to see who was working. Spotting Violet, she smiled and moved over to where she was. "Hey, how's the shift going?"
21 - goof ball - competitive - show jumper - crushing on Kolton
“Fernie keeps me in business, that's for sure. I swear he is a six year old in a seventeen year olds body.” Skye looked at the horse with a smile. "Aww poor guy." She hated seeing horses in discomfort, and it pained her to see any of her own hurting. “Perfect. Here’s my card.” I should really put some up on the bulletin board in the clubhouse but I keep forgetting.” She took the card from him, glancing at the details before placing it in her back pocket. "I can pin one up in the tack room if you want? Plenty of people passing through there everyday." She offered. “My phone number and the website are on there. The website has the prices and you can book online too!” She nodded, making a mental note to check it out when she got home. "Perfect, I'll check it out later." She had noticed Apollo had been a little stiff after a ride in the week so it wouldn't be a bad idea to get him checked over. “Greys, huh? They are not easy to keep clean are they. You must spend a lot of time in the wash rack with them.” She let out a soft laugh and shook her head. "Oh all the time. They definitely keep me busy!"
21 - goof ball - competitive - show jumper - crushing on Kolton