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Post by LILLIAN JACKSON on May 1, 2012 16:40:34 GMT -5
"Bye, mom! Thanks for the ride!"
Lily watched as her mom started the car again and took off down the road, waving goodbye from the driver's side as a small canine poked his head out of the window behind the passenger's side. Rex had wanted to get out of the car when he saw the cattle out in the field, and no doubt wanted to, at the very least, sit out in the field with them and watch. That was the sheepdog in him, or at least the shepherd; her parents had made her do a lot of research on the breed before they even considered getting Rex for, so he new a little too much about the breed than she had wanted. She had, of course, considered taking him down the drive and to the house with her, however, seeing as how she was trying to get a job from them, and she didn't know how they would react [they meaning the other animals, if anything but cattle and horses, and the humans, there, too], Lily thought it best to not do so, at least until she worked there for a while longer.
Sighing, the teen rearranged the panda bag on her side and turned, starting down the long driveway to the house. Her mom had offered to simply drive her to the house, but she insisted on walking; she was grown up now, and, knowing her mom, the women would probably try and help her daughter by talking about how great she was with animals and all that jazz. And that was not what she needed at the moment. That, and she promised to call when she was done.
The walk took only a few minutes, at least, and she had to admit, the house up close - the one the owners, or whom ever she had talked to at the grocery store when she asked if they knew any place that was hiring - said to go to. At least she hoped. Lily trotted up the steps and to the door, and simply knocked on the door, and then waited. And waited. And waited a little bit more. Pursing her lips, she contemplated on weather or not to knock again or simply see if the door was open; but then again, that could get her into a lot of trouble. That, and, with her luck, no one was home. Didn't the son live in this house or something? Maybe he was in the shower or taking a nap or something? Or maybe in the horse barn tending to them... On that thought, Lily looked around, as if expecting to suddenly see someone appear, before slipping off her panda bag and leaving it on the porch to the side of the door. She then turned, and walked to the nearest barn, of which she presumed to be one of the horse barns, or at least something close to that.
She trotted most of the way there, and a few cows - along with their calves; she guessed that they were too young to be with the rest of the herd, they were so small, and she knew farmers who kept their calves and their mothers nearest to either their house or barn to keep an eye on them until they got at least a few weeks old - raised their hefty heads from what ever they were doing to watch her walk past, before resuming their meekly duties. Once closer, Lily realized that she heard whinnies from inside the barn, as well as some noises that she really couldn't make out.
"Hello?" she called out as she tromped towards the large opening of the barn, it's double doors open due to the nice weather. As she walked to the opening and gazed in, a few horses lifted their heads over their stall doors and looked at her almost quizzically, as if wondering why she was making so much racket. "Hello?" Lily tried again, although a big louder this time, stepping more into the barn and gazing around at it's interior.
All but a couple of horses - there only seemed to be about ten or so in this bard, or so Lily could make out from the figures moving about in the stalls - retracted their massive skulls, obviously becoming uninterested in the new person's presence, as she tried to find the scource of the other sound she knew she was hearing. Music? Maybe. She knew some people who owned farms that had small speakers rigged around their barn and would play music or soft sounds to keep the horses calm, more so in storms than anything else, and to keep them distracted by any outside noises so they wouldn't spook.
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Post by kegan on May 4, 2012 8:37:03 GMT -5
WELL IT'S MIDNIGHT, DARN RIGHT, WE'RE WOUND UP, [/font] too tight, i've got a fist full of whiskey the bottle just,[/b][/SIZE][/font][/color]  bit me, oh, that sh*t makes me bat-sh*t crazy, we've got[/b][/SIZE][/color][/font] -------------------- NO FEAR, NO DOUBT, ALL-IN, BALLS OUT[/color][/font]
Kegan woke up just as soon as his alarm started going off. He had been dozing on and off for the past half an hour, and he really could have gotten up then, but he was stubborn enough to stay in bed for as long as he had to. Grumbling, Kegan reached over and shut the annoying alarm clock off. He then opened his eyes, blinking in the bright sunlight. It was seven in the morning, but the sun already had a good head start to the day. Kegan used to get up with the sun, but ever since Kate’s passing… well his whole routine got shaken up somewhat. Closing his eyes as painful memories seared him, Kegan took a few deep breaths and reached over to his side table – where he used to keep a shot of whiskey whenever he was overwhelmed with memories like this. Frowning when his fingers didn’t graze the glass, he opened his eyes and saw that the bottle wasn’t there anymore, let alone the shot glass. He sat up, swinging his legs around the edge of the bed, and then he remembered: last night had a few moments where he surfaced out of his depression and he had taken the bottle and… But that was all he could remember – he couldn’t seem to remember where he had put it. Sighing, Kegan closed his eyes and rubbed his face with his hands. He was in a bad place, but it was nowhere near as dark of a place he had been in a month ago. If it wasn’t for his cousin, Jeremy, Kegan would probably still be in that very depressed state – where all he saw was alcohol. He had even stopped going out to see the horses or the cows, he would get up and drink until he passed out again. This carried on for about six months or so, until Jeremy came to his rescue.
Jeremy and Kegan had been very close growing up. Jeremy didn’t live very far away, and during the summer months when he was younger, he would come and stay at the ranch. He was the only one that Kegan had really ever confided anything to, and because of that, Jeremy had more of a pull than Kegan could ever imagine. Jeremy was also good a pep talks, and he was able to make Kegan see that he just couldn’t be this way for the rest of his life; that he was just wasting what he was left with. That Kate wouldn’t want him to live like this, and that he was letting his parents and the many generations of Diesels who have owned this ranch, down. Kegan didn’t want this, and because of that he was able to slowly pull himself out of that dark depression. Of course, he was still in that process, so he was usually overcome with weak moments – like this morning – when he craved for a drink. Taking a few more deep breaths, Kegan stood up and he moved his lazy butt into the bathroom that was privately attached to his bedroom, and his bedroom only. Ten minutes later he reappeared, feeling refreshed and more awake now. He then walked to the closet and grabbed a pair of barn jeans, pulling them on over the boxers that he had slept in. Then he tugged on a fresh pair of socks. He grabbed a clean button up shirt, which he normally wore out in the barn – one of the checkered kinds. He has many different kinds, and some of them are so well worn that they are very soft and comfortable. He doesn’t war the same shirts to the barn that he does to work or around town or to a dinner or party, although he does wear the same kind of shirt – he just has a wide variety.
Once he was finished getting dressed, Kegan walked to door and opened it, heading down the stairs. He walked downstairs and into the kitchen – where he usually went once he was up. Plugging in the coffee maker, Kegan leaned against the counter and folded his arms, looking around his kitchen. It was quiet in his house, as well as on the ranch. The kitchen window had been left open all night, because of the nice weather on the island. Kegan didn’t hear anything really, except for the occasional neigh or holler from a ranch hand. Kegan assumed that everything was going well; since he couldn’t hear anything. Once the coffee maker was finished brewing the coffee, he turned and unfolded his arms. Kegan grabbed a travel thermos and filled it to the brim with the coffee. He then screwed on the lid and walked out of the kitchen to the mud room. He opened up the door and shut it behind him. Placing his thermos down on a nearby empty ledge, he tugged on his cowboy boots and put a cowboy hat on his head. He then grabbed his thermos and walked to the screen door, that led out to the full wrap around porch that wrapped around his house. Pausing for a moment, Kegan surveyed his ranch – or his soon to be ranch. His parents were in the process of wanting to hand it over, and they were choosing between Kegan and a few of his other cousins. The only reason why they didn’t choose their son, hands down, was because Kegan was in a difficult time in his life and the wanted to pass the ranch onto capable hands… Kegan felt the familiar jealousy bubble up and he took a sip of hot coffee to get the awful taste out of his mouth. He hated that his parents had to seriously consider his cousins, over their own son. He was getting better now – he wanted to keep the ranch in his own name… it was only right.
Sighing, Kegan pushed all of that drama from his mind. He didn’t want to think about it, it would just put him in a bad mood and he didn’t want to start the day that way. Swallowing the painfully hot coffee, Kegan grimaced and pulled the thermos away. He then walked down the wooden steps that led up to his porch, and he headed down the gravel pathway that connected his house to the show horse barn, which was closest to his house. He walked inside and saw that a few other ranch hands had started the feeding process. He walked into the grain room, and put his thermos down on a nearby ledge. He then got to work separating out the proper portions for each of the ten horses in here. Kegan did this rather quickly, but it was still a time consuming task. Once everything was put into the proper containers, Kegan then started to feed the horses. One at a time, unfortunately, but he did this part quickly too. Grabbing the last container, Kegan walked out of the grain room and headed to the horses’ stall. He spotted someone in the doorway, but he assumed it was just a ranch worker. He walked into the horses’ stall, and that’s when he heard a female’s voice. ‘Hello?’ Kegan dumped the grain into the proper grain bucket in the horses stall. ‘Hello?’ It was amazing that he could actually hear her, considering the horse he was with was now throwing the grain around in the plastic bucket. Kegan stepped out of the stall and slid the door closed, and then walked down to the newcomer who was standing at the mouth of the barn, looking around. Kegan arched a brow, wondering if he had set up any appointments for today – he had so many people come up to him and ask about job positions that he lost track of when he told someone to come out. He probably should start using a planner one of these days.
Kegan smiled and looked at the girl. She was young, that’s for sure, but he did know one thing: he had never seen her before. He was pretty good about remembering faces, once he was able to have a good look at them. “I don’t think we’ve met before.” Kegan looked down at his hand, shifting the container to his left hand. He dusted his right hand off on his jeans, and when it was clean he stuck it out to the girl. “My name is Kegan Diesel.” He smiled, his white teeth showing through his lightly tanned skin. A bit of his dirty blonde hair was poking from under his cowboy hat, because it was due for a trim soon. Once they shook hands, Kegan brought his hand back to his side, shifting his grip on the container with his left hand. He kept his eyes on the girls’ face. “So what can I help you with?” It was a safe question that he almost always asked when there was someone new on the property that he had never met before. Sometimes people would just say their name and he would remember them, and other times he would need some help remembering them. He didn’t know what he would do when he got older, he had such a hard time remember people’s names. He would have to start using a planner or something, or he could always just use his smart phone a bit more. It had a scheduler and a calendar in it, that he never paid any mind to. He was old fashioned in that sense, he really didn’t text much, but he was always talking on the cell if he had to – it was something that he had always done growing up, and because of that he was just used to it.
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words: 1, 869 tag: lillian jackson song: burn it to the ground - nickelback clothes: here!notes: I hope this is okay! Sorry about the wait, hopefully I will be able to reply quicker next time. XD
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Post by LILLIAN JACKSON on May 4, 2012 17:25:35 GMT -5
“I don’t think we’ve met before.”
The sound of someone else's voice made her jump, and she turned her head to see that a man had stepped out of the one of the nearby stalls and was near her, greeting her with a slightly dirty hand; she really didn't take any notice of it, of course, seeing as how her brothers were probably far worse than this guy seemed to be. And the way he had greeted her made her believe that maybe he was ranch owner, or something close to it. So of course she wouldn't complain as much about it. That, and she didn't mind getting dirty like other girls did; as long as it was for a good cause - or a fun one, as most of the time her reason was to her mom - than of course she didn't mind getting dirty, or for the most part muddy and all.
“My name is Kegan Diesel.”
"Lillian Jackson, but you can call me Lily, for short," Lily responded, remembering the man had held out his hand to her and promptly took it into a hand shake of sorts. "No, me and my family moved here just a few months ago, after my dad retired from the military. We really haven't gotten to know many people yet, since we're still settling in and all from always moving around and all."
[/color] Kegan Diesel? Didn't that one man say that that was the son of the ranch owners or something? She recognized the last name, at least, because the man had mentioned it to her when she had asked about that job. Well, at least she was getting somewhere, that was a start; usually she was always running in circles when she was trying to find something, a trait her mother always laughed at and said that she got from her father. And she actually believed her on that account, too. “So what can I help you with?”"Well, I had been asking around Southern Comfort about jobs and all, 'cause I promised my parents I'd get one," Lily started, taking a moment to glance past the man and to a couple stable hands working in the barn, and what seemed to be with a few horses, before looking back to Kegan with a steady gaze and continuing, "And I've heard from a couple towns folk that you might be hiring stable hands? I've worked with horses and cattle before, 'cause my grandpa has a farm back in the states, although we didn't stay long with him 'fore we had to move, and I was only little, but I'm pretty sure I can learn really quickly; I had to with our family dogs, but, heh, I'm sure that don't matter when it comes to horses and cattle."[/size][/font][/blockquote][/blockquote] |
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Post by kegan on May 8, 2012 14:55:16 GMT -5
WELL IT'S MIDNIGHT, DARN RIGHT, WE'RE WOUND UP, [/font] too tight, i've got a fist full of whiskey the bottle just,[/b][/SIZE][/font][/color] bit me, oh, that sh*t makes me bat-sh*t crazy, we've got[/b][/SIZE][/color][/font] -------------------- NO FEAR, NO DOUBT, ALL-IN, BALLS OUT[/color][/font]
Kegan hadn’t intended to sneak up on the girl and scare her, he was under the impression that she knew he was there – if she was calling out to get someone’s attention. Not just that, most of the horses were stomping around, expecting to be fed very shortly. The whole barn was bustling, which made for a lot of noise. Kegan stepped out of the first horses’ stall, right near the barn entrance. The large Dutch doors were flung open to allow a nice breeze to sweep through the barn. Kegan liked days like these, the warm air wasn’t too stifling, it was just warm enough to keep everyone going about their day. Chores got done, and anything that had been held off in the winter was getting looked after. It was one of those spring days where everyone was in almost hyper drive, and Kegan loved it. It made him feel like he had before… before Kate’s accident. But as per usual, his mind always drifted back to the accident – causing him to frown and his features to tighten up. He didn’t even mean to; but Kate was on his mind quite often. He tried to change the subject, and he had tried seeking out closure too – but nothing seemed to work. No matter how much he submerged himself in his barn duties, he still couldn’t get her off of his mind. The only thing that he knew worked, was alcohol – but Jeremy had taken his whole stash… well almost all of it, save the whiskey bottle that was on his bedside table. Kegan was really trying to kick the habit, but it was a struggle that he probably shouldn’t be doing alone. He should have someone there at his side, but he didn’t stay close to all of his friends during the grieving process. In fact, he had ended up pissing off a lot of his friends by not answering their texts or phone calls. He had effectively cut himself away from social interaction for a while.
But now he was on the other side of that low valley of depression. The problem was that he had ruined his close relationships with other people during that terrible time, and now he was dealing with the after math. And the problem was: he wasn’t dealing with it too well. Finding out that he had nobody there for him now, when he needed them the most – when he could accept their help – was very depressing. But he wasn’t going to go and ask for help, it just wasn’t in his nature. He had never asked anyone for help – ever. Not even his parents. When he needed help he would just wait around for someone to help out; or he would deal with it himself, in his own way. It was just part of his stubborn side and he really wouldn’t be able to change that side of him. He wasn’t even thinking about changing it anyways. His stubbornness has gotten him a lot in the past, his job as a bartender and most of the show and rescue horses that are here on the farm. If he wasn’t stubborn then he would have gotten walked all over in those horse auctions. ‘Lillian Jackson, but you can call me Lily, for short.’ Kegan shook her hand when he mentally shook himself, trying to stay focused on the current conversation. That was another thing that had pissed a lot of his friends off; he tended to stray mentally away from a conversation that he is in. He doesn’t quite know why he does it, but it’s something that has gotten worse ever since Kate’s accident. “Alright Lily.” Kegan smiled, and dropped his hand, letting it fall back down to his side. He had made sure to wipe it clean on his jeans before he shook hands with her, because his hands had already gotten a bit dirty from doing the morning chores. In Kegan’s mind, barns weren’t supposed to be spotless all of the time. Of course his barns weren’t a mess either.
‘No, me and my family moved here just a few months ago, after my dad retired from the military. We really haven’t gotten to know many people yet, since we’re still settling in and all from always moving around and all.’ Kegan folded his arms, and listened to what Lily had to say about herself. He was surprised how open she was, but he had to admit that it was nice. He liked to do a bit of a background check on his workers, because he always wanted to make sure that people who came here had a sound mind. It could be very dangerous for the person and animal involved if someone wasn’t thinking clearly. He only knew about that too well, considering what he is just recovering from. He had known himself that he had to stay away from the barns when he was drunk all the time, which is why his parents worry about who they should give the ranch to. Kegan had disappeared for those months and his parents want to make sure that he is dedicated to the ranch before they make their decision on who should get to have the full ownership. Kegan is trying his hardest now to show that he is dedicated to the ranch for two reasons: he has put a lot of time into it already, and he doesn’t think that any of his cousins should get it. Kegan lives here all the time, and he is always out here working and whatnot. His cousins only come around once a year for a family reunion in the summer, and a few of Kegan’s cousins spoke about selling the place for prime developing land. Kegan doesn’t want to sell this ranch for developers to just come in and destroy everything, so he is even more motivated to show that he loves the ranch, which he does anyways.
“Oh well we all need some time to relax every once in a while. This island is great for that.” Kegan smiled. He had always lived here on the island, so he didn’t really know anywhere else, but he did know that it was easy to kick back and relax here. ‘Well, I had been asking around Southern Comfort about jobs and all, ‘cause I promised my parents I’d get one.’ Kegan nodded, keeping his arms folded. He didn’t want to pry, because he hated it when people tried to get into his history and whatnot. Kegan watched as she looked around, and he looked over his shoulder to make sure that nothing was going on out of the blue. He was satisfied that everything was going on the way it should, and turned back as Lily started speaking up again. ‘And I’ve heard form a couple town folks that you might be hiring stable hands? I’ve worked with horses and cattle before, ‘cause my grandpa has a farm back in the states, although we didn’t stay long with him, ‘fore we had to move, and I was only little, but I’m pretty sure I can learn really quickly; I had to with our family dogs, but, heh, I’m sure that don’t matter when it comes to horses and cattle.’ Kegan took in everything that she said and he even chuckled at the end. No, it didn’t matter that she was good with dogs, because horses and cattle were much bigger and more powerful, which didn’t take rocket science to figure out. Kegan always liked to make sure that people are aware of that simple fact, because he has seen too many people get hurt in the past from forgetting that horses are much more stronger and more powerful than humans are. Kegan always brought it back down to the basics when he was talking to someone new, because he didn’t want someone getting hurt if he could help it. That definitely wasn’t the goal here – he wanted everyone to enjoy themselves and to not get hurt when dealing with these animals.
“Alright well, I am looking for more stable hands. I have enough cow punchers for now, so you don’t have to worry about the cattle part – but I am interested too see how you handle the horses.” Kegan paused, wondering just how he was going to do this at the moment. “How about you help me with the rest of the morning chores, and then we will take it from there?” Kegan looked at her, wondering if she would be okay with that. If she wasn’t, well he certainly wouldn’t be thinking about her as a worker. Even though he didn’t quite expect her to be ready to work at this exact moment, he also wanted to see if she really cared about this job or not. So many times in the past, Kegan has had someone come and ask for a job, and then he never sees them again or they come and collect a pay-check and they take off. That pisses Kegan right off, and half of the time he doesn’t know the worker’s last name because it is a more relaxed work environment and he doesn’t know where the people live so he can’t get the money back. The Diesel family is very wealthy, so it’s not about life or death but it annoys Kegan to no end. He hates that people just don’t have morals anymore, it really bothers him. But that wasn’t the first thing about humanity that Kegan bothered Kegan. He would probably start with the jackass who had swerved across four lanes of traffic to slam, head on, into his wife’s vehicle – killing her and the prize horse that she had been trailoring. Kegan felt his hands tighten into fists, but he quickly relaxed them, and was happy to find that he had still kept his arms folded so Lily wouldn’t have noticed him tightening for no reason. Pushing those thoughts away, he looked down at Lily and smiled. “So let me know what you want to do.” Kegan waited for her answer, not wanting to push her into something she wasn’t comfortable with, that would be counter-productive.
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words: 1, 991 tag: lillian jackson song: burn it to the ground - nickelback clothes: here!notes: Sorry for the delay! Hopefully I will be able to reply quicker next time. Also: I replied to Anna's plot request thread - just so you know...
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Post by LILLIAN JACKSON on May 10, 2012 17:02:36 GMT -5
“Alright well, I am looking for more stable hands. I have enough cow punchers for now, so you don’t have to worry about the cattle part – but I am interested too see how you handle the horses.”
Truth be told, she was kind of releaved to hear that. It wasn't that she didn't mind the cattle; she had just heard so many "horror" stories from her grandpa about cattle trampling people when they were scared, and bulls easily throwing tantrums when people - or sometimes anything else - got too close to their herd. She was sure that most cattle were accustomed to people, although probably more so in bigger towns or cities - if that were possible in any way - but you never knew. She probably could get along with older cattle, probably, although she still wouldn't be able to help the feeling of being small in a herd of animals that weighed so much larger than she was. Horses, however, she thought were a bit smarter and could be trained easily; cattle could be trained, probably, although she doubted anyone ever tried. That, and, if this were some sort of "better" ranch, the horses - or at least show horses and training horses; she had heard that they rescued horses sometimes - would be trained to do certain things, like not to spook at certain things or to stop if a rider fell off, so she kind of felt more comfortable with them, actually. [That and dogs, although she doubted that would help her.]
“How about you help me with the rest of the morning chores, and then we will take it from there?”
"Well I'd love to!" she smiled.
She had helped a bit with her grandpas horses before, as stated, although, it wasn't really counted "helping" if you thought about it; getting to ride them and groom them and feed them, of course, and maybe help put them in the pasture or into their stalls, but those were usually the older horses, used to children tugging on their manes, tails, or harnesses, and accidently pulling the reins a little too hard. Those were really the only types of horses grandpa ever had, really; older horses, or cattle horses, but those Lily never really rid since they helped more with herding the cattle and keeping them in check more than entertaining little kids for a day. It wasn't to say they weren't nice; sometimes grandpa brought them in from the pasture if they were getting tired - or old, seeing as how many of the older horses were retired cattle horses - or maybe they were having or just had a foal, in a mare's case.
"So what'll I be helping you with?" asked Lily curiously. "Just feeding and stuff this morning? I know you were working with one when I came in. I'm, uh, sorry if I had interrupted you while you were in the middle of something. I know some farmers have animals that need special care, though I guess that one didn't if you pulled away that quickly."
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Post by kegan on May 11, 2012 7:55:19 GMT -5
WELL IT'S MIDNIGHT, DARN RIGHT, WE'RE WOUND UP, [/font] too tight, i've got a fist full of whiskey the bottle just,[/b][/SIZE][/font][/color] bit me, oh, that sh*t makes me bat-sh*t crazy, we've got[/b][/SIZE][/color][/font] -------------------- NO FEAR, NO DOUBT, ALL-IN, BALLS OUT[/color][/font]
Kegan honestly wouldn’t want such a small person dealing with the cattle. Even though they only rode the horses when they were dealing with the cattle, it would still worry him. He could easily get trampled, after falling off of his horse, but the odds of that happening are slim to none. The most common thing they did on this ranch, with the cattle, was move them from one paddock to the neck. They were beef cattle, so Kegan just had to keep feeding them. It was a terrible process, which Kegan wasn’t really involved in. He had a few ranch hands that he trusted a lot and they took care of that process, because Kegan wasn’t a fan of it. If it had been up to him, he probably would have closed that part of the ranch, but his parents didn’t want him to, because that was where they made the most of their money. The cattle business was still going strong on Southern Comfort Island and the surrounding mainland, so Kegan was not allowed to get rid of that part. But that was why they didn’t usually use the cattle barn, unless it was raining for a long period – like days – and if that was the case, then he would gather a group of ranch hands together and herd the cattle into their separate barn. Kegan kept everything separate. Cattle where in their own, blue barn, further back. Rescue horses were in the rescue horse barn – which was off to the right of where they were standing. And of course he kept his show horses in this current barn, the show horse barn. Kegan enjoyed both horse barns, he liked working with rescue horses, as long as they had a good mind to fix. If they didn’t then he just turned them out to pasture, and made sure his workers were aware of the horses’ problems.
That was a big thing for Kegan – he always made sure that his workers knew each horse and what bothered the horse. Even some of the show horses were difficult to manage, because they had been bred to have more energy than they can sometimes handle. But that energy was good for the ring. Most of these show horses were champions, if Kegan had anything to do about it. He was a good rider, but he didn’t flaunt it. He did what he had to do and he got on with his day. He had pretty much been born in the saddle, and he had been riding before he could walk on his own (although he hadn’t been riding on his own). Kegan just had a natural talent for riding, he could spend hours in the saddle a day – and most days he did. He liked to get the horses worked, as many as he could. But he didn’t have an indoor arena yet – even though that was in the process of going up, between the rescue horses barn and the show horses barn. He would have easy access to it by both barns, and he was planning on having the arena so close that he could have the barns attached, so he wouldn’t have to lead the horses through the snow to get to the arena. It was a pain to only have an outdoor ring, even though they were based on sand so it could take a lot of rain, it was annoying. Rainy days, well those were boring since he refused to ruin his tack by riding his horses in the rain. During the winter it was his horses’ time off with any snow on the ground because he didn’t want his horses getting hurt by pulling their feet out of deep snow often. He was determined to ride and show, but he made sure he thought about his horses first.
‘Well I’d love to!’ Kegan’s off topic thoughts were quickly scattered when Lily spoke up. He grinned at her gun-hoe-ness. He liked it when someone was ready to go, it proved to him that they could work here. Sometimes things happened spontaneously and he couldn’t wait to have someone think it through. He needed someone to just be there – ready to help out when they can. Lily seemed to be fitting the bill there, but he had a lot of evaluating to do during the day as he watched her deal with the horses, especially now that she had said that she wanted to help out. ‘So what’ll I be helping you with? Just feeding and stuff this morning? I know you were working with one when I came in. I’m uh, sorry if I had interrupted you while you were in the middle of something. I know some farmers have animals that need special care, though I guess that one didn’t if you pulled away that quickly.’ Kegan listened to her words and nodded. “Nah, these horses aren’t too bad. They get their own supplements, which are divided out in the feed room. I was just feeding that horse his grain, that’s all.” Kegan paused and then turned, motioning for Lily to follow. “Let’s go to the feed room. I’ve already portioned off the other horses’ grain so we will just finish feeding this barn and then go to the other barn.” Usually his ranch hands did this, but Kegan motioned for them to go take a break – he would do the morning chores today. Sometimes he did that when he had the time; as a break for his staff. It was tiresome, doing the same thing over and over – day in and day out – even if you did get paid for it.
Walking into the feed room, Kegan pushed the door open. “Make sure that you always shut this door when you come out of here, I don’t want any horse that escapes to get access to this room. If a horse overeats in grain or any of this feed in here, they can get founder and die from it.” Kegan wasn’t trying to scare her, but she might as well know what not to do starting today. Walking further into the room so that Lily could come in, Kegan motioned to a nearby shelf in front of them. “Each horse has a labelled container – and you can go right ahead and grab a few.” Kegan grabbed two, since there was two left for her to take. He then walked out of the room and waited for her to follow him. “Each horse has a black bucket in the back corner of his or her stall. Just empty the grain into the bucket and that part is done.” It was easy and painless, especially in this barn. These horses were well behaved, sure some of them got excited and tossed their heads up and down, but they never bit and they never kicked. “I will take care of these two over here –” Kegan motioned to the closest horses to them. “You can do those two over there –” He motioned to the two horses across the aisle. He then turned and got to work, emptying the containers into the buckets like he always did. Patting the horse on the neck, Kegan smiled and then walked out of the stall, shutting the door and heading to the next horses’ stall. He did the same thing, patting the horse on the neck as he walked past him. Shutting the door, Kegan looked over to see what Lily was doing in her horses’ stalls.
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words: 1, 505 tag: lillian jackson song: burn it to the ground - nickelback clothes: here!notes: I hope this is okay... I didn't want to have Lily doing too much without you actually acting it out.
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