Just the Start of a New Life [OPEN]

[kahlan]

There's times when this dress rehearsal seems incomplete.

The raven haired twenty-one year old had been driving for hours. It was a long trip from the east coast to this new town - to her - in Texas. It was just after ten in the morning and the dark haired girl couldn't wait until she could get Light off the trailer that was being pulled by her Ford F450 Super Duty Lariat. They'd been on the rode for several days now and she knew that he was bound to be getting bored and when he was bored he was a pain to unload. Her dark brown eyes were hidden behinddarkly tinted sunglasses that she had thrown on shortly after sunrise. Kahlan knew she couldn't be far from the stable now and just as she thought it she saw the turn off and skillfully turned her truck and trailer onto the drive. Once she reached the parkinglot she cut the engine and ran a hand through her dark hair. She pushed her sunglasses onto of her head and stepped out. Her ink black hair was tied up in a tight ponytail and the wind played with the ends making it swing out to the side. Even tied up her hair reached well down her back and so when the wind made it fly out Kahlan instinctively pulled it back and grab the other hairtie that was on her wrist before quickly tying it up into a thick bun.

Kahlan studied her surroundings as yet again the wind blew making her glad she was wearing her sweater. But it easily passed through her sandy tan breeches and made her shiver slightly. Being so used to the heat of Spain and US States that had similar climates the cold wind was something new to her. And like always her tan breeches were accompanied by her black Ariat tall boots. The dark haired twenty-one year old glanced around once again before she started toward the trailer. It was a step-up trailer so she only had to latch the doors to the side of the trailer. As light flooded into the trailer she saw her cremello Thoroughbred looking at her innocently though he'd somehow managed to untie himself. Shaking her head Kahlan Marie Amnell walked toward her horse. "You are so special," she told him in her accented voice. She grabbed the black lead rope that was attached to Light's brown leather halter and led him off. Coming out of the trailer the sun caught Kahlan's silver locket and the broze plates on either side of White Light's halter. Kahlan patted White Light's neck and hopped down from the trailer and watched as her horse followed her example. "Again, I say special," the twenty-one year old told her horse. He had on a navy blue sheet with matching shipping boots but since he was so sued to them he acted like they weren't even there and, excitedly, pranced around in her a circle in a showwing-off kinda way. Kahlan rolled her eyes and shook her head and just started walking forward. At that point White Light calmed down and followed after her obediantly.

Kahlan walked into the barn with a pale cream colored Thoroughbred in tow. It wasn't too hard to find his stall and so she put him in his stall and took off his hatler. She had a couple of things to do before she'd take off his shipping boots and blanket. Besides Light rarely ever did anything stupid. The young dark haired rider headed back to her trailer and closed it up before grabbing her saddle and bridle. Carefully she made her way to the tack room and placed her saddle and bridle on a rack. Her tack trunk was still in the trailer but she'd move that later. It could wait. Going back out to her truck and trailer the Isreali immagrant locked them both up, after grabbing some grooming tools and the rest of his tack, before heading back to her horse. Kahlan set the saddle pad and girth on her saddle and hooked the splint boots under it. Then it was off to her horse who had decided to lay down. Rolling her eyes the twenyt-one year old grabbed a peppermint from her pocket and crinkled the plastic. Almost instantly the gelding was up and trying to eat the plastic covered mint. Kay laughed and unwrapped it before giving it to him. "Now look at you. You're all covered in shavings!" she complained. Shaking her head again she grabbed his halter, put it on, and led him out to the cross ties after grabbing her groomingkit.

Once hooked up the gelding stood calmly as he'd been trained to do. Kahlan took off his blanket and shippingboots and put them in front of his stall. She noted that White Light watched her as she returned to him. She grabbed a curry comb and started grooming his already glossy coat.

[rowanwillow]

* all the world's a stage,

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and all the men and women merely players
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Rowan hopped out of her truck, locking it behind her. It had been a late start to the day. Usually she was there by eight in the morning but today she had managed to get there right before noon. She sighed looking at her watch, her horses were sure to be furious at her. Lady would be especially grumpy today, if her schedule gets toyed with even slightly, all hell breaks loose. The gorgeous sorrel mare was anything but a Lady, rather a mare stuck in a stuck up stallions body. Her attitude drove Rowan up the wall but she couldn’t help but adore the Warmblood and her persnickety ways. It gave her character, and Lady was the only rotten horse that she had come to put up with. All the other ones she ended up selling. Three horses were a lot for just a mere 22 year old, but they were family and they all had a certain bond with each other.

Rowan walked over to the barn, the gravel crunching under her brown Ariat’s. The newest edition boots to add to her shoe collection. She had a fetish. Once she reached the barn she realized how cold it was outside and silently decided that she was going to work inside today. She had forgot her jacket at home, and wasn’t about to freeze while trying to work with her animals. Rowan headed down to Red Hot Lady’s stall, the mare’s head was sticking out of the stall looking straight at her. Ears pinned back and her right hoof pawing at the stall door. It was always her right. Typical. “I’m sorry, Lady.” This time she actually was too. She patted the horse’s nose; Lady flipped her head away avoiding the attempted affection. Rowan rolled her eyes and gathered up some hay and putting it into Lady’s feeding net. She checked her water, which was sufficient. Next she got the wheel barrow and pitch fork, gathering up the mess and laid some new bedding down. Right after doing so, Lady decided to leave a present. “You little…” Rowan said shaking her head. “Stupid animal.” She whispered under her breath leaving the stall and inconsiderate mare behind. The tall blonde did the same routine with her gorgeous buckskin paint gelding, Ego. Who didn’t leave behind a present, he was actually thankful.

Normal days, she would have continued on to the racing barn and taken care of her grey Thoroughbred racer named Champ, but today he was at the farm. Rowan was trying to find a jockey for him and her dad was interviewing and such. When it came down to it, the best was what Champ would get and her father knew that. Rowan leaned up against the barn wall closest to the tack room. Deciding on whether or not she was going to take on the beast today or have a nice ride with Ego. Most people would choose the latter; it’s just common sense that if you want to have a good day you’re most likely choosing the easier route. Rowan was different. She was always up for a challenge. She even might ride them both, which was normal on a daily basis. But considering she had a late start today, she didn’t have much time before she had to go. After all, it was Thanksgiving Day and dinner was at 4. Just thinking about the fabulous meal she was going to have made her stomach growl. Patting her stomach she headed to the tack room and grabbed the black English saddle, matching bridle, white saddle pad, and a brush. Walking to Lady’s stall she set down her tack gently and grabbed the lead rope that hung around the stall bars. Rowan slid into the stall and latched onto the mare’s head, clicking the halter and lead rope together.

Lady sulked out of the stall behind Rowan, head low, ears slightly back, eyes narrowed in. Rowan tied her up in one of the cross ties and started grooming her off before placing the pad and saddle on her shiny red back. Bending over to pick up the bridle, the sorrel bit at Rowan’s behind. “Are you kidding me? We’re going to do this today?” Rowan said shooting back up and smacking the horse’s shoulder. Lady looked forward letting out a sigh. Rowan slid the bridle on her shapely head and pointed at Red Hot Lady’s nose. “Let’s not give me any trouble today. Just a nice warm up ride, a little jumping here and there. Shall we?” Rowan stood there for a moment, the horse never looked at her, just slowly chewed on her bit. Row moved the hair out of her face and grabbed onto the reins leading her towards the indoor arena.

Along the way she came across a woman and her horse at some cross ties. She had never seen her before. I mean, Rowan hadn’t been at Crossfire for long, but she thought she knew everyone’s face that attended there. Suspicious, instead of taking the shortcut, she took the long way, right passed the girl. As she walking by Lady nipped at the gorgeous Thoroughbred. “NO!” Rowan said shaking the horse’s reins. “Oh my hell, I’m so sorry. Lady here is quite the… erm… character… I guess you could say.” Her British accent wasn’t too thick to the point of not understanding, but you could definitely tell she wasn’t from here. Rowan looked at the foreign looking girl in front of her. Maybe she was new to America too. Blushing from embarrassment of her wild pet, she extended her hand. “I’m Rowan Willow. So sorry we had to meet under these circumstances.” She said laughing a bit.

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* the pen is mightier than the sword

[/color] 953 words
* such stuff as dreams are made on[/color] using quotes from william shakespeare
* what's in a name?[/color] template made by LAURIE?! of CAUTION 2.0
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[kahlan]

There's times when this dress rehearsal seems incomplete.

The dark haired twenty-one year old took her time grooming White Light. It relaxed her and that was one of the things she needed at the moment. Relaxation time. Her next modeling shoot was coming up in a couple weeks and with the way she looked at that moment her agent was sure to kill her. Figuratively at least. So she set the curry comb down and grabbed a hard brush. Closing her eyes Kahlan silently groomed her cremello gelding. One hand was on the gelding's rump and the other guiding the brush as she let the familiar sound relax her stressed mind. It felt good to finally be at the stable and able to relax. She cracked open on eye to peak at White Light who had also closed his eyes and was letting his head droop so far down that it was only the cross-ties keeping him up. An amused smirk graced her lips as she closed her eyes again and continued grooming.

Kahlan heard someone further down the isle and just quietly minded her own business. It didn't take long to groom and already glossy and spotless horse but Kahlan loved to groom Light and she could probably groom him all day if she really wanted to. But at that both white Light and her agent may get mad at her. Considering that she had yet to call her agent she knew in about another couple hours there'd be at least five messages from the woman. She absolutely loved Janine but she could get a little over worried when it came to Kahlan not checking in when she was supposed it. It, more often than not, made Kahlan laugh as she explained to Janine that it was simply that she'd lost track of time at the stable while she was spending time with White Light and then she'd get some sort of lecture from her agent. Shaking her head at the memories the brown eyed teen set her brushes back into her tote and grabbed a comb and stated on the gelding's thick mane. Kay silently combed through his mane until it was straight, tangle free, and on one side of the gelding's neck. She then moved to his forelock which she braided just to annoy him. Her dark eyes were amused as White Light started tossing his head and shooting her glares just as soon as she was done. With a quiet laugh the young adult moved to his tail and worked her way through his tail. More than once she'd said that he had enough tail for at least three horses and it took forever to groom it. Once she was half way through she heard another horse coming toward them and glanced up curiously to see a beautiful sorrel Dutch warmblood coming toward them led by a blonde girl who looked to be nor much older than she was. White Light, frustrated by the braid in his forelock simply ignored them.

Kahlan simply concentrated on White Light's tail as she stayed out of the way of the girl leading the mare past. Next thing she knew White Light was looking at the mare with a kind of 'What did I ever do to you?" look on his face before tossing his pale cream colored head and sighing. Then Kahlan looked over at the girl who had just told her horse 'NO!'. She figured that it meant that the mare had tried and/or succeeded in biting White Light. It rarely bothered Light when he got bit by random horses since he'd been taught that while on cross-ties and being led by his owner he was not to misbehave at all. Those in Europe certainly knew how to teach their horses excellent manners. 'Oh my hell, I’m so sorry. Lady here is quite the… erm… character… I guess you could say.' Kahlan just smiled softly. "It's alright don't worry. No harm, no foul," she said simply. Kahlan recognized the accent easily. So this girl was from Britain and had moved to America like she had. Only Kahlan's accent was more of a mixture of Spainish and Isreali. She took the offered hand and smiled again. 'I’m Rowan Willow. So sorry we had to meet under these circumstances.' The young dark haired model stroked her horse quietly as she listened. "I'm Kahlan. Kahlan Amnell. And this monster is White Light," Kay said introducing both herself and her horse. "And don't worry about it. I'm sure Light deserved it for something or another. He's constantly getting himself into trouble," she said with a quiet laugh. Acting as if what she said insulted the cremello Thoroughbred he turned his head to give her the horse equivalent of a dirty look and Kahlan simply laughed again.

[rowanwillow]

* all the world's a stage,

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and all the men and women merely players
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Rowan looked at the horse she was holding on to, for dear life. Who knows what kind of trouble she would try to get into next. Horses are unpredictable, we've all heard it before. I mean, if you really think about it, everything and everyone are unpredictable. But that's besides the point right now... Lady puts that saying into action. She's bipolar at it's finest. Hot-headed and cynical. Manipulative and mean. And at the same time she can be really good, once every blue moon of course, but it has happened. In a way it sort of seems like she tries to be 'herself' just to uphold that image. She's an actress, and she plays the role pretty damn well.

Lady lived a crazy life before Rowan. At one time she was near to death. She was born to a po-dunk family with a round pen and four horses besides herself to care for. Obviously that within itself should give you the idea of how uncomfortable it was. Not to mention that they were all quite wild. Anyone with half a brain could see the trouble that five wild horses in a small living area could cause. There wasn't a day that passed by that a fight broke out. The owners of the horses did nothing for them, barely feeding them as the days passed. They themselves were having trouble making ends meet. The property soon went bankrupt and forced into foreclosure. The family moved out and the horses were sold. Lady was sold to a working ranch. Not a place a Dutch Warmblood is used to living in, it was sort of out of her element. Even without knowing, western working was just not her thing. After a while the ranch couldn't handle the prissy princess and sold her off. The next place to have her thought they could work her out of her english nature. This is where she started to rebel, making it almost impossible for people to do anything with her. Despite the beatings and the days she was locked up in a cold dark stall with no food and water days upon days, she stuck through it. Rowan found her one day, she came across an ad and went to visit the place. They trained and sold horses, just like her. Just wondering around, she came across the sickly looking mare. Neglected and left to die. She negotiated a trade with the owner. If they handed over the horse in her care for free she wouldn't rat out the place for animal abuse. And they did, which was a smart decision on their part.

It took time, like it does with all abused animals. But Lady, the time clock is still ticking and it has been five years since the event. Any horses that were once abused that Rowan came across were timid and shy, but Lady was different. She was wild. Really, really wild. Rowan liked the challenge though, and vowed to never give up on the horse like everyone else did given her past history. Training began, and the horse was a natural at dressage and hunting event. In the ring she looked perfect, she was good at what she does, but outside of the ring was a whole different story. Rowan had come to accept it. As long as it took her to do so she realized that Red Hot Lady was a great competitor and a champion at heart. She was all about winning and pride. When it comes down to it though, the mare would never do anything to intentionally kill Rowan, hurt Rowan, well yeah. It was a confusing and mostly unhealthy connection they had, but it was worth it. Rowan and Lady were both misunderstood, and they were more alike than either of them would like to admit. Which makes the whole situation even funnier. Deep, deep, deep, DEEP down they loved each other unconditionally. Just thinking about it Rowan forced a smile at her.

Spanish was the main thing that Rowan could pick out from Kahlan's accent. So maybe she had finally met someone somewhat in her area of American expertise, which came down to barely nothing. Not that she knew this, but she just assumed. America was entirely different than any place she had been across seas. Now she wondered how long she had been here. White Light was beautiful, she had never seen any other horse like him. And she kept catching herself staring at his radiant color. "Wow, he's just stunning." She stuttered. "And no, he didn't deserve it." She laughed. "Lady just thinks that she runs the barn, or the entire world even. Apparently she thinks she's royalty." Lady understood, she always knew when Rowan was talking smack about her. With her ears pinned back and head low, she stomped her hoof. The right one. "Oh stop." Rowan said directed towards the sorrel. "So I don't want to sound rude or anything, it's just I've never seen you around. I'm fairly new around here but I thought I had seen everyone. Getting to the point..." Rowan giggled, "Are you new?"

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* the pen is mightier than the sword

[/color] 857 words
* such stuff as dreams are made on[/color] using quotes from william shakespeare
* what's in a name?[/color] template made by LAURIE?! of CAUTION 2.0
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[kahlan]

There's times when this dress rehearsal seems incomplete.

Kahlan hadn't had White Light for very long but they'd conneted so well when they met that it was like they'd been together for years. Originally it was her friend's stable owner who had bought Light from across the ocean and brought him to America and when she was visiting her friend's stable she met the cream colored Thoroughbred and they'd become close in the few days she spent there. And a couple days after her visit she got a call from her friend's stable owner offering her White Light. Since she'd been looking for a new horse Kahlan had bought him and it had taken her a while to gather up enough money to move them to Texas since he'd costed her well into the upper grands. But he'd been well worth it considering his training, he came with his own tack - that happened to be a good fit for her as well since the woman had been the same size as she was - and they'd bonded so quickly.

As much as Kahlan taught White Light, White Light taught Kahlan. He'd been trained in Europe and he'd been trained well so that she learned new skills and techniques that she hadn't known until she'd boughten and ridden him for a while. They'd spent a couple months working with some top trainers so that she'd be able to utalize all of his potential and training and so that White Light would get used to her style and learn from her. It hadn't taken long since all of the trainers she worked with had said that as much as she was a natural to the saddle, White Light would compensate for what she could't do. In a way he'd cover for her and make her look like she was doing everything perfectly. It wasn't always a good thing and as soon as her trainers figured that out they stuck her on some other horses and taught her on them. It was kinda funny how insanely jealous Light would get when she'd walk past his stall leading another horse.

But that was another story for another time. And not many knew of it though. Since Kahlan, though she was super sweet and friendly, tended to keep to herself when she was somewhere that she really didn't know anyone. Which wasn't always a good and/or healthy thing to do but that was Kahlan for ya. But once someone did break through that quiet and reserved outter shell Kahlan was super sweet and would be their loyal friend for life.

Her accent though it was mainly Spainishly influenced held a hint of her actual heritage since she spoke English, Spainish, and Hebrew fluently along with a couple other languages. Kahlan allowed her dark eyes to wandering back to her gelding. His coloring was rare in a lot of breeds and most people haven't seen a cremello thoroughbred since most Throughbreds were bays, chestnuts, grays, or any of the more common colors. Cremellos among White Light's breed were far and few between. 'Wow, he's just stunning. And no, he didn't deserve it. Lady just thinks that she runs the barn, or the entire world even. Apparently she thinks she's royalty.' Kahlan laughed quietly. "Thank you. And that's kinda understandable. White Light is the new guy after all and he won't stick up for himself when he's got people nearby," she said shaking her head at tha tall Thoroughbred. A soft smile graced the twenty-one year old's lips when she saw Lady act similiarly to Light. The two equines had known that their owners were talking about them in fashion neither of them liked and they'd reacted to that. 'a So I don't want to sound rude or anything, it's just I've never seen you around. I'm fairly new around here but I thought I had seen everyone. Getting to the point...Are you new?' Kahlan smiled softly. "Yeah. I just got here not too long ago actually," she said simply.

[rowanwillow]

* all the world's a stage,

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and all the men and women merely players
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The young blonde looked at the horse and patted her neck. Of course Lady turned her head away before Rowan could even think about resting it on her neck or head. Rolling her eyes and smiling she looked at the horse, really looked at her. She was gorgeous, no doubt about it. Rowan was always for the horses that had exotic colors, not so much into the sorrels or chestnuts, but something about how the horse was totally constructed took Rowan's breath away. She wasn't one to brag about her horses but she had to admit to herself, she had some pretty good looking ones. Lady was more red than anything, so Red Hot Lady was kind of a spitting image of the horse. She had a thick white blaze down her perfect head and four white stockings all even with each other down her lean legs. Her muscles were toned and body shapely. When it came down to it, yeah, Rowan was pretty lucky to have her. Lady had scored her quite a few championship medals. The horse was incredible and intelligent. In fact so many people threw offers down Rowan's throat at every competition they had been to. The highest was around 12 grand, Rowan wouldn't even consider them. Partly because she was somewhat attached to the wild mare, and half because she didn't want to feel responsible for what the wild mare might do. She was the only horse that had caused her so much trouble, and the funny thing is, she's a horse trainer, she deals with them all the time. Sometimes she can't wait to get them out of her hands, but here we are again, Lady was special.

Rowan's other horses were rather charming as well. Ego was a looker, man was he a looker. She always loved buckskins and paints, and to smash it all into one, well there was no way she could ever pass that up. Ego had been trained since age two with Rowan. Immediately they became infatuated with one another. He was a complete sweetheart. Anybody could do anything with this horse, he was a quick learner and a heartbreaker with his looks. Plus, his skill around the barrels were unbeatable. He was a bred champion and he lived up to it. He was her go-to gelding. Then there was the real champion, Champ. The aspired race-horse to be. A tall and lean grey Thoroughbred. He was little up-top but his long legs prove of his speed. Champ was a complete sweetheart. Which was much different than most racehorses that Rowan had to deal with. Hot-headed, anxious, and mean were mostly what she face. It was refreshing to see that not all of them were. Which, there was still room for him to become that way. Considering the fact that he has only just started his training pretty much. He has only raced once, a little flooky race with other in-the-making racers, he got second place.

Rowan was slightly curious as to what kind of riding Kahlan did. She was an all-around rider, not leaning towards any side. It all mattered on her mood for that day. Whether or not she was a little more laid-back. All types of riding just came natural to her, it was probably her only talent that she posessed, besides the fact she could sing. But that was about all. But Rowan was most curious as to Kahlan's story. Why did she come to America? She wasn't one to just lay out her story like an open book, and she sure as hell didn't expect anyone else to. Kahlan was just the first person here she felt like she could connect with. It was hard at times to make friends when you're new. Especially when everyone else had there little cliques to run to. Rowan had felt lonely ever since arriving here, not making many friends. She just wanted to find someone to have a special bond with, a good friend to share secrets with and get to know. She smiled at the girl, "Makes sense." She laughed a bit. "What kind of riding do you do?"

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* the pen is mightier than the sword

[/color] 694 words
* such stuff as dreams are made on[/color] using quotes from william shakespeare
* what's in a name?[/color] template made by LAURIE?! of CAUTION 2.0
[/size][/blockquote]