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 Stefano Rice on Jun 24, 2018 0:29:33 GMT -8
From his perch on top of the wall between two stalls, Seth wondered if maybe he would have been better to have maybe gone to his grandparents' for the summer, at least he would have been pretty much rule-free, and it wasn't like he would have had any of his friends to hang out with - as he would have had at his parents'.
He glanced down into the stall on his left; where Hoot was dozing, with his butt locked into the corner of the stall, the horse hand't cared less when Seth had entered the stall and scrambled up the wall to where he now was. He glanced to the other side, where another horse was dozing, remaining in from the harsh sun outside. A smile tugged at his lips, as he wondered if the person who owned the horse, was still on campus.
Last Edit: Jun 24, 2018 0:29:47 GMT -8 by Stefano Rice
Post by Piper Wilson on Jul 8, 2018 13:33:58 GMT -8
Piper broke off from her cheerful whistling to click to her mare, who was displaying her usual unwillingness to enter a strange place. Force had little effect on Sixty, she had found over the years; it only made her worse. Patience and understanding were what she needed, and while these were not Piper's strong points by any means, she had learned many things from the mare she now rode; there was no doubt that she was a lot better than she used to be. Even so, she didn't have the same level of compassion of her sister, however hard she tried, and there was nothing that she could do about that. Which was why she'd brought Paige along- she had a feeling that she might need more patience than usual today.
Post by Paige Wilson on Jul 8, 2018 13:40:03 GMT -8
Paige walked behind both her sister and the horse, and she made sure to be a considerable distance behind. Partly, this was because Piper's incessant whistling got on her nerves, but mostly, it was because she knew that the pretty mare wasn't fond of being crowded. Generally, it didn't bother her too much, but this was a new place, and she thought that Sixty had quite enough stress to deal with just at the moment without adding any more. Piper had been working with the mare for a long time; the two had developed a special bond and, in Paige's opinion, her sister was the only one that Sixty truly trusted. Sure, the horse had some issues, but she was so much better than she used to be... She was a perfectly rideable horse now. She'd come such a long way, and Paige was happy for her.
Post by Stefano Rice on Jul 8, 2018 17:09:54 GMT -8
There was something about being so high above everyone else that was almost magical. Up here, there was a thick layer of dust over the beams, most undisturbed, other than the paw prints he could see, from what he guessed would be one of the barn cats - as they weren't from a rodent.The high windows, while clean, also had the most perfect spider webs in the top corners of the frames.
His study of the area was interrupted when the horse beneath him shifted their weight, waking up, suddenly on the alert, this was quickly followed by the sound of a tune being whistled and the accompanied sound of hoofbeats. "Fresh blood." He breathed as he tapped his fingers together, looking over to see two brunettes and a tall strawberry roan, though he had enough sense to keep quiet, for now, and just observe.
Post by Piper Wilson on Jul 9, 2018 2:56:22 GMT -8
"Come on..." Piper murmured softly, maintaining a firm hold on the mare's bridle. Sixty was not a small horse, there was no arguing with that, and she wouldn't move anywhere if she really didn't want to, which meant that she had to fall back on her somewhat limited reserves of patience. Dragging and pulling wouldn't get her anywhere... and she sometimes wished that she'd brought a Highland pony instead. Not very often, though; she wouldn't trade her awkward, skittish mare for anything.
Most of the time, anyway. Right now, she was beginning to reconsider. The horse would be fine once she was settled in, Piper was well aware, but the process of reaching that point might be longer than was exactly convenient, at least in the brunette's opinion. But then again, with her aforementioned limited patience, that didn't really say very much at all.
Post by Paige Wilson on Jul 9, 2018 6:59:56 GMT -8
"Piper..." Paige warned softly, catching the edge of irritation in her sister's voice. Much as she loved her... most of the time..., she was well aware that her twin, despite being identical to her in terms of looks, did not share her patience, and was therefore not, in Paige's humble opinion, ideally suited to deal with the horse which she had chosen to ride. Still, it was a little late to be thinking about that now.
Personally, she would have been more than happy to take Sixty herself, but the option had never been presented, and she was quite prepared to admit that Piper had done a perfectly good job with the strawberry roan mare- in fact, if she was honest, she'd done much better than Paige would have expected. Still, people were full of surprises, even if you had grown up with them.
Post by Stefano Rice on Jul 10, 2018 0:41:06 GMT -8
Yes, Seth was enjoying the view from up here, the horse was a good-looking specimen, as were the two girls; though as there was only one horse, he assumed that the girl without had a horse in the other barn - as he figured that when one arrived with an equine, the other would as well.
His lips twitched in a smile as it seemed that one brunette was more volatile from the other's warning... and it also meant that he now had a name for the firey one of the two. "Is she food orientated?" He finally spoke up, though keeping his voice light and nonthreatening, as it seemed that the mare had no intention of going into the stall. "Tempting her into the stall might be better than using bullying tactics."
Post by Piper Wilson on Jul 10, 2018 4:03:20 GMT -8
Piper didn't jump as such. Years of working with the skittish mare beside her had more or less trained that particular reflex out of her, and Sixty had been a great deal worse than she was now when she'd first started with the mare. What she did do was to turn round rather sharply at the sound of the voice, hair flicking around her as she searched the space for the speaker.
Eventually, she located the boy perched on top of a wall, and the brunette frowned to herself. What on earth was he doing up there? "I wasn't planning on using bullying tactics," she responded, somewhat coldly. Bullying a horse, Piper had learned early in life, would never get you anywhere. Encouragement was as close as it was sensible to get.
Post by Paige Wilson on Jul 10, 2018 5:05:34 GMT -8
Paige, on the other hand, very definitely did jump, but then again, she'd always been more jumpy than her sister to begin with. In her defence, hearing disembodied voices calling down from the heavens giving her advice on dealing with horses was not exactly an everyday occurrence.
Leaving a moment or two to allow her racing heart to slow to something which began to approach a normal rhythm, the brunette glanced around, trying to locate the source of the sound. Eventually, she followed her sister's gaze and finally found the boy.
"Piper," she repeated, a little more forcefully, giving her twin a warning look before returning her attention to the boy in the roof. "She gets very excitable around food. We prefer to avoid it if we can."
Post by Stefano Rice on Jul 11, 2018 20:37:11 GMT -8
Seth grinned and waved as the girl looked up at him. "Fiesty!" He muttered at her response and bowed his head, even as the fiery one's sister reprimanded Piper, once again, and then added a little more explanation.
"Fair enough." He replied, changing his position so that he was facing the girls better. "Ok, rather than using the term bullying tactics, you're still better off giving her a reason to want to enter the stall, rather than her not having a choice but to enter the stall." He looked over his shoulder to narrow his eyes in the direction of Solo, the gelding had been fun to work with, though he'd certainly had his days when Seth hand just wanted to throw his hands up and walk away. He turned back with a charming smile. "I'm Seth." He knew one of their names, so he figured that he may as well offer his.
Post by Piper Wilson on Jul 12, 2018 13:40:48 GMT -8
Piper rolled her eyes dramatically at her sister's voice and turned away, returning her attention to her endeavours to persuade the mare through the stall door. She was quite well aware that forcing the horse in wasn't going to get her anywhere; Sixty was a tall mare, and there was no way on hell that Piper was going to be able to make her do anything that she really didn't want to do. Admittedly, that didn't mean that she wasn't sometimes seriously tempted to give it a go, but she had refrained so far and she was going to carry on doing so. Sixty had already suffered quite enough; she didn't deserve to suffer further because of Piper's lack of self-control. "Piper," she introduced herself grudgingly.
Post by Paige Wilson on Jul 12, 2018 14:05:34 GMT -8
Paige maintained a diplomatic silence at the boy's suggestion, and she was pleased, if a little surprised, to find that her sister appeared to be capable of doing the same. Diplomacy was not and had never been Piper's watchword, after all. Herself, the brunette would never have dreamed of telling a stranger how best to handle their horse- in fact, she did her best not to do it with her own sister, and she expected, and got, the same courtesy in return. Unless what someone else was doing was actually dangerous, her policy was to keep herself to herself, because she knew how annoying it could be. Quite apart from anything else, the other person would always know their own horse far better than she did. "I'm Paige," she introduced herself with a smile. "Great to meet you."
Post by Stefano Rice on Jul 13, 2018 2:08:47 GMT -8
Seth pulled a slight face when he didn't get the reaction he had expected from his suggestion, really something he wouldn't have done a year ago, though he was older and wiser now... ok, a little older, but the jury was still out with him being wiser. "The pleasure is all mine." he replied to their introductions.
There was a part of him that now wished he were on the ground to have made introductions, but he couldn't do anything about that now; as getting down would make too much noise, and the last thing he wanted to do, was upset an already highly-strung horse. He grinned when Hoot chose that moment to stick his head over the door and offer a nicker of greeting toward the mare, before the bay Sporthorse tossed his head up and down. "That would be Hoot." The boy chuckled.
Post by Piper Wilson on Jul 18, 2018 15:00:32 GMT -8
"In your dreams, blondie," the brunette muttered, mostly to herself. She never had been able to resist a chance for a little innuendo, and a phrase like that practically handed it to her on a plate. Along with a set of monogrammed cutlery and a carving knife. Now who could resist an opportunity like that?
Sixty turned her head sharply at the other horse's greeting, nearly dislodging Piper's arm from its socket in the process, and the brunette winced. One thing that her mare had never quite got the hang of was how she was supposed to behave when there was someone holding onto her head- i.e., not breaking them, and preferably making some concession towards the direction that the human wanted them to go in. "And are you having one?" she demanded irritably.
Post by Paige Wilson on Jul 25, 2018 0:48:43 GMT -8
With a roll of her eyes and an irritable, if muted, sigh, Paige gave up on her sister's limited social graces and found a vacant bit of wall, against which she leaned. She had decided already that she really rather liked it here. There were horses, and there were horsey people. What wasn't to like? Piper would seem not to be enjoying herself quite so much, which was odd considering that this had been her idea in the first place, but then she always had been given to changing her mind.
At Piper's grumbling, she gave the boy a look of mute apology and wandered down the aisle to where his horse was poking his nose into the conversation. "Oh, he's gorgeous!" she remarked, holding out her hand for the bay to sniff at. "Sorry, honey," the brunette told him softly. "I haven't got anything for you."