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!.
Jump off's were always a tricky business with Adonis. When he got excited, the big oaf tended to start running through fences instead of picking up over them. It was as if he panicked and forgot where his feet were. Lily had been working on it with him, as much as she could, but only practise would tell how much the work had paid off. She gave him a another few jumps before going back into the ring, making sure he felt warm and settled.
She felt his demeanour change with the excitement of the crowd - especially being the last to go, the pressure settled on her, heavy and impossible to ignore. She tried not to let it change her, she'd done this so many times, but she knew Adonis could feel it. She set off at a forward canter, keeping Adonis together as she approached the first, and as they cleared it, she relaxed a little. The second fence went well, and then the third. She felt herself get a little ahead of the game, trying hard not to ask too much or upset his rhythm. A clear round was plenty. Unfortunately, as they approached the last, she felt him resist a little - getting excited and trying to rush the fence. His legs dangled and he went flat, clipping the top pole. Lily smiled, a little disappointed, but patted Adonis as they crossed the line. "Well done, bud." She said softly, pleased with how he had gone all the same.
<3 LUCAS JACOB COLE | THREE DAUGHTERS (ROSE, FELICITY, CLAIRE) | ONE SON (SLADE) THREE HORSES (SAFFRON, REBEL, ADONIS)
Lily smiled in return, wanting Othello to feel at ease and not worry about anything. "Hi, I'm Othello and this is Harry." Lily nodded, "nice to meet you Othello, I hear you met my brother the other week, I hope he didn't annoy you too much." She joked, though really she knew how Leo could be and he did have a tendancy to poke people a little too hard. "Lovely to meet you too, Harry," she nodded to the horse, offering her hand for him to check out before she went to give him a quick pat. Always good to make friends on the ground with client and horse so they could build trust with the instructor too - that was also important as it was for the horse and rider to be working together.
"Alright, so you want to get cracking with eventing, is that right?" She asked, wanting to make sure she knew where Othello was at and what he wanted to get out of the lessons. "Is there anything in particular you've been struggling with so far, or want to improve on? Anything you have in mind that you really want to achieve or get out of this?" She smiled, "It can be something really small, or what you might think is small, but any target and achievement is huge." Lily hated to think that people thought their dreams were small. "When you're ready if you want to get on board and start getting warm, so we can get down to the hard work once you've both gotten moving and relaxed."
Lily finally finished setting up the course for the lesson, brushing the residual sand off her hands and straightening up. Nothing too challenging for a first lesson, especially as this was a new client - it was meant to be a group lesson but with two spaces still available, it was going to end up an individual one. Lily didn't mind, a client was a client. There was still a particular combination they were going to work on today though, to see how horse and rider worked together. Having dragged in some of the few cross country fences they had, she'd arranged a trio of jumps, each at an 45 degree angle, with the first facing toward the fence, the second facing away from it, and the third facing back toward it. A zig zag really, each with only two strides between.
It wasn't a huge question, but if horse and rider were not in sync with each other and the rider was not properly communicating, then the fences offered the perfect excuse to run out. She headed over to the gate, making sure to pop it open so that the student knew they could enter once they were ready.
Dice roll
Odd number - lesson goes poorly Even number - lesson goes well
"Quit being a buffoon," lily muttered as the horse swung his haunches and gave a squeal on entering the ring. He'd seen it all before but they were both a little rusty and with that came excitement, especially for the young gelding. She soothed him with a light hand and got him moving off her leg, circling the arena until the bell went. At that, she set for the first and pushed on. Adonis overshot it in his excitement, throwing Lily a little out the saddle on landing as he took out an entire stride. She sat up on the other side and asked him to come back to her a little, half haulting until she felt he was listening to her again.
He threw his head up at the approach to the double, threatening to tank off, but Lily sat deep and held him in, refusing to let him camakarzi off. It paid off as he cleared both fenced with room to spare, and then it gave her time to get the corner right to the next. When they landed clear over the last, Lily beamed, staying calm so Adonis didn't get exuberant as she asked him to drop down to a trot to exit the ring.
<3 LUCAS JACOB COLE | THREE DAUGHTERS (ROSE, FELICITY, CLAIRE) | ONE SON (SLADE) THREE HORSES (SAFFRON, REBEL, ADONIS)
Lily was looking forward to meeting her first client of the week. She was full of optimism and positive spirit for this week. She had heard about the young lad she was teaching - through Leo of all people - and he seemed like a good kid with some real ambition. Lily was only too happy to help encourage the ambition and make it a reality. Having not seen him ride yet, Lily planned to make this a bit of an introduction for them both, so he knew how Lily taught, and Lily knew what level they were at - more so than 'novice'. She had set up a rudimentary showjumping course, including a couple of their cross country fences to see how they approached a solid fence, as well as coloured poles.
She surveyed her work and then gave herself a nod - they were all small fences, nothing crazy, as it wasn't about the height today. Once everything was set, Lily headed over to wait at the entrance to the school - She had made a note on the office lesson sheet for the day that Othello would be in the indoor school and to meet Lily there once he was ready.
Dice roll
Odd number - lesson goes poorly Even number - lesson goes well
Liliana Honey White - but please call her Lily, or she'll cringe. She's the owner of the stables, and she's had plenty of experience in eventing to give you a lesson worthwhile! Much like her siblings, she's been riding for a long as heck time, and has worked hard to get where she is. She's had her falls and her lows, just like everyone else, so she can always sympathise when people are having a tough time or not feeling it, and she always knows the right thing to perk you up and make you feel like you've done something good. She's had a lot of training over the years; private and group lessons as well as some clinics to get as much experience as possible. She's soaked up her learnings like a sponge, and applied it to her own riding to better herself. She's had a lot of lessons with William Fox-Pitt and Pippa Funnell, as well as some from Mary King, and Mark Todd. Lily has also had some more indepth training in dressage and showjumping on their own, joining her brothers in lessons with top riders such as Carl Hester and Michael Whitaker.
Don't be surprised and think Lily is a soft touch, she can be quite hard and a real task master and she takes no prisoners - she's firmer than both her brothers, but not unkind in it. She wants people to do well, and wants to draw out the best in her students, even if that means pushing the boundaries and comfort zones a little. She'll never get you to do something you're not capable of, or push you to your limits, so just have a little faith in that she knows what she's talking about and knows that you can do it - and you'll be flying! Lily is not unsympathetic, and she'll listen to what the rider says and will work with you on how best to achieve those things. As a horsewoman, she's good with a little bit of mischief and has surprisingly good stickability for a little woman, but she has a particular affinity with horses full of energy and short attention spans - and one's that seem to be strong in the hand. As a smaller woman, she's learnt lot's of ways in which to hold a horse together and how to combat horses who's minds wander.
class objectives
Lily likes to help people get the best out of themselves and their horses, and will push you to the edge of your comfort zone, so be prepared to be pushed a little out of bounds! She's encouraging and positive and will instil that confidence in you and your horse too. She'll spend a lot of time working on your confidence, as that is the pin-nickle of a good cross country round, as well as working on ensuring you're up to shape in all aspects of eventing. From her experience, most people lack dressage skills, and so there will be some lessons dedicated just to that and your weaker areas, where you're marking poorly, and then other lessons will be specific to showjumping and cross country - with the showjumping working on earning a good clean round, as some confident cross country horses often tap a pole in the showjumping. Lily will help you and your horse to become more adaptable to each stage of eventing so that you can succeed across the board, and look to gain more consistent marks across the board. She likes to see where people need to improve and then will spend time working on those weaknesses, before building on what you already know.
availability
8th - 21st April group - Intermediate 1. RORY ROSE WAY - Merlin - Intermediate - Thread 2. @name - horse - level 3. @name - horse - level
She got it, she really did, she knew how it would feel to see him injured from something he loved, even if it wasn't something that had happened to them. Luke's hobbies didn't have a penchant for that kind of trouble, she wasn't going to count his gambling issue, she didn't regard that as a hobby. It must be difficult, she got that, but this wasn't just a hobby for her, it was her life, it was the thing that had saved her all those years ago. She loved Luke, she had always loved Luke, and she always would, but she loved horses too, there would always be moments when they hurt her or something less desirable happened, as was liable to occur with animals in general, it was something Luke had to understand, even if he didn't like it. "i know lils, i do." She relaxed a little at his words, feeling the tension between them ease enough that she knew it wasn't about to turn into an argument. She really didn't need to add that on top of her issues with the damn horse and her scratched up back.
"adonis probably listens better ..." Lily have a small chuckle at that, raising an eyebrow at him over her shoulder as the washcloth was carefully handed over. "I think most of the animals do," She teased, but it was soft, no harm in the joke. She knew he was being gentle but she couldn't help the wince all the same. It would need to be properly cleaned and that meant it was going to hurt. She worked hard to hide every wince, every hint of pain as Luke worked, for his sake. She didn't want to make this anymore of a deal than it already was. "i'll believe that in a few days." She looked up and met his gaze as he held her chin. She didn't have anything to add to his words though, knowing there was nothing she could say to ease his worry in that moment that she hadn't already. "come into the bedroom and i'll go get the stuff to dress it properly." Lily nodded, leaving her top off to make life easier, she turned back around. "Okay, thank you, love." She said gently, placing a hand on his cheek and reaching up to kiss his nose gently.
Lily had already had a rather manic and stressful day given the circumstances. She'd been sorting out the yard and her family after the whole saga with the dogs, Chance and Maya and the fact that they had a lose pony somewhere out there who was still yet to come home. She had just finished saddling one of her own horses, Rebel, ready to go out and look for the blasted pony herself, along with a couple of other stable hands, when her phone buzzed. Frowning, she was quick to bring it out - everyone was on high alert right now and she was trying to settle everything back down. Her brow furrowed as she saw it was Naomi pinging through a text. Upon opening it, her shoulders relaxed. Mystery solved. She shot back a quick text to say that yes the pony did belong to them and to thank her for taking charge of it; she would pop over with the truck and retrieeve the animal. Following that, she shot off a text to Logan to let him know that the pony had been found and was all okay, before she turned back to her saddled horse and then called out to the other hands, "Stand down ladies and gents, the beast has been found!"
<3 LUCAS JACOB COLE | THREE DAUGHTERS (ROSE, FELICITY, CLAIRE) | ONE SON (SLADE) THREE HORSES (SAFFRON, REBEL, ADONIS)
Her gaze searched Luke's for a moment, expecting to see him smile like he always did when she gave him that look. He didn't though, and she bit her lip, the expression fading after a moment. She knew why - having grown up with him, Lily knew every look on his face, every nuance in his expression - he was worried. It was why she'd tried to hide it in the first place, she had wanted to avoid this. Now, she had to try and make a joke about it. "tell me you cracked him a good one in return." The joke eased the tension and she felt she was a little bit forgiven with those words. She relaxed slightly and smiled again, a slight wrinkle of her nose, "Sadly not, by the time the dust had settled, he wouldn't have known what the telling off was for. You know, him and Leo have that in common," She chuckled slightly, though Leo pretending not to know what he was being told off for was definitely more an act.
"i suppose if i told you to let leo or logan work with him instead of you, you wouldn't listen right?" Lily gave Luke a look, but it quickly softened as she reminded herself where the words were coming from. A place of care and love, of not wanting to see her hurt - the same way she felt whenever she saw something was wrong with him. "Sorry, but no. He's my horse, and I'm not pregnant, so I have no reason not to see him through his rehab. I won't ask someone else to handle him." She had handled worse before, but she didn't want to tell him that and make him worry more. She released the cloth over to him; at least he would be able to reach places she couldn't and it wouldn't be so awkward. "where else are you hurt?" She tilted her head slightly, catching the quiet of his voice and unsure for a moment if he was hiding frustration in the tone. A small shake of her head, "No, it's just my back." She said honestly, turning her face slightly to look at his. "It's not that bad, I promise."
She grinned, a mischievous look in her eye as he turned to look at her. As if they weren't both fully aware that he had a ridiculously good body. Besides, with her cooking the majority of their meals she made sure there was a healthy balance of good and bad - considering she was often cooking for the 5000, she had to look after the family and make sure they didn't live off a diet of pizza and chicken nuggets. "you're just jealous i can eat anything." She gave a small squeak of surprise and then let out an easy laugh, narrowing her eyes slightly on her husband. "You keep telling yourself that, sweetie." She teased, swatting him on the butt in return and winking.
"never leo, never." Lily rolled her eyes at the boys antics, but she gave her husband a soft look. She got it, even if Leo didn't (the dense clotpole), that Luke had to do this because this was their party, for their girls. She stopped teasing for a moment and rested a hand on Luke's arm, raising onto her tip toes to press a kiss to his cheek. "I pronounce you King of the BBQ," She said proudly, "just don't poison anyone or they'll never let you live it down." She added in a quiet whisper. She chuckled at the talks of a bet and rolled her eyes as she went to grab her drink. "Come on now guys, I think that's enough ribbing on the cook, or he'll poison you all on purpose," She warned, though she knew he wouldn't actually do that. It was all in jest and no harm done but she didn't want Luke developing a complex that they really thought he was going to make them all sick... it wasn't without cause but still.
Lily took a swig of her drink, glancing over to Bella when she helped pick up the plates. "probably, i started around their age. i'm also going to start a book, take bets on how long it'll take them to get married." She gave a soft laugh at that, watching the two play for a minute. "I'm not even sure who is chasing who anymore," Lily admitted as they zipped by again, the other way around this time. "I think I could get in on that bet, though I only need Claire to be happy, and I'll be happy - no matter who she ends up with." It would be sweet if their childhood crushes remained and they ended up together, but she didn't care if it didn't happen. "Is anything ready to take over yet, hun?" She asked Luke, glancing over the smoking options.
She thought she heard the sound of a door, but as she paused and cocked her head, she didn't hear anyone call out. Generally, people called when they walked in - with so many in the house it was common courtesy to let the rest of the troops know someone had entered. Not that there were too many accidents, but at some point they'd all walked in on each other in less than a desirable state of affairs. Sometimes, as much as she loved her family, the idea of a cosy cottage with just her, Luke and the kids was tempting as hell. But then they'd have a family meal, and the love of her family would swamp he all over again.
Naturally, Luke managed to creep up on her. Usually she saw him coming, he wasn't exactly light on his feet or good at hiding with his tall stature. But now he'd caught her red handed; well shit. "lily! what the hell happened?" Lily turned and let the shirt fall from her teeth with a sheepish grin, "Hey hun," She tried to placate him with a smile and a soft sentiment. "Uhh, my secret boyfriend got a little over excited?" She tried to crack the joke, hoping that it might soften the sight of her back. She smiled at the gentle touch of his hand on her shoulder, knowing he was worried about where was okay. "did you fall?" She shook her head. "Not exactly.. Adonis got a little keen and took me gravel skiing..." She bit her lip, "It's really not that bad, I swear. I just.. need some help cleaning the rash, please?" She asked, holing out the cloth to him.
Lily sighed as she twisted in the bathroom mirror to try and get a better look at the blossoming bruise. Of course it had to be in such an awkward place for her to check. Adonis has always been a handful, and he still was now in is older age. His temperamental attitude had usually just equated to being feisty under saddle with the occasional face pulling, but a recent stint of stable rest had sent the horses' crank meter off the charts. The stable hands no longer handled him on her request after three of them had almost lost fingers, and she wasn't interested in risking their limbs, but even with her the animal had tested his limits more than usual. She had decided to take him out for a walk for the first time in a week - knowing that he was likely to do something stupid, she'd clipped on a lunge line and used his bridle, thinking a bit of grass would settle him and hopefully keep him interested enough not to be too much of a prat, she'd led him the short walk across the courtyard to a patch of grass for him to hand graze.
He had been doing really well until a horse in one of the small paddocks nearby had decided to find the world exciting and shot off with a buck and a fart, spooking Adonis. Lily had been a little lax on the rope, having been lulled into a bit of a false sense of security by his calm, she managed to grab the line to hang on to the horse as his head went in the sky and he began showing off some impressive airs above ground. She'd thought she had him under control until the kick. It caught her off guard - his legs had been going in all directions but after a buck he suddenly spun and aimed his ass toward her rather than away like his previous bucks, catching her in the back. She'd managed a ninja move to avoid taking the brunt of the kick but it still hurt like a bitch, and then just as she'd stumbled, he'd yanked forward and she'd hit the ground, refusing to let go of the rope and proceeding to be dragged onto the gravel a fair few metres before her feet had found purchase and she'd been able to brace against his weight and stumble into a half run, bearing down on the lunge line until Adonis had stopped.
It had probably set back his recovery and she hoped it had been worth it for the bugger. Her family weren't on the yard at the time and she was glad not to have to deal with that, waving off the concern of the stable hands that were around and a couple of liveries who came to investigate, taking the prancing moron back to his stable and finishing up the yard before she limped home. She was hoping to hide it from Luke, like she'd done in the past. She knew he hated seeing her hurt and she hated having that age old conversation of why she still liked horses and would be going back tomorrow, but he'd caught her so many times trying to patch herself up and he always gave a sigh, sat beside her and started wrapping the bandages regardless. With her shirt lifting and being place-held by her teeth, she could just about see the injury on her back. The bruise there was nothing she could do for, but the gravel had scraped some impressive angry grazes down her back and she knew she needed to clean them. He would see them eventually - unless she never planned to be naked in front of her husband for the next few weeks - but if she could at least make them look less awful.... she flinched as she managed to twist her arm awkwardly around to rub the antiseptic against one of them.
"do you think those two will ever stop chasing each other?" She smiled at Bella as she looked after the running children, giving a slight shake to her head. "I hope they don't, it's too adorable." She laughed, "I wonder if they're playing kiss-chase," She joked; they mostly had family here today but they'd invited some of the kids friends to make it a proper children's party. She always felt so lucky that their kids all got along so well though, she loved how close she was with her siblings and now -most- of her cousins, but to see all of their kids playing together, growing up so close, she absolutely loved it.
"please tell me they're just for me and everyone else is having sausages?" She raised an eyebrow at her husband and then went to pat his stomach, "I think you might want to start watching your weight as it is, honey." A slow smile spread across her face despite the fact that the aforementioned stomach she'd just patted was rock solid. She didn't know how he did it. "Please tell me it's time for me to take over the cooking so you don't ruin it," Lily glanced up as her brother came to join them, rolling her eyes. "What is it with men and fire? It does not make you an automatic macho man." She rolled her eyes and went to pick up Luke's discarded tongs, pointing them at her bother and then Luke, "No arguments about the BBQ, or I'll be cooking it," And she snapped the tongs together twice with a sharp clack to emphasise her warning.
As she heard the door go and another excited child come charging through, she turned to wave a greeting to Ashley and Damon. "Hey! Welcome!" She called out, leaving them to filter their way through the troops of people as everyone greeted them in turn and the kids turned to drag Josh into their fun and games. Claire toddled over, pausing her running with Zeke and grabbing Jare on the way, "Joshyy come play!"
Lily frowned as she watched the exchanges, taking a step back as everyone talked over themselves a little, though everybody seemed to avoid getting irate at least. She chewed her lip as Tripp came forward, glancing at the boy well known for trouble-making. She didn't think he was capable of harming anyone, not on purpose... but as she knew with her brother, sometimes a prank could get out of hand. Perhaps he had meant to set something up and it had gone wrong. But she wasn't one to point fingers or judge.
"Alright, why don't me and Naomi collate lists of our liveries and workers, and then give these over to the Serenity, and then the police can pick this up with interviews. I'm sure you need to follow up after the witness statements of the fire anyway, right?" She glanced to the police woman and then Naomi with a kind smile, hoping that this would settle everyone. "Hand the jump over to Serenity, and let's clear up the last of this debris for now."
and that concludes the thread!
<3 LUCAS JACOB COLE | THREE DAUGHTERS (ROSE, FELICITY, CLAIRE) | ONE SON (SLADE) THREE HORSES (SAFFRON, REBEL, ADONIS)
Lily hummed to herself as she finished the frosting on the twins birthday cake. She'd gone for chocolate, as it was the least likely to call any arguments, and she'd almost asked someone in town to make it but decided she could go to the trouble of doing it herself. She was a decent cook and baking wasn't too much of a side-ways step from that. Everything looked perfect and she was pleased, her family had taken her strict instructions and followed them to the letter without too much of a grumble. Lily couldn't help it, Flick and Rose were growing up so fast and heading toward the age were they were going to remember these kinds of events, she wanted it to be special. She hadn't tried to vomit too much girlie-ness into it, knowing that Flick didn't particularly like pink, whilst Rose did. She'd gone for a variety of colours, thinking 'rainbow' instead.
The decorations looked wonderful and once she'd completed the piping, she carefully put the case away for the moment they would light the candles and sing happy birthday. The kids were already running about in excitement, dashing in and out of the kitchen as they chased each other. A blonde head streaked past, quickly followed by a darker head slightly older, as Claire and Zeke zipped past her. "Careful!" She called to them, knowing she would be ignored as they chased each other with loud giggles. Her caution was followed with a soft smile and she picked up a plate of uncooked chicken wings to take out to the garden where everyone was mostly congregated - placing them next to the open BBQ to be cooked.