(open) cause all we know is falling

[pennbarclay]

As usual, my house echoed (metaphorically) with a sort of empty silence, as it did every day I woke up. I lay in his double bed, room barely lit as the sun couldn’t struggle through the thick curtains, only just making it through the slight gaps at the edges. Staring at the blank, white ceiling, thoughts running through my head; always the thoughts, but rarely the words came out. When you lived, as a child, with a man who had little use for the spoken word, speech sometimes was a difficult task, so I didn’t engage in it often. Clients at the shop, I would talk to, with no problem. But I was always a better listener than I was a talker. I guess that was why I seemed to have more friends than one would have thought the silent twenty six year old would have, people who just needed someone to...listen...to them, tended to gravitate towards me, though I didn’t mind with some cases.

I couldn’t even remember when I had fallen asleep the previous night, though I figured that I had slept longer than usual. I hadn’t been drinking, I’d just been...heavy, tired. Maybe a decent sleep would do better for my mood. It hadn’t exactly been foul, or angry...just generally darker, making me quieter, if that was even possible, as of late. I felt as if I was just drifting now, I had achieved most of what I aimed for, most people around my age, definitely most that I knew, were moving on to other parts of their lives that just weren’t happening in mine, and hadn’t even come close to happening in a while now. It didn’t bother me too much, but it crossed my mind occasionally, wondering if that was what was causing all of this. Or maybe I just needed to find something else to preoccupy myself with.

Dragging my muscular frame out of bed, I headed to the kitchen, refilling the kettle, setting it to boil, before walking back to the bathroom to shower, the morning ritual I had adopted years ago. I never really ate in the mornings, just because I never felt hungry, and I really just wanted to get out, to do something, and sitting around eating just prolonged that. Not long, and I was outside, showered, the strong caffeine hit I had made myself in the form of a black coffee after I had showered waking me up a little more. I decided to take the bike today, I wasn’t going to have the chance to use it much once winter hit, the icy roads made it too dangerous, and even though I wasn’t one to take the safe route most of the time, even I thought it would be idiotic to even attempt it. Donning my bike helmet, I mounted, the engine roaring to life as I started it up, and I was on his way, revelling in the adrenaline rush that came from riding the distance on the long stretch of straight country road between my home and Crossfire.

Too soon and it was over, and I was pulling to a stop in Crossfire’s parking lot, silencing the motor when I parked, kicking the step down, leaving it near the edge of the parking lot, away from the rest of the cars so it wouldn’t accidentally be hit, something that had occurred once or twice before because people simply didn’t look when they parked, removing the helmet I had put on to don one of an entirely different kind later. I left the helmet hanging off one of the handlebars, nobody would take it...well, it hadn’t happened as of yet, so I was confident it wasn’t going to happen today, and headed from the cool outdoor air to the warmer interior of the barn.

The heads of my two regular riding horses, Sin and Lola, crept over their stall doors as I approached, Lola’s a little more hesitantly, she was my newest, in fact, I had only had her a few short months, but she was beginning to learn the hand who fed her, looked after her, and anticipated it with growing eagerness, like Sin and Dash. Dash was in the barn with the racers, I would visit him later, make sure the gelding was fed and watered, and completely uninjured, knowing full well, that as a highly strung racer, injury ran rampant with them. I debated between the two for a brief moment before getting Lola from her stall, tethering her carefully in the aisle before giving her a good grooming, she didn’t particularly need such a thorough one, she hadn’t rolled overnight and was relatively clean, I just liked the quiet action.

Soon she was groomed, and tacked, ready to go, she had a sweet disposition, despite being green when ridden, and it made the entire preparation process an enjoyable one. Nothing was more unpleasant than attempting to tack a horse, or clean the feet of, one who didn’t like the actions, one of the last I had sold on had been awful for it when I had first purchased him, he’d almost kicked my head in a good three or four dozen times until I had finally managed to get him to stop the habit. I took her towards the indoor arena, it was quieter, less distractions, less to spook the mare as I worked on her more, getting her ready for a career in showing.

Tagged Open
Words 912
Outfit Click
Muse Brick By Boring Brick - Paramore
Notes Recycled post? I think so.

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[draseria1]

Naomi didn't like mornings. She would put it as easily as that. Mornings sucked. Unfortunately, mornings were also when she had the time to work her horses before classes at the college. It was the only schedule that had really worked out for her, so she would have to stop complaining soon because it wasn't doing anything to help.

Naomi dragged herself out of bed and grabbed a granola bar for breakfast. It was all that she really had time for. After dressing and gathering her things for the day, she left her apartment and got into her car. It wasn't long until she reached Crossfire, closing her car door behind her with one hand and held a bag of carrots in the other. Naomi walked down the barn until she found her two horses, London and Boomer, their stalls side by side. Both had lifted their heads out of their stalls to greet Naomi and perhaps get a treat or two. Naomi gave each a carrot before tucking the bag out of the way for the time being. She would come back for it later. She looked between the two horses, trying to remember which one needed training more today. Finally, Naomi pulled London's purple halter and lead rope off the wall and pulled it over the Hanoverians head. Within a fifteen minutes Naomi had the mare well-groomed and tacked up.

The girl then led her mare to the indoor arena, noticing that Penn was already there. She paused for a second before she decided that she could deal with him. She gave him a quick, "Hello!" that sounded softer than it should have then led London over to the mounting block and got up with ease (luckily). The mare snorted and glanced back at her rider. Naomi sighed and grabbed the reins with both hands and started their warm ups, hoping against hope that London would behave herself.

Six laps around the arena later at a walk, trot, then canter and Naomi could feel that London was pretty much ready to go. The mare had tried to bite a few times, but it was definitely less than normal. Either London was saving her tricks for later on or she had actually decided to behave. Naomi pointed London towards a jump near the center of the arena for a start. Urging London forward at an easy lope, she counted the strides until she would reach the jump. One. Two. Three. Just before Naomi and London reached the jump, the mare halted and reared slightly. Naomi managed to stay on and turn London away from the jump, but she was nowhere near calm. She could feel her heart racing in her chest and her hands trembled slightly on the reins. Sometimes she really hated working with London. If any horse was going to make her fall, it was her ridiculous Hanoverian.

Words: 480 plus some coding
Outfit: Click
Notes: Outfit is kinda meh. Wasn't fully focusing on it this time.

[pennbarclay]

I led Lola into the indoor arena, noting that nobody else was using it right now, which suited me just fine. Not that I particularly minded when there were, I was just the type of person who preferred the quiet...perhaps a little too much. I told myself I didn’t want to be like my father, but I never seemed to try too hard to do anything differently. I sighed, stopping her in the middle of the arena, checking her girth again, though there wasn’t much to check, I had pretty much gotten it tight enough the first time I had done it.

Lola’s ears pricked forward, and she turned her head slightly, hearing the approach of the other horse and rider before I did. A slender brunette walked in, leading a Hanoverian mare. Naomi, I think her name was. I might not talk to people in the barn much, but I did know mostly everyone’s names. I guess that came naturally when you listened and observed more than you spoke. She greeted me, I only just caught the words as she passed, she was speaking softly. “Hey,” was my short reply, nodding in her direction. Talkative as always, the sarcastic thought ran through my head.

I mounted Lola, the girl was already warming her horse up around the entire perimeter of the arena, so I stuck to a smaller circle, not rushing through the warm up, I suppose now was a good time to help Lola get used to riding with other horses in the ring. She was surprisingly good about it, a little nervous the first time they passed us, but on the second time, she was fine. I kept her away from the jump area, assuming that the other pair were going to use them soon, leaving my ride to an unoccupied stretch of dirt at one end of the arena.

I turned Lola around the circle I had been riding her in once more, just in time to see Naomi’s mare rear at a jump. Lola continued plodding along at a walk, I had slowed her from a canter only a few moments before, but I didn’t really pay attention to in front of me, for now. The brunette looked nervous, scared even, if I was going to take it that far, it was visible to me from my end of the arena.

“You alright?” I decided to ask, raising my voice enough that she would be able to hear it, but not at a yell so I wouldn’t spook either of the horses.

Tagged Naomi
Words 427
Outfit Click
Muse Feeling Sorry - Paramore
Notes Sorry it took me a while, work was a little more demanding than I expected this week.

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