Time Off (Open)

[Olivia Cheyenne Kwinn]

After having stayed at the main part of the campus for the past three or four days, Olivia was ready to head out on the trails. She didn't exactly mind being stuck, but she enjoyed the change in scenery once in a while. She looked over at Tory, who was laying on her bed, and smiled, "Come on, then, girl." She bent down to clip the dog's leash to her collar, knowing that she would have to tie the dog up when she went to tack up Blue, but she didn't mind.

Without a glance backwards, she headed out to the barns, with Tory trailing behind her. After securing the canine, the fourteen-year-old walked into the barn, "Hey Blue." She rubbed the mare's black nose, thinking about how funny the name might seem at first. The mare was black, obviously, but her show name was Out of the Blue, due presumably to the star on her forehead.

After grooming and tacking up the mare, Olivia buckled up her helmet and walked the mare over to where she had left Tory. She took off the dog's leash and left curled up by a fence post, where no one would trip over it, and then mounted. Clucking to Blue, she walked the mare towards the Rocky Ridge Trail, the one that she had heard people saying overlooked the river.

[Oliver Pattersen]

Oliver bounded down the the barn, eager to see his new horse. He was thrilled when he had worked out that both Ollie and Casper would be living in the same barn, as he wanted the two horses to get along and since they were now living side by side, it would be easier for the two of them to get to know each other.

After a quick stop into the tack room to collect the gelding's new things; grooming kit and tack, he headed down to the Hanoverian's stall. "Hey there boy." He said as he lifted the gelding's halter off the hook and entered the stall.

It didn't take him long to brush the stable dust off the gelding's bay coat and then tacked him up. Pushing the helmet onto his head, she led the tall horse out of the barn and easily mounted him. "Come on, girl." He said with a whistle as smiled as the Rottie crawled out from the bush she had been hiding under with a low whine.

He'd owned Casper for a couple of days now and had spent as much time as he could letting the two animals get to know each other so that he could go trail riding with the Rottie - whom Ollie didn't like.

Squeezing the horse forward they headed toward the trails. Had he been on the fussy Appaloosa, he wouldn't have hesitated and taken the easier path and gone down one of the Green Hill trails. Now though, he did hesitate as he looked one way and then the next. With the canine at his side, he didn't feel as helpless as he would should the horse dump him and he got hurt so he pulled on the left rein and they headed up the path that led toward Rocky Ridge. He chuckled as Athena gave a low woof and then raced off into the undergrowth.

The boy gave the horse his head as they made their way up the trail. It wasn't too long before he could see the back of another horse and rider. "You have a shadow." He announced. "I also have a large black dog running around somewhere." He felt the need to announce Athena's presence too so that the other rider wouldn't be surprised if the canine did bounce out without warning.

[Olivia Cheyenne Kwinn]

Olivia rode slowly, looking around the trail as Blue plodded on. Tory ran through the underbrush, occaisionally stumbling upon a squirrel or bird and flushing it out, her tail wagging. Olivia heard a voice behind her and stopped Blue for a moment, glancing back at the boy that was riding up behind her. He seemed older, she noted, a few years older than her at least. "Thank you for that piece of information." She smiled, though, not really being rude, just poking fun, "As long as your black dog doesn't pretend to be my black dog, I don't mind." She laughed, "I have a shepherd around somewhere, she's perfectly friendly, though, so you don't have to worry about her bothering your dog." She asked Blue for a walk again, calling back behind her, "Your horse is quite handsome, by the way." The rider wasn't too hard on the eyes either, but she didn't really want to get into the whole dating game, and she wasn't sure how one would phrase that without sounding coy or silly. She heard Tory bark excitedly and some crashing in the brush, presumably as the German shepherd went to greet her newest 'friend'.

[Oliver Pattersen]

Oliver laughed and pulled a face at the younger girl ahead of him. "It gets boring calling out that there's a horse coming up behind you." He raised his eyebrows. "And you never know, you may have lost your shadow and be happy that it has been found."

He nodded when she mentioned that she too had a large dog roaming around, which meant that Athena would be glued to his side as soon as she came nose to nose with the other canine. "Athena's a Rottie, so there's no chance of her pretending to be your Shepherd." He said with a laugh. "She's part chicken though, and although placid, is scared of making friends."

Oliver smiled as his mount was given a compliment, and his eyebrow rose as the gelding gave a snort and tossed his head in the air - as if he had known that the girl was admiring him. "Thanks, I recently got him at the auction." He gave a small shrug. "He's one of those been there done that horses, someone I can learn English on."

The boy looked over when he heard a bark, followed by the movement of underbush. He silently counted to ten, and before he had even reached eight, Athena came barrelling out of the bushes with her tail between her legs. "Easy, Casper." He soothed his large mount as the Hanoverian skittered to the side, almost unseating his rider, as the dog sudden appeared at their side. "It's only Athena." He gave the horse his head so that he could turn his head around and nose the dog before he was happy and they continued on their way up the trail.

"Before I forget, I'm Oliver and this is Casper." He wasn't going to try and say the gelding's registered name, and it didn't really matter. "And the chicken-dog, is Athena."

[Olivia Cheyenne Kwinn]

Olivia grinned at this guy's wit, "See, this is why you should try being the first one out, then you don't come up behind anyone." Logic, there, but it was never very easy, especially if everyone figured that out. She glanced on the ground behind her, twisting briefly in her saddle, then straightened and called back, "I think it's come back, thank you for finding it."

She heard him state his dog's breed and smiled, "That's cool, and yeah, totally different builds." She laughed at the half-chicken remark, "Well, I'd love to see that. Like a hippogryph, just with the dog front half, right?" She thought of the fictional monsters she had seen in a Harry Potter movie, "Well, Tory won't hurt her, although she may try to make friends."

She nodded a little as she heard where the horse had come from, "I didn't go, if there were horses like him, though, I sure missed out." She rubbed Blue's neck. She didn't need another horse, with Blue and Goldie, the horse she had been allowed to ride from the Academy for her Western lessons.

She heard something in the brush and felt Blue shift under her, the mare's ears flicking back. She heard Oliver stop his horse and stopped Blue as well, loosing the mare's reins to allow the pony to look back at what had come out. She took the oppertunity to glance back as well, seeing a rottweiler with them now. She heard another rustling as Tory followed the other dog, and whistled for the dog, "Come're, Tory." The shepherd changed course and trotted towards Blue instead, and Olivia glanced back to the boy and his animals, "It's nice to meet you, Oliver, and Casper and Athena, as well." She grinned, "I'm Olivia, the pony is Blue, and the shepherd is Tory."

[Oliver Pattersen]

Oliver laughed at the suggestion of being the first on the trail. "It seems that no matter how early I get out, I always seem to end up coming up behind another horse and rider." He shrugged. "It's not always so bad though, not when I have a very pretty... horse ahead of me."

He laughed at the comment of his dog looking like a canine version of a hippogryph. "Um... yeah, exactly like that, just different." He replied with a nod.

He raised his eyebrows when she said that she hadn't made the auction. "There were a few nice looking horses there, but Casper was the only one there that was really suited for me." He rubbed the bay horse's neck. "I needed a really well schooled horse, but they also need to be tall."

Oliver watched as a Shepherd followed Athena out of the bushes and instantly change direction when her owner called her. He smiled his thanks, pleased to see that the canine was good at listening to her owner. "It's really nice to meet you too, Olivia." He replied once she had introduced herself. "Tory is obviously a Shepherd, what breed is Blue?" He still wasn't too good at picking horse and pony breeds, and wasn't too shy to let others know about this. "And what kind of riding do you do with her?"

[Olivia Cheyenne Kwinn]

Olivia raised her eyebrow at Oliver's bad luck at being the first on the trail, "Well, then, that may be a problem." She grinned just slightly at his comment about pretty horses, noticing the slightly hesitation before he said horse. Blue chose that moment to snort and shake her head, and Olivia laughed, "Blue says thank you for the compliment."

She listened to Oliver talk about the auction, nodding slightly before she said, "Well, yes, everyone has their own requirements for a horse." She didn't have any problem with short horses, but from what she had seen of Oliver, he was tall, and so it would make sense that he would prefer a tall horse.

At the question of Blue's breed, she rubbed the mare's neck, "She's a German Riding Pony, and we mostly do cross country, although we have been working on hunter/jumper as well." She glanced at the dog, "Aww, no chicken legs for Athena after all." She grinned, "What do you do with Casper, and what breed is he?" She didn't know all of the horse breeds by heart, although she guessed that the horse was some kind of warmblood.

[Oliver Pattersen]

Oliver laughed when the pony ahead of him snorted and shook her head just after he gave her a compliment. "She is very welcome." He chuckled as she shook his head in amusement. He looked down as Athena gave a gently woof before she slipped away into the underbrush.

"Chicken legs? Oh, yeah... Um, I do a Transfiguration spell on her so that she blends in with her muggle surroundings." He nodded, impressed with his answer. "Casper here is a Hanoverian." He replied, when the topic switched quickly to his mount, as he rubbed the bay's neck affectionately. "From what I was told he's kinda done everything under the sun. What I'm going to do with him? Probably learn dressage, maybe a little jumping." He shrugged. "I just want to become a better rider."

He nudged the gelding forward as the trail widened enough for them to ride two-abreast, as he began to worry about Olivia getting a kink in her neck from having to turn around to look at him so often. "How long have you been riding Blue?" He asked, looking at the black mare, who seemed at ease as they plodded along on the trail. He sat deep as the gelding he was riding swished his tail, a frown furrowed his brow as he had been told that this animal was a school master so he shouldn't have been worried about riding next to another horse, whatever the gender. It was only when he waved away a fly that was buzzing around his head that he realised what has upset the gelding.

[Olivia Cheyenne Kwinn]

Olivia raised an eyebrow, grinning slightly, "I thought you said your name was Oliver, Harry." She smiled as she watched Athena go back into the underbrush, although she glanced to make sure that Tory was keeping pace with Blue instead of following the Rottie. As Oliver told her what breed Casper was, she nodded her thanks, looking at the horse again. She smiled as she heard about the horse's experience, and Oliver's plans for him, "He looks like he'd be a great teacher for that kind of thing."

As Oliver brought Casper up to Blue's side on a wider stretch of trail, Olivia turned to face forward again, thankful for his move to keep her from having to look back at him all of the time. At the question, she frowned slightly, counting back in her head, "I've been riding her for four years." Only three of those four years had they really been working together a whole lot, but still, four years was close enough to the truth. She knew not to ask the question of Oliver, since she already knew that Casper had just been bought from an auction recently, and cast about for a subject. Spying Tory, trotting along to keep pace with the horses, she asked, "So, how did you get to know Athena?"

[Oliver Pattersen]

Oliver laughed, at least she knew Harry Potter when she heard it. "Shh, no one else knows." He said in a stage whisper as his eyes darted from side to side as he looked around as though checking to make sure they weren't being followed. "You wouldn't imagine the amount of concealer I need to use to hide my scar." He suddenly wondered if he should have left the last part off, or at least just said make-up, however, with four older sisters he sadly knew the names of different types of make-up. "I'm learning how to mingle with muggles so that no one works out who I am."

"She can go and chase Athena if she wants to." He commented as he nodded down at Olivia's canine who was trotting along with the horses long strides. "It's not her fault my dog is a wimp." He sat back in the saddle, tempted to drop the reins to see just how well the gelding had been trained. "My mom's Rottie got herself into a little bit of trouble with a much bigger Rottie, and from that we got a litter of puppies. I begged and pleaded to be allowed to keep one and they, my parents, both said yes. I don't think they were so keen on me bringing her to school though." He reached down and rubbed Casper's neck as the gelding released a long sigh. "You enjoying this?" He asked, wondering how often the gelding used to be able to just plod along the trails at his old home. Becoming a school master couldn't be a simple task and it would probably mean doing the same boring thing over and over again.

The boy sat up as the trees ahead of them opened up to an empty field in front of them. "Want to let them have their heads?" He asked, laughing as the horse under him suddenly perked up, almost dancing on the spot, picking up on his rider's change in mood.

[Olivia Cheyenne Kwinn]

Olivia grinned, "Well, if you don't want me to tell anyone." She trailed off, then added, "You never know when you-know-who is hiding around the corner." She nodded understandingly, "I'm guessing doing everything by hand is killing you, since you can't use any magic anymore."

As Oliver said that she could let Tory run again, she smiled and glanced down at the dog, "Go on." The dog ran into the brush again, tail wagging happily at the release. She looked over at the boy, listening as he told her about how he had come to get Athena. She nodded, "It's nice that you got to keep her, then." She shrugged, "Tory was bred by my parents, was supposed to go into Search and Rescue work, but then flunked out when she proved that she was scared of snakes, worms, hoses, and anything else like them, so she came back to us."

At the suggestion to let the horses have their heads, she glanced out across the open field and grinned, "Let's." She loosened her grip on Blue's reins and let the mare stretch out into a canter, resisting the urge to let out a whoop of excitement. The mare broke into a gallop, tossing her head and throwing in a tiny, playful buck, then just going straight along the trail. Olivia glanced around to see where Oliver was, knowing his giant horse had the advantage on the pony, at least in the length of leg, but that didn't stop her from feeling competitive.

[Oliver Pattersen]

Oliver threw his head back and laughed as Olivia kept along with his joking around. "Man I should have had a younger sister." He said, still chuckling. "So, I'm sensing that you've read Harry Potter?" He questioned.

He listened as the girl released the canine from her side and then explained the how and why of the animal staying with her. "Wow." He replied. "There again, being a search and rescue dog can't be an easy job." He had watched the news after the fall of the Twin Towers, and the number of search and rescue dogs that they had had to put to sleep because some of the canines couldn't handle the number of dead bodies they were finding.

As the younger rider agreed on going faster, he loosened the reins and let the horse go for all her was worth. However, Oliver felt his confidence slip as he could feel himself slipping as the tall horse galloped. "Thanks." He whispered as Casper dropped back to a gentle canter and didn't go faster again even though he still had the opportunity to do so as the boy hadn't collected the reins.

He bounced in a saddle a little as his bay horse dropped back to a trot and then a walk as the trees closed in on them again. "Well, that was fun." He said with a half grin.