--[OPEN]-- New Kid In Town

[Christina]

Christina

Christina could barely believe her eyes as she drove over a small hill and took in the scenery. Pristine white fences in perfect repair enclosed large pastures and medium-sized paddocks, all of them lush, grassy, with barely a tree in sight to mar the view. Horses dotted the enclosures, and she couldn’t help but get a closer look as she drove by – and oh, how many different kinds of horses there were! She saw a Black Leopard Appaloosa, a Bay pony that might have been a Mustang, even a Friesian. Thinking of her group of four that she pulled behind her, Christina smiled – surely her bunch would fit in somewhere. As if echoing her thoughts, she heard a whinny through the open window of her Red 2005 Ford F350 and laughed, shaking her head. After such a long trip, her horses were sure to be anxious to get out of the trailer and eat. She wasn’t ashamed to admit that all of her babies were pigs.

Chris slowed down when she saw a turn up ahead, with a road that appeared to lead to a large building up ahead. No, she realized, it wasn’t a road, it was a driveway, and pressing down a bit more firmly on the brake, she turned into the drive, slowly making her way down the path and pulling into the parking lot. She found a spot that wasn’t close to any other vehicles or trailers and pulled in carefully, putting her truck in park and turning it off. Pocketing her keys, she opened the door and jumped out, landing on the ground in her Black Ariat Crowne Pro lace paddock boots. Those and her Black suede half chaps were the only formal riding attire she was currently wearing. Her light blue jeans were no different than any other pair she owned, faded and obviously well-worn, the low-rider hem barely concealed by the black spaghetti-strap tank top she wore over them.

Her stride was quick and long, using up the whole length of her legs without thinking about it. She made her way to the trailer, opening the tack room that was built in and grabbing the four lead ropes that corresponded with the four halters on her horses, laughing freely when her horses started neighing at the sight of her. They knew what was coming, and their suspicions were confirmed further when she opened the doors in the back after unclipping the last horse, Dolly, and clipping the lead ropes to all of the horses. She opened the doors in the back and unlatched the enclosing panels, the first two unused, and then Dolly’s. The mare turned her head without fight and allowed Christina to lead her out of the trailer and tie her to the side.

Sighing, she unclipped the next horse in line, Pete, then entered the trailer again, this time much slower, murmuring to the young horse. He didn’t spook at silly stuff, but then again, you never knew exactly what a young horse would consider ‘seriously’ scary. Fortunately he acted well as she unlatched the panel that blocked him in and opened it slowly, then moved to his head and turned him, leading him out. He paused at the gap and hesitated, but with gentle coaxing stepped down carefully and was tied at the same side of the trailer Dolly was at, immediately preoccupied with looking at the pretty mare. Laughing at his young-stallion antics, she unclipped the next horse – this time Knight – and entered the trailer. He was quiet as she opened the panel and unloaded him, then tied him at the other side of the trailer. Finally she moved back to the other side and unclipped King, walking into the trailer and opening his panel, turning him around to walk him out. She walked him to the grass, allowing him to graze quietly while leaning against him.

Well, she was here. Now she just had to figure out where to go next.

Word Count: 644
Comments: First post here! Come on in people, can't wait to start roleplaying!
What She's Wearing: Boots, Half-Chaps, Jeans, Tank Top

[• jennifer beckett !]

Rachel Beckett hummed to herself as she made her way down the aisle way of the stable, the location of her new job. She had gotten a job as one of the riding instructors recently; so recently, in fact, that she had yet to have a chance to get a student list made up. But she wasn't at the barn for lessons today. No, she intended to school her own horses, who were in need of attention and work. In all of the excitment of moving into their new house and unpacking, she had let her two sweet horses fall through the cracks a bit - shame on her. Not that they seemed to mind; Rocky and Sterling probably even enjoyed their mini vaction of being lazy in the fields and sleeping to their hearts contents. But she had to keep them up on their game. Really, what kind of riding instructor could she claim to be if she didn't have well-schooled horses? Not that she was planning hard-core training today. That would be unfair and kind of stupid.

So, Rachel walked down to her horses stalls, deciding to check there first. She still wasn't up to date on the turn out schedule here, so she had no idea if her horses were in the barn or grazing in the fields. She soon found it was the latter. She merely glanced over the empty stalls before running a hand through her curly bright red hair and turning to grab a lead robe. Since their leather halters were also missing, Rachel assumed that her horses were wearing them. So, she retraced her steps outside, glancing over as she passed another woman starting to open up a horse trail - a new boarder, no doubt. Rache smiled warmly but she didn't try to speak to the other woman at that moment - she seemed busy. So she continued to the paddocks, intent on locating her horses. As she said, she didn't know the turn-out schedule, so they could be anywhere.

Luckily, she didn't have to look far. Sterling, her gray dutch warmblood, and Rocky, her paint/warmblood mix, were both happily grazing with a mini herd of sorts, both obviously content. Rachel almost felt guilty pulling them away from their grazing, but it helped that they seemed happy enough to see her, their mouths moving in nickers of recongiation and greeting. She smiled, clipping the lead rope onto the halter of Rocky, her paint-colored gelding, and taking a couple of moments to lead him through the gate while trying to keep the other horses from following. Once outside of the paddock, a quick inspection showed that Rocky hadn't had a chance to roll, so he was pretty clean; any person who owned a gray/white or half white horse knew how hard it is to said horse clean. On the way back to the barn, Rachel passed the forementioned woman, now just standing with one of her horses in the grass. Since the woman wasn't busy anymore, and since Rachel is naturally polite, she stopped to introduce herself. "Hello, my name is Rachel Beckett. Are you new to Autumn Hills?" Her smile was warm and hopefully comforting. Sure, she herself was new to the stables, but she would try to lend a hand if the woman needed help.

notes ;; finally got a post in
listening to ;; notin
length ;; 552
status ;; complete

[Christina]

Christina

Christina had taken notice of the woman walking through the parking lot toward the pastures, but had been mildly preoccupied at the moment. She wasn’t rude, no, but she did have her priorities – and her horses were the main one, without a doubt. The red-haired girl had pretty much vacated her thoughts by the time she’d unloaded all the horses she had, and so she leaned against King staring at three buildings. They were nearly identical, they all held stalls, and they were all pretty large. This was good, it meant that the facilities had to be roomy and must have had enough stalls to house all the horses in Virginia. The only problem with the great number of stalls and the multiple barns was the fact that “newbies” would have no clue where to go to put their horses up, and if they were like Chris they wouldn’t be very fond of the idea of walking through all the barns, looking for her horse’s name. No, it just didn’t sound like a very appealing thing to do.

But perhaps she would be saved the trouble. The red-haired woman emerged from the pastures, this time leading two horses, and Chris’s eyes locked on her. She was older than Chris, she could tell simply by the way the woman looked – not by the fact that she had any wrinkles, because her fair complexion looked smooth. No, it was just the way she… was. She’d always been good at judging ages, which helped her avoid insulting anyone, always a good thing. Her hair was stunning, a brilliant red that tumbled in ringlets – and Chris had to immediately envy her. If only her hair was as full, instead of just… straight. Could you get more boring? Her eyes preformed a quick up-and-down scan – that classic that could be obvious or unnoticeable, and Chris was going for the latter – and then the woman spoke.

Christina smiled – was it that obvious that she had no clue where to go or what to do? Ah well, perhaps it couldn’t be helped. “Yes, I’m new, and I honestly have no clue where my horses go. I’m boarding them here, but… There are three barns, and it’s a bit daunting to imagine going up and down all three aisles.” She shrugged ,as if saying What can you do? and grinned, before taking a few moments to look at the horses. One caught her eye immediately, being a Paint, and Chris being so fond of Pintos of any kind, registered or not. The other was so obviously a Warmblood that it too would catch her attention, and she commented on each. “Your horses are beautiful.” She offered another smile, then realized one flaw in manners.

“Oh! I’m sorry. My name’s Christina.” She chuckled, shrugging again as if casting aside her own nature. Again, it was almost an Oh well, what can I say? kind of gesture.

Word Count: 487
Comments: Thanks for posting!

[• jennifer beckett !]

Rachel was prepared to help the girl, point her in the right direction. It was true, the stable area was large and there were a lot of stalls. And if you didn't know where to start your search, it could take quite a while to find your horse's stall, especially if you had multiple horses. But, whoever did the stall assignments did try and put all the horses owned by the same person next to each other, which was great. So that meant that Rachel's horses, as well as her daughter's horses, were all in the same general area. Wonderful for a quick check up when you were rushing and could stop by very long. Rachel was right, that the woman needed some help. Not that she could blame her; Rachel had been pretty lost herself until she had been given the grand tour - but that had been after she had gotten the instructor position.

Smiling kindly, Rachel listened as the women explained and Rocky and Sterling dropped their heads, grabbing a chance to graze while they were standing still. The red haired woman noticed the horses tied up to the trailer; they were all gorgeous, the ones she could see at least. She also noticed a trend. The other woman, who had just introduced herself as Christina, obviously admired paints. Rachel was not unlike her, she thought paints were beautiful. Of course, she was a bit biased since she had one, but it got under her skin when people went and threw comments around about how paints couldn't compete in eventing, or how they were horrible jumpers. Well, excuse me, but there were several paints that were wonderful jumpers, Rocky included. Color had nothing to do with ability in the ring. The thought seemed ridiculous to Rachel.

Her smile warmed after Christina gave her a compliment for her horses. "Well, thank you. Your horses are beauties as well. You like paints?" She formed it in a question, even though it was obvious Christina liked paints. Remembering what the other woman had said about the barns, Rachel turned her head to look at the buildings. "Yeah, its easy to get a bit lost at first, but the boarders horses are kept separate from the lesson horses and the staff's horses. Your stalls will probably be in this barn." Rachel gestured with her hand to the building closest to them, the largest of the barns. It was the barn she was least familiar with, since her two horses were in the staff barn, but hey, it wouldn't be too difficult to find the stalls. "I can help you find your horses' stalls, if you want." Rachel had no big plans for today, no lessons or appointments she had to be on time too. She smiled, trying to convey that she had the time to help and would be more than happy to.

notes ;; ick, sorry about the quality
listening to ;; nothing
length ;; 480
status ;; complete

[Christina]

Christina

Christina’s long legs crossed at the ankle, causing a bit more weight to be pressed against King’s side. The horse grunted and shifted, and though others might have stumbled, natural grace – and simple knowledge of the horse’s personality and how he would react – enabled Chris to straighten up and return to just having a slight amount of her weight pressed against her horse’s side – an amount he seemed fine with. She grinned at Rachel, because surely the girl had noticed the little exchange between horse and human, shrugging it off good naturedly.

Now that her attention was fully on the other woman once more, she couldn’t help but notice things, like how her body was curvy, just a little bit, but more so than Chris, who had a fondness for curves, especially on a petit body, and while Rachel wasn’t tiny nor was she as tall as Chrissy. She smiled encouragingly as Rachel began to speak, classifying the woman within her mind as ‘beautiful’, because she was classically beautiful, with porcelain skin and firey hair.

Christina returned the woman’s smile once more, her own slightly faded one widening again as she began to speak in reply to everything – all the questions, compliments, and information – she’d been given. “Yes, I love Pintos. This guy-” she patted King affectionately- “

[/b]is a Pinto Oldenburg, and they’re quite rare full blooded, I was lucky to get my hands on him. Then there’s the obvious Gypsy Vanner over there, they almost always come Pinto, and then the actual Paint. Knight’s my only non-pinto, and even he’s highly marked.[/b]” She laughed at her own obvious affection for colored horses, or highly marked solid horses, eyes twinkling cheerfully at Rachel.

“Thanks – I’m sure they think they’re quite stunning, as well.” She grinned good-naturedly, then paused and sobered up as Rachel explained the system at Autumn Hills. She nodded as she was directed toward the barn that would hold her horses, then smiled, pleased, as she was offered help once more. “Thank you. You’re a huge help.” She tugged on King’s lime green lead rope, which corresponded with his halter, and he grudgingly lifted his head from grazing, snorting. “Come on big guy.”

She turned to Rachel and nodded in her direction, comically sweeping her arm out in a showcase-like manner, then grinning. “After you.” She added a silly little bow to the whole presentation, straightening up to keep a firm hold on King, who was trying to graze. “Really, I’ve got to teach him better ground manners.” This was said mostly to herself, though loud enough for Rachel to hear if she was listening. Sighing, she waited for the woman to lead her to the barn. [/center][/size]

Word Count:449
Comments: Blah. This was a sucky post, product of a suicidal muse.

[• jennifer beckett !]

OOC: I'm going to be gone for a couple of days, so if I can't get a post in before I leave, I'm sorry and I'll reply as soon as I can.