Same boat -- Legaleen

[Sophia Dawn Livington]

“Look, you work here now. You have to start doing things with the horses. The more you handle them, the more used to them you get.” One of the owners held her a lead rope and pointed to a stall in the barn they were in. “There’s a brown pony in that stall. Lit is the easiest horse we have here so you don’t have to worry, he won’t be hard to handle and since you’re new to them, it’s best to start off easy. Go walk him around the arena to give him some exercise.” Sophia stared at the rope that was now in her hands. She hadn’t even wanted to come here..

“Stupid judge…” she mumbled, struggling to open the stall door before stepping in and going to clip the rope on the harness of the gentle animal. “Stupid horse… stupid fucking place.” She looked down at the animal’s brown eyes and rolled her eyes. “Come on then!” she snapped, shuffling out the barn with the pony following her. This was ridiculous. She was leading the one animal she had never been around and didn’t really like. Sophia had never been around an animal bigger then a dog.

“Yeah you’re a fucking piece of work aren’t you? Use you like a used napkin around here, don’t they you useless ass?” She was muttering under her breath as she went to the outside arena that was empty. “Can’t even jump, what’s the point of living? You’re like the horse version of me.” The pony neighed. “Sorry, pony.”

She dragged the poor animal around and kept walking before she was nearly pulled down. She glared back at the animal who had stopped to eat some grass along the fence line. “Come on you dumb animal. Move! The faster we do this the faster we can end it.” She wasn’t exactly sure what she was supposed to do now. Some people around had said to carry sugar around but she didn’t need a sugar rush right now! She needed to move a thousand pound animal. She kept pulling on the rope but was quickly pissed when the animal stood there, looking at her. “I hate horses.” She threw the rope down and groaned, putting a hand to her head as she took a deep breath.

She was at a stable, working with horses, in cowboy boots, tight jeans, and a tank top. God, when had her life turned this terrible? “JUST MOVE!” she yelled, turning to see the pony moving. Right towards the open gate.
“Shit!” she hissed, quickly running towards the pony, catching the rope and digging her heels in. She hoped no one had seen that. “Easy my ass! You’re pissing me off on purpose..” She kneeled down and looked the horse in the eyes. “Look here, you big slab of meat, if it were my choice, you’d be in a glue factory by now. But since I’m here on probation and you’re here because… my God… I’m talking to an animal.”

Sophia stood up and started pulling the horse back to the arena. “Yeah you piece of shit… I hate you. You know it, too. I wish you could speak English.” She felt eyes glancing towards her, making her snap her head up. She smirked as she realized the person could hear her. She kept walking with the horse but didn’t talk any softer. “You big useless fuck, you’re almost older then me.” Maybe if people realized she had no idea how to train horses, ride them, or be around them they would let her leave.

[Alexander "Sasha" Cole]

Sasha stood there leaning his weight against the top rail of the gate leading to Strider’s pasture. He just let the stallion outside and he had run to the back of the grass covered area, under the shade of a tree and had taken to grazing at the grass under his hooves. Sasha just watched him for a while, not completely sure of what he wanted to do at the moment. Well, he would love to sleep, he hadn’t slept well all week due to his insomnia but sense he knew he wouldn’t be able to sleep now either, well… that was a stupid option. He should work, but he hated the summer heat. He was used to Minnesota and though it wasn’t much cooler there, thanks to Lake Michigan, it was enough for him to notice a difference and worry for the horses, which was silly but he had only just gotten here himself, what could he say?

Almost right after he got released from jail his grandparents called him to France because his grandmother was having a surgery and the extra set of hands would be helpful. That and Sasha never turned down a free trip to France. They had absinth, and it was legal. Okay, yeah, that was hardly the only reason he liked going, other reasons included his grandmother’s amazing cooking and just the feeling of being home. He did have a double citizenship, after all and it’s where he grew up. Okay, that was a lie, he grew up everywhere for a small amount of time, but they always went back to France for Christmas and he always got Eifel Tower pictures on his cards for his birthday or whatever else. However, the point of this story is that he just got to Caramel Rivers, but he was doing all right for himself as well. He… well, it was a long way to say he liked the town and close by city, but it was all right and he didn’t hate the stable either. Well, at least he was dealing with it. Of course there were those damn young girls at the barn who thought they knew everything and ruined what could be some amazing horses, but you would find that at almost any barn you went to. Why did all good horse stables attract stupid girls?

After a couple more minutes of watching Strider he left, glad that his horse was distracted by grass otherwise he would complain loudly that his human was leaving him. Strider had separation issues, but I suppose that happens when a horse has only had one person in their life that actually got close to them. Not like no one else could, of course, but no one else had, more or less. Either way Sasha walked back to the barns and down one of the aisles, listening to his paddock boots echo on the cement, warning any horse in the barn that he was coming down, which was nice because a spooking horse was never a good thing. He knew exactly where he was going, it didn’t take him long to understand the layout of the stable to say the least. He stopped towards the opposite side of the stable that he entered and a dark bay gelding poked his head out of his stall when Sasha stopped in front of it. “Back up,” he said, pushing a hand against the gelding’s chest to make him do as he asked before sliding into the stall as he took the halter from the front of his door as well.

Sasha slid the halter over the gelding’s high, and somewhat large, head before attaching the halter to the cross ties in the stall. Apollo stood pretty still as he was groomed and tacked, turning his head from time to time to poke Sasha with his nose but beyond that hardly moved at all during the process. Once the horse was tacked the horse, with the figure eight noseband undone and the running martingale hanging down by his chest, Sasha led the gelding out to the outdoor arena. Once there he fixed the martingale and noseband before tightening up the girth. He wasn’t really used to thoroughbreds, generally he worked with warmbloods, so he had to get a new girth that wasn’t exactly broken in yet, but he was glad that if he needed tack for the horses he was being paid to train the money was just handed over. It was a great way to be able to use gorgeous new stuff.

Sasha allowed Apollo to walk around the arena a few times, but didn’t bother with the jumps. He was only going to work on flat today. After Apollo and yesterday’s performance there was no point trying to get him over fences until he could learn to bend to his rider’s leg. After a time or two around the arena he asked the gelding to pick up a working trot, which he happily sprung into, which Sasha posted with a practiced ease. He made the gelding move in tight circles and serpentines when he heard a girl’s voice saying something that he, well, wasn’t exactly used to hearing around the stable and he couldn’t help but tune out from his riding slightly and listen to her words. Okay, so this girl was horse stupid, that was simple enough to figure out, but hey, that may actually be better than someone who thought they knew everything, which was a lot of people out here.

He tried to ignore her and get back to his training but as she got closer Apollo got less and less responsive until she finally managed to spook the young gelding. He jumped sideways, which Sasha sat beautifully, but he was also ready for it. Okay, yeah, this was getting stupid. “Hey bitch,” he called over to her, obviously very annoyed and in a voice that resembled a growl, but not needing to talk too loudly to do so, “shut up, that’s not gonna help and you’re fuckin’ scared my horse,” he said, rolling his eyes and turning the gelding away, pushing his calves against his sides to ask for a trot. The only way to be unable to have Lit do as you please was to not even be trying, which she obviously wasn’t. Damn, if this girl was working here he hoped she got fired soon. The last thing he needed was an idiot stable hand working with his training horses.

[Sophia Dawn Livington]

The man and the horse distracted her, to say the least. It wasn't diffucult to see that he was trained and knew what he was doing, but then again, everyone here but her knew what they were doing. They had grown up around horses, owned horses, and trained horses. This was her first time touching a horse, let along trying to deal with it, and let's just say it wasn't going too good. The man's comments didn't bother her either; she was called a bitch on a regular basis. "Hey, asshole." she snapped back. "If you don't like it, march your little cowboy ass back out of the arena. There are two other arenas and a whole fucking farm to walk on, alright Jack Twist?" But she decided to leave before she did something stupid. Sure, she didn't want to stay here but if she was going back to jail, she didn't want any extra time. "Come on, Lit." Hey, at least she called it by its name and not asshole or piece of shit. When the horse didn't budge she thought for a second before clicking her tongue and the pony followed her. Oh... so that was all she had to do, eh? "Oh..." she said simply. She rolled her eyes at the guy and walked by the pony. "Guess I have to ride you, right?" She was talking to the animal again.

She would need therapy after this, that was for damn sure. "Ok, ok... let's try to get a saddle on you... right? A saddle?" Poor pony... stuck with a real amateur. She walked Lit back to the barn and tied him to the barn door, putting her hands on her hips. Where was she even supposed to start? She looked to the wall and saw a saddle and she went to take it down, almost falling from its weight. Holy crap, it weighed a ton! And the horse could carry that?! She looked back at the pony... maybe it couldn't. Maybe it was the wrong one? But no, it was the wall of his stall. Sophia sighed and walked to the pony, putting it on the pony's back slowly. At first, Lit was fine. Then he made a neighing sound and started throwing his head back! Maybe it was too heavy. "Alright, hold on. I'll look for a lighter saddle." She walked out of the stall, leaving the door open and started looking. There was no other saddles though, and no one to ask. She walked back and looked in the stall, frowning. Was she in the wrong one? There was no pony in sight. Oh God... she had left the stall door open. "Oh my God! I lost Seabiscuit!" she gasped, looking around the barn. She was so screwed. Was there time in the joint for losing a pony?

She ran out of the barn, "Help! I think I lost the fucking pony!" All of the younger girls around just stared at her like she was crazy and walked away. "YOU'RE IN IT NOW! YOU KNEW IT WAS LOST AND DID NOTHING!" she yelled at them, watching as they walked faster. "What bitches!" Sure, she wasn't the biggest horse fan but she wouldn't want to lose one. They were living things after all. "I didn't really want you dead!" she cried, almost to tears. She honestly thought she had lost the pony, and if it got attacked by a mountain lion or something, she would be a horse murderer. "If you don't die and come back, I swear I'll try harder." Sophia whined, wringing her hands together. "I wouldn't really take you to the glue factory!" she hissed, clicking her tongue, seeing if it would work as she walked around the stables, looking around corners. "This looks so bad! Jack Twist heard me saying you were bad and I hated you, he's going to tell them all I let you leave!" She put her head in her hands, "Just... come on! Come back! I'll get you carrots or whatever you eat!" she offered. But alas, the pony didn't resond.

"Help. Help. Help." She was now simply speaking the words, walking around outside, still not seeing Lit. "This is the end. Well, bye stables. Didn't last long. I told that judge not to send me here! It was for a reason!" she promised "You did it on purpose didn't you? You decided to get lost so I would get in trouble for calling you names. Look, get over it! It was a name! I got called bitch and I'm not lost and maybe dying and trying to pin the blame on him... which would be kind of funny, but still! It's wrong! You're being mean, Lit!"

[Alexander "Sasha" Cole]

Sasha had only been riding for four years now. That being said, he had been doing almost nothing but riding for those four years. He spent a lot of time in his saddle and on the back of these damn troubled horses. Well, Apollo didn’t count, Apollo was a fine animal who just needed a little more work, but he generally worked with abused horses and only just got into the whole eventing thing, which he had to admit, he was enjoying. All in all, yeah, he knew what he was doing and he was damn good at it as well, but no, he hadn’t been working with horses his whole life. Someone who didn’t know horses was obvious at a stable, they were the people fighting against the lead line or yelling or doing something that may spook the animal. They were also the ones who thought it was funny, or even not a problem, when a horse someone else was riding would buck or spook due to something they did. So, yeah, this girl was exactly that and, well, to put it simply, Rick wouldn’t take well to that if he ever found out this new girl at the barn was such an idiot with no want to even try.

The only reason Rick brought in another parolee was because he had such a good result with Sasha here, however, Rick knew he had every right to kick the new girl out whenever he wanted to, and that meant right back to jail and he knew it. Sure, he may be too nice to do it right away, but the second his horses or boarders or especially his daughter was in any sort of danger she was gone. He hated ignorance at his stable. He didn’t mind if you were new to this horse thing, you just had to be smart enough to try and learn and ask when you don’t know. He didn’t mind if you swore, he swore often, you just had to be smart enough to keep your mouth shut around anyone important and the children, especially his daughter, around the stable. What does all this mean? Sophia better get her act together before Rick found out if she didn’t want to go back to jail with an even longer sentence. And Sasha would never hesitate to tell Rick. He hated horse idiots around a stable. They only made his job harder, and gave him an extra horse to fix after they were ruined.

That being said, Sasha completely ignored, no that’s not right, completely didn’t hear the female’s comments, he had started riding in the other direction and had tuned her out to deal with the horse well before she started talking, mostly because he didn’t need Apollo spooking again. Not in this heat at least. The gelding didn’t have a lot of sense yet, meaning he would throw hissy fits in the middle of the heat and only make himself hotter and be in for a longer ride. He’d get there though, the boy was still young. He was happy to see the female had left, however, one more spook and Sasha was scared he’s jump straight from the horse and punch her in the fact. Yeah, Sa didn’t care, he’d hit a woman, if they deserved it. And hell, in his mind spooking the horse after he told them to be careful about it was most certainly a reason. Hell, how often did a spooking horse seriously hurt someone?

As he was riding he turned the corner of the arena, pushing his left leg into the gelding’s side and asking for a side pass. Yeah… it wasn’t working too well so he pulled back a bit on the reins to try and get more of a sideways motion than a forward one when he saw Lit, wandering around and nibbling on grass when he found a good spot. He glanced around as he pulled the thoroughbred back down to a walk, trying to find wherever the person who was supposed to have the pony was, only to be completely lost. He rolled his eyes, that idiot must have lost the horse. How the hell do you lose a fuckin’ horse! With a deep sigh he knew the pony couldn’t be left there alone. He dismounted and pulled his stirrups over Apollo’s back before walking towards the open gate of the arena. “Hey, Lit,” he said, to get the pony’s attention, which he did and soon had the gelding at his side. He really did like this pony, who couldn’t? However, Sasha was much too heavy to ride him, but what can ya do? He had too many horses he needed to ride every day anyway.

He took Apollo’s reins and Lit’s lead and started to walk the horse back to his stall, but on the way he saw the female he had yelled at earlier, looking around desperately for the pony he had in his right hand, following easily behind him. “Hey,” he said fairly loudly to get her attention, once he got it he held out the lead for the female to come get it. “Don’t you dare run,” he said, still loudly as he glared angrily at her, knowing that he might. It was only then that he realized he should probably have the spooky Apollo in his right hand instead of his left. His left shoulder had been dislocated and subluxated so many times that he shouldn’t have risked doing it again by putting the stronger horse in that hand. And he couldn’t just let the gelding go by all means, not when he was fully tacked in everything from a saddle to a martingale and a brindle with his reins dragging on the ground behind him. As was said, Apollo was not a very sensible horse yet, but what ex-racehorse was? When you were only taught to run sense wasn’t something bred in. “You a little horse stupid, aren’t ya?” he asked, looking down at the female and shaking his head. This wasn’t exactly what he wanted to do today.