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!.
Jonathan continued to busy himself - cleaning his tack as Odette chatted along. It was odd for him to have company at the barn, most people tended to leave him alone at the barn. “Yeah, I do like keeping myself busy. No, she does not ride. It hasn’t come up in conversation if she wants to or not. I’m not one to push it if she doesn’t want to.” He shrugged his shoulders - it was nice having their own thing away from each other. It kept their relationship new - always having something new to report about their different hobbies.
He thought about their next conversation topic. It really wouldn’t be any different than if his own father coached an NHL team and he played for Chicago - but it was still a different situation. “Huh. Did your mother coach you when you were younger then?” He knew of people whose parents coached them at the start of their career, but his parents weren’t coaches of any kind. They supported his hockey career though, which was what meant the most to him. “Wow that’s impressive. What do you compete in? I think Sunny and I will stick to the low jumping classes.” Or do the handy pony class depending on what the lowest height was. “I do agree with that. It might have to do with the barn fire though?” As he wasn’t much of a competitive rider, he tended to keep away from the drama surrounding the rivalry.
“She does, but she did the Western events and only jumped a little bit so I don’t really want to push it.” Sunny wasn’t a flashy Warmblood like the others, but Jonathan wasn’t aiming for the Olympics either. He already did that himself in hockey and that was enough of an experience to last him a life time.
“Yeah, I played professionally back in Chicago.” Jonathan laughed at her next comment. “No, no. I also run the clothing store. It’s only one girl I’m interested in.”
Jonathan was nervous. He hadn't competed much at all since he started riding. Running the clothing store and keeping up a healthy relationship with Alana was busy enough, let alone getting himself and Sunny into competition shape.
He had heard he was riding the course first, heading towards the show barn to get the paint mare ready. Jonathan got the mare ready - the mare acting like it was just another ride. "Alright, Missy let's go compete." He finished off with cleaning out her hooves and organizing his brushes again. Jonathan put the saddle pad, half pad and saddle on the mare's back before doing up the girth. It wasn't too much longer before the two headed up to the warmup ring.
It was busier than he expected, but his coaches had gone through the proper etiquette. He checked the girth before rolling down his stirrups and getting on. After a thorough warmup, their number was called and they headed over to the show ring. They walked in and headed towards the flapping plastic bags, going under them with ease despite the rustling coming from above them. Sunny picked up the canter as they headed towards the cross pole, popping up an over the jump. Shortly after, Jonathan brought the mare back to the walk just before the bridge.
The rest of the course went by with ease, Jonathan letting out a sigh of relief after he closed the gate. He reached down and gave the mare a good scratch with his knuckles as they headed out to the warmup ring to cool down.
After finding them in one of his pockets, Jonathan placed his gloves inside his helmet. He wondered if Odette was one of those trust fund children who often relied on their parents' wealth rather than getting a job. He knew being a professional hockey player was like winning the lottery - but he always had retirement in the back of his mind. “Yeah, and sometimes my girlfriend wants to see me too.” Jon laughed, he often thanked the stars that Alana was patient and busy herself but they always made time for each other.
“How does it feel being related to a coach at another barn?” He realized after the Fire at Blue Acres, the tension and drama between the two barns seemed to have settled down. Jon didn’t mind - it gave him more riders to learn from. Jon nodded as he fixed the cover on his saddle after noticing it wasn’t on correctly. “The Stars? You mean the Olympics right?” It was something he had already done - though riding and hockey were two different sports.
Jon took off his riding boots, swapping them for his rain boots and pulled out a rag. He then started cleaning the sand off the bottoms. “No thanks, I’ll stick to my small jumps. Sunny wouldn’t be too happy with the bigger jumps anyway.” Jon was genuinely happy with the paint mare - she didn’t fit in with the other fancy Hunter horses, though she was well-behaved. “Oh. That does sound like an interesting story. How long ago did you and your family move here?” It seemed like most people left their hometowns because of drama. He went back to cleaning the boots, allowing the woman to speak again.
“Yes, I played hockey for a really long time before I moved here.” The perks of living in the UK - not many people knew who he was - even by looking at his last name.
Jonathan never knew whether to give out his lesson times or not, though most people at Seven Oaks seemed to be nice enough. He was one of those riders who did spend time with their horse, though sometimes running the clothing store meant he relied on the barn staff to get Sunny ready if he was going to be late, though he always felt guilty afterwards. “Yes, my job doesn’t really allow me to take the same lesson time every week, though I am my own boss so I can bend the rules a little.” The University students working for him were busy studying for final exams and wanted to cut down on their hours because of it.
“Do I know your mother or something? Does she ride here too?” There seemed to be more and more families who rode together, though as of right now he only knew about Drew family who shared Mary, a chestnut mare who seemed to also have a good head on her shoulders. “Wow, I’ve seen people compete in Eventing at shows. You don’t have a death sentence do you?” Jonathan smiled, even though he was a professional hockey player back in the day - Eventing seemed to be more intense than that. “I ride Hunters, nothing too fancy. I may switch to Show Jumping once I get more comfortable.” He shrugged his shoulders, some people found hunters to be boring - but it was just the right pace for him with his busy lifestyle.
He set his helmet and the grooming kit back into the locker - putting his helmet upside-down to allow it to air out. “Nice to meet you too, Odette.” Remembering names was something he was good at, having teammates that constantly changed really did help with that. “Oh wow, that’s really not that long then. What made you move here?” He was secretly hoping she wouldn’t ask him the same question, as his accent was obviously not British. “Yeah, I started to compete about a year ago. Really it’s everyone else who influenced me to start riding. I needed a new sport to keep me busy.”
I'm joking! Did you win a contest or something? If you paid for it, let me please pay for my half. I can't even remember the last time we went on vacation together... I'm really looking forward to it!! :-)
"Not to worry, I usually take my lessons in the evening but my work schedule changed." It was part of the perks of working for himself. Finally, he had someone interested in being a manager - they were currently running the store while he had a makeup lesson with Sunny.
He carefully shuffled around the mystery woman, trying his best not to disturb anything with his saddle. A quick sigh escaped his mouth as he slid the saddle in his locker, making sure the cover was on properly before closing the door gently. "Nice to meet you. Unfortunately, I'm still new to the riding world so I don't know who your mother is." He was far too caught up in the NHL scene, causing him to barely know the equestrian world existed until he moved to England. "Do you also want to do Eventing?"
From what he had seen, Eventing was a bit too intense for him. The Hunter ring was nice and slow, though technical. "I'm Jonathan. Though I'm sure you gathered that from my locker. How long ago did you move here?" He flipped his fuzzy girth upside down and set it on his saddle, letting it air out for his next ride.
Jonathan finished his lesson with Sunny, patting the chestnut paint mare on the neck as the Hunter coach brought the lesson to a close. The man thanked them and began cooling the mare out. With show season coming around the corner, he was wanting to do a competition or two come the Summer. Running the clothing store and dating Alana took a lot of his time, though he was still able to ride on top of all of that.
It wasn't long before the mare was cool to the touch. He halted her by the entrance to the arena and dropped his stirrups, dismounting gently and landing on the ground. Quickly after, he rolled up his stirrups on either side and led the mare towards the exit, heading straight for an empty cross-tie. He backed the mare in and took off her bridle, making sure she had a moment to shake her head before sliding the halter over her head and clipping the ties to either side of the halter. Jonathan hung the bridle on an empty hook and got started on untacking and brushing the mare. As the arena was quite warm, the mare had sweat marks under where the saddle and girth had been.
After a thorough grooming session, it was time to put Sunny back outside in the mare's pasture. Once he walked back to the barn, he picked up his saddle and headed to the tack room. There was another rider in his way though, he softly cleared his throat. "Excuse me, I just need to put my tack away." He didn't think that anyone else was at the barn though, almost running into the woman. "Are you new around here or have you been at Seven Oaks long?" He tended to ride at odd times due to running the clothing store so he didn't recognize many of his fellow riders.
You are very lucky because that doesn’t always happen. I do try and plan ahead but sometimes you just can’t.
Well then, I better get myself in my birthday suit too but maybe a bit more appropriate for the public eye I’m sure if you go on Pinterest, we can find a couple's costume. Maybe superheroes of some sort?
What time are you off today? Do you think we could grab a coffee and go to the corn maze?
I'm joking of course. 
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<3 
I’m sure if you go on Pinterest, we can find a couple's costume. Maybe superheroes of some sort?
