Dash | 26 | M: Athens, Open

Dash sniffled as he gave a small smile. "I'm just so used to fighting alone. It's nice to have someone here." Suddenly embracing the smaller man, he buried his face and slowed his breathing, trying to calm is heart beat.

The rest of the night passed in a blur, and he vaguely remembered Athens driving him home to his cottage. Dash was physically and emotionally exhausted, and somehow stumbled through getting some shorts on, paying no mind to the fact that he was shirtless. He sat as Athens placed salve and bandages on the cuts on his hands, and thanked the man before flopping onto his bed and immediately falling asleep.

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Waking with a start he sat up, wincing as the swift movement was felt by his ribs. Swinging his legs over the side he got up, opening his wardrobe and pulling out a shirt and some pants. Feeling the cold air on his skin he decided to put on some warm socks and a large sweatshirt while he was at it. Pulling on his riding boots last, he put his hair back in a loose ponytail as he left the cottage.

Wiping his nose as he felt it start to run, Dash looked at the list of assigned horses before dragging his gloved finger down to his name, finding the gelding he was to work with. Justice, huh? Wonder what his personality is like.

Making his way through the barn, he absent-mindly gave attention to a few of the horses along the way. Stopping outside of one of the stalls, a large brown head poked out, tongue lolling between it's lips. Letting out a light giggle, Dash tickled the horse's muzzle, earning a little lick on his hand. Looking down at the horse's name plate, the man's grin widened and he stroked the gelding's large head more thoroughly. Justice's ears pricked all aound him, and seemed very intent on Dash's body language and posture. The gelding nudged him a bit when Dash stopped, and the man simply poked his muzzle. "I'll be back in a few, big guy."

Speed-walking the few meters to the tack room, Dash quickly gathered the gelding's grooming kit and halter, pausing for a minute to consider grabbing a saddle, pad and bridle. Against his better judgment he did, scooping the tack in his arms.

Finding Justice's stall once again Dash balanced the tack on the rack outside of his stall, taking the brushes and halter and entering the gelding's stall.

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Making quick work of grooming and tacking the horse, Dash led Justice out, the tall horse dutifully following. Entering the jumping practice ring, he used the fence to mount up, his lithe frame swinging easily over Justice's back. Sticking his helmet onto his head he buckled up, nudging the gelding into a walk. Riding one handed, he moved smoothly with Justice, and urged the gelding to go faster.

Quickly transitioning into a canter, Dash eyed the jumping course before turning Justice towards the nearest jump. As he felt the familiar build toward takeoff, he tensed, and the gelding under him reacted accordingly, tensing as well and stiffening, the grace and fluidity of their motion lost. Landing awkwardly, Dash fell forward slightly, quickly righting himself. Ok then. Gotta keep loose.

Continuing on, the pair made the next jump smoothly and Dash smiled. Maybe this wouldn't be so bad after all.

Jackson | 18 | M: Heather

Jacks rubbed his eyes groggily as he woke. He had a headache, thankfully not the culprit of a hangover. Quickly getting up, he nearly fell over but was able to right himself. Pulling on a discarded pair of jeans and a warm long sleeve shirt, He then slipped on some work boots and added a basebal cap for good measure.

Following the path down to the barn, he passed Brave's stall, giving the mare a pat before moving on. Coming to Grace, Jacks gave a little whistle and the mare's head shot out to greet him. She nuzzled him as he pat her, her dapple grey coat surprisingly clean. Pulling out his phone he sent a text to Heather, asking her if she'd like to go on a sunrise ride.

Kholo Mzi | 33 | Dash

The light was pouring through the pale cream curtains by the time Kholo rose, stretching with a wide yawn. Her scarlet dress was slung carelessly over the bedside table, one of the few reminders of the night's events.

Never again. After making sure that all the students were back in the dorms, she had began working on the huge mess left in the hall. T'sani had helped, of course, but she had only fallen sleepily into bed at around five am, and there was still a large portion that needed to be cleaned. Not forgetting the piles of glasses and plates to be washed, various signs to be taken down, the dirty carpet that would definitely need a vaccuum, and last but not least, the horses. Oh yes, the horses. They were like a merry-go-round: just when you thought you were finished with the chores, round you spinned and you had to repeat it all over again.

Changing into a comfortable pair of sweatpants and a sky blue t-shirt, she made no attempt to hide the dark rings under her eyes with makeup, simply running a brush through her hair and tying it back in a low pony tail. Today was going to be a long day.

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After checking on the stable hands and giving them a few instructions, Kholo fetched Gangster from her stall, leading her towards an empty ring. The blood bay mare was hot and excited, spooking at the leaves in the wind and countless other things. "Easy, girl," Kholo murmured slowly, resting a hand on the mare's neck. "'S nothing, okay?"

Halting suddenly, she sidestepped Gangster easily as the mare carried on walking, stopping only when she reached the end of the lead. Kholo nudged her back with her elbow until she stood just behind her. "Good girl," she praised, massaging her neck in small, smooth circles.

Noticing Dash in a nearby arena, she paused to watch him clear a few jumps on Justice, the handsome bay jumping athletically on his light touch. They moved well together, the long-haired man reacting according to Justice's large movement. The gelding wasn't an utterly easy ride, despite being a dream in the show ring. A light smile pricked at her face, as she remembered her first ride on him.

It was a while back, before she even started White Oaks. She was travelling on the show circuit a bit, looking for any good horses to ride. The prize money was a help, of course, especially when she was living hand to mouth in an effort to prove that she was worth it. She had watched him at a dressage show the previous month, marvelling at his ease and physique. He ended up coming first, although some of his competition was fiercely talented.

A few weeks later, the owner had called her. Kholo had shown her interest in Justice at the show, and he had remembered. Apparently the gelding's rider had fallen on a green mare, resulting in a broken collarbone and three cracked ribs. He needed to be exercised, and Kholo had been more than willing to do so. Thus followed one of the most tasking rides of that stage in life. Justice kept on spooking at plastic bags, leaves, anything, really, for no obvious reason. It had taken much longer than she would care to admit for her to realize that he was simply portraying her emotions, almost like a mirror.

"Anyways." Kholo pulled herself out of her reminiscences, vaulting onto Gangster with a soft sigh. "Gotta work, eh girl." She clucked the mare into a trot, sitting tight with clenched knees.

Astrid | Bjorn, Raven | M: Open

Astrid had alrerady done light work with Bjorn and decided it was time to finally meet her school horse. Walking down the rows and rows of mares she finally came across the dark Oldenburg.

The mare was content, eating out of her hay bag. Astrid whistled gently, taking the mares attention off of her food and onto the human that rudely interupted her. Snorting gently Raven walked over to the woman and nuzzled her affectionately.

Astrid clipped a lead rope onto her leather halter and led her out of the stall and slowly over to the cross ties. Astrid planned to start off with some ground work, mainly to build a bond with the mare and to see how she acted.

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They cantered around the empty arena, Astrid moving in time with the mare. Raven's neck was arched a bit, making her wonder if she would be any good with the jumps. Not wanting to push it too far the woman kept her moving through the gaits. Once they had developed a steady canter Astrid dropped the reins and outstretched her arms. Her feet had come out of the stirrups.

Raven didn't seem phased, if anything she was excited by her riders actions. Astrid was enjoying herself, it quite obvious as she had a large smile on her face. Quickly readjusting her position in the saddle the mare was slowed back down to a trot as they cooled down slightly.

Alexander Littlewood | 19 | Payton

Alex was up at dawn, whistling cheerfully as he went about his daily ritual of watching the sun rise and drinking coffee. He never slept for long, and many confused him as a night owl or a morning person. In fact, he was neither, but his body simply forced him to wake early and bed down late.

Draining the red mug, he placed it down on the grass beside him with a satisfied sigh. Time to awaken the beast. He smiled at his own joke, dusting off the dirt as he hopped up. Payton had mentioned something about an auction the day before, and she'd probably need help to handle all the horses she would, inevitably, buy. And possibly also help to only buy as many as could fit in the trailer.

Alex picked up a small clod of dirt, rolling it in his hands thoughtfully. No harm in waking her, hey. Simple as that. The now-rounded ball hit the nearby window with a satisfying thud, leaving a faint mark as it fell to pieces. Right on target. He waited for the window to open, knowing that it would have caught his friend's attention. Unless she was asleep, which then it would take Satan himself to waken her from her slumber.

Heather Proudstorm | 20 | Eventing | Espresso Silhouette "Mystery" and Open | School Horse: WO Descendants Of Khan "Khan" | M: Jackson, Open

-Heather would be dead asleep in her bed, tightly hugging her pillow in her arms a bit until she was awaken by her phone buzzing, letting her know that she got a text. She lightly groaned a bit as she sat up, releasing the pillow as she grabbed her phone to check who it is then a small smile gently appeared on her lips. The red brunette texted the blonde back, saying sure to the sunrise ride since it sounded very interesting. Heather placed her phone back down after sending her reply then slipped out of bed before stretching, started to get ready as she placed on her black tank top then her flannel jacket as she keeps the sleeves rolled up a bit, her black & grey riding gloves, her black breeches, and slipping on her black & brown riding boots. The young woman walked into the bathroom and brushed her hair out with a brush til her hair was nice & soft, plus tangled free. She grabbed her black riding helmet as she head out the door, making her way down to the barn while her hair gently swayed side to side from her walking cycle-

-She looked like she had gotten over Prince's death but in truth, she didn't...her heart was still grieving from the lost of her soul horse while apart of her had left with her gentle giant. The thought of a new horse scared her, she was only owning Mystery for now as the brunette didn't have any interest in getting herself another horse but she had planned on getting her little sister another horse, a horse that's the same breed as Prince. She stepped into the barn and walked down the aisle until she reached the mare's stall, already being greeting by a very excited nicker from Mystery. Heather gently smiled at her colorful mare as she gently pet her face- "Morning girl, did you sleep well?" -she softly said to the mare as Mystery responded with a soft nicker-

Asher | Resales | Open, everyone

Asher woke up around nine in the morning with no sense of where he was and a headache. As he abruptly shot up, he hit his head on what he later discovered was a roof, much to his surprise: somehow how had ended up in a hayloft. Whether by choice or as some cruel joke, he could not yet figure out.

Climbing down a ladder still in his equisite-but-now-dusty attire from the night prior, he started thinking about the plans drunk-him had made, the feelings he'd caught, and recalling pretty much everything he possibly could, as if straining to remember the details of a vivid but long forgotten dream. Suddenly his phone buzzed, from a contact called Floyd Meyer:

-hey party people, are we actually going to Vermont today with Asher? Did I dream that?

-That happened, right?

Slightly bewildered, he replied to this massive chain thread:

-I vaguely remember that. I'm fine with it if you all are. Let's plan to leave in an hour--roughly how many are coming?

Chandler | 10:53am [post-Vermont friends] | Open

Chandler strode up to the main office, a bridle in one hand and a guitar case in the other. She looked like she'd just stepped off the plane, a backpack swung haphazardly across her back, and nothing else to her name --yet. One of the perks of being the founder of the church was the fact that almost anything she could need was being provided for her at no cost, even the transportation of her gelding, Ben. He was due to leave the day prior, and arrive in three days time. Until then, friend making and exploring were her two primary motives.

"Name?"

"Chandler Blake," she replied casually, slightly nervous but not showing it at all. "I'm a new residential student here, my horse is arriving in a few days. He was accepted to come with."

"Ah, right. I have him written down here--Benediction, what a cool name."

"Aw, you're kind," she said sweetly, a bright smile taking up her features. "He's one of the bigger miracles in my life, that's for sure."

Smiling artificially, the woman seemed to have enough of the small talk, and handed her a key to one of the apartment-style dorms on the west side of the property with the promise of an information packet being already available in the room. Chandler thanked her graciously before exiting the room, strutting confidently across the lawn towards the west side. One thing the girl felt especially grateful for at that moment was her unrivaled sense of direction.

As she walked, she looked for any people who may be approachable. She preferred men, generally she drew them in with her beauty and ended up making a lifelong friendship. Though, at this moment, she was desperate enough that she may consider befriending some females, though her general interpretation of her own gender was cruel--to her, they were catty, backstabbing, and manipulative, fake to your face but malevolent to your back.

Jackson|18|M: Heather, Open

Looking down the barn he saw Heather and waved, standing by his own mare. Grace looked around her stall window at the woman and snorted, her ears flicking. Turning her attention back to Jacks she lipped the ends of his ponytail, showing unusual affection. "Ah Grace. Jealous, are you?" The dappled mare simply tossed her head in response.

Quickly slipping a bitless bridle and a barebak pad on the mare, Jacks led her out. The tall leggy warmblood knew she was gorgeous and she clearly wanted everyone to know just how good her confirmation was. Taking the reins in one hand, Jacks led her down past Heather. Stopping by the woman he smiled. "Cmon slowpoke. The sunrise aint gonna wait for us." Contuining on, Jacks mounted up easily, gripping Grace's sides easily with his legs. She pawed the ground, knowing that prettty soon Jacks was going to want her to run.

Heather Proudstorm | 20 | Eventing | Espresso Silhouette "Mystery" and Open | School Horse: WO Descendants Of Khan "Khan" | M: Jackson, Open

-Heather looked over at Jackson and shyly waved back with Mystery looking over at the man that was accompanied with another horse. She takes the colorful mare out of her stall, the young woman looked over at him when the blonde stopped by her, hearing what he said with a smile his face. She playfully rolled her eyes at him in respond with a small giggle then leads the mare off to go get her tacked up-

-After a few minutes, Heather leads Mystery out in some western tack while the mare walked very calmly beside the woman with her ears perked but her head being very relaxed. The mare would be wearing a almond brown western bridle with a rubber bit attached to it, a red saddle pad, and a almond brown western saddle. Heather stops Mystery next to Jackson's mare a bit before mounting up, now sitting comfortably in the saddle as she kept the reins loose like usual while Mystery was very much ready to go for the ride-