Freedom (Andie/Open)

[Ω-Admin-Cara-Ω]

Nudging her gelding forward they headed toward the trail, with Harmony sensibly walking a good distance to the side of the large horse. Once they reached the trails, the sixteen year old turned jack toward the more experienced trail. She worked on the fact that this was the less likely place to encounter horses that would spook if the canine materialized on the trail in front of them.

Once the gelding was warmed up and the trail had straightened out so that it would be safe to move faster than a walk. She squeezed the gelding forward, thankful for the long boots she had on as she knew that her legs traveled when she posted and they would be rubbed raw if she had only been wearing paddock boots.

Andie looked at the dog and gave a nod. Harmony gave an excited bark as this was what she had been waiting for as she took off down the trail and vanished into the undergrowth of the trail, no doubt on the scent of some poor defenseless creature. Good thing the dog was so absentminded that she'd get forget what she was doing before getting to the owner of the scent she was following.

As the trail changed again, the rider reined her horse back to a walk and gave jack his head so that he could find his own footing. The girl unzipped the top of her protector and fanned herself with her hand, even in the shade of the trees it was hot.

[sepia]

Lee was, currently, really enjoying his new job here at Blue Ridge. So, yes, he was working hard, but it was with horses, animals he'd do anything for, and, besides, he actually liked hard work. The routine of riding, mucking out, grooming, feeding, checking pastures and everything else associated with taking care of the large number of horses living at BRRA was a dream to him, and he fell happy into bed every night, sleeping better than he had in ages.

That didn't mean, however, that he didn't appreciate a slight break, and so he'd taken the chance to combine the exercising of one of the horses he was supposed to be riding today, with the opportunity to take a look along one of the trails. He hadn't yet been down the Rocky Ridge Trail, and so after telling someone at the barn office where he'd be for the next little while - and given that he'd sorted out everything else that he was supposed to be doing, no objections had been raised to taking one of his assigned horses out on a trail - he'd been tacking up Blue Suede Shoes with the intention of taking him out.

Blue definitely interested him, the gelding not the easiest of horses to get to know, being a stoic sort, Lee definitely getting the feeling that he was holding something back. He was good, though, his show record spoke for that, so Lee was rather surprised to see that no student had decided to take him on. But then again, most students here had their own horses, only a few utilising the Academy horses, which was rather a shame, to his mind, given how good a lot of them were. Still, it gave him the chance to ride some really lovely horses, so he supposed he shouldn't complain.

Swinging himself into the saddle (and, gosh, Western style was so very different from English, he decided yet again as he settled himself into the saddle) he turned the gelding towards the trails, the horse seemingly quite eager to take a break from the usual routine of working in the ring as he stepped out eagerly, white face extending forwards as Lee chose the more advanced route. Blue's long strides covered the ground easily, and it wasn't long before they were at a place where he could let the gelding have his head a bit, the horse swinging into a trot, Lee having to restrain himself from rising as was the English custom, instead sitting deep into the saddle and letting the motion swing him along. He could see, definitely, why Western style had been developed for long distance riding - it was very economical.

Bringing Blue back to a walk, and inwardly grinning at how responsive the horse was to changes in his position, Lee finding he hardly had to use the reins, the pair of them were rather surprised when a dog bounded into their path, cocking a head at the pair of them and letting out a 'wuff!'. Blue snorted, while Lee raised an eyebrow at the creature. "Hello, there. You're not lost, are you?" he asked in a conversational tone.

[Ω-Admin-Cara-Ω]

As they got deeper along the trail, Andie wished she had taken the easy trail as they had to once again walk along the path as it was too unsteady to trot on. She dropped her stirrups and stretched her legs out to the front as the gelding she was riding stretched out his neck. "Where did she go, Jack?" She asked the horse as she looked around the trail for her canine who had run off. "Sorry boy." She said as they got to the next fork in the trail and they turned around and headed back down the trail. She knew that Harmony would get lost, as if the Pitbull got bored of looking for her mistress she'd just head back to the Academy and someone would let her in as everyone in the Yellow Ribbon Dorms knew who the two toned canine belonged to.

They walked along the descending trail and the girl held the buckle of the reins in one hand and rested the other on her bare leg. She chuckled slightly as she thought of the man, Mr Cole, whom she had met in the barn as she was going in to collect her horse. She unzipped the body protector a little more, knowing that she wouldn't even have that on if she had not bumped into a member of the school facility, though know she was wearing it, she wasn't about to take it off as she had nowhere to put it.

"Harmony!" She called out once they had been walking for a good ten minutes, hoping that the dog would hear her and respond. Her eyebrows shot up as she thought of what she had done and clasped a hand over her mouth. What if a novice rider had taken the wrong trail and a barking dog spooked their horse?

[sepia]

After a moment or two of staring at the dog, all three parties involved clearly a little nonplussed, a cry of "Harmony!" broke through the air and, with an explosive woof, the dog turned tail and bolted away up the trail again. Blue limited his reaction to an instinctive flinch backwards, too world-weary to do anything else, while Lee quirked a grin. "Clearly not lost, then," he muttered, and encouraged Blue forward, the bay paint picking up the pace a little, though remaining in a walk as the trail continued through the trees.

Rounding the corner they discovered, as Lee had expected, another horse and rider pair, up to whom the dog was bounding enthusiastically - clearly this person was the owner of the exploring dog. Not recognising the girl - though he vaguely recognised the horse, the large grey gelding being a little difficult to forget - Lee offered her an unassuming, if friendly, smile.

""I think your dog's decided she's discovered some strange new life forms," he called out as he and Blue drew nearer, the gelding beginning to lay his ears back, in a very deliberate fashion, which Lee was starting to think was the way Blue did everything, as he registered the other horse. It was slightly odd, that, the way he didn't get along very well with others of his kind, but Lee respected his wishes, and halted him several metres short of the other pair.

[Ω-Admin-Cara-Ω]

Andie cringed as she heard her canine's bark. "OMG I hope there were no teachers near her when she barked!" She gasped as she bent over and crossed the stirrups over the pommel of the saddle before squeezing the gelding into an extended walk, as the trail still wasn't even enough to chance trotting her competition horse on.

She pulled the reined the gelding in as soon as she saw the flash of Harmony's head. "You are in so much trouble!" She told the dog as she shook her finger at her. "Oh, I'm sorry." She said as the Pitbull lowered her head, put her tail between her legs and backed up a few steps. "I'm not really angry. I just hope we didn't get in trouble."

She looked up as she heard the approach of another horse. "Nah, she already knows that men are aliens." She shot back with a bright smile. "How's Blue?" She didn't ride Western, but before she got Jack she got to know the school horses quite well - even the ones she didn't ride.

[sepia]

"I think she's probably right, there," Lee agreed, gravely, appreciating the displayed sense of humour. He admitted that he himself wasn't the best at taking things lightly, but at least he made the effort - sometimes - and it was always nice to have that effort rewarded. "But don't worry, I didn't see any other horses around on my way up, so I think you're safe from discipline."

At the question on Blue, Lee ran a hand instinctively down the gelding's shoulder as he answered. "Enjoying the change of pace, I think. I don't think he's done much work out of the arena, lately, so I thought giving him something different would be a good idea. Still not the friendliest horse in the world, though," he mused, asking the gelding to take a couple of steps back as it became clear that the distance between him and the grey wasn't quite enough.

Deciding that getting moving again would be a good way to curb Blue's antisocial tendencies, he cocked his head at the trail ahead of them. "Which way were you riding? I certainly wouldn't mind the company..." He was slightly surprised, actually, at the offer coming out of his mouth - he certainly wasn't the most social person around, but since arriving at Blue Ridge he'd been making for more of an effort, knowing that he had to get to know people or the next few years were going to be decidedly dull. And the good thing was that people on horses were quite easy to talk to, as if in doubt, you could always bring the conversation around to their horse.

[Ω-Admin-Cara-Ω]

At the mention that there were no other horses around and she was free from discipline, she made show that she was wiping her brow. "Phew!" She said.

She watched as he backed Blue up some more. "Blue's alright, as long as everything is done on his terms." She shrugged. "Or at least that's what Cara said when she was talking to the barn manager about him."

She lifted a fine eyebrow as she was asked what direction they were headed in. "Well, Jack and I were heading the other way. Until of course I realized that Harmony still hadn't returned from the trail she was following." She gave her large gelding a pat on his shoulder. "He has yet to even break a sweat though, so if you don't mind the company, we'd really like to check out further along the trails. Maybe do a little jumping?"

[sepia]

"Cara's right," Lee agreed, suspecting that that was something he would probably get used to saying, if he was talking about the horses at Blue Ridge - and in general, perhaps - anyway. "He needs to be asked, rather than told." Which he could entirely understand. Blue was quite experienced enough, thank you very much, to know when his riders were asking him wrong, and if he recognised that, he tended to switch off and refuse to cooperate.

"Sounds like a plan," he decided. "Not that I've any idea how long this trail is, but I'm sure we'll end up back at the barns at some point, and getting some jumping in if we find somewhere suitable definitely appeals." So saying, he encouraged Blue forward into a walk, the trail wide enough at this point that the two geldings should be able to walk reasonably comfortably side-by-side, until the trail decreased in width again, anyway.

A few paces on, Lee suddenly shook his head, and shot his new companion a rueful smile. "And here I am, not even introducing myself: I'm Lee, and you already know Blue." Ah, for a life where you were recognised only by the horse you rode - he could certainly relate to that, frequently having a problem reconciling people he met on horseback with the same people he later met on foot. Something about riding hats just made people look drastically different, to his mind at least.

[Ω-Admin-Cara-Ω]

Andie laughed at his quick Cara's right. The younger girl would never know how many people looked up to her and respected her knowledge with horses. "She normally is when it comes to our equine friends."

She grinned as he accepted her hint to accompany him on the trails. "All roads lead to Rome here, or trails as this case may be." She assured him as she turned her gelding around the way they had come from. "Go on, Monkey." She said to her canine, who didn't need to be told twice before she sprinted off along the trail.

Andie laughed as the other rider introduced himself. "I'm the top of the school." She said. "Head cheerleader to be exact. My name's Andie." She smiled at him over her shoulder. "While I'm in the saddle though, I'm just like everyone else."

[sepia]

Huh, well, he certainly seemed to be making an eclectic mix of new acquaintances, here, and it interested him to see that the head cheerleader was also into horses. It made him rather more receptive to the whole branch of school that was cheerleading, actually, as he normally had little patience with the activity, mainly because it had little to do with horses. It figured that Blue Ridge was going to be as unconventional in this matter as it was in most things.

"I'm one of the stable hands here," he offered in response not entirely sure how to respond to Andie's last statement. "Hence me riding Blue." And most of the other school horses, too, at some point, though he suspected he was going to have to fight quite hard to ride some of the ones that everyone wanted to exercise.

Watching Harmony dive off the path ahead of them, presumably after some fascinating scent, Lee decided to turn the conversation back to horses. "I must admit that I'm intrigued by your horse. What breeding is he?" He was a relatively heavy sort for the Academy, clearly having some coldblood in him, which fascinated him, at a place where most people seemed to ride excitable hotbloods, or more normal warmbloods.

[Ω-Admin-Cara-Ω]

Andie nodded at Lee's reply. "Anyone can ride the school horses, so it's not always a tell-tale sign of what your place is at the Academy." She said with a smile. She gave a small laugh. "But being stable hand does limit your social status." She crinkled her nose to show that she was just teasing, and she really didn't care what he did for a job. "I really like the fact that everyone is responsible for their own horses. I've been in too many barns where the care of the horses, right down to grooming and saddling, was all the responsibility of the workers." She rubbed her gelding's neck. Of course, she had been responsible for her own mount right from day one. She had been her mom's stable hand even before she got her own pony. Her mom hated the thought of her daughter turning into one of those blue-blooded riders who would only touch a horse that had been cleaned to the point of death and was ready for them to ride, and then had the poor animal over as soon as it's job was done.

She looked back at Lee as he asked about Jack's breeding. "He's a Percheron, Quarter Horse, Sport Horse cross. Perfect for an eventing horse. He's got the power of a Percheron, the agility of a Quarter Horse and the moves of a Sport Horse. He's still learning, but I'm hoping I can turn him into a champion." As they came to a fork in the track, she gave Jack the signal that she wanted to follow the trail to the left and the gelding happily followed her cue and made the gentle turn to the left.

[sepia]

Social status, huh? That was something he'd usually been fairly oblivious too, never being interested in the games of friendships and enemies that so many of his peers seemed to play. As far as he was concerned, he would make some friends - and that usually took a while, given his somewhat reserved nature - make even more acquaintances, find some people he didn't like... but he wasn't the type to care, particularly, about popularity or what-not. Which was probably a good thing, really, given that he was now working in the stables of a place where half the students were the same age as him.

"It certainly makes out jobs easier," he agreed, then turned slightly more serious. "And I've always felt that having a horse only to ride, without getting involved in everything else that a horse is," however not-glamorous it was, "Is fairly pointless, and missing out on a lot. Some people, though, seem content with it." Though no-one, yet, he'd met at Blue Ridge, thankfully, seemed to fall into that category of people that he really disliked.

As Blue quite happily walked along, stride long and free without any encouragement needed from Lee, behind Jack, Lee quirked an eyebrow as Andie described her horse's bloodlines. "Interesting cross: though it does seem to have paid off. He's got a lovely way of moving." Also heading up the left hand trail behind their new companions - though Harmony the dog appeared to have vanished off again into the undergrowth - he watched the grey for a moment longer, before saying, "Eventing, huh? He looks the type who'll devour a cross-country course eagerly."

[Ω-Admin-Cara-Ω]

Andie laughed. "Flattery will get you everywhere." She said. She shrugged. "Jack's still quite young though and eventing may not end out being his thing so things could change." She squeezed the gelding forward and he quickly picked up a trot. "Please tell me if I'm over-stepping my boundaries. Why are you a staff member here and not a student? I didn't think that a place like this would employ someone so young when it's full of students." She knew that she was being blunt, but she was nosy.

"Easy!" She said as Blue skidded backwards as Harmony came out of the bush just in front of them with a large stick in her mouth which she dropped on the trail, her stump of a tail thumping on the ground expectantly. "Ah, no." The girl laughed as she looked at the way Harmony looked from one human to the other an expectant ear cocked as she waited for one of them to offer to throw it for her.

[sepia]

Lee fell silent for a moment, grin fading, as he tapped his legs gently against Blue's sides, the paint stepping forward into a trot fairly eagerly, clearly bored with walking, as he considered how to answer. He supposed someone had to ask, sometime,precisely why he'd been employed and he'd been lucky up until now that no-one else had thought it rather odd. And it wasn't as if he exactly did know why they'd employed him, except for the fact that they did seem to be rather short of barn hands.

"My father died a year ago, and I had to drop out of school to work. I've always wanted to work closely with horses - my father was a horse trainer - so when I heard that Blue Ridge had jobs open I applied." His tone, entirely neutral through these two sentences, turned rather dry as he continued. "I suppose they needed stable hands enough that even a rather young one would do."

At this moment - rather thankfully, given how much Lee disliked talking about personal matters, hence his shortening of the circumstances of him ending up at Blue Ridge, and his plain recital of the facts of the matter - Harmony appeared out of a bush, this time managing to take Blue by surprise, the gelding skidding backwards, ears pointed harshly forwards and nostrils wide. Western saddles, however, made it easy to sit such things, and Blue wasn't spooky enough to continue going once he'd seen what had startled him. Instead, he merely fixed the dog with an entirely unimpressed look.

Raising his eyebrows at the dog, Lee commented, tone going - if possible - even drier than before, "I don't think Harmony realises quite how difficult it is to pick a stick up while on horse-back."

[Ω-Admin-Cara-Ω]

Andie ducked her head as Lee started telling his story, she instantly felt guilty for probing. "My mom died a few years ago... well six years ago. She was shoo-in for the Olympics equestrian team. I turned my back on riding because of it."

She laughed at his comment about the dog and her stick. "Nah, Harmony has her was of getting the stick up." She tipped her head to the side and the Pitbull gave an excited yap before she picked the stick up and bounded up to where Jack stood. Andie slid her foot out of the stirrup so that her canine could put her front pawns into it as she rose onto her hind legs and offered her owner the stick. "Sit." The teen slid her foot back into the stirrup and leaned back and pitched the stick into the undergrowth in the distance. "Fetch!" The words had barely left her mouth before the dog backed away from the gelding and took off in the direction the stick had vanished into.

She turned around in the saddle as she asked Jack to move forward again. "I don't think any less of you for being a stable hand than I do of most of the other students her." She looked forward again and adjusted her seat in the saddle. "If it hadn't been for the fact that school got me out of the house, I would have left school a year ago. But if I'd left school..." Her voice trailed off. "Put it this way, my step-father would have had way too much a good time if I didn't have to be at school. He already controlled every other aspect of my life."