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!.
Emma was excited for another dressage lesson. She had read on Aurora's board that she would be riding with Angel today. It was Vienna's turn for a dressage lesson and she was ready to go. She decided to go with her nice Sage green set, wrapping the polo wraps on the mare's legs before she got herself ready for the lesson.
The blonde braided her hair before putting her helmet on her head, clipping the chin strap. She grabbed the bridle and her gloves before heading over to the cross ties. Once the bridle was put on, Emma slid her gloves on her hands and led the mare towards the outdoor arena. Ahead of her she could see Angel and Ripple, glad she wasn't too late to her lesson. She allowed Angel to use the mounting block first, before she adjusted her saddle and got on Vienna. "Hi Aurora and Angel. I'm also doing good, excited to see how this lesson goes." Vienna truly thrived in the eventing ring - so dressage was something the mare needed to work on.
"Is this your first lesson at Blue Acres, Angel?" She fixed her feet in the stirrups before she nudged the mare forward at the walk.
Emma had finished her lesson with Miss Aurora - glad the grey gelding was starting to understand what his rider was asking of him. The two were working towards moving up to more advanced lessons. She chatted with the older woman until the next student arrived, leaving the arena as the next student entered - the pair walking back to the entrance of the barn.
She saw a truck and trailer pull away - wondering who the new arrival would be. Usually, she tried to pay attention to see if someone knew who was moving in but she had been far too busy with soccer starting up again. Emma saw a buckskin horse with its owner enter the barn, making her dismount and lead the grey gelding behind her. "Hi! Did you need some help? I only caught the tail end of your question. If Miss Clarke knows about your arrival, the name of your horse should be on the correct stall door." The barn staff were always informed of when new boarders were coming - making sure a stall was ready when they cleaned stalls the morning of.
"I'm Emma by the way, and this here is Dakota. And you two are?" Emma halted the grey in the barn aisle, making sure there was space between the two horses before giving the gelding a pat on the neck while they waited.
The young blonde was in charge of brushing Eddie after Cassie had finished riding him. Emma always helped out at the barn when she could - knowing that the coaches often rode their own horses before they taught lessons. Cassandra thanked Emma as she walked off to go teach lessons for the afternoon. She began the grooming process, realizing that the paint stallion was finally starting to lose his winter coat. Orange and white hairs flew around as Emma curried away, headphones in her ears as she worked her way around the older horse.
She had quite a bit of time before she had to get Vienna for a scheduled trail ride with Izzy, so she took her sweet time. Awhile later the paint stallion was gleaming again and Emma organized the brushes again before putting them away. The blonde teen got Eddie dressed to go outside - putting his cotton sheet and rain sheet on before clipping the lead rope to the ring and leading him towards the private pen area dedicated for the stallions. Hoofbeats clip clopped against the concrete until they exited the barn, Emma putting her headphones back in their case as the two walked along.
An unfamiliar voice called out to them before they made it too far. She halted Eddie and turned to face where the voice was coming from. "And what's his problem? I did assume by the note that he's a stallion. Any horse owner would know they need to be by themselves outside." She had heard about the arrival of the new horse, but was still unsure of who he belonged to. "Is he yours or something?"
Emma shook her head. She knew better than to treat her horses like that. “Huh, that baffles me. They aren’t machines and I know it sounds cheesy but, they have thoughts and feelings too.” The teen did as much as she could at competitions, sometimes leaning on her family or other Blue Acres riders to help. She also offered her help to those competitors at Blue Acres who needed it.
“I’m glad you got your way in the end though. I’d have to agree with you, I enjoy going to school. Having a tutor sounds boring. What made her change her mind?” There seemed to be a method for convincing adults to agree with children, but now that she was in her later teens it almost felt like she was an adult. “Wait, you had to dance with boys? How gross was that?” Emma laughed, she really enjoyed Gym class - except when it came to dancing. She wasn’t quite coordinated enough to dance and it was awkward dancing with the boys in her class.
Emma nodded, she knew Mik would be smart about being sober on the job. “How is Miss Amber anyway? I haven’t seen her around here in awhile.” She had only come across the older blonde woman a few times, but she was always there visiting with Mik or his horses. “That was supposed to be a compliment. Someone needs to be funny around here. Especially with all the stuffy people that ride here.” She loved Blue Acres, but like any situation there were always people who tended to be grumpy. Emma threw Indi’s halter in the pile and began the walk back to the barn.
“Do you really think anyone who lives in the Clarke-Thorne household sleeps in? I find sleep hard to come by sometimes.” It all depended on how much thinking she had done - it took her a long time to wind down enough to fall asleep.
Emma was used to people talking her ear off at the barn. She was a happy multitasker - almost done reading the article that had first gained her attention. "Yeah, I mean I wouldn't say I'm the best. There is always something to learn. What about you?" Emma knew better than to be cocky - even the best professional riders took lessons and were constantly learning new tips and tricks.
"That's fun! I've never been overseas yet. How is it like living on the army base?" The young teen had often wondered what it was like living on one - she was someone who had always lived in a city or town. Emma finished reading the article and gently placed it back on the shelf. "Frankfurt is a bit boring to be honest. Lots of posh business people but Munich is great. That's where I was born." She could only remember one Frankfurt trip with her mother, but she was still quite young. "I do enjoy it here. There are a lot of things to do around here if you know where to look." Emma honestly spent most of her time at the barn - having three horses kept her busy enough on top of school.
The teen nodded - she would have known if the other teen rode at Blue Acres. "Who else have you met that rides there? I've gotten to know a lot of them over the years." People had come and gone from the barn, but there were a few familiar faces that had been there for years. "Oh fun. What kind of riding do you and Twilight do? I have three horses. Dakota, Vienna and Kai." It was fun juggling the three horses, especially during the Summer when she didn't have school.
Emma shook her head - being good was something she had always been, even right after her trauma with her parents. "Yeah, yeah. You'd think that because I'm the youngest sibling that it wouldn't be the case, right?" It seemed to be a stereotype about the youngest sibling. Being an only child for the first bit of her life, made having siblings a huge adjustment.
"That's cool. It's a challenge from what I can tell. How do you manage to memorize your lines anyway?" She could guess that it was similar to memorizing things for a test, though again it was something different. There was a certain tone needed for different dialogue depending on the scene. "Did he get in trouble or something? Oxford isn't easy to get into from what I've heard." Cara had told her all about the special Universities. There were tests that students needed to pass to get in.
She waved off his comment - her siblings were a bit too old to be around the secondary school. "No, I'm the only one. My siblings are too old to be at secondary school." There was quite a big age gap between the three children, but they all got along well enough. Emma nodded - she would have to see if she could drag one of her friends to come with her. "So you haven't auditioned yet? Do those start soon?" She wouldn't keep her hopes up - in case Nash didn't get a part.
"I've been back three times now. I left when I was quite young so there isn't much of home I remember." She opted to play dumb, not really wanting to go into bonding over trauma - it was usually saved for those who were true friends. "Wow you really are man to yourself. There must be something special about you?" She had heard about some parents playing favorites when it came to their children.
Emma nodded, it was hard for her to decide which teacher is her favorite. "I don't know either, maybe Mr. Stonehouse? He seems nice enough."
Emma shook her head. Doing that to her horses was something the teen would consider being close to torture. "And you wonder why people like that complain about not having a bond with their horse." Her first foster family taught her that when she first started riding. Being able to take care of her horses herself was something she took pride in.
She felt a frown form on her face, only starting to realize now what Mik's family was like when he was younger. "Yuck, I feel bad. I didn't realize what your family was like. Is that why you left home early? Or did they make you go to boarding school?" It made her wonder why her first foster family left her.
After clipping the next halter on to Indi's head, knowing that the older grey mare would behave herself on the way out. She led the mare down the barn aisle and towards the mare's field. "Wait, what kind of dances did you have to do? Sometimes I wish our school had one." They really only had dance during gym class - and that meant the male gym class had to join them.
Emma's mouth formed an O shape, slightly shocked. "And what would Miss Amber say about that? I do hope you said no." Emma laughed as she continued walking down the path. "Well, fool wouldn't be the word I'd use to describe you. Though you are the jester around here." Helping at the barn usually meant working with Mik - and he often had some goofy story to tell, always making her smile or laugh at least once.
"No problem, not sure where else I would be during my time off."
Emma flipped to the next page, half listening to the conversation from the newcomer and half reading about Lotta and her pony. It was interesting to read about how she had trained her pony to do the pony hunter classes - competing in the States seemed to be a different world from what she had read about it so far. “Yeah, I just read that too. I had a pony myself, but I wasn’t a good rider then.” Her foster family was more of the backyard riding for fun type - now that she lived at Blue Acres - she was introduced to competing.
She continued reading as Brooklyn explained why she had moved, from her accent she could tell that the other teen was from America. “Well, that’s a far move. Were you excited about the move before you left?” Emma had a sad and tragic reason for leaving Germany as a child, though she couldn’t remember it clearly. “No, I was born in Germany but I’ve lived in Hickstead for a few years now.” The blonde really didn’t want to get into how her father had killed her mother, leaving her in foster care.
The teen flipped the page again, smiling at the sight of the pony and its rider - reminding her of her days with Lola. “Yes, I do ride. I’m at Blue Acres though. Do you have your own horse or do you lease one?” Emma didn’t really feel like bragging about how she lived on the property, it wasn’t really her style.
"You aren't the only one to give me that look. I'm lucky my sister makes sure I take something to eat while I'm on the go." If it was a riding lesson or a hack, she could easily stop at the house for a snack or a quick meal before she got her horses ready. "Isn't acting enough of a workout?" She knew she wasn't into theater, but she knew how much physical and mental work it was from watching the school plays.
Her eyebrow raised at the mention of his brother. "The name sounds familiar. What year is he in?" Maybe he went to the same school as them. "Nice, what play are you guys doing this year? I might have to come buy tickets." She knew for their English class, they sometimes required them to write a report on the school play. "You'll get there. It's not an easy language, though honestly neither is English." Most people who wanted to learn German from her wanted to know swear words, though it wasn't something she wanted to teach - so she avoided it. "You may need to know more than that before you fly over." The blonde let out a laugh. It was a good place to start though.
"Right now yes. I have a sister and a brother." Growing up however, she was an only child, which required quite a bit of adjustment. "Are you the youngest then?" There were younger children in their home too, though they weren't her siblings. "Thanks, I look forward to it." Emma gave a smile and a nod - always glad to have a few more people to cheer her on. "He teaches drama, right? I think I'd rather have a teacher who pries or makes you stay later. Is he your favorite teacher?"
Emma jokingly rolled her eyes. "Don't get me started on Shakespeare, I swear Cara has all of his works memorized." That and her English teacher was drilling them into her - it was hard enough for her to understand the current English language, let alone learning old English. "That makes sense. I have to realize that I'm still in school. Though there are people who just show up for their lessons, right?" She knew those people as some of them took lessons with her. It was something she never understood, though one day she would.
"You had a nanny? How was that?" Emma thought it would feel odd - she always had at least one parent home with her growing up. "Wow, sounds fancy. I think I'd rather have that than the Secondary school." The smaller class sizes was the thing that mostly appealed to her. "So, no distractions then right?" She tried her best not to get caught up in all the drama - though it was unavoidable. Something about girls all liking the same boy. She was sure it would soo break out into a fight. "Thank you for the suggestions, I'll talk to Cara once we are done here."
She didn't want to know how weird people got, but she also knew what alcohol could do. "I don't envy you at all working there. Horses are much better to work with, I agree with you there. Though there must be some funny stories working with drunk people?" It was something she kept away from - there were students that were already into partying. Emma nodded and turned around, following Mik back into the barn. "You really aren't that old. When I was younger I believed you. But alright, I'll take Toroto then." She took the halter from Mik and headed over to the paint mare's stall.
With Summer break in full swing, Emma found it odd to have so much free time. Her horses deserved the day off after an intense competition the past weekend - as always they came home with something to learn.
She forced herself out of the house, taking with her the newest edition of Pony Magazine in her bag. Naomi and Quinn were busy with the twins and Cara had taken Ky to the park - leaving Emma on her own. After packing a few snacks and a big bottle of water, she headed towards the bus stop. The blonde teenager got on the bus, which arrived shortly after she got there. Putting her headphones in her ears, she listened to music while the bus drove along to the beach.
At the right time, she pulled the string - signaling to the driver that she wanted the bus to stop. She swung her bag over her shoulders and stepped off the bus once it stopped. Emma sighed, pulling the magazine out of her bag and began reading it - heading down the boardwalk as she glanced at the pictures. She seemed to be deep in thought when she heard a voice over her music. Emma pulled the headphone closest to the voice out of her ear. "Yes? It's the newest edition. I saw who was on the cover and had to buy it." There was finally a German rider on the cover - she usually didn't read them. "And I'm Emma. Wow! Finally someone else new around here. Did your parents make you move here or something?" Hickstead would sound super boring to anyone from the States - there wasn't much going on usually.
"Where did you find that line? It sounds like something Cara would say." She felt like the two of them spent a little too much time together as they were starting to sound alike. "Wait, do the others really not look after their horses themselves?" It was something her first foster family instilled in her. She was also still too shy to ask for help - but school always came first.
Emma shook her head. From what she had heard so far, Mik had a life she could only dream of. "I thought maybe you'd cheat on homework. Seems like a Mik thing to do." She joked, knowing how much of a hard worker he was. "All jokes aside, was it that small of a school that everyone knew each other?" Hickstead seemed to have bigger classes - though more and more people were moving there. "No cute girls though?"
She raised her eyebrow, there were so many ladies she went to school with that would kill to have a Spa day - though Cara was different. "I'll take Ky to the park then maybe so she can have an afternoon to ride." It was something she could do during her homework session too. "I mean, it makes the medicine taste better. I hear people do that with protein powder?" She turned to watch Vienna as the mare turned to run with the others.
"You like being a stable hand more than working at the bar? I thought the bar would take the cake!" As she wasn't old enough, she hadn't visited Mik at the Lounge yet, though she had heard rumors of them having an under 18 evening from time to time. "Lead the way, I'm ready for the next batch of horses." She could probably handle two of the school horses at once - if they were well behaved.
"Isn't that a guy thing? I definitely know if I eat way too much food, I'll get sick." She was also now used to having access to so much food, she wouldn't ever be hungry. Cara did most of the cooking and everything she ate was gourmet now - she got a stomach ache just thinking about it. "Nope, honestly some days I'm too busy to eat. Blame my athletic lifestyle." She shrugged her shoulders, food was something she needed to fuel her body and nothing more.
Emma let out a laugh, clearly her foster sister was starting to rub off on her. "Sorry, I do live with someone as smart as Stephen Hawking. She is rubbing off on me. You do understand what I mean though right?" She was becoming more and more confident with her English. "Are you in the school play this year? Or do you do it on the side?" She tried to be interested in all the subjects, but Gym class with Miss Cassandra was by far her favorite. "I'm not teaching you bad German. Ich heisse Nash would be my name is Nash. It's always a good place to start." She didn't understand why people wanted to know the bad words in each language - it was much more interesting to learn other words.
"See your parents love all of you. I'm the youngest. Do you feel they give you enough attention though?" She had been on different ends of the spectrum with her various foster placements - though living with the Thorne-Clarke crew was by far the best. "The game times are usually on the school website." It was obvious to tell between the home and away games, so she didn't need to explain that to Nash. "Oh fun, what do you think of him? I don't have him for any classes."
Emma watched as Nash was glancing over at the bakery case. She wasn't sure what it was about, maybe he was hungry? Thanks to her family, she could never forget to eat. With both of her sports she was always hungry - though she knew she was lucky with the family situation she was in. "Are you hungry?" Emma was going to offer to buy him a snack, though she didn't know how he would feel about it.
"I mean, there are happy moments though. I'm learning to let the emotions appear as they want." Emma shrugged her shoulders, she tried not to cry in public but bottling her emotions wasn't helpful either. It was a tough act to balance. "I guess I've watched too many shows where people get therapy." Actually, Cara was full of idioms like that so she was used to hearing it. "You do know there is a difference between smarts though right?" Yes, school was important but you learned a lot by having experiences as well. "Definitely not an easy language to speak but neither is English. Though I imagine acting in plays isn't easy either?"
She wrote down some ideas for her essay as they came to her, still listening to Nash as he continued on. "Well that's a good start. Most people only know the bad words." Emma laughed, it was something anyone wanted to learn when they heard someone spoke more than one language. "All of my siblings are older, though there are younger family members as well." Their family was a bit complicated, though she was the youngest sibling out of the three of them. "Is it nice not being the youngest?"
Emma shook her head, she couldn't imagine her room being a mess. She tried her best to keep her room clean so that Cara wouldn't feel she needed to clean her room for her. "I like knowing where my things are." Losing her homework wasn't something she wanted to do if she could help it. "That and it's when the competitions start for Eventing so I find it hard to juggle both sports." Her practices tended to be during the week and then she usually had a game on the weekends, which left just enough time to ride her horses. "The game schedule is online on the school website, so whenever works for you." Usually, it was her family that ended up being her cheer squad during games. "Fun! What character are you playing?"
