Fresh Meat [OPEN]

[Caroline Taylor Grever]

I slipped my rusty truck into park, leaning back against my seat and slamming my head against its rest. I was so tired. The long drive had done my back no good, and I was ready to collapse in my new bed. Though, Mander would be as thrilled with staying in the trailer as much as I was thrilled to clean it.

Stella looked over at me from the passenger seat, her little tail wagging and her long droopy eyes begging for me to let her out. Her basset hound ears curled around her face, making her look like a stuffed toy. "Ok ok" I sighed and unlocked the doors, "I guess we can look around."

I felt like God when I opened the door and Stella looked at me with thankful eyes. She bounced down onto the floor of my truck, then hopped down to the ground, making the leap look like a mountain of effort. Her nose was instantly against the ground, and was taking in every scent of the past riders who had once walked here.

I was interrupted by my deep thought by the sound of Manders whinnying impatiently from behind the metal walls. His nose poked out from the trailer window, his nostrils flared. All I wanted was three seconds to stretch, that is all. Though clearly Manders wasn't about to let me slack off.

He looked at me with a rushed expression as I pulled open the trailer door. He was so beautiful, his perfectly pulled mane and forelock shaggy around his face, his white snip flashing me. If it wasn't for his jackass personality, I would probably call him perfect.

"Easy pretty boy" I cooed and walked around his rump, running my hand along his silk coat. My calmness did nothing, he snorted and shook his head impatiently. Why even try. "Whoa" I said more assuring, letting my voice fall into a lower note.

As all three of us started walking towards the main barn, Stella sauntering a little behind and Manders cocking his head at any moving blade of grass. The first thing to greet us were the cross ties, so far empty and looking for company. "Sit" I ordered Stella and pointed to the nearby entrance.

Her eyes sagged and she wobbled over to the corner of the entrance, planting her rump on the floor and looking at me with pleading eyes. Manders on the other hand, was distracted by the intimidating wash stalls, prancing on the spot. "Oh calm down you brute, you aren't being bathed today" I rolled my eyes and tapped him with the end of the lead rope, encouraging to snap from his flight mode.

Manders was way taller than me, so showing authority was a little harder for me, especially with such a head strong horse. I grabbed my hair and pulled it back into a high pony tail, leaving Manders clipped in the cross ties and searching my backpack for a dandy brush.

[nathaniel vance gage]

[atrb=border,0,true][atrb=style, background-color: f9f9f9; border: #6a667f solid 10px; width: 450px; padding: 15 5 15 5px;] I'm just a little unwell muse Match Box 20 notes merh credits template by irish! Having the wonderful thing called Obsessive Compulsive Disorder made everything a lot harder to do. Even just talking to a person whose makeup was smudged or who had an uneven number of buttons on their shirt done up was incredibly difficult. Every time Nate saw something that wasn't quite perfect he felt a very strong urge to fix it, even if it was on someone else or belonged to someone else. His family had long since gotten used to his obsession with perfection and for the most part had learned to ignore it. Other people, however were usually rather put off by his attempts to fix everything, so he'd had to learn to control himself, no matter how badly he wanted to correct everything. It was never hard to tell when he had spotted something that wasn't quite right, he would always shove his hands into his pockets to remind himself that he couldn't just go around straightening other people's things. The only thing he could do where his OCD didn't just take over was riding. He didn't know why riding caused the obsession with perfection to turn off, but it did, which was a very good thing. If it were to continue even when he rode he would never be able to get around a course. He would have to jump it exactly in the middle and get the exact number of strides every time... and if he didn't, he would have to circle back and do it again, which was very much frowned upon in the showing world. Fortunately, for whatever reason, that wasn't the way he felt whilst riding. When he was out on course he could just go and things being out of order didn't bother him. Of course, walking the course was a bit difficult because it was still prevalent there, but if he went with other people he could usually manage to get over it. This morning he'd taken his big bay gelding out on Crossfire's cross-country schooling course which, as usual, had gone perfectly. Ben was the sort of horse who was pretty much on cruise control out there. All he really had to do was look at the jump that he wanted to go over and the horse would do it. He'd done a lot on that horse over the years, competing at many upper level shows successfully. They had yet to actually do any starred courses, but that would be coming soon enough. Nate had to wait until he was 25 to compete in the starred courses, but that was fine by him. The more experience he got at the non-starred courses, the more quickly he would move up once he was old enough. Ben was certainly ready, and he knew that by the time they got there they would be a force to be reckoned with. They had just arrived back at the barn, mud splattered all over Ben's legs and belly as well as all of the tack, something that Nate simply could not stand for. He positioned the horse exactly in the middle of the space designated for grooming, standing the horse perfectly square. He had long since trained all of his horses to stand perfectly and not move whilst he was grooming them. Of course, they would occasionally shift and he would move them back, but for the most part they had learned to just stay put where he positioned them. Nate was so preoccupied with his routine and setting Ben up to stand perfectly in the cross ties, he hadn't even noticed the girl and her horse across from them on the other side of the aisle in the other set of cross-ties. Ben had noticed, but he was entirely uninterested in the other horse. Even if he had been interested, he was too well trained to set a hoof out of line to attempt to interact with the other animal. Ben was a saint, and Nate would definitely not give him up for the world.

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[Caroline Taylor Grever]

Caroline Taylor Grevers

Her fingers traced along Manders blaze, though his bored face proved he wasn't enjoying any affection. He never did, he was never the kind to open up his eyes and shove his face in Caroline's chest, nuzzling her and letting out a low nicker. No, instead he walked away and looked for something more entertaining. This is how their relationship had always been though, always a constant battle but never really a battle over anything. Nothing was ever perfect, and Caroline appreciated it.

"Good boy" she cooed, her voice light and fluffy, all of the sudden in her element. Stella was asleep by the barn door, and Mander's eyes were shutting slowly, everything was peaceful. Though, this didn't last long, because suddenly he caught sight of another equine and rider pulling in beside them. Caroline watched carefully, analyzing each step the boy made, and watching how his horse was so calm and polite beside him. She then looked at Manders, who was attempting to chew on one of the cross ties.

Usually at this point, the boy would look up and look at Caroline with absolute astonishment. She never looked like a girl at a barn, she looked like a model on a runway or in a photo shoot. This would be where they would double check no photographers were off getting more film. Though, this boy didn't even notice her. Refreshing, she thought. Watching as he parked his horse into the stall beside her, and instant envy of this horses ground manners grew over her.

She fiddled with her long blonde hair, confused on if she should say anything. She had never been a socializer, but usually with boys it was easier. They were easier to associate with, and better to converse with. They had funny stories, and didn't give a care in the world. While girls, especially like herself, were constantly concerned about the opinions of others. Not exactly fun to listen to.

Manders stomped his hoof down on the ground, making a loud bang against the floor. "Manders, enough!" She hissed pulling away from his face and lowering her soft brush. Through all the distraction she had almost forgotten how much he hated his face being touched. Her skin grew bright red, embarrassment washing over. He couldn't just stand there normally, nope, he had to fuss.

Should she apologize for the racket? Though there was barely any noise and apologizing would seem too desperate. Though it could start a conversation. Maybe she should just leave, yes, walking away is always good. Manders had other arrangements in mind as he nickered to the neighboring horse.

Ok, he was doing this on purpose. It was like her horse sensed her nervous and uncomfortable mood, then like a little brother was forced to push the boundaries. Too nervous to look up, Caroline managed to say aloud, "Sorry, he is a little uh, friendly."

She threw her hands up at her hair, adjusting her loose ends so they were neatly pulled back into her pony tail. Suddenly aware of the fact that there was a boy in front of her, and she hadn't even tried to fix her complexion. After driving for over nine hours, she didn't exactly look up to par as she usually did. Her makeup slightly faded, with only mascara and a tad bit of lipstick left on her face. Her white breeches had Stella's paw prints left on her thighs where the dog had sat on her lap for half the car ride. Then Mander's dust had left his coat and instead settled on her pink tank top. Great, she was a sight for sore eyes.