A Day at the Barn(Open)

[Riley♠]

Riley walked from the front door closing it snuggly behind her. At her heals Coaster followed closely. She reached down grabbing a rock from the driveway and through it as hard as she could out into the hay field. "Go get it coast." the dog took off like a rocket. She continued her walk to the barn. It was quite out this early in the morning. She glanced at her watch it was only 7 so she'd have plenty of time to feed all the horses in the barn and then get foxy out to ride. She slid open the main door and the smell of horses flooded her nostrils. She smiled widely as she strolled through the door and was greeted by loud nickers. "Good morning Girls." She smiled and continued on her way to the feed room. She placed three buckets on the counter and poured in the correct feeds. She walked from the feed room and fed the first of the three. It was a boarders horse. She cooed a good morning and dumped the feed in the corner bin. She walked down the aisle to the stalls which housed her two. She stopped infront of the stall with the small palomino mare in it. "Good morning Pirate." She opened the stall door and walked over to the feeder dumping in the grain. She ran a hand down the mares silky neck and smiled. She walked from the stall sliding the door shut behind her. She looked across at the tall, lean thoroughbred housed in the stall. "Good morning Foxy" she slid open the door and pushed the mare away. She poured in the grain and then walked from the stall sliding it closed and gathering her buckets.

After returning the buckets she stopped at the tack room gathering her brushes and a saddle, bridle, and leg wraps. She strolled from the tack room her petite figure hidden behind the mountain of tack. She sat everything down and then checked on the buckskin mare. She grabbed her halter and slid open the door. The mare willingly accepted the halter and riley led her to the cross ties. She picked up a curry and began to groom her slowly humming lightly as she did.

[lexus]

Lexus pulled her Mercedes into the driveway of the other barn in town, she wasn’t really sure what she was doing here. She needed something to do during the day, at least put out word that she was offering to train other people’s horses. She wasn’t sure what to do with the whole thing, but she’d figure it out. She wasn’t really into being a groom or anything small, mainly because she usually ended up getting fired for talking rudely to boarders. But they always assumed grooms were stupid, when they usually know more then half the people in the barn. But grooms didn’t have money, which to some people made them stupid. Lexus just shook her head and turned the engine off in the car before stepping out of the car.

The wind blew through her breeches as she walked towards the barn, almost feeling like her legs had suddenly entered a bucket of ice cold water. The wind blew through her tall boots as well, but they never kept your feet warm unless it was boiling hot outside. Her coat blocked a good portion of the wind, but it should considering it was probably worth a hundred and fifty dollars. But that’d included it being all jazzed up with the barn logo on the back for where she used to show and train. It was mainly an A circuit and trillium barn, where they did the odd schooling show just for a greenie. She’d rode from sun up to sun down there and would still have ponies and horses to ride. That was the nice thing about being slightly shorter, she could rides larges and the odd medium, but only when absolutely needed did she ride a medium. She wasn’t all that into pony squashing.

Lexus walked into the barn making sure to shut the door behind her, she could see a horse in the distance and heard a soft humming sound that she assumed was coming from a person. Lexus walked towards the girl not really sure what to say, she wasn’t even sure what had made her come here. She’d just up and decided she wanted to one day, so she did. She was getting another horse today, and this was an option to take him, or her, she wasn’t really sure. But her other two were already at the other barn, mainly because it had a larger amount of faculties. So it would be much easier to keep them there. Lexus smiled at the girl, her blonde hair covering part of her face from where it’d been blown because of the wind. Lexus pushed her hair back into place and decided to introduce herself. “Hey, I’m Lexus” she said, hoping the girl didn’t find this overly strange.

[Riley♠]

Riley jumped slightly as she heard someone behind her. Her brush froze mid stroke and she looked at the girl standing before her. She smiled warmly "nice to meet you Lexus. I'm Riley I own and run this stable." She threw the brush on the floor and extended her hand."Can i help you with something?" She studied the girl wondering why she was here. Maybe she was looking for a place to board that would be nice she only had one currently. The other stable in town had more facilities but she was working on expanding this old farm. It'd come along way in the few short weeks shes owned it. It worked in her favor though less boarders means more room for her trainees. She currently only had her two but she was looking to expand with a few more to turn around and sell after a little work.

[lexus]

Lexus wasn’t really sure how to answer that question, because she was planning on keeping her horses at the other farm. She kept her resale horses separately though, so she may consider boarding her next couple horses here. But she planned on keeping this horse for a bit, she needed a real jumper horse that was all jumper, not I can swing both ways crap. She wanted to kick some jumper ass, as it usually needed to be done. Plus she’d seen the horse go around a few times, he had some super talent but had just been ridden by either extremely rough trainers or over sensitive owners. He needed somebody in the middle, somebody to just get him going around and let him enjoy his job. She was really hoping it was a gelding, because having one stallion was enough and well when she had a mare she always seemed to ponder on breeding them.

Lexus decided to go with the training aspect, it was pretty much all she had going for her. “I just moved here and came from a big A circuit show barn where I trained a ton of horses. I’m sure you train your own but I was just wondering if you could put a bug in some ears if you find somebody looking for training. Unless you do that yourself.” said Lexus, not really sure how to take the whole situation. She’d always been asked to train horses for people, never had she ever had to ask. It was weird being in a place nobody had ever seen her ride, seen her show or seen any of the horses she’d brought up. It was extremely weird. “I’m Lexus Miller” she said, introducing herself lightly feeling it was an appropriate time to use her last name. Lexus got thinking and realised she’d already introduced herself. shit she thought to herself. “I totally just introduced myself twice, didn’t I?” she said with a smile and a soft, smooth laugh that naturally came out of her mouth. Lexus was not sure how to take this situation, but she was pretty sure she’d screwed it over. Whatever, one day she’d get her act together and get herself her own barn. That was her goal in this small town, but she needed to get to know the people and prove herself before she jumped into any huge business decisions.

[/blockquote]

[Riley♠]

Riley studied the girl before her. She let a sigh emmit past her lips. She was looking for a rider eventually but not right this second she just didn't have the horses to hire someone to ride. She ran a hand through her brunette hair. She smiled as the girl introduced herself again. "Well atleast the second was more formal." She had a teasing tone in her voice. That was riley she was always on her toes. She shifted her weight as she continued to stand before the girl. "I'll definantly keep my ears open but with only having the two of mine right this second i'm not looking for a trainer or rider. I have hopefully.." she crossed her fingers. "two more coming in the end of the week i'm going to train and resell." she smiled a little more weakly this time. "sorry i can't be of more help. I'd love to hire you to ride but i've only got one rideable horse." she patted the mare behind hers neck and shes a handful she thought to herself. She did want to know more about the girl though incase she ever had a position open. "Whats your riding style? are you stern or really relaxed and patient. tell me some about your history too if you don't mind." she stepped away from the mare as the horse turned and nibbled on her shirt.

ooc: I figured since finn offered you a job you wouldn't be wanting one here anymore. so i kind of played it that way.

[lexus]

ooc;; yeah, this works good. plus it's very realistic

Lexus just smiled and listened, mentally storing everything the girl was saying. She seemed very nice and fun, which was strange for a barn owner she’d found. But then again this was still a fairly small town, which seemed to keep people pretty humble. Lexus let her mind hum over the last few words she’d said, history. That was going to be hard, hard to keep short anyways. She wondered what to mention, that she’d trained with her uncle? That she’d shown against top jumper riders and would probably be at spruce meadows this summer if it wasn’t for the fact she decided she wanted to make a name in the states where a ton of big horses were? Yeah probably the dumbest move ever, but when you are the youngest to qualify for Spruce Meadows and can’t go because of a trailering accident, well you kind of make some stupid decisions.

“I’ve been riding since I was four, started out in the show ring around five doing small hunter stuff. Moved up with ponies in the hunter ring, the height never really phased me. Around fifteen I started really wanting to do jumpers, so I went to my uncle’s for the summer and rode his horses. Continued to train with him when he was showing near us, but mainly stayed with Tim who was a friend of his. Ever since then I’ve shown hunters and jumpers, mainly for other people. Then last year I was going to go show at spruce meadows with my uncle on a mare I had, but a transport truck rear ended the trailer when he fell asleep, which killed my mare. Then I spent a few months just training for people, and then finally went back to the show circuit. Then I moved here, and I don’t have a good answer for why I did.” said Lexus her mind racing as she tried to cover everything, she missed the circuit. She missed Eric Lamaze stupid jokes, even though half the time he was under the influence of some sort. Though she’d never seen him do it, she just had watched him change almost immediately sometimes. She missed sitting around the stalls just talking until way too late in the night, falling asleep there, and waking up the next morning to compete against the people who seemed like your best friends.

“As for how I ride, it really depends on the horse. I have soft hands, relaxed wrists and a very strong leg that I always keep on them slightly just for their own personal reassurance. Just like as if somebody had their hand on your shoulder, just remind you they are there. I have a very hunter equitation with just a bit of jumper in there, as I prefer to look nice well going over a fence and not like I may fall off. I find it is more balanced and rhythmic with the horse.” said Lexus as she looked over the horse, it was fairly pretty and agile looking but something seemed off about it. She wasn’t sure what, maybe it was because she was so used to Warmbloods. Probably, they weren’t the prettiest things all the time but boy could they jump.

[/blockquote]

[Riley♠]

She smiled the girl seemed honest. She liked that quality she wasn't sure why. Her mind danced to when she'd gotten this place everything still seemed so foreign to her. She listened intently to the girl giving her history. She sounded like she'd had a very great riding expirence. Riley blushed slightly as she thought of her own. She hadn't been a top level competitor she'd competed in local shows and one or two A rated that was it. She was great at training and she was patient but she didn't seem to have the credentials this girl had. She twisted a lock of her hair deep in thought. "Well it sounds like your quiet the rider." She was a little envoius but she brushed it off. She followed the girls eyes to the mare behind her. "This is Faux Finish or more affectionatly known as Foxy." She rubbed the mares neck affectionatly. "She's my hunter. I just recently started her over fences." She studied the girl again her mind still racing.

She heard the clicking of nails coming from down the aisle and she glanced in the direction they came from she smiled when the lean dog came trotting up to them his tail wagging happily a rock held tightly in his strong jaws. She smiled and leaned down removing the rock. "go lay down coaster" the dog walked off slowly toward the tackroom. "So your new to the area then?" she broke into a little laugh "Atleast i'm not the only one." she sighed with relief it'd been hard feeling welcomed here she'd made a huge splash by purchasing this farm and it seemed like everyone was very close knit which sometimes was intimidating.

[lexus]

Lexus smiled at the girl when she commented on her list of accomplishments, but really it just came with the fact she had somebody to foot the bill when she was younger and had enough money now to pay for it. Lexus knew a ton of people that rode amazingly and had extreme talent, but didn’t get out on the circuit because of money. She’d gotten to the point she was sending video’s to the top coaches and trying to convince them to take on these riders as exercisers just to get them the chance at a break. She’d got a few people some really good starts by doing that, but her uncle hadn’t really been to impressed with her move here and not to his farm. But she didn’t want his help, she wanted to live her own life without all his stupid influence. She loved to show, but she liked to stay a little closer to home and not travel internationally. He had not been happy to hear that, nor that she hadn’t bought a jumper right away after the accident. He pretty much was not impressed and didn’t support her dabbling in the hunters. He wanted her full jumper, and she was having no part of that. “How about you? What have you done, and don’t be amazed by my show record- I was one of the few people that had somebody who would pay the entry fees. Otherwise I’d have been doing schooling shows on lesson ponies. Trust me, the reason I’m here is to prove to myself that I can ride without the help of some fancy horse that somebody else trained. I enjoy showing the horses I’ve trained” said Lexus, realising she’d kind of went on and on. It wasn’t that she thought the girl hadn’t done anything, but the fact she was impressed with the fancy show record made Lexus want to ensure the girl knew that that didn’t mean you could ride. She knew people on the A’s that rode like shit in a flat class, let alone over fences.

“She’s pretty. Do you plan on showing her at all?” asked Lexus a smile on her face as she relaxed into the situation, it was nice to just have one more person to know and have a contact with. She missed having people around, even if a lot of them just thought she’d somehow give them something in the end. It beat knowing nobody, that’s for sure. “Yeah, and It’s nice to know I’m not walking into a whole bunch of close knit friends. At least there’s two of us said Lexus, her eyes softening and a look of comfort entering her posture. Lexus was weird like that, she showed her emotions a lot. But she also masked them amazingly, which worked in her favour very well when she needed to. Lexus watched the dog and chuckled at him, reminding her of Dufus who she’d left at home not knowing what she was up to for the day.

[/blockquote]

[Riley♠]

Riley smiled warmly. She liked how friendly the girl was that was hard to find in some horse people. They all seemed to know everything and didn't want to help you out at all. She sighed or atleast from her neck of the woods that how they were. She thought for a second about what to say the girl had asked about her riding history it was brief and shouldn't be to hard to portray. She shifted her weight and sighed. "Well lets see i grew up on my parents racing farm so i started riding before i could walk. There was always a pony around i could go hope on and ride. I didn't really get formal riding lessons until i was 13 when my parents started trailering me to a local show barn. I took lessons there and did some little local schooling shows and a few A rated but i never had a horse that could really take me up the ladder. I was always on either old run down school horses or my horse who was more suited for just trail riding but though my showing history i short i have large amounts of training skills. I've helped my mom turn around racehorses since i was 13. Then at 17 i kind of went the other direction taking more to racing then English so i rode racers for a while. I got my jokey licence and rode a good many races. I was always off and on in the hunter world though." she knew that had turned into a whole long talk and she hoped she hadnt bored the other. She bit her lip, she'd stopped a few years short and left the reason shed come to this small town out.

She eyed the mare for a brief second then smiled. "Yeah i think i'm going to show her baby green this year." The mare was young and he'd been a racer until the fall. Riley had worked hard with her to get her going well under saddle.

[lexus]

[blcokquote] “Racing eh? The closest I’ve ever gotten to racing was joking around well schooling and racing our hunter horses. I have no idea how you guys balance in that short of stirrups, props to you!” said Lexus with laugh, remembering how many times she’d had dressage riders stick their nose up at her for her short stirrups, and been disgusted when she could ride her hunter horse in the dressage ring. Lexus just couldn’t help but laugh at people like them, hell she’d rode a western mare once when her friend fell off and needed her to show her- at a national level. No big deal, she just won the class and had somebody tell her she was a great little rider. She’d ruined all chances of getting catch rides form him when she’d laughed in his face and told him it was the first time she’d ever sat in a western saddle. Best day of her life.

“That sounds awesome. Do you know if there is going to be any high hunters? I’ve got a couple that need to show above 3’ and I assume I’ll be showing a jumper around 3’9 or 4’, that is if I can figure out why the people claim he isn’t ride able. But I assume ride error, I’ve seen the girl ride and she’s well… she’s got money going for her and that’s about it.” said Lexus, her mind running over all the problems that could occur. Lexus just smiled as she scratched the horse in front of her, wondering how long it’d take before it found the peppermints she constantly carried in her pockets. [/blockquote]

[Riley♠]

She grinned a little. "Oh believe me balancing isn't even the hard part." she thought of how much strength it took to balance on the balls of your feet while going full speed on a high strung thoroughbred. She loved the adrenaline that'd been the reason she started. Oh how she missed it. She thought of the late nights at the barn and the smell of the track in the morning. She felt her eyes start to burn and she quickly turnt her attention back to the scene before her. She heard the girl finishing her sentence just as she turned her attention back.

She thought for a second who high was the hunters listed to be run at she couldn't remember but she thought regular hunters was set to be under 3' at the first show here at briarhurst. "To be honest with you i can't really remember what the fence height is for the show i'm hosting next week." She smiled warmly. "but i'll keep that in mind for the next." She thought again about the jumper classes. "I'm pretty sure there is a 4' jumpers and a 3'9 jumpers class." she wasn't positive but she was pretty sure, She grinned a little again. "It'll be nice holding a show here. It will be in our new indoor." She looked down the aisle toward where the new ring would be. She was excited to be buidling a brand new arena at this barn. It was an accomplishment and would really help her with the business. She looked over just as the mare moved her muzzle toward the Lexus. The mare began to try to lip at the girls jacket sleeve. "Looks like you may have some treats on you." She smiled and glanced at the girl.

[lexus]

“That’d be great, I’ll probably take them in some lower jumper stuff just for fun and because my mare goes jumper as well. Ollie well, I might just leave him at home he’s like a hundred and ten percent hunter and would look like a fool in the jumper ring. Maybe I’ll bring him and do the pairs division with my brother Nate, just to get him into the ring again. It’s been a few weeks” said Lexus, kind of laughing at the thought of not showing for a few weeks being a crime. She remembered the days when you showed once a month if that, now the only month she only showed once in was probably December and that was back when she lived in Canada and it was cold.

“New indoor eh? I’m sure it will be nice and big, I prefer to show outside but that can be a pain sometimes as well.” said Lexus, though she truly hated showing indoors. The rings were smaller, which affected her hunter courses a ton because well, she liked to lines that were set long and oxers set wide, with deep corners and huge amounts of filler. But indoors, well they just seemed to lack. The jumpers even seemed to lack, even though it was all twisty. But that was how Lexus was with things, she liked them a certain way. But it didn’t stop her from showing, that’s for sure. Lexus would show all day every day if she had the chance, it was her life. She’d loved training for spruce meadows, riding two or three times a day with different trainers and then having to ride other horses just so that you were in impeccable shape. And she loved laying it all on the table, playing every card she had. Lexus loved to toss her heart over the fence and follow, because that was a rush like no other. The fences got bigger, oxers wider but the thrill was still the same when you popped over the fence and hovered above ground for a slight second. Lexus lived for that.

Lexus smiled at the horse and unwrapped a peppermint and fed it to mare who nuzzled at her pocket. It was not a good habit of hers, but she loved having treats for horses and herself in her pocket. It was something she found her horses looked forward to after a ride, it gave them a reward, a pat on the back for hard work. Lexus was kind of a softy like that, but she had to admit she’d thrown them at cats when they’d been in her way well riding. It was pretty much the definition of special when you started throwing candy at cats.

[/blockquote]

[Riley♠]

Riley smiled. "Yeah i figure the first show would just be fun. I plan on hosting some small series for hunters and jumpers. If you have any input about what you want to see let me know and i'll add as much as i can." She suggested this mainly because she didn't know to much about jumpers and maybe this girl could help her a little. It'd be nice to have someone to collaborate with. She glanced down the aisle and watched the birds fly off the riding arena. "I'm thinking maybe i'm going to hold the flat classes in the indoor. If it's complete and the over fences and jumper classes in the outdoor only so we don't have to constantly reset standards. If that makes sense." She knew the facilities here weren't very massive nor were they state of the art but at least it was somewhere.

She watched as the girl slipped the buckskin a peppermint and smiled. "Now you've just become her best friend." She laughed as the horse nuzzled lexus again. "That has to be her favorite treat." she walked around the mare to where her saddle sat and picked it up placing it on the mares back. She wasn't trying to be rude she just wanted to atleast seem like she was being productive. She sighed heavily it was alot of work for one person to run a farm. She tightened the girth and patted the mares neck. She was one of the easiest horses to tack. "If you ever want to go for a trail ride let me know i'm always looking for a riding buddy." she gave the suggestion out whole heartedly. She hated riding alone and always looked for someone to ride with but unfortunantly when you don't know anyone it's a little hard to find someone.

[lexus]

“Well I’d just make sure you have actual jumper jumps. Nobody really wants hunter jumps with coloured poles on top, they want really scary things for their horse to go over. You job as course designer is pretty much to come up with every way to have a horse refuse. A really good trick is rubber ducks in the liver pool water. Your most popular class will be the 2’9”, 3’3” and then the really big stuff, like 4’ plus. Hunters is the same way, small stuff is killer. For your next show I’d throw in a 2’6” class, schooling is usually 2’- 2’9” but when it comes to more core stuff, if that’s what you want, the lowest for horses would be 2’6” and highest probably 3’6” or 3’9”. Back home ponies were in a division by themselves, larges expected to jump 2’9”, mediums 2’6” and smalls 2’3”. But since there’s not a lot of ponies here, I’d probably do a pony division and just adjust the height. And the standard adult equitation course is between 2’9” and 3’3”. Hunter people want lots of filler and long lines that make riders actually work. This is all mainly A show tricks, so you can vary them on what level you want your shows to be” said Lexus, kind of amazed she’d packed that much information in a decent sized amount of sentences. She wasn’t one to be able to shut up very quickly, yet she didn’t want the girl to feel stupid. It was a hard combination. She laughed at the mare and just shook her head, all horse loved mints. Well except a paint mare she had named Zoey, she hated them.

[/blockquote]

[Riley♠]

She smiled as the girl talked she knew alot. She was quite amazed with the girls vast knowledge. She looked down at her watch. Damn it was getting late. She glanced at the girl and smiled. "Well thanks for all the information. It was really nice meeting you." She didn't want to seem pushy but she had somewhere she had to be in about an hour and a half and she had to ride before she went there. She pulled out her business card and handed it to the girl. "Heres my number if your every looking for something to do call i may have a ride or two for you." She smiled warmly.

OOC: sorry for the shortness and the abrupt end i coldn't think of anything else to say lol.