Strangers in Paradise (open)

[Ω-Admin-Cara-Ω]

Andie pulled her Wrangler into a parking spot outside the Riding Centre in Blue Ridge. She had owned her newest mare for almost a week now, and other than watching the crossbreed running around in the pasture, she really hadn't had the chance to really ride her - which made her feel terribly guilty so today they were going to have a ride in the Riding Centre to keep away from the crowded school arenas. The little riding that she had been able to do with the mare, she had found that Omega did have a very nice movement.

Once the mare was unloaded from the float, the teen tied her to the side of the float and gave her a thorough groom with the blue Roma grooming kit before she put the white saddle pad onto her back followed by the black Wintec Pro all purpose saddle. "You are so beautiful." She told the mare as she walked to her head and undid the noseband of her halter and held up the bit of the bridle, slipped it into her mouth, lifted the bridle up over her head and fastened the throatlatch. Clicking her tongue, she led the mare into the centre and through to the arena.

In her short pink shirts, white top and pink cowboy boots, the teen knew that she wasn't dressed to be taken seriously as she popped her helmet on her head and fastened it under her chin. However, she wasn't here for the benefit of anyone else other than herself and the mare as she tightened the girth and swung her toned frame into the saddle and squeezed the mare forward into her ground covering walk.

Outfits: Omega, Andie

[sepia]

"And, I proudly present, a riding arena away from all the crowds of schoolchildren." Daniel rolled their box into a space with a triumphant flourish, ignoring the rolled eye this action gained from his brother.

"We are part of those hordes of schoolchildren, you know," Ethan pointed out as he exited the cab, shutting the door and removing himself around the back of the box to meet up with his brother again. He began to flick the right-hand set of latches and bolts that kept the door shut, while Daniel tackled the left-hand side.

"Ah, but not anymore," Daniel protested. "Today, we ride outside the school!" He slid back the last bolt and, after waiting for Ethan to get himself out of the way, lowered the ramp. Two craning heads met their eyes, dapple grey contrasting sharply with dark bay and flaxen mane.

"You are way too excited about this." Ethan left it there as he went up the ramp, leading The Flames of Shadow - or, as she was called in casual conversation, Flay, given that her show-name, though accurate, was rather wordy - down and out carefully. The mare positively pranced her way down the ramp, though she submitted quietly enough to being tied to the side of the box, having her travel gear removed, and enduring a quick groom and tack up. Daniel mimicked his actions as they kept their usual brotherly banter going, leading Arctic Sun down, managing to not get towed across the carpark by the headstrong horse, and restraining him next to his brother's mare. The gelding and the mare, though utterly different in temperament, got along quite well, except when Flay was in season.

In a relatively short period of time, the pair of them were ready, hats fastened on and gloves donned over their previous apparel of a casual shirt - brown for Ethan, black for Daniel - and jodhpurs - blue for Ethan, dark brown for Daniel. Ethan falling in behind his elder brother, as per usual, the pair of them led thier horses through into the arena, taking in the only other horse and rider pair present as they did so.

"Shorts?" Ethan wondered, for his brother's ears only, as they ran stirrups down and checked girths, their two horses being exceedingly interested, but quite calm in the face of their new surroundings.

Daniel grinned. "I think I might have to get to know this girl. She looks... intriguing." This earned him another roll of the eyes from Ethan who, with no further comment, swung himself atop his striking Morgan mare and nudged her into a walk. His elder brother snorted in amusement, and mounted up himself, making Artie stand for a moment before allowing him to walk on as well.

The gelding was seemingly being quite well-behaved, so Daniel engineered it that their course - still in work, for their horses were stiff from the trailer ride up - meandered near the course of the pink rider. "Hello," he said, tone friendly and amused, "I like the fluorescent statement you're making. Very striking. And useful on a dark night, too." Those words were Daniel all over, at least on first appearance: fairly irreverent, carefree and quite intuitively at ease with people.

Ethan, on the other hand, currently working Flay in circles down at the other end of the arena, would do anything to get involved in a conversation with a stranger. He was quite content, thank you very much, to let Daniel do the talking, and the flirting, and the general interaction with people. He'd just act as silent backup, if and when he was needed.

[Ω-Admin-Cara-Ω]

Andie took in the arrival of the two humans and their mounts with no more than a casual glance over her shoulder as she worked on getting the mare to shorten her stride without falling out of line. She was pleased with how Omega was moving and gave the mare her head and allowed her to stretch out both her neck and her stride again, knowing that it wasn't good for the mare's muscles to keep her in check for too long if she wasn't used to it.

She glanced over as one of the new arrivals rode his gelding close to her mare and spoke to her. She shrugged in reply. "I don't see the point in wearing stuffy clothes when i don't have to." She replied as she allowed the rein to slip through her fingers as the chestnut stretched out her long neck. "And with a synthetic saddle I don't have to worry about the nasty rubbing like I would if she were wearing a leather saddle." She looked at him and gave a bright smile. "Not that there is anything wrong with wearing jodhpurs. And it's not like I'm riding in tennis shoes. I'm Andie." She already knew who Daniel and Ethan were, but she wasn't about to let that slip and spoil a good conversation.

[sepia]

"Jodhpurs," Daniel informed her, tone suddenly utterly serious, "Are a definite fashion statement. They are the epitome in practicality, leg-showing-off-tightness and comfort." He waited a beat, then grinned. "As you can see, I write adverts for a living - I'm Daniel," he said, then waved a hand down towards the other end of the arena, "And the recluse there is Ethan, but don't expect any actual conversation out of him."

Hearing his name mentioned, Ethan turned his head, attention caught and, figuring out what Daniel was doing - because, apparently, any vaguely attractive girl in Daniel's near vicinity demanded instand conversation from him - and raised his own hand in a greeting from halfway down the arena. Flay, taking in this movement from her rider, and already eying the other mare in the arena, decided to show her distaste of Ethan ignoring her by proceeding to flounce herself into a skitty trot, and oogle the sand. Ethan returned his attention to his horse, and dropped the contact in his reins - a slightly odd thing to do, but a successful one, as Flay returned to a free walk almost instantly. The pair turned their concentration to circles, looping their way across the bottom end of the arena.

Keeping a careful eye on his brother, Daniel turned the rest of his attention back to Andie. "So what brings you out here?" Artie, meanwhile, was eying up Omega, clearly wondering if he needed to play to some of his residual stallion instincts and show off for the female. Undecided, he merely arched his neck a little, and added a slight prance into his walk.

[Ω-Admin-Cara-Ω]

Andie laughed at Daniel's jodhpur advertisement. "I prefer the let's not cover my legs up with anything and just show them off, approach." She confessed. "Except in the winter, lessons or shows. Then I wear my assigned joddies."

She glanced down the other end of the arena and lifted her hand in return to Ethan's half-hearted wave. "My mom once said that I could draw blood out of a stone if I put my mind to it. I'm sure I could get Ethan to converse with me." She laughed again and gave the mare a small tap as she felt the mare's hindquarters twitch.

Omega wasn't impressed with the gelding's display so she flicked her tail his direction to get him to cool it off.

Andie looked at the gelding that Daniel was riding. "What do you do with him?" She giggled as he asked a question at almost the same time. "I'm here to get away from the rest of the academy student body. Being in the top tier of the student body, makes it difficult at times to get to know a new horse."

[sepia]

"Try to get him to realise that I'm the one directing things, not him, mostly," Daniel replied, with a chuckle, deciding not to comment on Andie's musings that she was sure she'd be able to get Ethan to talk. He mentally wished her luck... at least up until he decided that she'd pushed his younger brother quite far enough, thank you, at which point his protective side would leap out. "He's a very... opinionated gelding, to say the least. Officially, though, we event... and he's not half-bad when he's on form, either." In fact, the grey gelding was very good when he was cooperating - and a pig when he wasn't.

"Oh, the trials of being popular," he lamented, tone mock-mournful, even as he considered that Andie might well be a very good person to get in with. It never hurt, after all, to get to know the more... influential students, and Daniel was quite the player of the 'school politics' scene, even if he'd never managed to get Ethan interested in it at all. Well, that was the reason he was the leader, and Ethan the follower - the younger boy wasn't nearly ruthless, or self-possessed enough, to force his way through life. Daniel, on the other hand, well, he enjoyed the subterfuge, and the delicate dance of being in the lead, and was quite looking forward to spreading his wings at Blue Ridge. And Andie, probably,looked to be a good place to start. "What a difficult life it must be, in that top tier. However do you survive?"

Artie, somewhat miffed at Omega's quick dismissal, snorted, and proceeded to pretend that he hadn't really wanted her attention at all. Nu-uh. He was just walking along, stretching his neck right out, well-developed muscles bunching under his smooth hide even at this relatively sedate pace. Daniel, meanwhile, was eying up Omega. "New horse, then?" he asked, rhetorically given that Andie had already said so. "Akhal-Teke?" he ventured a guess, based on her conformation. "Though her coat's interesting, for that breed."

[Ω-Admin-Cara-Ω]

Andie nodded as Daniel mentioned that he did eventing. So, a friend or a foe? Companion or competitor? Nah, not a companion. She had Bay to keep her company, if she could get near him long enough out of class to be able to actually talk to him. She didn't always believe in waiting for the boy to make the first move, if she so felt the need she'd ask the male out.

She gave the boy a pained look when he took the bait about her being the top of the school crowd. "It can be tough." She said, her voice filled with wistfulness. "But as long as everyone knows their place in the pecking order, things work the way they should. Anyone dare try and fight me for the spot as alpha mare, I'll beat them down." She laughed to show she wasn't being completely serious.

She collected the reins again and asked the mare to once more accept the bit and bring her hindquarters under her again. She wished that she were riding Jack, as the gelding was the best mount that she had and he was great with his dressage movements. "Yeah, this is Omega. If I remember correctly, she's part Appaloosa - thus explaining the birdcatcher spots." She rubbed the mare's neck. "She's endurance trained though and I don't know if I can make her into anything else other than a trail horse." She allowed the mare to drop out of her frame and the horse once more lengthened her stride back to her ground-covering pace.

[sepia]

Somewhat surprised that Andie, apparently, was answering his rhetorical, mocking question with some seriousness, Daniel wondered whether this was her way of warning him that if he wanted to get anywhere at Blue Ridge, he needed to keep on her good side. Or stage a social coup, which could potentially be fun, if dangerous. And it's too soon to be thinking of that, now, he told himself firmly. Do some more information gathering, suss out the situation a bit more before you decided if you want to make waves.

"So you do you tolerate as the 'top stallion', then?" he asked, grinning as Andie laughed, appreciating a conversation of subtlety and politics - ah, the delightful art of manipulation and social networking... how he'd missed it! "And how short a leash do you keep him on?" He cocked an eyebrow at her, grin still in place, to show that he too wasn't entirely serious. Mostly.

"That does explain the spottiness, then. Interesting combination." You could see the endurance horse in her, though, in the way she moved without wasting an ounce of energy... unlike Artie, who was beginning to prance a bit. He'd have to take him off to actually do some work in a minute. "Ethan and I are actually training up an Australian Stock Horse who looks to be showing talent in the endurance end of things... I take it long-distance riding isn't particularly big at Blue Ridge?"

As he waited for Andie's answer, Artie decided that he'd had enough of walking, and proceeded to dance himself sideways - thankfully away from Omega - snorting as he did so. Right. Definitely time to get to work. He shot Andie an apologetic glance as he said, "Sorry, looks like we're actually going to have to do some work for a bit, now, instead of chatting, or Artie here'll be climbing the walls."

With that, he pressed the grey gelding forward into a trot, Artie showing off his good training by surging forwards into a big, bold trot, legs reaching out to eat up the ground. Ah - that was what Daniel loved about this horse. Pushy and domineering as he might be, that desire to work and that sheer courage to jump into anything made him a great animal.

Ethan, meanwhile, down the other end and not distracted by his brother's current task of chatting up girls, had moved on with Flay, and the pair were trotting a figure of eight, Ethan working to get the mare going smoothly forward into his contact. A little flighty in their new surroundings, Flay was resistant to softening and relaxing, preferring instead to keep herself tense and ready to flee, so Ethan began some leg-yielding and shoulder-in as they moved around their circles. Occupying Flay's mind was always the best way to stop her from being silly, and giving her something to do almost always had her relaxing and concentrating on Ethan, rather than potential monsters in bushes.

[Ω-Admin-Cara-Ω]

Andie gave a thoughtful look. "I prefer not to keep my top-stallion on too tight a leash. They tend to stray when they think they have every move judged." She replied lightly. There again, she couldn't imagine being able to keep Bay on any kind of lead - there didn't seem to be any need for it as she was able to hold his undivided attention every time they spoke. "I wouldn't know about long-distance riding. I'm an eventer and that's all I really look at."

She nodded as Daniel said he needed to work his mount and rode off. Once school politics were out of the way, Andie could once again concentrate on what she was here to do - working Omega, trying to get her out of the endurance mindset.

Drawing in a deep breath, she released it again and sat deep. Taking up the reins, she asked the pretty mare to bring her hindquarters under her and really begin to work. "Come on sweetie." She whispered as the mare tossed her head in irritation. "You can do it." she just wanted to get the mare to grasp the idea of collecting herself before they began working on any dressage figures.

As the mare continued to protest, the teen wondered if she had made a mistake in purchasing the mare. She chewed on her lower lip as she tried to work on the mare's form. She heaved a sigh as the mare fell out once more, and she wondered if she should send the mare to her grandparents and see if any of their staff could work with the mare. A smile tugged at her lips when she thought about her grandparents and their sporthorse farm. She needed to go home at some point and see them again. Them and her small cousin - she couldn't believe that the girl Cara had worked with as part of her course had ended up being her cousin!

[sepia]

Once given something to do, something to occupy his pushy mind, Artie soon settled, though he and Daniel had their typical little tussles for dominance as Daniel began to ask the grey for lengthening and then shortening of the trot. The lengthening Artie was perfectly happy to do, stride stretching out as the increased their ground cover, powerful muscles surging them forwards; but coming back was rather more problematic, Artie snatching at the bit and trying to steamroller on.

Daniel sat deep, and half-halted, Artie chucking his head up in an attempt to ignore the bit, but Daniel refused to give him ground and, rather grudgingly, the gelding shortened his stride, coming back to a working trot. They continued to school the transitions until Artie was coming back without a fight, shortening and lengthening while remaining in a nice round, supple frame. Only when they could do that easily did Daniel press his legs against Artie and ask him for a canter, which he got easily, Artie eagerly springing forward into the faster pace, covering the ground in his usual powerful canter.

Ethan and Flay, meanwhile, were continuing to work on their lateral work, the mare now concentrated enough that she was relaxing and beginning to demonstrate what a nice mover she was, starting to bring her hindquarters underneath her and work herself properly, rather than worrying about what wolf was about to leap out from its hiding place under the sand. As they worked their way around the arena in loops and circles and straight lines, continuing with their leg-yields and shoulder-ins, as well as adding in some travers for some variety, they happened to ride relatively close to Andy and Omega.

Flay didn't mind the other mare - not this time, anyway, though some other time she might have decided that Omega was the perfect excuse for a hissy fit - and remained soft and supple, well-contained between Ethan's leg and hand as Ethan flashed a quick smile at Andie, noticing the difference of opinion she was having in trying to turn her horse into a dressage horse. Apparently, the Alkhal-Teke wasn't too keen on this whole 'collection' business...

[Ω-Admin-Cara-Ω]

Andie got sick of trying to bring Omega into a nice frame and thinking of the nice roundness she had got from the mare the couple of times she had asked her for collection and decided that she would end the lesson on that note. However, she didn't yet feel like returning to school so she would remain here and muck around for a while.

When inside the campus walls, she had to follow the strict guidelines of her position, and she didn't really get the chance to pretend that she was just a normal human being who grew tired of all the rigors of life at the top. As the mare plodded along, the teen dropped her stirrups and crossed them over the pommel of her saddle, her attention was caught by Ethan and the mare he was riding. The flaxen-bay was... beautiful was too simple a word to describe her, she was just breathtaking. "Hi." She said softly in reply to Ethan's smile. "She is very pretty. Do you show her often?" She hoped that talking about the boy's mare would encourage him to reply, making sure to keep her cheer leader haughtiness on a tight rein and sound as normal as she could.

While she waited on the boy's reply, she lifted her left leg over the mare's neck so that she was sitting in the saddle as though she was riding side-saddle. She rubbed the chestnut mare's neck as Omega flickered her ears backward but made no more sign of being upset.

[sepia]

Finishing up with their lateral work, Ethan brought Flay back down into a walk, allowing her a slightly longer rein, which she took easily. They weren’t done with their workout, yet, Ethan not having moved on to schooling her in the canter, but he figured it was time for a little break: Flay had been responding very well, and he didn’t feel that it was fair to make her work continuously without giving her some time to absorb what they’d done.

This decision, though, meant that he wasn’t in a position to just throw Andie a quick answer and ride off. He’d actually have to engage in a conversation, something Ethan wasn’t particularly good at most of the time, even less so when he was talking to someone who had the kind of social pull that Andie did. Nothing like influence and a reputation to really make the more anti-social even more awkward while talking to you. Admittedly, it wasn’t that Ethan disliked talking to people, just that he felt that he wasn’t very good at it, his natural reticence only increased by the fact that he’d been rather bullied when he was younger for that very trait.

Still, at least Andie had happened upon horses as a starting topic, a subject upon which even Ethan could usually offer a few words. He nodded, to begin with, as he formulated an answer, aware that a simple ‘yes’ probably wasn’t going to satisfy Andie. “I hope to do so more,” he replied, going for his usual direct habit of answering the question rather than meandering off into other avenues of conversation.

“So far we haven’t competed that much. We’ve been working together a couple of years,” he hastened to explain, not wanting Andie to think that he was merely a non-competitive wimp, “But it took me quite a while to figure out the right way to ask Flay so that she’d respond, so we haven’t competed a lot yet.” He realised he’d repeated himself. Smooth, very smooth. “But now, hopefully we will more. Do you compete a lot?” There; turn the question back on herself, so that he could sneak into silence while she talked, a safer option than actually having to say things himself.

[Ω-Admin-Cara-Ω]

Andie was worried that she was going to get brushed off as Ethan seemed to be moving away but she gave a smile as he replied, a quick reply but better than nothing.

She grinned as he went on, telling her a little of his and Flay's history. She smiled as the question was turned back onto her, swinging her leg back over the mare's neck so that she was sitting astride again - in case Omega decided to spook at something and dump her rider. "I used to compete with my mom all the time when I was a kid." She said, all excitement seemed to vanish from her eyes at the mention of her mother. "Not so much anymore though. I really only just got back into riding after an eight year vacation." She shrugged an inner battle going on about whether she should explain or not. "My mom died eight years ago. She and her mare misjudged a jump and took off too early, her horse lost it in the middle of the jump and crashed down on it. Poles snapped, people were running, and one of the pole went through my mom. The mare's life also ended that day, along with my riding career." She shrugged again. "Sorry, don't get me wrong, I don't want your sympathy. I just felt that it was easier to explain my riding vacation rather than you just thinking I'm one of those people that only rides when it suits me. I groom and saddle my own horses and I also muck their stalls out." This is why she wanted to ride alone. Out of the saddle she was a self-confident, self-assured person who had people that wanted to be her. In the saddle? She lacked that self-confidence and felt a vulnerability that she didn't dare show in the public eye of the campus.

[lottii]

Callum was grooming his newest horse, Wynter. He had recently purchased the mare from the local auction, and this would be the first time her had really gotten to ride her properly. Callum brushed over her stunning coat, black and white on a Saddlebred frame. Her black patches sparkled and the white hairs gleamed. He toyed with the idea of plaiting her up - just to see how she looked - but decided that was going a bit overboard. Callum and Wynter were heading down to the Riding Center in town, and taking a young girl and horse for the ride too. The bubbly girl, Mischief, had bounced up to him when he was loading his trailer asking where he was going, and somehow the conversation ended with her securing a lift. He sighed as he thought about it, Mischief wasn't his type, not even to be friends with, but he had to admit the girl had a certain charm.

Putting the body brush he had been using back into his box, he untied the mare and led her out of the stall - grabbing the tack box on the way. Callum knew from bringing her home that she was an easy loader, so he put the box down ready to go in the back of his car and led Wynter up the ramp. Securing her, he went to check on Mischief.

~~~~~~~~

Mischief was overly excited about taking Bear down to the Riding Center. She had recently been assigned him - he was a school horse, not her own. She finished brushing him down as Callum arrived to tell her it was time to go. Walking him out, she loaded him easily and sat down in the car ready to go.

The drive was quiet, and as they pulled up, she jumped out the car and ran to put the ramp down. Unloading both horses, Callum and her tacked up in silence - they weren't really friends as such. Leading Bear into the ring, she mounted up and started walking him around. She saw there were two or three others in the ring, so she simply nodded as they passed. He was moving in a nice, easy walk and before long she pushed him forwards into a trot. The horse wasn't lazy, but when he wasn't out on a cross country he wasn't particularly forward going. Circling him in a 20 meter circle down one end of the school, she sat deep and asked for a canter. Satisfied with his rolling canter, she brought him back to a walk whilst she thought about what to do next.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Callum tacked up Wynter easily, she wore an old, brown leather saddle at the moment. It fitted her well enough not to cause any problems but her would prefer to get one fitted to her. After leading her into the school, he mounted up whilst she did a silly little dance. The mare walked forwards before he had asked her to, so he halted her before asking her to walk forwards again. Wynter moved on in a high-stepping, quick walk, which more resembled a jog. Letting her move forwards, he sat calmly until she settled down a little more, blushing when he felt another rider watching him.