Moonlight Ride

Richard stepped out of the tack room - brown saddle on his hips and reins on his shoulders. He stepped down the stables, towards the end where he kept one of his horses.

It was a fairly neat stable, yet cobwebs and fly-catchers where still abundant, along with dirty hay and the odd dried up horse dung that was missed when cleaning the stables. The wood, slightly rotting in places, made up the majority of the stables. There where twelve stalls, with ten of them occupied.

He slung the saddle over the door of the stall where he kept his grey Anglo-Arabian horse - Snow. Not a name that he would choose, but it was the name which came with the ex-show-jumper. The name was fitting, her grey coat looked white, white as snow.

"Easy girl." He whispered firmly as he opened the door, pushing her back and ready to smack her shoulder if she misbehaved.

Valora had been sleeping in fresh hay that she'd laid out for her horse, Shay, a beautiful black Anglo-Arabian stallion. he was very tempremental, but was always calm and accepting around her, always snapping at anyone that came to close to either him or Valora.

Shay had settled down next to Valora, letting her rest against his side as they slept, happy in each other's company and the warmth.

Valora had made sure the stall had been cleaned up properly and properly mucked out before letting Shay into the stall....the stallion would never forgive her otherwise.

they were going to go out for a ride, but in the end decided to have a kip, and Valora had left the saddle and bridle hanging

she had been resting peacfully when she heard a voice and it woke her from her meditation/sleep, irritating her and Shay as he woke up as well, but she heard it was Richard

Richard slapped her shoulder as she nipped his hip - trying to get at the polos. He told her off, again, firmly, and pushed her back to stop her from walking out the stall. He quickly closed the door and put the polos on the other side of the stall, onto a small stand which held a couple of grooming tools.

He looked at Snow, who just simply looked at him back. He felt it was almost like a stand-off. He raised his had to let her sniff it, before she moved her head towards him to let him stroke her. He smiled and muttered a "good girl" - then reached over to grab a dandy brush. In long, firm strokes she quickly started to brush her over, not minding the fact that her stable needs to be mucked out.

Shay whickered, hearing the voices clearly now, and was irritated at them.

Shay stood up, further bringing Valora back to the real world, and she stood up too, soothing Shay as he began huffing, and patted his flanks and ran her hands over his muzzle

stepping away from him, she looked around into the next stall and saw Richard with the other Anglo-Arabian and grooming the creature

hello Richard

Richard looked up at the woman, who he had not noticed previously, and nodded at her in greeting.

"Evening, Valora. Are you okay?" As he spoke he raised an eyebrow at her hair, looking pointedly towards it. He then resumed to focussed on grooming Snow and she stomped impatiently - earning her another light smack on the shoulder.

He soon finished grooming the side he was on and then moved onto the other - which was closer to where Valora was standing. He noticed that her ridding equipment was out and asked; "So, have you just been on a hack, or are you going out on one?"

at his look, raise a hand to her hair and shook hay out of it, not really noticing it before, and straightened it again

actually, no....we were going to go out for a ride...but Shay decided he'd rather sleep.....and to be honest, i was kinda tired as well, and slept next to him *shrugs* what about you? you about to go out?

"Snow and I are going to go down to the beach, there are some particular high walls and fences that I want to try and jump over." He patted snows neck affectionately. "she has not jumped that high since she was sold, but I know that she still has it in her. She is not that old, she was only sold because the owner did not like her."

He put the dandy brush back where he gotten it, replacing it with a hoof pick. Glaring at Snow, he lifted her feet to pick out the dirt and stones.

she chuckled lightly, just as Shay decided to look over the fencing at the stranger

if Shay is willing, would we be allowed to ride with you?

as she spoke, she reached just over the door to pick up her own brushes to groom Shay's coat in prep for a ride

either way, whether Shay wanted to or not, they were going out for a ride as he needed to get out and run around for a bit

"That is fine, it is nice to have company, despite what Snow thinks." He said as he straightened up after finishing off the last foot.

Richard the began tacking her up, having to slap her shoulder a couple of times as Snow began to get inpatient - realising that they were going out on a hack. Richard felt the corners of the mouth twitch slightly at the horses excitement.

Valora picked up the saddle and blanket to put over Shay's back, but the horse simply glared at her giving her 'are you shittin' me?' look

what....no saddle?

the horse whickered and scrapped his hoof on the floor, nodding his head and shot her another look saying 'no saddle....'

Valora sighed quietly. it had been a while since she bare backed

so i'm taking it no bridle either?

the horse shook it head and huffed

Valora rolled her eyes and then just simply opened the gate to the stall and waited for Shay to walk out before easily hopping up onto the horses bad and settling on his back comfortably.

seems Shay's not in the mood for a saddle or anything else today

she grinned as she guided Shay to the stall and closed the door before turning back to Richard

Snows ears perked up as she say Shay walk out with no saddle. The mare stomped her foot and shook in an attempt to get the riding equipment off. Richard rolled his eyes and slapped her shoulder once again, grabbing her reins to make her face him.

"You are not going with out the riding gear." He dryly told the horse, know that she will be off, given the chance. He checked that the riding gear was all correctly in place before fitting it. He smiled slightly as Snow seemed to huff in annoyance. he double checked that he had the correct bit. With a soft smile he gathered the horses reins and lead the impatient mare out.

Valora smiled softly, closing her eyes before spurring Shay onwards a little

she had absolute trust in her horse, but knew that if she wasn't careful, she would fall off. however, she wasn't a green horn at barebacking. she'd been riding into fights bareback when part of small private armies and didn't have time to kit up Shay, and had slain enemies (only nearly falling off several times and requiring some strength and care to stay on her horses back)

so are we ready to move on then?

she noted that the impatient mare had a bit of a temper and was nearly as tempermental as Shay was around others

He lead the mare out,to the yard, not stopping to wait for Valora and Shay, since they will meet him out side. Plus, Snow hated it is a horse was to close behind her.

The mare pulled against the reins, automatically turning to the mounting block. Richard once again rolled his eyes, pulling on her reins to slow her down. He stepped on the mounting block and put his left foot in the stirrup to then push himself up into the saddle, in one fluid motion, as she refused to let people take there time mounting her.

He let her walk to the centre of the yard as he corrected the stirrups and girth, before moving her on near the entrance of the stables.

"Where would you like to rid?" He called towards Valora "I know I said I was going to take a hack towards the beach, but I was wondering if there was somewhere specific you would prefer to go"