CLOSED // to be deleted

[ossa di cervo]

Kyle hopped up and looked at Ivy, "Fantastic! And I honestly don't care where or what we do, as long as a cougar doesn't try to eat Socks." Kyle shrugged as he trotted over to the tack room and emerged with a tack box. He then wondered over to Socks' box, watching the gelding for a few moments as he flicked his tail, now having nothing to do that his food was gone.

Kyle smiled widely as he slipped into the stall and set the tack box near the gate. "Alright bud. Worst parts first, let's get them hooves done." While Kyle set about picking Socks's hooves, he began to hum to himself a quiet, smooth tune and Socks closed his eyes, the gelding seeming to calm down with Kyle in his box. Once finished with all four hooves, Kyle set about brushing and combing 'til Smooth Criminal was nearly shining.

"Alright. I'll be right back." Kyle kissed the gelding's nose before stepping out of the box, tack box in hand. He trotted over to the tack room, put the box up, then set about putting all of Socks's gear on. First came his halter, a nice deep blue halter with small feathers near the ears and a nice, shining bit. Then came the saddle blanket, also a blue with fancy tribal marks on the top and finally, the saddle. Kyle was proud of his saddle and he kept in the best condition possible. A nice deep brown leather jumping saddle. Sure it wasn't exactly show gear, it was more half casual, half show, but Kyle liked the fancy halter and blanket. Socks's show gear kind of bothered Kyle. He didn't like the plain black. Socks was already black enough.

Kyle looked up and over at Ivy, "Do you think the snow will mess with the trails? I'm sure we could take 'em out for a bit before we had to go inside.. But do you think there will be any slippery spots?"

[OutFoxed]

"Don't mind Seb. He really is a nice horse. Definitely not as sweet as Rose but he sometimes has his moments. He loves to put up this tough guy act." Lily said after she saw Christian's face. Sebastian, of course, had his head in the feed bin, gobbling up the grain.
A soft laugh escaped Lily. "Oh no! That would be something though!" She chuckled. "Nope, Sebastian is gelded, he can't have foals. And he's a mixed breed warmblood I found for jumping. I bred Rosey to another purebred Irish Sport Horse like herself. I also would never choose Sebby for a sire, with his attitude!" She explained. "But don't feel bad, I can understand how you could think that. Sebastian does have some good traits like he's a good worker and a great jumper." Lily smiled at Christian, hoping he understood and didn't feel bad.
Lily turned away from Seb's stall and headed back to the feed room to wash out the empty feed buckets. When she finished, she quickly set out to muck out Rosey's stall. She picked out all of the manure and wet spots before adding another half a bag of soft bedding. When Rose was closer to her due date, Lily would add a layer of straw on top of the wood shavings, that way the baby had a safe and warm bedding. She set the big-bellied mare back into her stall from where she stood on the cross ties. Grabbing a couple of flakes of hay and tossed them in to the stall. When she finished with Rosey, she moved the wheel barrow and pitch fork down to Sebastian's stall. She led him out to the cross ties by his stall and started to muck his stall. He had been messy the night before and she had to pick through everything. She liked doing Rosey's because she was neat and kept her stall clean. "Sebastian! Why don't you ever do anything that would make my life easier?" She sighed. After she was done with her morning chores, she planned on working Sebastian over jumps with a bit on the flat first.

[KiwiKoala]

Christian smiled, a tad embarrassed at his assumption. Now that he knew more about the situation, he could see why Lily had found it funny. As soon as she was done explaining, his house-mate set about her work. He would have offered his help, but doing so would probably only serve to slow the process more than necessary. So, after watching her for a moment, he turned to go back to the main house.

Christian left the stable to find that the sun had began its way towards noon, although it didn't do much for the snow carpeting the path to the living room door. He trudged along, regretting not wearing boots to at least keep some of the snow out. And then at last, he was inside again. He zipped towards his room in a blur and reappeared in the living room seconds later. His actions from there seemed cartoonishly slow in comparison: Settling into the couch and pulling his sketch boom toward him, newly retrieved pencils well in hand. He was ready to start the day.

[readysetride]

Ivy thought for a moment, lifting her saddle onto Ebony's back. "Maybe. But we can always take it a bit slow until we get back into the arena." She said, turning to Kyle. She grabbed his bridle, dark brown leather with a D-ring. Ebony took the bit with ease, and Ivy slipped the bridle over his ears. she did up the nose band, then the throat latch.

[Piuma]

Winter - 12 degrees celsius - it is snowing increasingly

The grey cat watches the morning activity and feeding rituals from the top of a hay ball. He watches everyone as they say hello to their horses and each other.

As time passes, he jumps down from the hay ball and walks into the living room. Luca, Kyle Lewis' dog trots towards him to say hello, but he ignores him. Dogs have never been his company of choice. He jumps into the couch and curls up, but no sooner has he curled up before he notices the sketch book lying on the table. He jump over to the table, and lies down on the sketch book. That's a lot better. He can hear the people getting ready to take their horses out, while they talk calm and light with each other. Mr. Grey is very pleased with the start of the day, and goes to sleep.

After the first ride of the day, get together and plan to go on a longer ride tomorrow. Make sure everyone can join, even those who does no have a horse. Also, keep the weather in mind - it may change every minute.

Hint: Try to find Norway's well-known Mountain Code (fjellvettregler) - they may come in handy later.

[KiwiKoala]

Christian had put his sketch book back down for but a moment for a cat to suddenly appear on top of it. He blinked, as if he thought doing so would cause Mr. Grey to disappear. He did not. With a thoughtful 'hmm' he reached over to pet the household roamer. He didn't really want to disturb him, especially now that he looked like he was about to go to sleep. So, Christian sat back in his seat once again. He supposed he could go get his book to read, but the couch was becomingly increasingly difficult to get up from as it grew warmer and he sank deeper into it. 'Ah well,' he thought, 'Might as well sit here for the next few minutes.'

[ossa di cervo]

Kyle hopped up into the saddle before even putting his tack box up. He leaned from side to side then hopped off of the saddle again. "You're all set. Somethin' pop taught me is actually handy." Kyle laughed a little and grabbed the tack box before zooming into the tack room to put it up, then back to Socks' box. The grabbed ahold of the reins and led Socks out of his box before looking at Ivy and Ebony, "You guys set?" He hopped up onto the Socks' saddle then looked over at Lily, "The offer to join us is still up for grabs, if you want." Kyle smiled widely before frowning lightly, "We should get Christian a bit more active in the ranch life tomorrow.."

((Sorry it's so.. blah. And talkative. xD))

[readysetride]

Ivy grinned, opening Ebony's stall door. "Ready to go." She said. She led Ebony out of his stall, the stallion still munching on some hay. She mounted, lightly lowering herself into the saddle.

((Sorry it's so short, mom's yelling at me to go to bed :p))

[OutFoxed]

A quick glance over her shoulder showed that the giant, aisle-wide, barn double doors were in fact closed. A shiver ran down her back as she pulled her winter jacket closer. "Are you guys really going to go on a trail ride?" Lily wondered, her eyebrows raised. Her gaze was looking out the nearest window at the constantly falling snowflakes, worried for the two other riders if they did intend on venturing out in the deep snow.
Sebastian switched his weight, calling his owners attention back to him. He was impatient but also knew that jumping was in his very near future. "Seb, don't be such a pain and relax for once." Lily softly scolded her bay gelding. She gave his coat one last sweep with a soft brush before she packed his grooming kit back into the box and carried it into the tack room.
Flicking the light switch on, Lily walked over to her tack trunk. After storing the grooming kit, she glanced up at the racks of tack that were her own. So much money had been invested in horses, but she wouldn't take it back. Standing on a stool, she reached up for the saddle on the top rack, Sebastian's jumping tack.
In his eagerness to get going, Seb kept dancing around; his head held at awkward angles as the cross ties stopped his motion when he reached the maximum allowance. Lily sighed and sharply jerked on his halter. "Sebastian." She said shortly. He stopped for a few moments as she placed the saddle pad and saddle upon his back. He fidgeted a little but didn't move as she buckled the girth to the off side billet straps. As she crossed to the left side, Seb of course blew out his stomach to make the girth loose. Lily sighed and tapped on his belly until he let out the extra air. "Sebby just a few more minutes of your absolute cooperation and then we can go work." She attempted to convince her horse to make her life a tad easier.
Now that his legs were protected by his tendon boots and he was completely saddled, Lily just had to slip the running martingale through the reins. Sebastian turned to face the brown haired teen who happened to be his rider, his tongue already fiddling with the bit in his mouth. Lily smoothed his forelock over the black browband and checked the bridle over even though she just put it on.
Lily glanced up over at Kyle and couldn't help but glance at him with a quizzical expression when he was on his horse in the stall. She shrugged it away and turned Sebastian around, prepared to go into the indoor arena. "I'll be working this beast if anyone needs me." She called over her shoulder, her helmet tucked under her arm. She slipped her gloves on and did a last check on Seb's tack before mounting up.

[OutFoxed]

[bump?]