Christopher groaned as he woke up. The time was 5:00am, and he was almost too demotivated. Why would anyone wake up at this time? It was insane. He stuck to it though, hastily getting himself up and ready and dressed before rushing out of the door at a slightly later 5:30 or so, wearing some black jodhpurs, field boots, and a long-sleeved shirt, which obviously had the sleeves folded up to his elbows, like usual, bearing the Corbeau Royale sign on his left breast pocket. His friend Benedict was already there, parked in... a truck? Whilst wearing the most
not-at-all-flamboyant outfit he could pick for such an important day, which worsened the situation and frankly made Ben just look ridiculous. Sighing under his breath, Chris opened the passenger door and hopped in, rolling his eyes as Ben shot a quick, smug smirk at him.
"Like my ride?" he mumbled, a cocky half-smirk still plastered on his face.
"It wasn't necessary because we could have just, you know, used a box like a pair of normal people. We'll look like we want 50 of them," he glared back at the smirk, which left the other's face at the realisation. Ben shook his head.
"Nono, we'll tell them that we are just there to pick up the one we talked about," he laughed nervously, a little anxious now. "Right?"
Chris shrugged awkwardly, scratching his neck gently.
"I don't know," he mumbled. "It'll be fine," he rolled his eyes, strapping himself in and slouching back against the comfortable seat, looking about and observing the interior as Ben started the truck up. Trying to back around to leave, he crashed gently into one of the fences, an audible crack being heard.
"F--king idiot," Chris mumbled, followed up closely with Ben glaring and complaining and whining as they left their own stable-yard to head to the Ranch.
When they got there at about 6:45am, the two of them parked up and stepped out of the truck, glancing about. There were a few people, but not many, which was unsurprising for how stupidly early it was. Searching for members of staff, the two nearly gave up before being greeted by a girl who only looked to be in her early 20s, a smile beaming off her face.
"Are you two here to pick up your mustangs?" she said, the grin remaining there the whole time.
"Oh, uh, only one," Ben stuttered, already annoyed with her optimism as Chris stood almost in a trance, watching the many horses that resided here, all of which may be gone by the end of the day. He let out a sigh, a particular Liver chestnut mare attracting his attention. Was this the one? She didn't seem like the youngest horse. Her mane was particularly long, and rough-looking too. Though, she also looked strong, and not really like a mustang at all.
Chris was suddenly awoken by the snapping of angry, petite fingers.
"What?" he glared, looking up the arm of the clicker, only to find that Ben was staring at him with the young girl next to him, still beaming with her 'trusy' clipboard in-hand.
"Let me lead you gentleman to her," she smiled, almost skipping to the horse whose information was on the clipboard, tagged with their names. When she lead them to the right horse, it was the same one that Chris had noticed before. Liver chestnut mare, looked about 13 or 14. Could be older...
"This mare is the one you are taking home," she beamed at them. Apparently, her face couldn't move any other way than with a constant smile, which had started to become a little awkward to bare. Before any more questions could be asked, she ripped a form and a couple of other sheets from her clipboard, slapping them into Chris's hands.
"Here! There is the ranch number, my number..." she winked lousily, as if trying to let them know she'd just made a god-awful joke. "...and a few forms about yourselves, and the home you're going to!" she beamed again.
Chris cringed a little, reading over the forms as Ben also pulled a slight face, before deciding to break the tension.
"Is she like, headcollar-trained? Trained to hop up in a box?" he asked, trying to word it for her. She only returned it with a chuckle.
"Yes, she is! Trouble is she has not had to be in a box particularly much but she is halter-trained," she blurted, and Chris nodded, shifting impatiently.
"Can we turn her in to load then?" he mumbled awkwardly, and the girl nodded, hopping away to get some feed, consisting of mainly oats, and a dark headcollar which suited the mare's colors well. The girl scampered in and over to the wary mare, who was stood patiently and swishing her tail, a little tense. After securing the headcollar, the girl started to walk back to the two men, beaming again when she looked at them. It was almost relieving to see her not smiling for once as she collected the horse. When she got past the gate and walked back over to them, she handed the lead-rein to Chris, waiting and forcing himself into a small conversation with the girl whilst Ben ad run off to open the door on the truck, making sure that her stall was clean and ready inside before nodding out to Chris, who started to walk the mare carefully nearer to the truck, trying to give her time to adjust to what was happening. It took a while to convince her to follow Chris up into the stall that had been picked for her, but once she was in, he quickly switched headcollars and put one on her which was made of delicate black leather, attached with a red lead-rein to one of the panels in the truck, keeping her close so that she couldn't get out of her stall, whilst giving head-room and length for her to eat and look around. As Chris sat inside with her, trying to get her used to the black and red travel boots without kicking or lifting her legs, Ben hopped out of the back-end of the truck, standing to talk reluctantly with the woman about the horse and the overall ranch, impressed at its size and cleanliness. By the time Chris had convinced the mare to wear the boots seemingly without a fuss, he clambered out and shut the truck door, signalling to Ben.
"Come on, we're ready to go," Chris frowned a little, his response being met with refusal.
"She has these two forms for us," he frowned back, but tried to seem optimistic at least. Sighing carefully, Chris quickly walked back over, trying to fill in the forms as quickly as he could. The first was about himself and the other stablehands, and who would be training her, who would be caring for her, where she'd be, who would be around, and simple questions like that. It was similar with the second form, but that one was more about where she would be kept, which would be an Equestrian Centre full of a whole spectrum of different horses with different stories. The difference with this mare is that she was almost a fully-wild animal until a short while ago, and the other residents at Corbeau Royale were nothing like that.
After the paperwork had been filled out, the two were about to leave before being stopped again with a loud, high-pitched "wait!", causing them both to groan a little as they turned around, both growing impatient and wanting to get the mare back and unloaded already.
"What?" they both complained, looking at her as if she had just heavily offended them. She ignored this, smiling at them again.
"What are you going to name her?" she grinned, watching the two men's as they realised that they needed to name the horse.
"Uhh, Princess Monster Truck," Ben answered, nodding to himself.
"Don't be stupid, she needs a proper name," Chris sighed, wanting to cuss his friend out even though part of him wanted to laugh at that particular name. Thinking, he shrugged to himself, trying to come up with the first female name he thought of that was fitting.
"Nnn... Lily," Chris declared, looking at Ben who just shrugged and agreed.
"Okay, Lily," Ben sighed, nodding at the girl. "There's your name," he tried to fake a smile.
After the girl was finally done bothering the two, they got into the truck. As Ben started the truck up, Chris looked at him, then as they both strapped in Chris uttered his name, making him respond with a casual 'what?' as he sat back.
"Princess Monster Truck?" Chris snickered a little, and Ben nodded.
"Gotta come up with something on the spot," he frowned. Chris laughed a little, sitting back and leaning on the door the way back, trying not to fall asleep whilst snickering quietly to himself about the name 'Princess Monster Truck'.
Finally getting back an hour and ten minutes later, at 9:34am, the two parked up and got out to get Lily out of the truck. Chris looked to Ben who was standing at the bottom of the ramp, then called out carefully.
"Where are we taking her? Stable or paddock?" Ben shrugged back, trying to think of which might be the best place for a brand new horse who was only just tame, and might find a way to break out or do something ridiculous.
"Stable," Ben replied, hurrying to the main stable block and looking about for a spare one. There was one spare, but it was in the middle. Quickly changing their stallion
Dagger from his end stable to the middle one, cleaning out and refreshing the end one for the new mustang mare. After all was ready, Ben made sure that the horse alongside was a mare, and it was. He rushed back to Chris, panting from how out of breath he had become just from rushing about, probably from inhaling small particles which triggered his mild asthma. Chris walked the mare carefully into the yard and through the hall to the stables, walking her through the American-styled stables to the one at the end, which was a comfortable size for a horse of 14 hands. Content with the space and amount of hay and straw and the decent size of the salt block, Chris attached her travel boots to one of the railings, transferring Dagger's rug and travel boots and other pieces of equipment such as his saddlepad to his new stable, coming back to Lily after he had finished, who was clearly a little wary of the noise and sudden presence of a lot of other horses who were complete strangers to her. She stood near her food, shaking, before spotting a curious
Holly looking through the railings at her. With her age, she was quite experienced with other horses and wasn't threatened as such, just nervous. The two tried to get scents of each other, moving about on either side of the railings. No noises were being made, and there were no attempts to buck, kick, bite, or do anything really. Chris watched for about 30 minutes or so, admiring the new horse and her apparent confidence with a horse she had only just met, who was also a lot bigger than her. He wandered off, spending until about 2:30 in the afternoon grooming horses, tacking horses up, turning horses out as lessons started to come to an end, with the added mucking out and watering too. After everything seemed to be done, Lily was the only horse left as the others had been turned out. Chris quickly went to search for grooming tools, coming back some minutes later with some grooming tools, as well as some cutting tools for her mane. He held it around his arm, attaching the lead-rein he had to her headcollar as he took her outside to where the hose was, tying her up and starting to carefully groom her, trying to get her used to the tools. She wasn't kicking or threatening to bite, but her ears said that she was nervous of what the man was doing. He groomed until there were no longer knots in her coat, undoing or cutting out any that were prominent and unable to be removed with an average brush. He then moved on to her mane, washing and grooming it to straighten it out, trying to remove as many knots and ties as he could. When he was done with the actual grooming, he cut her mane, trying to make sure she was still fine with this.
After spending a good amount of time picking out her hooves and making sure her coat and mane was clean, he took her back and allowed her to sit in the stable for longer, putting his tools away and fetching his dad, Ryan. Nervously bringing him to the new mare, he tried to smile a little, admittedly terrified of what his father might say even though Chris himself was a fully-grown man in his early 30s. Ryan looked at the horse for a while, observing it carefully, then he sighed a little.
"She's a good-lookin' horse, just a shame she wouldn't be a racer to keep income high," he muttered, glaring a little at Chris before he could even speak. Ryan shrugged, trying to pet Chris's shoulder playfully but being a little wary, not to mention disgusted, as he moved away a little.
"What's its name?" he asked.
"Lily," Chris responded quietly, flinching a little as his father quickly turned, walking away casually. Shuddering, Chris remained by the mare's stable until about 7pm, going in now and again to try and get her used to him, let alone the opening and closing of the stable door.
Getting back inside, his son Felix approached him nervously.
"Is there a new horse?" he asked, his voice getting very slightly higher as he asked.
"Yeah, you can see her tomorrow if you want, too," he sighed, exhausted and demotivated that he had done nothing of use for the poor horse. She must have been bored out of her mind.
"Where is she?" Felix asked again, but quieter in case the 'barrage' of questions was too much. Chris responded lengthily, but more on how Jordan, one of the stablehands, was looking out for the horse and how she was staying inside for tonight. After his conversation with Felix, he stumbled up to the bathroom and showered, coming out to the main bedroom after and flopping on the bed. As he started to close his eyes and fall into a light sleep, he noticed a shadow looming over him just before he could fall asleep properly.
It was Kim, his girlfriend. She was quite an average height and size, carrying curves and a seductive look as much as she could. She was an albino and considered "special" by a few people, though her personality said otherwise.
"Why the hell are you going out and buying more horses? We don't need any more!" she growled, glaring at him and almost raising her fist to him. "Why are you wasting so much money on animals that can't do anything?" she started to speak louder, threatening to lay her hands on him as she filled his brain with questions that just lowered his mood and made him so much more demotivated. The girl kept asking snarky questions, getting louder and more aggressive and tempting herself more to do something physical to the defenceless man, who was now filled with questions, nausea, and fear.
