Wide Open Spaces

[»Boo]

Jarod had just finished tacking up Punkin and was getting ready to go a for nice trail ride. The day was beautiful and it had been a while since Jarod and Punkin had been on a pleasure ride. Lately it had been training for the races. Punkin pranced in place as Jarod tightened the cinch. ”Punkin calm down! His voice was stern and immediately Punkin stopped. This bond between horse and rider was amazingly strong, ever since a foal Jarod had been in Punkin’s life. After finally finished tacking the large dappled gray, Jarod led Punkin out of the stables and into the crisp morning air. Once mounted, Jarod moved the stallion into a brisk walk and immediately relaxed. When up on a horse, Jarod was confident and comfortable, if safe, Jarod would ride with his eyes closed. Since growing up with horses, Jarod was comfortable around these creatures, especially Punkin. He trusted this horse with his life.

Underneath him, he could feel the muscles of Punkin bunching up and relaxing as he took long strides. He could feel the urge to run in Punkin’s body movements. ”You want to run?” Punkin’s ear flicked back to pick up his owner’s words, and he kept it there to listen to any commands that Jarod might give. He wanted to run, it had been a while since he just ran for the heck of it. “Let’s go boy.” Jarod applied pressure and gave a small cluck of his tongue and immediately Punkin responded by moving into a lope. It was smooth and graceful. They moved along the trail as one, not paying attention to anything around them, except the wide open road that welcomed the pair.

[Forte!]

Grace was having a great time. Yeah, real great... Hadn't her brother said that Sunny should be safe to ride by now? Who else was she supposed to take on a hack - Romance? Of course not. The Hanoverian was worth too much, while this silly thoroughbred had been a practical steal for the amount of power her had. And Grace did love him, there was something about his stubborn, quirky personality that had drawn her to the big buckskin in the first place. But she wasn't so sure now, as the stallion was spooking and laying his ears back at everything, fighting her hand on the reins. Rory, her brother, had stuck him in a hackamore, something that Grace now questioned the wisdom of. But she had seen the way Sundancer had tried to get him when the bit was on - bucking and rearing for all that he was worth, plunging with the only desire being to shed the saddle right then and right there, as quickly as possible. There was none of that now, only a stubborn insistence to fight her authority at every chance.

To tell the truth, she was lucky that the stallion hadn't taken off with her by now. She was riding in a western saddle - so she probably would have stayed on if he had done so. But if, god forbid, he tried to jump something... Grace nudged him into a lope, taking the chance of an open trail ahead to see if she could burn off some of the excess energy that seemed to haunt the jumpy thoroughbred. He instantly took off, going way too fast, and it took a good while to rein him in, but when she did he really had a nice gait. He seemed to like going fast, and for the first time had stopping trying to fight her contact with his mouth. Of course, that didn't last for long, and presently Grace became aware of hoofbeats coming towards them. Instantly, she sat back and reigned Sunny back down to a walk. The stallion looked as if he might gallop off down a steep bank, every nerve of his body aquiver as they awaited the approach of the other horse. Grace was obliged to stop and pull over, having difficulty keeping the stallion from dancing away. As Punkin and Jarod approached, the stallion's ears pinned back, and Grace instantly twitched a rein, trying to get him to bring his biting mouth in. "Hello!" she called, having too much trouble with the stallion to really look up at whoever was coming. "Don't mind us, we have a temper."

[»Boo]

The ride was coming along nicely, Punkin listening to every command that Jarod gave. He sat back in the black western saddle and let Punkin have free reign, which he trusted the horse to not take off. They carried along at a nice pace, not breaking a stride, that is until Jarod saw a person coming up a little faster than he would like. Quickly gathering the reins, Jarod moved Punkin into a quick paced trot until they came somewhat closer to the pair. From his line of vision, Jarod could that it was a female on what seemed to be a very temperamental buckskin. Underneath him, he felt the tension build in Punkin’s muscles, probably from the fact that he did not like the other horse approaching so fast. To his relief he saw the female pull the unwilling horse to a walk and then move to the side of the road.

Jarod slowed to a walk until they came up to the horse and rider and then stopped a good 5 feet away and caught her words. "Don't mind us, we have a temper." Jarod gave a slight chuckled and then smiled at the woman. “So it seems. My name is Jarod and this here is Punkin.” He patted the large neck of the dappled gray and smiled a genuine smile. He felt bad for the woman because of the horse. She seemed to be having difficulty trying to get him to listen. “Quite a horse you have there. Not wanting to listen?” He sat back in his saddle and folded his hands on the horn of the saddle. Instantly Punkin relaxed, but kept an ear pointed back towards Jarod ready for him to give a command. Jarod looked over the buckskin, it was a nice horse indeed, he loved the coat of it and he could tell the horse had a spunky attitude, he could see it in his eyes. The thought of it made him smile, a horse with an attitude was a horse he loved. Where was the challenge when the horse always did what you wanted?

[Forte!]

Sunny had his ears laid back for a while as Punkin approached, but after he had realized that he wasn't going to be able to bite the other horse, the ears went up and he snorted quietly, arching his crest as if to show superiority. "Oh, quit, you blockhead," Grace said, with a little bit of edge, and one annoyed ear flicked towards her as Sunny tossed his head about against the headstall. Reasonably assured that the horse wasn't about to try anything stupid, Grace looked up at the guy, Jarod, he had said, beside her, and his horse, Punkin. Punkin seemed a good deal better trained than Sunny, responding to Jarod's every twitch and motion. Sunny was probably never going to be like that - the stallion had been given a hard run of it for his short life. "Nice to meet you," said Grace with a grin, "I'm Grace, and this here is Sunny. Though his name doesn't really suit him."

As if to prove her point, Sunny decided that he might as well try to go after the other horse again, but was stopped by pressure on the other side of his head, a pressure that tightened, than loosened, than tightened in the most annoying way. Steady pressure he could fight against all day. He tossed his head up and down in the annoyance of defeat, and then turned his attention elsewhere, as if searching for something that would give him an excuse to spook or otherwise be stubborn. "I think you've hit it on the nose," said Grace with a tiny grin at his question, "before we - my brother and I - got him, he was basically deemed untrainable because he near shed the saddle anytime anybody tried to get on him and boss him around. But he's good at heart, aren't you, Sunny?"

[»Boo]

Jarod watched the two, it was quite a sight to see Sunny trying as hard as he could to defy the rider’s commands. It reminded him of Punkin with other riders. Stubborn and somewhat cocky. He lowered his brown eyes to Punkin and watched as he to raised his crown in response to Sunny. Oh dear, a competition for authority? Jarod lightly twitched the reins to bring Punkin’s head back into the bridle and he responded, although it was hesitant. He gave her a warm smile as she introduced herself, “Well it’s a pleasure to meet you Grace.” He laughed as she said that her horse’s name was Sunny. At the moment being, the name did not seem to suit him, but then again he could just be having a bad day, although it was not likely. Jarod adverted his eyes to Sunny and chuckled as Sunny tried to snap at Punkin, but Grace stopped him. Punkin snorted and stomped a hoof in warning and that only made Jarod chuckle more, “Oh stop it Punk.”

Jarod lifted his eyes back up to Grace and matched her grin with his own. He nodded his head slightly as she explained the situation. A small frown appeared on his lips, “I think any horse is trainable as long as you are willing to put in the time and effort. I have no doubt that Sunny is good at heart.” He gave a little smile, “In fact he reminds me a lot of Punkin.” At this Punkin snorted as if he were appalled at the thought of being compared to any other horse. Punkin shifted his weight to his right side and sighed a long slow huff and then lowered his crown to crop at a few blades of grass. Jarod relaxed his grip on the reins and pulled his cowboy hat off and rested on the horn of the saddle, “How long have you had Sunny?” He was quite interested in this horse, for reasons he could not say, perhaps it was the fact that his father had always had an interest in troublesome horses.

[Forte!]

Grace grinned and shifted her seat as Sunny danced a little bit under her, somehow moving up and sideways at the same time. Her free hand was rubbing at the base of his neck idly, but not doing much to relax the jumpy thoroughbred. He was definitely not the most dependable horse in the world, but she loved him a lot anyway. He'd obviously seen worse days than these, and most of his problem now was with being so green, something that he was slowly getting over. He had trust issues too - she knew that if you stuck any old random rider up on him he could be quite a bronco. He snorted and tossed his head slightly with a sigh, eying the other horse and rider still but relaxing a little bit, rolling one ear to Grace and only giving her the least bit of worry with his mouth. Grace chuckled slightly at the slight movement of Punk, but Sunny had apparently conceded for now, and looked rather bored. "That's a lovely horse you have. He obviously thinks a lot of you." Obviously, Jarod had been riding longer than she had - Grace had never had that sort of trust from a horse, not even Romance. The only thing she saw like this was between her brother and his mare.

She nodded at his comment, "Yeah, that's what my brother always says," she said with a half-grin, "and we sure got this guy out of a bad spot. He hasn't had the easiest time of it, obviously." Sunny pricked his ears at the movement of a bird in the woods, and shook a little, looking terrified, before he realized what it was. He snorted, as if to say he hadn't been afraid of a dumb old songbird anyway, and Grace laughed and gave him a pat on the neck. "Does he really? Punkin doesn't seem like a big ball of scares to me." She said, even though she could discern the little stubborn spark that seemed to light up in the horse's eye every now and then, as if he were of half a mind to give some trouble to his rider. But he hadn't yet, and that got Grace's respect better than anything else. "Oh... We've had him for about nine months now, I'd say. Nobody else was gonna take him, after all. Apparently he was quite the bronco."

[»Boo]

Jarod kept his gaze on the horse and rider. She looked good on top of him, and Jarod thought they would make a great pair as soon as Sunny learned to listen to Grace. Jarod couldn’t help but keep the smile on his lips, well today he was in quite the finest of moods. As Grace commented Punkin, he shifted his gaze to the big dappled horse under him. He patted the muscular neck and nodded his head, he love the horse as if it were a child to him. “Thank you. Yah I’ve been by his side since the day he was born. I trained him and all, so we have a strong bond between us.” Jarod felt his smile get bigger as he talked about Punkin, he was proud of this horse and would do anything to protect him.

Jarod raised his eyes back to Grace as she began to speak. He nodded his head at her comment, “Sounds like I’d get along with your brother. And that’s good to hear that you gave Sunny a better life. Well now he shouldn’t worry, he has pretty trustworthy owners now.” Jarod flashed her his big smile and then moved his eyes to Sunny as he took notice of the birds. At the sight of him being scared, Jarod laughed, horses had the best personalities. Jarod raised an eyebrow as she talked about Punkin. Ah yes, she had only seen the calm side of him. For some reason he was a terd like that only being bad when it was just Jarod and him. “Oh yes, he seems good now, but you get any other rider on him and all hell breaks loose. He just knows he won’t get away with it with me.” As he was speaking, Punkin raised his crown and brought his head back to itch his shoulder, at the same time nipping at Jarod’s leg. Jarod pulled his leg back in time and then laughed. “See?” Punkin nickered and then went back to cropping the grass as if life was good and nothing ever happened.
Jarod kept an eye on Punkin to make sure he wouldn’t pull anything again, but gave Grace his attention. “I’d say he seems like a fun horse to ride. Has he been giving you more trust as the time goes by?”

[Butterfly]

Amethyst slapped on her white cowgirl hat and jumped on her new brown morgan. Skye Dancer was beautiful, like, beyond. The mare was even more beautiful, in her new pink and purple tack. Yes, she spoiled her horses. Ammy jumped on her horse. She had blue jeans on, with a purple t-shirt, with a pink heart on the top right corner. She lightly kicked Skye and smiled as the mare started out at a trot. "That's my good baby." Ammy cooed and patted her.

The teen arrived on the trails, and walked, and arrived beside two others. She didn't know how old they were, or who they were, but she was happy to have company. Amethyst patted her new horse, and cooed to her horse, "Be a good girl, Skye." The blonde girl smiled and looked up at the guy and gal. She tipped her hat, and smiled. "Howdy, I'm Amethyst." She had a light southern accent.

[Forte!]

Sunny, apparently bored with standing still, had moved on to tossing his head up and down impatiently against the hackamore, wanting to be racing or jumping or simply running and doing things, as usual. He had a lot of energy, mostly due to his breed. Grace, still absently patting his neck about the crest, cooed to him gently, and he swiveled one impatient ear back, listening. She grinned at Jarod's story, "Aw, that's sweet," she said. Raising a foal from birth was no easy task, she knew, but Punkin seemed like an excellent horse, calmer than Sunny despite being slightly younger and of the same, energetic breed. She looked down at Sunny, still tossing his head around in the ornery sort of way that said he wasn't keen on stopping, as Jarod spoke again. "Yeah, I 'spose he does," she said with a half-grin, "and, yeah, you prolly would get on with my brother. He likes anyone who's good to their beasts and doesn't abuse them or worry them."

She laughed at his next comment, watching with frank amusement as Punkin tried to nip Jarod's leg. "I guess he's not perfect after all, then," she said with a grin. She rose an eyebrow as Punkin went back to grazing. Sunny snorted indignantly, pricking his ears at the sound of hoofbeats further down the path, still too far for human ears. "Hm, that's a toughie. I 'spose so, seeing as how he's not trying to get me out of the saddle at the moment, and how he occasionally listens to my cues. When he feels like it, that is." She said, in response to his question. The hoofbeats came in range of hearing now, and she looked over in that general direction as a girl and an unmistakably morgan horse came into view, garbed in pink and purple, which wasn't exactly Grace's style. "Hallo!" she called as the rider pulled off, grinning, "I'm Grace."

[»Boo]

Jarod smiled as she commented on his little story of how he raised Punkin from birth. Well he was getting along well with Grace and he liked her. He would definitely make note of getting her number so that maybe they could go for a ride again. He shifted his eyes down to Sunny as he started to toss his head, bored. Perhaps they should ride and talk so that these poor horses could actually get some exercise in. He knew that Punkin was bored, but wasn’t showing it. He rose his eyes back to Grace as she talked of her brother. “Well I would definitely like to meet him one day.”

He laughed as she commented on Punkin not being so perfect. Nope he wasn’t, all horses had their own little quirks about them, that is what fascinated Jarod so much. He loved the personalities that they could have. Jarod nodded his head as he continued to listen to Grace speak, “Ha well I guess that is always a good thing that he isn’t trying to get you out of the saddle. Don’t you just love the times when they just want to be ornery?” He laughed, just then Punkin raised his head, ears perked and snorted, “What is it big boy?” Just then he heard the hoofbeats of another horse and then an image of a girl and her horse –clearly a morgan- come into view. He noted the pink and purple tack and couldn’t help but smile slightly. Well that was definitely a different style. He flashed the blonde his big white smile, “Howdy there. I’m Jarod.” Punkin pulled on his bit to edge closer to the new horse, but Jarod blocked his movement and steady him.

[Butterfly]

ooc: ((let's say her horse started acting up and she had to go, I lost my post and got mad so.. ;/ and also I have to many threads with her in anyway! Bai))