Two fates entwined

Posts : 4737 Join date : 2013-09-09 Age : 27

First topic message reminder :

Ices facility is based out in the australian outback, young Melissa has been hers right from the start and in the middle of intense training ot become a killer. One of her practice missions goes wrong and she ends up meeting Julian a young horseman in the making. This rp follows their meetings and the twists and turns of fate.

Posts : 4737 Join date : 2013-09-09 Age : 27

Perking up when it was made clear to him that he was going to get the mare, Jules listened carefully to the ensuring conversation. Making a soft hum of agreement, David considered it. “It might be easier to take her home tonight, when there’s no crowd. Are you able to keep her until then?” It would be better to pony her home, he agreed with that. Better than potentially stressing her out more. “Has a vet had a look at her, do we know how old she is, or just that she’s been used in harness?” In all honesty he wasn’t that surprised that his son had fixated on the mare, the boy had a gentle gift with the horses, and David could see that there had once been a good horse in the mare – under all the abuse and hate, perhaps there was a horse that would suit the young boy. “We’ll come back with a couple of oldies, that should help her settle a little hopefully.”

Main account Posts : 13341 Join date : 2013-08-11 Age : 28

Jake nodded "Yeah I can, no vets you've seen what happens when people get close to her, the small chart she came with reckoned about nine or ten. Alright then" once he had the money in his hand, Jake smiled slightly "I'll see you when?" tucking the money away and passing jules the mares piece of paper that had everything he knew about her on it. Moving a leg forward to rub her face on it an attempt to soothe the pain of the halter, rose huffed before returning her attention back to the conversation of the three males. Watching the money change hands and understanding that they'd be back later to collect her, wariness filled the suspicious mare that hated people untrusting on what was going to happen to her and where she'd be taken, glaring at them wanting to be away from everyone, without a halter and somewhere cool.

Posts : 4737 Join date : 2013-09-09 Age : 27

Very pleased that he was getting the mare he wanted, Julian listened closely to the arrangements that his dad made with Jake before trotting after him on their way home. They returned later that afternoon just as everything was closing, the two horses they were on very calm and not fussed by the movements and small commotions. Returning to the red mare’s pen, Julian watched her to see what her reaction would be to the new horses, curious if she was just angry at being alone, or if there was something else to her anger. He paid absent attention to his father and Jake talking, and watched closely as David went into the pen again to try and get a leadrope onto her. It was an interesting lesson for the boy as he observed, but finally David managed it and hopped back onto Holly with a sigh. With everything finalised with Jake, the three were soon on their way back home, Julian paying more attention to his new mare than to what his own horse was doing, but he trusted the gelding to find his way easily enough. Once the horses were seen to, and the red mare turned into the round pen with some feed, he leaned on the fence again watching her, already trying to work out how best to work with her.

Main account Posts : 13341 Join date : 2013-08-11 Age : 28

The red mare made it as difficult as possible for herself to be caught, when the man didn't grow angry and try to lash out she eventually stood still long enough for him to clip the lead on. When the gate was opened she took the opportunity at freedom and tried to bolt out, finding herself stuck between two other horses, she flattened her ears once more and squealed her disgust, flicking her tail and kicking out at one who was too close to her. Reluctantly going with them she was nevertheless pleased to be out of the yards, consistently reminding the other horses to stay out of the space that she guarded so fiercely the trip apart from the odd squeal and kick was uneventful. Taking in the sights of her new home, rose was quite satisfied to note that the gates on the paddocks were easily undoable, her nose told her what shed held food and thus she made up her mind then and there to make an escape into that shed to silence her hungry belly. Finding herself stuck in another yard except this one was round not rectangle, rose prowled around it searching for any weakpoints, the gate had a complicated enough latch that she let it be for now. She'd come back to it that night in private when she wasn't being watched, moving to hungrily crop grass she chose to ignore the kid as he was outside the pen. The grass was fresh and tasty and so she wasted little time in stuffing it in her mouth as fast as she could ignoring the sharp points in her mouth that made eating more difficult.

Posts : 4737 Join date : 2013-09-09 Age : 27

Content with just watching her for now, the boy studied how she moved and inspected everywhere for weak spots apparently. It was going to be a big challenge for him, and he wasn’t surprised when his mother came out and scolded his father for getting the mare and not something a teeny bit safer. Julian paid little attention to the scolding. The mare was his now, and he and his dad were going to help her and then maybe she’d be okay to ride properly and maybe at some point do competitions. He was so excited about his own horse, he didn’t really care what he and her ended up doing. Looking up at his dad came over to watch the mare as well, Julian listened to what he had to say. “We’ll have to let her settle in a bit, get the vet out to check her health and teeth and get that halter off her. I’ll walk you through how to help her, but you’ll have to be careful, alright kiddo?” Julian nodded, folding his arms and resting them on the fence of the round yard to keep watching the red horse. “It’s going to take ages isn’t it, Dad? But she’ll be okay? You won’t get rid of her again?” The youngster grinned cheekily as his hair was ruffled. “She’s your horse now buddy. What happens to her is up to you, so if you’re not wanting to sell her, we won’t.”

Main account Posts : 13341 Join date : 2013-08-11 Age : 28

An ear flicked at the sound of the scolding, jerking her head up warily to study the owner of the voice briefly, her mouth full of grass to bursting, lowering her head she continued to graze continuing to listen as they spoke. Humans never really shut up she'd discovered, so she resigned herself to listening to them, at least she'd hear what they planned to do with her. She didn't actually understand what getting her teeth done meant, assuming it was something like going to the dentist, perhaps it'd stop the pain in her mouth when she ate. The halter was too tight, so the announcement that they were going to remove it was welcomed, although she didn't understand why they'd remove something they could use to control her with. It seemed she belonged to the boy not the man, more things she didn't particularly understand, turning her head to itch at the halter with a hind foot behind her ear and giving a soft groan of contentness as she did so, rose resumed eating.

Posts : 4737 Join date : 2013-09-09 Age : 27

Happier with the reassurance, Julian stayed where he was while his dad went back inside to call the vet. It wasn't long before the vet arrived, and the boy hung around wanting to learn about what was going on with his mare. He wanted to help as much as he could and see what the vet could learn about his horse from her teeth and condition. Like usual, David and the vet had a good yarn before getting to work on the mare, swiftly darting her to make the whole process a fair bit easier. Wanting to get close to her, Julian sat at her withers watching, gently patting her. "Is she gonna be okay?" His steady gentle gaze focused on the vet hopefully, wanting his view on the mare so that he had a better idea of how to go about working with her. He wanted to grow up and work with horses just like his dad, and he definitely had the stubbornness that would help him achieve that.

Main account Posts : 13341 Join date : 2013-08-11 Age : 28

Once the mare was done the vet cut the halter off of her and inspected the rubs on her face, giving them a quick clean the quiet question made the older man glance up "She's in a poor body condition but i've seen worse that have survived, good feed will help. While she's down copy that brand on her shoulder, i've got a book of brands in the ute that might have a match you can look up." with that he got started on the mares teeth "David you might as well do her feet while she's down" giving a soft whistle at the contents of the mares mouth he picked a tool and beckoned Jules forward "Come and have a feel" once the boy had his hand in the sedated mares mouth he explained "Those sharp bits cut into her mouth when she eats, on her tongue you can find scarring from harsh bits, Age wise she's difficult to say. She has a groove in her teeth indicating she's in her thirties but her teeth aren't in that state of decline, they're more the teeth of a eight to ten year old. Nor is she greying out in her face like older horses do, she just has white hairs from scarring" a little perplexed at the results he had from her teeth he got to work grinding down the sharp bits carefully. Occasionally pausing to push his glasses back up his nose the walnut skinned 50 year old man finally had her teeth right, indicating for the boy to feel what they were like now he smiled "You've got your work out for you that's for sure, she'll not need her teeth done again for another couple of years, you'll need to worm her too. She'll probably not tolerate tube wormers so i'll sell you some wormer thats in the form of tasty pellets you can put in her feed, mix them with something sugary like molasses if you think she's too crafty" running gentle brown eyes over the mare fondly the man got up onto his feet and sighed. He had every belief that david and his son would help the mare, David knew his horses and his son had inherited his gift with them. A wry smile briefly showed, remembering David to be nearly identical to what jules was like now/

Posts : 4737 Join date : 2013-09-09 Age : 27

julian had always liked the older man, he was happy to explain things to the youngster in easier to understand terms. Scooting over to the mare's head, he touched the teeth curiously, feeling the sharp jagged edges. "How can you tell how old they are with their teeth? Holly didn't keep her mouth open long enough for dad to show me." Hearing the distinctive sound of his dad working on the mare's hooves, he didn't really pay attention to that this time, more focused on listening to the vets response to his question. "Will she be okay to ride and bridle later on or will we never be able to do that?" Not that he minded either way, he was happy to ride about in a bit less bridle or even a halter if that was what the horse preferred.

Main account Posts : 13341 Join date : 2013-08-11 Age : 28

Erik explained how he'd aged the mares teeth, and further explained why Roses teeth confused him, "As for bits i'd say it'll be more mental scars than physical scars that'll hinder her progress." going over the mares body carefully and explaining to the boy what he was doign and why, finally done he tested her "We should get out of the pen now she's about ready to come around" getting up and heading out of the pen he watched as the mare woke up and slowly got up. She seemed like a tough old thing, still unsure of her age he mused over things before flicking a wry smile at David "I'd best head off then, best of luck you two, if you need anything give me a ring" heading over to his ute he got out the brand book for Julian and passed it to him before finding the worming feed and unloading the bag with a sigh. It was good stuff and he'd brought it with him on purpose once david had explained things on the phone, with a wave he got into his ute and headed off.

Posts : 4737 Join date : 2013-09-09 Age : 27

Listening carefully, Julian absorbed the knowledge like a sponge, storing it all away. He loved learning about his beloved horses, thoroughly taking after his father with his gift and his interests. Copying down the mare's brand before she was woken up, he took the book with a polite thank you. He took the bag of wormer feed too when his father passed it to him, his strong arms wrapping tightly around it to make sure he didn't drop it. With the vet finally gone and the mare waking up, David studied the tough horse for a moment then patted his sons shoulder. "Let her settle, don't feed her until the drug is completely worn off in case she chokes. Then you can start feeding her to get that weight back on her. Let her be a few days so she works things out, then we'll see how she goes with some gentle work." Julian nodded, watching his father head off to finish off some jobs, then trotted into the feed shed to put the wormer away. He knew what the mare would be fed, it wasn't the first time they'd brought home skinny horses, so he readied that feed and added some molasses and the wormer as well, thoroughly mixing it altogether in hope that she wouldn't realise there was wormer in there. When the drug was finally worn off enough, the boy lugged the heavy bucket over to her pen and tipped the feed into the trough that was already in the yard. "There you go, red. Something yummy for you." While she ate, he made sure that she had enough water in with her as well.

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Having struggled up as soon as she could, rose stood there drowsily not moving about for a couple of hours, finally stumbling over to the trough for a drink Rose took long slow sips of water before wandering back over to continue eating the thickly growing grass. Keeping to herself until she heard footsteps, the chestnut pony yanked up her head eyeing the owner of them warily, recognizing the figure as the boy who'd decided that he wanted her. The tasty smell of feed drew her over to the fence albeit a little warily, she'd not had any experience with kids and so far she was reluctant to hurt one, especially one that had brought food. Watching keenly as he poured the feed into the empty feed trough, Rose thrust her muzzle into the food eating hungrily completely ignoring the boy now, flicking an ear at the sound of the boys voice she briefly flicked a glance at him, stuffing her mouth with as much food as she could.

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Pleased that she was eating, Julian lingered at the water trough to watch her. She didn’t seem to mind that he was there, so he stayed, not pressuring her by moving closer. Once the trough was filled again with water, he moved to turn the tap off and picked up the bucket. “Hope you like it, red. I’ll be back later with more.” He didn’t want to push her more than she was comfortable with. Trotting off with the bucket, he cleaned it out and put it away before going off to finish his chores before dinner. With the sun beginning to set, he returned to give her another small feed, his dad having taught him already that small feeds were much better for recovering horses than big ones. Going through the same process as earlier, he gave her some feed and stepped back to the water trough again, leaning on the fence to watch her quietly. It intrigued him that she didn’t seem to be aggressive towards him, but he still wasn’t stupid enough to go into the pen with her. He had to wait for his dad to work with her for a bit first to work out what exactly her issues were, and then hopefully he’d be able to work with his horse soon.

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Snorting when the boy mentioned that he hoped she liked it, rose was very much of the opinion that it was quite clear that she liked the food. By the time the boy returned the trough had been licked clean, the mare was standing with a leg at rest with her eyes mostly closed, an ear flicked at the sound of footsteps, opening her eyes and turned her head towards the owner of the footsteps. Ears perked forward at the sign of the bucket, turning around to watch closely as he tipped the feed into the trough, when he backed off to lean against the fence, rushing forward to hungrily devour as much of the feed as she could in a short amount of time. Soon finished and licking her lips clean of any left over morsels, rose lifted her head and studied the child, before slowly moving to drink, fairly wary that the kid might try something she moved back out of reach once she'd satisfied her thirst. Appearing content enough to watch him, licking her lips still as if that might make more food appear.

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Happy that she seemed to be eating well, and that she hadn’t seemed to notice the wormer in her food, the boy watched her curiously for a while, stepping back as she wandered towards him to keep the same distance between them for now. He’d brought a few pieces of carrots and was tempted to offer them to her, but he wasn’t sure what she’d do. Crunching on a piece while he thought it over, Julian eventually decided to take the risk and moved forward slowly, holding out a piece of carrot on his flat hand towards her.

Main account Posts : 13341 Join date : 2013-08-11 Age : 28

His hands moved, one going into his pocket, ears perked forward watching the hands closely half waiting for something to be drawn out of the pocket to hurt her with. Instead something that smelled good was taken out of his pocket and slipped into his mouth, wondering what the strong smell was Rose's interest grew when he put a piece of something orange on his hand and inched forward slowly. Finally clicking that it was a piece of carrot, she allowed the boy to slowly approach, he was so small he wouldn't be much of a threat after all, out stretching her neck she sniffed the orange vegetable very carefully making sure that it wasn't some sort of trick, when her powerful nose reported that there was nothing wrong with it she grabbed it in her lips, pulled it into her mouth and backed up a few steps crunching the tasty treat as quickly as she could so it couldn't be taken away from her. She hadn't had any sort of treat like that in years, wanting more carrots Rose didn't back up anymore, nor did she outstretch her muzzle again, just staying still to see what would happen next.

Posts : 4737 Join date : 2013-09-09 Age : 27

Letting her take it and move where she wanted, Julian was pleased to see that she didn’t move very far away. Fishing out another piece of carrot, he offered it to her again. He was glad that she didn’t seem to have an inclination to bite him like she had with the other people in the sales yards, but he also knew that horses were very unpredictable. Wanting to keep as predictable as possible himself for her, he didn’t change how he’d offered her the carrot, simply waiting patiently and not pulling back when she reached for it again. Once she’d finished that piece too, he gave her the rest of the pieces as well. It was beginning to get late, and he knew it would soon be dinner time, so he dusted off his hands and wandered inside. Following his dad out the next morning to feed the horses, the boy included her in the routine, feeding her while David was busy with the stallions. There wasn’t much they could do with the mare for now except make sure she got weight back on her. His dad had always been careful about not pushing too much too soon.

Main account Posts : 13341 Join date : 2013-08-11 Age : 28

Carefully repeating the same process over and over, by the time she finished the last piece of carrot she wasn't choosing to move away anymore. Hopefully waiting to see if he'd feed her some more, she huffed when he dusted off his hands and left. Once he was gone, Rose sniffed around picking up a couple of small bits of carrot that she'd dropped, sometime during the night she felt safe enough to lie down, however she was soon up on her feet again by the time the sun rose. Watching as the two people moved around feeding the others, the impatient female stamped her feet wanting her food now, moving over to stand at the trough watching the boy lug the bucket over, stamping a foot again her way of telling him to hurry up she nearly dove into the trough when the food was put in there. Hastily gobbling it up, with a mouth full of food she lifted her head to keep an eye on things incase someone tried to sneak up on her while she ate. Once the trough was empty and once more licked clean, Rose looked somewhat hopefully at the boy wondering if he had any more of the carrots that he'd given her last night.

Posts : 4737 Join date : 2013-09-09 Age : 27

They’d had his mare for a couple of weeks now, and his dad had tried doing some work with her while Julian watched, but the crafty mare had refused to do anything with him. The boy had continued feeding her and offering her treats, and they’d got to the point where she no longer moved away from him if he was outside the fence, even if he was doing nothing and just watching her. He’d had the idea while in his bed the night before, and so he brought it up to his father over brekkie. Overjoyed that the idea was approved, the youngster trotted out to do his chores and feed the horses before finding his dad and heading to the round yard. The grass in there was nice and short now thanks to the mare grazing on it, and she was beginning to fill out nicely, enough that David was happy to start working her even though she’d refused to do anything with the adult. Deciding that he didn’t want to bring in a rope or anything for the first few times until they knew how she’d react to them, the boy slipped into the yard with his dad on the outside to watch and give some directions. Focusing on the mare, Julian moved away from the fence so that he couldn’t be cornered in case anything went wrong and just waited for a while to see what she would do.

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She'd made it quite clear that David the adult male was not allowed anywhere near her, whenever she felt pushed she'd quickly turned to violence and lashed out at him. Contentedly finishing off her breakfast and taking her usual after breakfast drink, rose moved away from the troughs picking at the grass that she'd mowed down. Lifting her head to itch her side, she spotted the pair of humans making their way over, growing wary she backed off a little wanting to keep plenty of space around herself, warily keeping her gaze more on the older male than the child, the older male had come into her pen several times in an attempt to work her. Flicking her tail she was somewhat surprised to see that it was the boy, Julian who ducked into the pen, remaining where she was, Rose made no movement to duck away nor lash out, choosing to focus the child instead.

Posts : 4737 Join date : 2013-09-09 Age : 27

Liking that she hadn’t moved away or lashed out, Julian stayed where he was for a while, letting her relax with his presence inside the pen with her. He had some carrots in his pockets that he was going to offer her at some point, but first he wanted to see if she’d come to him of her own accord. His dad was only watching just in case something went wrong, but Julian had a bit of a gut feeling that she wouldn’t try anything with him. He wasn’t sure why or how he knew, but he just did. Patiently waiting, he only moved when she moved forward, taking a slight step backwards to ease off the pressure on her and therefore reward her for her efforts. Fishing out a piece of carrot as well, he munched on one absently and held out his hand to her with another piece on it. It was going to be interesting without the barrier of the fence in the way now, but like always he had no time frame in his mind. He could work with her all day and all night if that’s what it took, and it was one of the valuable lessons that he’d learned from his father. If a horse felt rushed, then everything would take so much longer than if he acted like he had all day to work through things.

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Watching him Rose made no movement forward but she didn't move away, growing bored of standing still she after several minutes took a couple of steps forward wanting some carrot having learned to associate the boys pocket and hand with food. Lowering her head to be close to him when he fished some carrot out and ate it himself, snorting she snatched the carrot off of his hand when he finally offered her some, lifting her head up out of the way she crunched on the tasty treat. Knowing that he was unlikely to hurt her she brought her head down again and sniffed the pocket trying to see if her nose would fit into the pockets. Finding however that her muzzle was too big, rose huffed and moved her head away, unsure of what was happening and what he wanted, Rose backed up a couple of steps snorting not quite understanding what he wanted from her.

Posts : 4737 Join date : 2013-09-09 Age : 27

Grinning a little when she came closer and sniffed at his pockets, he gave her another piece of carrot. “Not so bad, huh? Promise you’re safe here, we won’t hurt you.” He wanted to see if she’d let him touch her, but he didn’t push that for now, just offering her carrots for the moment. Once he felt that she was a bit more relaxed, he moved slowly aiming to stand at her shoulder. If she wouldn’t let him, then he’d just stand where she was happy. He didn’t mind taking baby steps, his dad had always said baby steps forward were a lot better than no steps, or steps backwards. Offering out another piece of carrot, he carefully reached forward to touch his fingertips to her shoulder, keeping a close and careful on her head and ears for any indication of how she’d react.

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Accepting the piece of carrot, rose crunched it while shooting him an unimpressed look when he promised that she wouldn't be hurt, that it was safe. Watching the boy when he moved aiming for her shoulder, rose turned herself away from him, keeping her front feet in one place and swinging her hind quarters away not that pleased with him however her mind changed when she spotted there was more carrot in his hand which she happily took out of his hand. She repeated the same progress several times until finally standing still for him to touch her, tense under the fingertips the red mare kept a sharp eye on him ready to jack knife away from him just in case, still very uninterested in harming the boy unlike the father who if he'd tried to touch her like this she would have purposely spooked onto him to knock him over.

Posts : 4737 Join date : 2013-09-09 Age : 27

So very pleased with himself when she let him touch her, Julian only kept his fingertips there for a few seconds before backing away and offering her another piece of carrot. Grinning, he glanced over at his dad, who had a bit of a wry grin on his face. “Well, it looks like she’s chosen you too, kiddo. She’s all yours to work with, so you’d better be good to her.” The boy nodded, passing he mare another bit of crunchy carrot when she started looking for another. “Of course, Dad. I’ll be careful.” It was good that she seemed a bit more open to having him around her, especially after he’d seen his dad trying to work with her. She’d been so dangerous and unwilling to settle, the boy was very pleased to see that she seemed a bit more settled with him.