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[Timberwolves] A Roll in the Hay!
Rocky had come to the stables hoping to find some solitude before his next mission. He knew it'd be the last chance he quite possibly had for awhile. Then of course he'd once again end up being cornered by Emma, the lovely older woman who owned the stables where he kept his beloved horses, Aja and Enkil. The kind, old, Irish woman was always trying to hook him up with some of the younger ladies that rode horses there, but he found himself turning down every attempt that she made. He knew that her heart was in the right place, yet Rocky didn't think he deserved love. Everyone who'd ever mattered to him had died.
Today of all days, Rocky just needed some peace and quiet. He'd worn his most comfortable riding clothes: a pair of very worn out blue jeans with holes beginning to form underneath the back pockets, a white wife beater, and a black button down shirt. He was hoping to just take Aja and then Enkil out of the trails for a nice long ride. All hope of that ended when he spotted Emma had come upon him in Aja's stall.
"Aye lad, I see you've come to be with your beauties again today." the kind, old lady said as she stopped in front of the stall. She had a soft smile on her face as she watched the young man busily brushing Aja's mane.
"Yes, Emma. I've missed them terribly and knew that I'd be leaving again very soon. I didn't want to go and not see Aja and Enkil again." Rocky replied. He finished brushing Aja and went to grab her blanket and saddle. "And please don't try and set me up with anymore of the women around here. I appreciate it greatly, Emma, but I'll find my own way as I usually do." he told her. Emma had always held a soft spot in Rocky's heart, she'd been more like a grandmother to him in the past few years. And he was glad to have her in his life. She'd never know how much he'd come to care for her over the years.
Lydia pulled up to the small little stable; she had found it a while ago when she first moved to LA. It was about a half an hour outside of LA in the more rural areas. She didn't have her own horse…yet. Lyd grew up on a horse ranch in Colorado and actually sat on a horse before she could walk. So riding to her was a piece a cake and she absolutely loved it.
But now that she was more settled she had wanted to get back into riding and her parents were willing to give her one of their young horses anyone she wanted. The only catch was she had to go and visit them. Which was harder said than done. But a part of her really wanted to visit her parents and now with Devon back maybe she could drag him along with her.
She stepped out of her car once she parked with her ridding gear on. Lyd went to her trunk and pulled out her mountain horse riding boot and pulled her shoes off before zipping her boots on. She walked into the barn hoping to find Emma. The older woman was a sweetheart and the past few months she had gotten pretty close to her. She had a good arrangement with Emma, riding wise. Emma had a young Oldenburg stallion that was a little stronger than Emma could handle but Lydia offered to ride him whenever she got a chance to come out. One she would be able to ride a horse whenever she wanted and two the stallion would get worked down so Emma would be able to either ride him or sell him for some good money.
Emma smiled as she spotted Lydia walking into the stables. She turned back to Rocky. "Come now, child. You know I have good taste, and I happen to have found the perfect young lady for you." she told Rocky after having seen Lydia coming into the stables.
Rocky had noticed the young woman walking in, but paid her no attention. "I'm sorry, Emma. But not right now. I'm just not ready for something like that." he stated. He finished getting Aja ready and was now ready to go out on the trails.
Lydia walked over and grabbed the leather halter off Diablo's stall and started walking down the aisle heading towards the back door to head out to the stallions pasture. She spotted Emma and slowed up smiling. "Hey Emma. Thought I'd come ride Diablo today."
"'Ello sweetheart." Emma smiled brightly. "Haven't seen you in a while. He's missed you. Sometimes I think he loves you more than me."
Lydia laughed. "Ya I've been really busy." She looked into the stall seeing a man she hadn't seen before standing there with a horse.
"Well it's good to see you, sweetheart. Perhaps you can talk Rocky here into showing you some of the more advanced trails." Emma stated bluntly, motioning to the man behind her.
Rocky could've literally groaned. Emma had a knack for trying to set certain riders up, something she was really good at in fact. But Rocky always managed to avoid such happenings. Apparently, Emma wasn't going to let him go this time.
Lydia just smiled and looked at the man behind her, but he didn't look to happy about what Emma suggested. "Na that's ok." She grinned. "I'll probably just work on some ground work with D." Lyd smirked and shifted the halter more onto her shoulder.
Rocky was practically ready to thank her in person for turning down Emma's offer. Though it wouldn't surprise him if she tried to changed the other womans mind.
"Are you sure? This young man knows every trail out here." Emma stated. "He's been here for quite a few years. Even found a beautiful spot about two miles out with a gorgeous view of the city." Emma replied, doing her best to change Lydia's mind.
"Emma, I don't think she wants to go and see the view by the lake." Rocky told the older woman. "Let her enjoy her ride."
Lydia laughed. "I'm sure he just wants to do his thing as well." She smiled at Rocky feeling that he wasn't feeling the idea. "Plus I haven't ridden Diablo in like a week, so I'm not sure how well he'd be." She smiled and let down her hair fixing it back up into a ponytail.
Rocky nodded as he watched Emma's smile disappear. He knew that she was upset
that they were both turning her down, but he'd told her numerous times that he didn't want to be set up. He turned his attention to Lydia. "You let me know if you want to try those trails out later. Diablo should be able to handle any of them. He's like my Enkil, tough and doesn't let anybody say he can't do something.
"Oh I know… I've been riding him for a while." Lydia explained to him. It wasn't that she thought he couldn't be able to handle the trail, quite the opposite. His training was coming along extremely well and she didn't want to go ruin it by bumming around on the trail right off the bat she wanted to work him first. "Maybe I'll ride out and meet up with you later." She offered hoping to make Emma happy as well.
Rocky nodded his head. It sounded like a fair idea, and should satisfy Emma if she atleast thought there was a chance the two would meet up later. Rocky mounted Aja and nodded his head to Lydia. "I'll be back later, Emma to take Enkil out."
Lydia nodded back and watched him leave before looking back at Emma. "You enjoy this way too much don't you?" She asked with a smirk. "You know I have plenty of guys to choose from in LA."
"Of course I enjoy making sure that two very deserving people end up happy. And what a coincedence because Rocky's also from LA. I think he's just too.... I wouldn't say wounded, but somewhere near there to actually go after a woman. If you know what I mean." Emma stated matter of factly as she too watched Rocky ease Aja out of the stables. "He's a sweetheart though, won't show it to anyone...." Emma said more to herself than to Lydia.
"I noticed." Lydia smiled and looked at Emma once again. "So are you going to watch some of his training today or are you doing other things?" She asked, knowing Emma liked to watch her ride him occasionally to see how his progress was doing. Lyd loved Diablo; he would be the type of horse she'd buy for herself. One of those stubborn yet sweet horses who got attached to one rider. Emma had almost gotten rid of him several times before Lydia arrived and offered to ride him. At first Emma said no because he had thrown three previous riders and she didn't want her to get hurt, but Lyd preceded and finally won her over.
"I might for a bit on one condition.... You take Diablo up to the lake. I'm sure he'd like it." Emma replied with a smile. She did indeed love to watch Lydia take him out and work with him, but she was also trying to look out for Rocky. He was one of the finest riders at her stables, if not one of the most stubborn. She knew he needed a good woman to tame him, and thought that Lydia was perfect for him. Not that either of the two "youngsters" would admit to it.
Rocky in the meantime had taken his time riding up to the lake. He enjoyed the view and found the peace and solitude of the spot to be the perfect place. He'd only shown the spot to Emma once, but was pretty sure she could find it again if she wanted to. No one else though had been up here as far as he knew.
"Fine…" She smirked and shook her head. "I'll take him up there." Lydia started walking away heading towards the back door with Emma in toe. "I've never seen him here before, but you said he's been here for years."
"Good... you're a good kid." Emma replied with a smirk of her own. Emma began to follow Lydia outside to watch as she trained Diablo. She had been considering selling Diablo again, but this time it was more of atleast being able to keep him in her stables and with someone she trusted. "Yes, Rocky has been here for the past five or six years. He is or atleast he was a member of the LAPD. I think he's left the force though, not too sure. He's not really one to talk much about himself. .... And I really don't know all that much about the lad, though I'm sure that you can get him to open up a bit."
Lydia caught the large dark bay stallion. He wasn't quite black but he was close enough than anyone would have guessed he was, but he had mahogany brown color to some of his body not making him a true black color. She smiled at Emma as they walked back into the barn so Lydia could tack him up for their training session. "He didn't look very social." She chuckled as she put Diablo in his secluded stall in the barn before grabbing a few brushes.
Emma chuckled before making her response. "I'm sure that you can more than handle him, Lydia." She thought over it a bit. "He's probably more rough around the edges, but I have faith in you, sweetheart. That lad needs someone good in his life."
"Well thanks I think…" Lydia laughed reaching her arm up to brush off Diablos' back that was just about level with the top of her head; he was huge well over 17hands height. "You probably have other stuff to do besides stand around here with me." She smirked and walked out of the stall closing the door before locking it, setting all her brushes back down in the brush box next to the stall.
Emma laughed along with the younger woman as she watched her with Diablo. She knew that Lydia and Diablo were doing wonderfully and had no problem leaving Lydia with the horse. "I'm sure that I can find some paperwork to take care of in my office." Emma replied taking the hint. "Have a good ride, Lydia."
"Oh you know I will." Lydia laughed and headed for the tack room grabbing the dressage saddle from its rack and headed back to the stall to tack Diablo up. Within a few minutes she had his saddle and bridle on, and then grabbed her whip that was leaning against the stall and started leading him out of the barn.
She was always thankful for being athletic so she could get on him without using a mounting block or bucket. Lydia looked at the outdoor ring then looked at the path heading up to the trails and sighed slowly stirring him towards the path. She could still work on things as she rode up to the lake, so it wouldn't be a complete waist. Diablo was like the dressage type horse that any serious dressage rider would want. He had gaits to die for, and his over all body structure was perfect with a slight upwards lift to his front end. Lydia loved riding him and he learned extremely fast, which was a great quality for stallions.
Rocky had climbed off of Aja and tied her reins to a strong tree branch. He sat on top of a nearby rock formation and looked out over the city as Aja nibbled on the grass around her. He loved the view from up here, no one could touch him. He contemplated over his newest mission. In a little over a day he'd be stuck in a tuxedo at the Turkish embassy. He hated wearing the tux, but it was all apart of the job that he lived to do. Rocky was a complete adrenaline junky, and marks like this always got his juices pumping.
Lydia slowly worked Diablo as they walk, trot, and cantered through the trails working on bending, roundness, and softness. She really wasn't even paying attention to where she was going before she noticed she had just passed the lake on her left and came to a quick stop. Lyd noticed Rocky sitting on a rock formation near the lakes edge. She slowly turned Diablo around and headed back to the lake and over to him noticing his mare Aja tied to a tree and made sure to stay clear of her so Diablo didn't decided he'd rather go over there than where she wanted him to go.
Rocky had heard Lydia and Diablo come upon the lake, but didn't make a move. He waited a moment to see if she was going to leave, but when she didn't he finally decided to say something. "I see Emma managed to talk you in to coming up here."
"I promised her I would. You know her." Lydia laughed and patted Diablos thick neck as she stopped behind Rocky. "I'm Lydia by the way, since Emma really didn't tell you my name." She said not getting off her horse, not planning to stay that long.
Rocky turned, sensing Diablo directly behind him. He looked up and almost smiled at Lydia. "Rocky. Though I'm sure Emma's already told you that and much more." he replied, a somewhat soft smile appearing on his face. "I've tried to tell her she needs to stop trying to use her match making skills on me, that they don't work.... but you know Emma."
"Oh yes many many times within the last twenty minutes." Lydia smiled down at him. "I thought I'd just stop and say hi, and at least I said I saw you. So it keeps Emma happy."
"And as long as Emma's happy, hopefully we'll all be happy and she'll stop playing Cupid." Rocky replied. He stood up and jumped off of the rock formation. He walked over to Aja and untethered her from the tree. "I'll ride down with you, that should make her very happy."
Lydia chuckled, "as long as Diablo behaves himself around your mare." The last thing she needed was for him to get studly on her knowing there was a girl around. That was one thing she didn't want to deal with.
Rocky nodded his head as he climbed astride his mare. "Yes, we wouldn't want Emma to get thrilled about these two mating on us all of a sudden. I'll stay behind you just in case." he suggested as he rode up beside her.
"That would be great." Lydia smiled at him sincerely at him before heading back down the trail staying ahead of Rocky and his horse. "So Emma says you live in LA." She glanced back at him before making Diablo work a little bit so he stayed focused. He wasn't even five yet and his attention span was not that great especially with a mare behind him.
Rocky made sure to keep Aja behind Diablo. The last thing he needed was for his mare to end up pregnant, not that it'd be a bad thing. It was just that he wasn't ready for all of that. "Yes, I do." he replied, not giving a full answer. He kept to himself at all possible, and the less information he gave to anybody including Emma the better. It was just that the older woman had her ways of getting info out of him without him realizing it. He slowed his pace a bit more, trying to help Lydia keep Diablo's focus to where it should be.
"I live in LA too." Lydia said over her shoulder trying to make some small talk before flexing Diablos' next back and forth a few times to keep him on track.
Rocky nodded his head, then made a verbal response as he realized she couldn't see his motion. "It's a great city. That and I'm always closer to work. I love the country, especially out here, but I wouldn't want to have to make a drive like this on a daily basis."
"I completely understand." Lydia answered picking up a trot heading down the trail slowly. Diablo become lathered in sweat from his trail ride workout.
Rocky kept up his trot behind Lydia, keeping a close eye on her form. He could tell that she was an expert rider. "Where'd you learn to ride like that?" he asked out of sudden curiosity.
"Well my parents own a horse farm in Colorado and they taught me a lot. But also the horse trainer that they hired taught me a lot, and then I started taking lessons with a local Dressage instructor." Lydia smirked back at him. "I was pretty much born on a horse."
"Well I'll be damned...." Rocky muttered under his breath. They had more in common than he wanted to admit. Of course he wouldn't admit it to Lydia either. "Then looks like Diablo is in more than capable hands." he said aloud.
"That's why Emma lets me ride him. He bucked off the last three trainers." She said as she spotted the farm off in the distance. "Plus he's a piece of cake compared to some of the horses I've ridden."
"I'm not surprised. I saw all three of them get bucked too. They offered me money to ride Enkil. Had to tell them that my insurance wasn't going to cover their broken bodies. He's just about as stubborn as Diablo, if not more so." He saw the farm not too far off from where they currently were. "Enkil would give you a run for your money.... unless you knew his secret."
"I don't know…. I've had some pretty nasty horses." Lydia laughed. "I had this one mare when I was a teenager who used to only backup, she would not go forward no matter what she did she'd backup or rear straight. She was evil really, she even flipped over on me once."
"Ehhh... had a mustang on our ranch that just loved to stomp on anyone he threw. Broke my collar bone in two places along with three ranch hands various bones."
"I was thrown into the wooden wall of our indoor once and I broke my arm and a few ribs, plus a concussion on top of that." Lydia explained with a smile. She had been through a lot of nasty spills and beating when she was younger. Both her and her brother were always having competing seeing who could ride the toughest horses.
"Why don't we call ourselves even in the horseback injury department? I believe we could probably both go on for days about our various broken bones, torn ligaments, bumps, scrapes, and bruises when it comes to these gorgeous creatures." Rocky suggested as he gave Aja a loving pat.
"You're very true." Lydia grinned and looked back at him before slowly Diablo to a walk so he could cool out a bit before they stopped ridding. "So when did you first start riding?"
Rocky slowed Aja up beside Diablo, making sure to keep her out of the stallions site. "I've been riding since before I can remember. You?"
"I think my mom put me on her horse the minute I got home from the hospital." She smirked. "And I remember they gave me my first pony before I was five."
Rocky smirked as he looked off into the distance. He spotted Emma standing outside of the barn, with a satisfied smile on her face. "Well looks like we've atleast made her happy."
Lydia looked over and spotted Emma. "Yes I can see that." She shook her head before bring Diablo to a halt near the barns back door. Lydia swung off running her stirrups on her English dressage saddle and loosened up the girth under Diablos belly.
Rocky followed suit, beginning to take care of Aja.
Lydia smiled at Rocky. "Well it was nice talking with you." She said to him before leading Diablo into the barn ahead of Aja. She took him to his stall to finish untacking him completely so she could hose him off.
"You as well." Rocky replied as he lead Aja into her stall. He began to untack her, taking his time, before reaching for the hose to wash her off.
Lyd put her tack away before putting Diablos leather halter on putting a chain over his nose then lead him outside to the hose. She kept her distance away from Rocky and Aja letting Diablo eat grass as they waited patiently for their turn. Finally Rocky finished and she flashed him a smile as she headed over to the hose turning it on softly letting the water run over the stallion's neck, shoulder, back, and hind.
Rocky smirked as Lydia took the hose from his hand, his hand accidently brushing hers as they exchanged the hose. He made his way back inside, putting Aja back into her stall before beginning to fill her feed trough. He pulled a piece of peppermint out of his pocket and fed it to her
Lydia just glanced at him as their hands brushed briefly then went to work hosing Diablo off. She finally finished and scraped the excess water off with one of the plastic scrapers nearby then lead him back inside. Lyd took off his halter and fed him a few pieces of sugar before taking care of the last of her stuff. She grabbed a carrot and broke it into several pieces before feeding it to Diablo who stuck his large head over the half door to see what she had for treats.
Rocky chuckled as he watched Diablo's expression while he was beginning to get Enkil tacked up. "You're going to have him so spoiled that Emma's not going to know what to do with him."
"Spoiled can be a good thing." She smiled over at him and run her hand up the front of Diablo's face. "He's just a big puppy dog really. He only acts mean because he wants attention."
"Well it's either that or I think it's just that he loves the ladies." Rocky replied. He made sure that everything was just right with Enkil's saddle, before reaching into his pocket for another piece of peppermint. He held his hand out, allowing his stallion to nibble it out of his hand.
"He's very selective with the people he likes and trust." Lydia explained rubbing her hand up and down the stallions face as she fed him the last piece of carrot.
Rocky ran his hand down Enkil's face. "This little fella's the same way. He won't let anyone near him unless he can clearly see me. Don't even mention anyone else riding him."
"Those ones are always fun." Lydia smiled and turned to watch him with his horse. She noticed Diablo stick his nose out towards her looking for more treats and pinned his ears when he found nothing. "Don't give me that look mister…" She warned and his ears perked forwards slowly.
Rocky smirked as he watched Diablo. He shook his head as he looked over at Lydia. "I told you that you were spoiling him. Now he's gonna expect a treat all the time."
Lydia shook her head and rubbed Diablo's nose. "He'll get over it." She smiled. "Won't you big guy?" Lyd grinned and leaned down kissing his soft nose.
"Care to join us in the ring?" Rocky offered, deciding to just take Enkil for a few laps around the ring instead of full blast out in the fields.
"Sure." Lyd smiled. She really didn't have anything else to do and she slowly walked outside to the large outdoor ring following behind Rocky.
Rocky climbed astride Enkil and lead him into the ring. He began to slowly move through the paces, giving Enkil his regular workout without taking him into the fields.
Lydia just leaned against wooden fence and watched. He was pretty good for a western rider. She knew how to ride both western and english, but definitely preferred the english style of riding much more. "You know my parents have a bunch of Andalusians." She said seeing him slow down a bit. "One of my first horses was an Andalusian."
"Really.... They're absolutely stunning and I love the breed thoroughly. I have a few more back on my ranch, though Enkil is by far my favorite at the moment." he replied, as he brought Enkil to a stop directly in front of Lydia.
"My parents have a stud and a few mares and foals back at their farm. They like breed everything there. I think the last I knew they were almost up to 50 horses there and that wasn't counting the boarders that are there." Lydia explained looking at Enkil, he was definitely more of the baroque style of Andalusian, with a heavier set body and neck.
Rocky couldn't believe what he was about to offer. "Would you like to ride him? I mean, he won't let you ride him by yourself unfortunately, but perhaps he'll let you ride if I'm still in the stirrups."
"Na its ok… I understand the whole, one-rider horse type." She smiled at him. "But thank you for the offer."
Rocky shrugged his shoulders. "You're quite welcome, Lydia." He lead Enkil over to the gate, knowing that he'd gotten in his work out and was now ready for his bath.
"Maybe some other time." She smiled and started heading back to the barn with him. Lydia needed to put Diablo out before heading back to LA. Dante was probably having a field day with Rowan, that or he was going crazy.
Rocky began to untack Enkil in the barn before taking him back outside to hose him off. He made sure to get all of the sweat and any muck washed off of his body, before scraping off the excess water. "Good boy..." he said, rubbing his hand down the stallions face before leading him back inside to his stall.
Lydia walked over to Diablo's stall and clipped the leadrope to his halter to take him back out to his pasture. She unlatched the stall door and lead him out of the barn glancing at Rocky as she walked by. Lyd let Diablo back out into his pasture and shook her head seeing him immediately roll after she took his halter off. After watching him for a minute as he took off after rolling bucking across the field she headed back inside the barn and looked over at Rocky.
"Well I guess I'll see you later." She smiled brightly at him before going to hang up the halter on Diablo's stall door.
Rocky smirked as he watched Lydia walk by him. "Of course. I look forward to it." he replied as he finished taking care of both Aja and Enkil.
Lydia just smiled at him and walked towards the front barn door to head out to her car. Rocky seemed nice enough, a little closed off but nice. She climbed into her car and left the farm heading back to LA.
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"Ashley Stoddard" <Apollo.Casanova@...>
whitedragong...
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