Blue Ridge is a fictional town located deep in the heart of Kentucky. It is home to one of the most well known equestrian academies in the United States. Students and staff from all over the world join the academy for what it has to offer. Do you have what it takes to join us and learn from the Academy?
Smilys were made by Sapphire Heaven of LiveJournal.
The mini-profile hover follows a tutorial by Kagney of Adoxography.
Photos in the skin used under CC from Flickr.
Post by Kate Richardson-Hall on Feb 6, 2017 10:58:43 GMT -8
Kate looked around her with interest as she led her Lipizzaner down the centre aisle of the White Oak barn. It was a nice looking place, as she'd concluded from her first sighting of it when she arrived at the school. Clean and modern and... things. Kate wasn't exactly the best judge of facilities, but she knew good when she saw it. And this was it. Automatic watering was something that she had always assumed was reserved for plants, but then you learned something new every day. Or at least, Kate did. Possibly because she knew so little to start with.
Finally, she reached the correct stall and led Misty in, appreciating the size of the stall as she turned her in a wide circle to face back towards the door, which she bolted. Letting out a sigh, the blonde removed her horse's headcollar and ran one hand over the smooth white coat. She felt she'd come home, even if she'd never been here before. All stables were the same in essence, after all. Even if some of them did have very impressive automatic watering system thingies while others had buckets. That smell of horse was absolutely heavenly, and the sound of hooves shifting on the ground and the occasional equine snort was music to her ears. A grin spread over the woman's space.
Post by Kallistos Rolleston on Feb 6, 2017 13:57:16 GMT -8
Kall strolled into the barn, a bounce in his step as he walked down to see his gelding. While he loved the Florida weather, he also loved being here - maybe not the weather so much though - and he knew that no matter how he was feeling, his horse would always be there to make him feel better. "Hey handsome." He greeted the Quarab as he held his hand out, offering a couple of sugar cubes, grinning as the gelding snuffled them up and then looked around for more, even searching the boy's hair. "Dude! Really? You're messing up my hair!" He laughed as he pushed the gelding's muzzle away from him.
He turned and leaned his back against the door as he heard movement not too far away. "Seem's that there's a new horse in the barn." He commented as he tickled the flaxen chestnut's chin.
Post by Kate Richardson-Hall on Feb 7, 2017 7:57:22 GMT -8
Kate was miles away, lost in thought as she stood and ran her fingers gently through her mare's beautiful long mane. So the sound of footsteps coming down the barn towards her came as a little more of a shock than might otherwise have been the case. With a pounding heart, feeling slightly foolish, the brunette came back to Earth with rather a jolt. Probably a good thing really, since otherwise she would have been quite happy to stand there, her fingers in her horse's mane, all day and probably into the night. Misty was a patient horse, but even she had her limits.
With a slight sigh, she planted a kiss on the mare's neck and slipped nimbly out of the stall, her leg all but forgotten. As she turned and bolted the door behind her, Kate spotted the owner of the voice standing next to a gorgeous chestnut. "And a new owner!" she called cheerfully.
Post by Kallistos Rolleston on Feb 7, 2017 12:01:02 GMT -8
Kall chuckled as a woman appeared from the stall and he bowed his head in apology for talking about her horse. "My apologies, Ma'am, a new owner too." He looked at Cue and shook his head in mock exasperation. "Geez man, always getting me in trouble!"
He pushed off the stall door, only just managing to push the gelding's head away before he could grip the shoulder of his jacket. "It is a pleasure to meet you. I'm Kall and that there is Cue." He gestured vaguely in the horse's general direction, and he didn't even have to turn around to know the Quarab would be bouncing his head up and down, probably with his top lip curled up. "Is there anything I can help you with?" After all, if she was new, she may have things that needed to be brought in and his mothers had taught him, if anything, to be a gentleman.
Post by Kate Richardson-Hall on Feb 8, 2017 10:38:07 GMT -8
Kate smiled broadly as she walked around to the door of the stall. And here she'd always been told that Americans had no manners... How wrong could one be? It was probably just one of those things. Ah well, not to worry.
She held her hand out to the youth with a wink. "Nice to meet you too, Kall." she replied. "My name's Kate, and please, don't call me Ma'am; it makes me feel old!" The blonde grinned. "Misty is the grey Lipizzaner down the way." She hadn't seen any other horses that could fit that description on her way down, and even if they'd been there, then she suspected that the boy was likely to know them all already. This struck her as being the sort of place where everyone knew everyone else- very friendly. Although she had to admit that she was keeping a wary eye out for maths teachers. Never one of her favourite subjects.
"Actually, yes, there is. You couldn't point me in the direction of the tack room, could you?" the blonde requested. She strongly suspected that she'd walked straight past it on her way in, but she'd been preoccupied with trying not to walk into anything.
Post by Kallistos Rolleston on Feb 8, 2017 11:24:48 GMT -8
He nodded his head to not calling her ma'am, and noted that away for future reference, though she made it hard when she only offered her first name. He smiled toward the mare's stall. "A very beautiful breed." He commented with a nod.
He grinned with another nod at her request. "I'm about to head that way myself." He told her as he stepped forward again. He'd been asked to put together a wishlist for his birthday, and he was sure that a couple of his brushes could do with being replaced.
He led the way down to the tack room and stepped to the side so that the woman wasn't crowded at the door. "Your mare would have had a number at the top of her door, and that number will match a locker in here." He walked over to his locker and opened it, pulling the grooming kit out. "Everything other than saddles and bridles can go in your locker." He pointed to where saddles and racks lined the walls with hooks for the bridles, the horses names on brass plates on the wall between racks and hooks. "You'll have a named section for tack."
Post by Kate Richardson-Hall on Feb 8, 2017 12:22:42 GMT -8
Kate leaned back against the wall behind her, first checking that it was in fact a wall, and not a door, and especially not an open door. Spending a lifetime making those kinds of mistakes in stables tended to make one overly cautious- especially after a nasty accident. "They are indeed." she agreed with a smile. "Always been one of my favourites."
It was lucky that he was willing to show her the way, because Kate suspected that she could quite easily have got herself lost on a single straight corridor. Directions in buildings had never been one of her strong points; it was the first of many reasons why she hated hospitals. Outside, however, she was fine. North, south, east, west... As long as no inconvenient towns got in the way.
She followed willingly down to the tack room, and smiled slightly at the sight of all the assorted saddles, bridles and various other items. Home, sweet home. All stables were the same, even if they were completely different. "Thank you." she told the boy with a smile, looking around at all the neatly ordered equipment. Very impressive. Neatness had never exactly been her forte, and she had expected complete chaos with so many people, all with saddles, bridles, grooming kits...
Post by Kallistos Rolleston on Feb 8, 2017 13:49:45 GMT -8
Kall had never really had a favourite horse breed, and his moms had bought Cue for him because the gelding was trained well and had been around the block for a while, so it was more to do with his sensibility than his breeding, and the teenager wasn't hung up enough to care about having the flashiest and best breed horse. Cue was his friend, not a machine to win ribbons.
He grinned at her thanks. "Happy to help." He replied as he began to go through his brushes and decided that he should probably just add an entire new kit to that wishlist, and leave it at that. "Excuse the blunt question, and I mean no disrespect by the way it may come out. Are you a teacher or barn staff?" He blushed as the words left his mouth, as he had been rolling the question around in his head for a bit, but couldn't think of another way to ask it.
Post by Kate Richardson-Hall on Feb 8, 2017 13:59:17 GMT -8
Kate quickly located the correct locker, and checked that it worked, and that it was empty. She was just thankful that she had remembered to make a note of Misty's stall number- she would have looked a bit of an idiot if she'd had to go all the way back down the barn to find out. The blonde made a mental note to dig out all of Misty's stuff and bring it down later on, when she'd finally found everything- or rather, everything that she'd remembered to pack. The two things were by no means the same.
"Thanks all the same." she told her impromptu helper. She was just about to turn and walk out when he spoke again, and she glanced at him with a smile and an enquiring look. "I'm a teacher, at least in theory." she informed him with a broad grin. "Driving and horse judging. So, I might be seeing you later on? Although I suppose it had better be Ms Richardson-Hall in that case." she grinned. "A bit like a horse; I have a barn name."
Post by Kallistos Rolleston on Feb 8, 2017 14:14:31 GMT -8
He bowed his head to her thanks as he walked over to inspect Cue's tack, checking for any signs of wear and tear that he may have missed during cleaning.
He turned, leaning on the back of the close contact saddle as the woman spoke about the classes she taught. "One of the girls on the cheer squad is in horse judging class." He replied with a smile and chuckled at her mentioning that she also had a barn name. "Me too." He replied. "My name is Kallistos. Kall is just so much easier to tell people, than have them trip over or try and spell the whole thing." His shoulders shook with silent laughter. "Kall, is also easier to yell over a crowded room. It was really nice meeting you, Ms Richardson-Hall. If you need any help any other time, I'll be around."
Post by Kate Richardson-Hall on Feb 9, 2017 13:10:44 GMT -8
The blonde nodded thoughtfully at her companion's words. "Just the one girl?" she joked. "That class shouldn't be too much of an issue then, should it?" The blonde allowed a grin to play over her lips briefly. "A special girl, was it?" she asked teasingly. "Correct me if I'm wrong, but you don't strike me as the kind of lad who watches cheerleading for the sake of it- though hey, I'm not the best judge of character." Kate groaned inwardly. Now why had she said that? Now she'd laid herself open to strange looks and awkward answers, and there was always the possibility that she'd caused some kind of deep and lasting injury to the boy's self esteem. She ought to have known that she wasn't cut out to be a teacher.
"That's a nice name." she remarked with a smile. "It's not Greek, is it?" It certainly sounded it, although she could quite possibly be mistaken. So many names were common to different languages, different countries, different universes... Maybe not the last one. That was just Kate's inner sci-fi geek talking. "It was nice to meet you too. I suppose I'll be seeing you."
Post by Kallistos Rolleston on Feb 9, 2017 16:31:07 GMT -8
Kall shrugged. "Just the one cheerleader anyway." They pretty much knew each other schedules so that if one was running late, the others knew where they were if a note needed to be taken to the teacher to excuse said student. He shuddered slightly at the question. "Not special to me." He replied. He laughed at her words. "I don't watch it." He replied, suddenly serious. "I participate." He flashed her a grin, dying to know what she thought about that.
He pressed his lips together as he shifted his weight on the floor a little. "I... um... Yeah, I think it is. I was named by a nurse at the hospital, before you think my parents are from Greece or anything." He added the last bit quickly with a soft smile. "I'll see you around." He closed his locker door and slipped from the tack room, the urge to call his mom's was suddenly strong, as was normal when he spoke about how he got his name, and that's what he was going to do. Rather than heading to the dorms though, he made his way toward the trails.
Post by Kate Richardson-Hall on Feb 10, 2017 9:41:38 GMT -8
Kate smiled dryly, trying to recall the list of names that she'd been given by someone or other earlier. None stood out to her, but then they had all rather faded into a blur. Kate wasn't good at paperwork; she tended to lose concentration too easily. It could prove to be an issue, but she'd just have to learn to live with it. "Oh, you participate! Well, my apologies." Kate sighed. It seemed she'd been watching too many American high school movies, which was rather strange since she absolutely detested the things. "I'll have to take a look some time."
The blonde nodded thoughtfully as the boy spoke about his name. That was interesting. She wondered why he'd been named by a nurse- perhaps his parents couldn't agree? Maybe they were just unimaginative. She wasn't going to ask; she'd got herself into enough trouble already. "I'll be seeing you. Kate agreed. "Thanks again."