move along cowboy ( open )

[rendezvous]

The sun's rays were illuminating the landscape as a Ford pulled a small two horse trailer onto the view of a equine stable. As the truck pulled to a stop, the equine within the confinement of the aluminum trailer rocked his metal cage from side to side, wanting to leave his imprisionment and take a look at what was going on outside of the trailer. Two people stepped out of the truck, the driver was much older than the passenger, however they possessed similarities, hinting the possibility of them buying father and son, or something of the like. The dirty blonde passenger hurried over to the trailer gate and placed his hand on the gate before his aged father walked over to him.

The old man looked to the inside of the trailer, only seeing the white marked face of the dark equine within the pitch of the trailer's interior. "Son, you be careful with that stallion" spoke the old man in a deep Texas accent. The young man of nineteen, nearing twenty simply glanced at his father, not saying a word. He unlocked the latch to the trailer, opening the gate and quietly stepped into the trailer. The black stallion's head turned to face his owner, and waited as Jared hooked the lead rope to the stallion's leather halter, and untied the trailer tie. A clicking of horse shoes could be heard from within the trailer and soon enough the young man was leading the equine out of the trailer.


The stallion, who was nicknamed Dundee, was gazing at the stable with little to no interest, as his owner held the lead in one hand. Jared's father looked at the pair for a moment. "Guess I'll be leavin'" spoke the father simply before he closed up the trailer gate and headed back to the driver's side. The father was about to speak once more, but his son had already headed off towards the stable, not once looking back. And with that Jared's father got into the truck and drove away.


Jared led Dundee down the long rows of stalls and such, looking for the stall in which he was to put the high strung stallion in. Dundee, on the other hand, was holding his head high and nickering here and there to the different equines that resided in the stable. Jared continued to lead his stallion in silence, finally finding the stall in which would be the horse's new home. He opened the stall door and led the stallion in and soon enough he was unhooking the lead from the halter. "Okay Dundee" he finally spoke as he watched the black stallion nose at the bedding that laid at his dark hooves. Jared stepped out of the stall and closed the stall door behind him and watched the dark stallion for a few moments.

[/blockquote]

[chuck]

Chuck was later than she promised herself she'd be. She was always late. She rushed through the stable hallways, trying to zip up her half-chaps as she moved, grooming kit in hand, with snacks for her and Andy tucked in between dusty brushes. Chuck could easily be seen as the most casual English discipline boarder here, in torn jeans and a bright green tank top stained with shoe polish, positively dripping in necklaces, thick blonde hair tied out of her face in a messy ponytail, running late as always. Her running in the stable hall, which was, she knew, a big no-no, startled some of the more easily started horses, and their actions were easily audible. In this way, anyone could tell that she was coming.

Andy didn't seem to care, though, chewing on his hay as if nothing was amiss. "Hey, big guy," Chuck murmured to her gelding, rubbing his forehead like he loved. She was always glad to see him, the only boyfriend she was ever going to have, the only friend that didn't piss her off. "This time I brought peanut butter." Their mutual favourite snack, it was the only thing that worked one hundred percent of the time to keep Andy from cornering and kicking Chuck while she was working or grooming him in the stall. He would be so preoccupied with the sticky peanut butter he'd forget to be mad at her. Normally she'd have her horse in the cross-ties for grooming, but there was someone moving in across the hall. And, like Chuck Platzoeder always would do, she went over to investigate, opening the jar of peanut butter and dipping a finger in.

Sucking on her index fingertip, Chuck walked across the hallway, peering into the stall at its new occupant, a big black horse. Stylish. She stood on her toes, trying to get a good view like a child at a parade. "He's gorgeous, what's his name?" Chuck asked in her peculiar Afrikaans accent, her voice hushed as if she was in awe. Chuck wasn't- she just hated talking when people didn't sound like her, as if she was somehow at fault.

When Chuck was younger she always imagined herself on a big black fiery prize stallion like in all the movies, but then she met Andy and discovered how much she loved dark bay, sixteen hands, with three white socks and a cute crooked snip. Chuck looked at the man who apparently owned this horse, not unattractive himself as stated by the tiny part of Chuck's sexuality she hadn't repressed, a tiny voice in her brain. But logic had to agree, with his nice blue eyes and curly hair and rugged face.

Remembering her manners, Chuck offered the open jar of peanut butter to her neighbor. It was obvious that both she and her horse had had their fair share of it- it was about two-thirds empty, something rather extraordinary for the two days it had been since she'd bought it. She imagined it could be rather embarrassing to eat condiments without the things that said condiments went on, but exactly why was beyond Chuck's ability to reason.

[rendezvous]

Jared was observing the black brute within the stall, he hadn't noticed that there was someone else nearby, at least not until Dundee raised his head, looking at the person who had just spoken a few words in Jared's general direction. Jared shifted his blue gaze towards the stranger, of course he had not seen this person before, for a moment he was speechless then a small smile appeared on his facial features. "His name is Dundee" he spoke in his deep Texas voice.

He looked at his equine for a minute or so, but the horse didn't seem to be interested in the girl that had appeared near his stall. Instead he turned his interest towards the empty feed trough. Jared looked to the girl again, except that this time he was focusing his attention on the jar of peanut butter in the girl's hands. He didn't exactly know what to say on the subject of a person hauling around a jar of peanut butter ,who knew, maybe this person was feeding to her horse, or to herself for that matter. He shrugged off the matter soon enough.

Now what else? What else...oh that's right his name. Of course he had some humanity to him, a person always had to introduce themselves. "I'm Jared" He was feeling bad for talking now, sometimes his voice felt awkward to him, he sometimes wondered if anyone else thought his voice was different. Oh well. He looked to his horse again, this time the stallion was looking at him dead on, sometimes his horse made him think really hard about what the stallion as thinking. The horse snorted, flicking an ear, observing the two people in front of him. Jared's gaze shifted away from his horse again "I assume you have a um...horse here too?" he asked after a while.

[/blockquote]

[chuck]

Chuck tossed her peanut butter jar, not accepted by her neighbor, back into the grooming kit that lay on the floor with a clatter. Andy, munching hay in his stall, snorted in response. "I'm Chuck," she said. She never even bothered with Charlotte anymore, it had been such a long time since anyone called her that. Even her parents, after a while, gave in to her cute nickname. Charlotte was for bills and passports, not social interaction.

"Yeah," Chuck said, her eyes almost visibly lighting up as her 'boyfriend' was mentioned. She took the three or four steps across the stable hallway, pointing out her gelding, who snapped his head up like he knew he was being mentioned. "Arabesque. Andy." He looked much too big for her, and tough to handle for a girl that small and gentle-looking. But when Chuck was on horseback, even if she did need a leg up, her demeanor changed entirely. From a girl who seemed like she had a horse just to have a horse, thrilled at the status symbol, to a serious athlete, moving with scientific precision and ultimate control over what she was doing. Chuck was a professional, she didn't understand why nobody expected this from her.

It wasn't completely improbable, even if she did share peanut butter and hot chocolate with her horse and couldn't be seen in a pair of breeches outside a showground.

As if it were second nature, Chuck pushed his head away before he tried to bite her, and, losing interest, he pulled some hay from his rack and began to munch again. He was as handsome as any black stallion, if only a bit more average in appearance. "Nice to meet you, by the way," Chuck said, shouldering open the heavy stall door and pulling Andy out by his flashy neon green halter, clipping him into the nearest cross ties. "Watch Andy, sometimes he kicks." Chuck wasn't planning on doing much about his bad habits, she'd feel like a bit of a hypocrite seeing as how she kicked people she didn't like too.