(open, babes) the ARENA is all MINE --

[corey]

It was about 10 o'clock at night and the arena was completely empty.. except for one horse and his frustrated rider. The arena lights were turned on and it was quiet, except for the snorts and small squeals of the stubborn stallion. He had been a bit antsy and full of himself all day and now since it was cool, the lass decided to might be time to come back out and try again. She didn't know what his problem was, but she was going to try and get him to cooperate. He did not want to do anything and was being a complete ass pretty much. She was getting tied and more frustrated by the minute, but was not about to let this horse get away with so much bad behavior.

There was a lungeline hooked to one of the hooks on the stallion's bit and he was standing a fair distance from the brunette lass, trying to inch closer to the closed gate. She watched him carefully for a moment before lucking her tongue and jerking encouragingly on the lungeline. He tossed his head unwillingly and snorted roughly, pawing at the sand underneath his hooves. "Alright, I don't know what is up with you today, but you need to stop," she growled, there was pure anger in the tone of her voice. The stallion licked his lips, thinking as he looked at her with pricked ears. He was about to lower his head to give in, but then decided against it and his head snapped right back up, as high as it could go.

Tugging on the lungeline some more, the lass sighed before jerking it and swinging the end of the lungeline while approaching her horse and clucking. She moved toward him and swung the lungeline around a couple times before whacking him on the rump with it. He sprang forward and she held him steady, turning him in a circle. He cantered around her before slowing to a bouncy trot, squealing a bit as he kicked up his heels. "You are one stubborn boy today, huh?" she grumbled toward him, watching as his trot became more smooth a few more times around. He tossed his head around somewhat, but she kept a firm grip.

The lass suddenly lunged toward him while he was trotting, placing the lungeline in her other hand and pulling his head so he turned in the opposite direction. He moved in a quick, jerky movement as if spooking, but once again, he was trotting around her. "Good boy, nice and easy now," she cooed to him. His ears thingyed toward her and she smiled slightly to herself. He was doing much better now that there was a bit of sweat building up under his saddlepad. He licked his lips once more before lowering his nose to the crowd, finally giving in. She pulled on the lungeline and he turned toward her and halted. Approaching him slowly, she reached her hand up and stroked his face. "I knew my little angel was hiding somewhere," she spoke to him softly and he rubbed her head against her lovingly as if apologizing.

Unclipping the lungeline from the stallion's bit, she walked toward the fence and rolled it up, setting it on one of the posts. Then, she picked her helmet off the ground and stuck it on her head, clipping it quickly and taking her crop. Moving bad toward the stallion, she checked the cinch and tightened it up somewhat before pulling down the stirrup. She stuck her foot in it and pulled her tiny body up into the saddle. She leaned down and pulled the other stirrup down and put her foot in. Gathering the reins, she settled into the saddle and gently nudged the stallion forward. He moved into a walk, licking his lips and flickering his ears back toward his rider.

They both moved fluidly around a the same part of the arena they were at when the lass was lunging her crazy stallion. There were no jumps in that part of the arena, so they did just fine. As soon as she knew he was alright, she turned him toward one of the jump and nudged him into a canter. He eagerly obeyed her commands and moved toward the jump. Taking off from the ground, his form was perfect and so was hers. He landed smoothly on the other side and off they went to complete the entire course.

[daniel]

Dan had been working with pence all evening and for several hours now they had been fighting like cats and dogs. Dan sported a new hoof shaped bruise on his ribs, none broken thankfully. He had luckily dodged the second hoof but it had left a massive blue and black welt. Damp shirt hung over his shoulder now showing it off in the moonlight like a war wound. He was tired but it seemed Pence was the same. The incident had happened earlier in the evening when pence had tried to end the session early and Dan wouldn’t let him.

Pence threw one of his common fits, charged Dan and kicked him on his way past. Dan recovered quick, he had trained enough horses and been kicked enough times, in enough places, that he knew not to let the behavior go uncorrected so he ran the stallion in circles until he felt satisfied, then they returned to work. The work had lasted far longer then he intended but he was pretty sure that he had corrected the lead changing problem. He could now, with a light twitch of the reins and flick of a foot, cause the stallion to change leads.

He was still breathing hard, and the wonderful paint beside him was damp with sweat. He deserved the rest. Dan, however, noticed something out of the corner of his eye, a stallion in the jumping ring on a lunge. He turned his direction and walked pence to the arena stopping outside to lean against the post. Blue eyes stared lazily out at the pair watching contently. Then the girl was on his back and jumping. He smiled knowing Pence was not made for jumping like that, he had tried him on it and the horse was never more unhappy so he decided to train him more under western. He just watched the pair ignoring pence as he nipped at his copper hair. He was more than happy to just watch. When they stopped he glanced to pence realizing the girl probably didn’t need people staring and took a step back from the fence preparing to leave. “Come on boy. Time to ‘ead ‘ome.” The thick British accent danced from his lips and though spoken softly the night was quiet and she might have heard.

[corey]

It wasn't long before both horse and his rider was complete with the course. The stallion was much more calmer now and ready to go the course all over again. However, the lass pulled back on his reins and he halted. She leaned over and rubbed his sweaty neck on both sides, letting the reins drop. "You're a good boy," she whispered in a gentle tone toward him. He was listening. After a moment, though, his ears flickered forward and his head went higher as he saw another horse and human. The horse was no mare though and he snorted to himself. The lass looked where he was looking and saw the unknown male. Looking over his horse, she knew it was a stallion instantly.

Her horse didn't like other stallions and nor did they like him, but he behaved when he was around them. He actually had been around and trained with other stallions while growing up, so he was quite used to them. The lass nudged her horse into a walk and he went forward, ears suddenly laying back against his head as they came closer to the fence where the other human and stallion were. Halting him a good five feet from the fence, she smiled. "Hey," she greeted him warmly, "What are you doing out so late?" She was curious since she thought she was the only one out here. But she didn't mind having an audience.

[daniel]

Dan was a bit caught off guard by her words and turned, that bruise glared out of his skin showing it wasn’t anything too fun. He forced a friendly smile watching the stallion carefully and sudden move and pence would be trying to take off, he really had to work on how skittish he was. Dan returned to the fence, letting the bay paint hang uncertainly behind. He hadn’t meant to be caught but he was so might as well be polite. He looked up at her and nodded. “’allo sorry to be caught staring. ‘e is a fine ‘orse you ‘ave there.” He commented slowly trying to sound fine but it hurt to breath and so his words were a little more strained than normal.

He nodded to the pair and glanced back to the practice arena. “Pence is green so I was working with ‘im. ‘e wasn’t changin’ leads properly so we fixed it.” It was the truth no need to lie about something so simple. Eyes scanned her stallion again searching for something else to say. “You new ‘ere? Or ‘ave you been ‘ere a while? I am new myself so I wouldn’t know either way.” He said honestly again. Realizing he hadn’t introduced himself he paused and shook his head. “I am Dan and this ‘ere is Pence. Sorry to interrupt again I really didn’t mean to.” He said trying to not look a bit uneasy. He was tired and not expecting company but oh well he was here now.

Slowly he drew pence closer, to which his ears flicked back then rose in curiosity. He was a baby after all and still was overly anxious to know everything that occurred around him. He stopped at the fence and reached his head as far as it would go to sniff at her boot and the stallion then dropped back and returned to lipping at Dan’s hair as if he knew how much it annoyed the boy normally, currently Dan was too exhausted to care. “What’s your name then?”

[corey]

The stallion began pawing at the ground, becoming bored quite fast. Gently, the lass tapped her horse on his shoulder and he stopped. He looked toward the other horse and snorted, his ears lifting off his head and he relaxed. Corey smiled and gazed toward the male once again as he spoke. She noticed his thick British accent, which made her smile turn into a grin. She loved accents. Then she also noticed a slight strain in his words and wondered if something was wrong. "It's fine. I don't mind an audience every once and a while. And thank you," she replied, rubbing her stallion's sweaty neck again.

She glanced down at them once more before looking toward the course that she and her horse just completed only moments before. She wasn't going to be rude and take off, though. It was a good time to maybe make a new friend. As he spoke again, she looked back at him. "Oh, I guess. He's quite beautiful if I do say do myself." She smiled once more and nodded as her eyes scanned over the horse he was holding onto. Corey glanced back toward him as he asked if she was new around here. She nodded her head, "Yeah, I'm new, but know this place like the back of my hand.. kinda, hehe," she replied, wrinkling her nose slightly while grinning.

The lass had heard him state his name and was now watching Dan's horse curiously, not moving as he reached over the fence to sniff at her boot and her horse. Max didn't seem to like that too well and raised a hind leg, threatening to kick. "Ay, ay, you stop that," Corey whispered, shifting in her seat slightly and tapping the stallion's shoulder with her crop once again. She looked toward Dan as he asked her what her own name was and flushed a bit, feeling a bit rude. Once her horse calmed down again, she relaxed her hands and looked back at Dan, "I'm Corey," she finally said.

[daniel]

Dan nodded slowly and seeing the aggressive move from the stallion he turned and pushed his chest forcing the horse back. The ink that covered his entire back could suddenly be seen, huge wings that went from shoulder blades to the very top of his pants. He pushed into Pence’s chest until he backed up enough to not be trouble before turning back to her and returning to his previous place. He nodded slowly again. “Glad you don’t mind me ‘ere. Don’t like being a burden.” He said calmly trying to be polite.

He smiled and nodded. “Well your doing better than me then I can ‘ardly get myself back to the round pens.” He said calmly. “Pence does better in the open air at this point you see.” He shrugged again and eyed the other stallion before making sure pence was keeping his distance. “Perhaps I should be going I need to go make sure ‘e didn’t break anything… if your ‘eaded in your welcome to walk with us though.” He motioned back towards the barns and then glanced to her staying still until told otherwise for now. He wasn’t about to be rude and just take off running, though it seemed appealing since he was rather disgusting from so much work and he was, and always had been, awkward around the opposite sex.

[corey]

Corey watched as Dan turned his back toward him. She tilted her head, seeing the rather large tattoo on his back. They were large angel wings. She didn't mind tattooes, but she'd never get one herself. She didn't mind pain too much, but a tattoo is something permanent. No thank you. Once he turned back around, she smiled at him, clearing her throat slightly and shifting in her seat, listening to him contently as he began to speak once more. "Oh, it's quite fine, I promise," she replied to him with a smile.

The stallion was getting impatient again and the lass could feel him under her starting to shift his weight and move forward little by little. She tugged back on the reins and reached her right hand far up toward his bit on the rein. Gently, she pulled his head without nudging one of his sides so he'd turn. Only his head simply turned toward her and his nose was only a few inches from touching her boot. She did the same on the left rein before looking back toward Dan, "I've been out here all day, but I wasn't about to let him get away with how he was acting. He's usually quite a gentleman - like he is now - but sometimes, he can be a little stubborn and hotheaded. He is a Thoroughbred afterall. Oh- and this here is Maxamillion, or Max for short." She released a sigh before smiling, again, "I think that's how all young horses are, don't you agree?" Open spaces were always good with young horses. Tight, crowded spaces just didn't work.

She gazed out toward the jumping course again, but thought it might be time to go in. She wanted to get enough sleep so she could get up and work with Max again in the morning. She looked at Dan once more as he spoke and nodded, "Yeah, I think it's time we all go in." She leaned down as far as she could go after removing her right glove from her hand and felt the stallion's chest. He was a bit sweaty, but not hot at all. Sitting back up straight, she removed her left boot from the stirrup and swung it over, jumping down from the saddle. Tossing the reins over Max's head, she walked toward the gate - which wasn't too far away actually - and unlatched it. She opened it and walked through, turning around and closing it before moving toward Dan and Pence.

[daniel]

Dan watched her approach and reeled in Pence slowly. Watching them approach, for once pence was being at least semi-friendly but it wasn’t working out so he kept him close. “Me and Pence got into a bit of an argument so ‘e is on a bit of a time out. ‘e worked all afternoon and needs a slight hosing though.” It was obvious from all afternoon he meant it right up to ten at night. No wonder the pair was rather muted. He looked over her stallion again, max she called him. He made a mental note of the pair trying to keep all the new names and faces straight, there were so many after all.


He glanced at Maxamillion and smiled. “If you want I can take some time and see if I can settle ‘is troublesome streak. I am ‘ired on as the new train’ah ‘ere. That’s why I got pence ya see? ‘e is a personal project. A great boy too.” He said calmly and looked at the horse with admiration in his eyes. He had a deep attachment to pence that went deeper then rider, ridden. He had taken the horse from death and for it pence let him have liberties most never dreamed of with a horse like that. Pence had been crazed when he had met him but he had hoped the fence and just stood there. After a few feigned charges he calmed down enough to take him in then settled enough to let him talk to his owner.


Needless to say the pair had been together ever since and he was not adverse to thinking on it. He walked slowly with Pence, the stallions head low again as he looked the girl over again. “well welcome to pinewood anyways even if you can seem to get around better than me.” He said trying to keep the mood light. There was no need to get her in on his personal pain, that hoof to the chest was a rather large pain in his ass.