Welcome to Gaia! ::

Feel free to look, but please do not post and DO NOT STEAL! Thank you very much!

Oh, and the explanation of my thread title is a fair story from the county fair I showed my horse at this past year. A bunch of friends and I climbed into the two foot square mangers right before the open show, and managed to cram six girls in there. It's my favorite fair memory and was quite a feat indeed! Anyway, story time is over, so keep scrolling down if you want to peer at my posting productions! <3

• • • But why walk when you can fly? • • •
• • • Oh I'd rather jump, I'd rather fall • • •
• • • I'd rather trust, I'd rather try • • •
• • • Oh why crawl when you can climb? • • •
• • • Even if you're gonna hurt, even if you're gonna cry • • •
• • • Why walk when you can fly? • • •

And he definitely knows when you have a carrot.

It was very early in the morning in Montana. Four a.m., to be exact. A tall and muscular young man was deep in slumber, but a loud beeping sound stirred him. Eighteen year old Ashton Scorpio, recently moven back from New York, shook the sleep from his face as he sat up in his bedroom. It was a simple black and white look. Nothign special, other than the rodeo trophies wracked up on one wall. Ash swung his long legs out of bed, pulling his sheets up onto the pillow behind him. He didn't want to leave his room dishevelled for a whole summer. As it were, his cousins from New York were already coming to stay while he was gone. Thank goodness his friends wouldn't be around! His little twelve and thirteen year old cousins nearly idolized Ash. And it drove him CRAZY! Rolling his blue eyes and pushing his annoying cousins form his mind, Ash ran a hand though his scruffy short hair and peered into the mirror. The young man wiped a tired hand across his face, but then his gaze snuck itself down to a photo in a well worn frame: a photo from years ago, before he had moved. It was of Rogan, Lilly, Taylor, him, Aaron, and Alex. The close knit group of fun loving teens with all different interests. When Ash was in New York, he hadn't had friends like the ones he had in Montana. They were irreplaceable. But recently, Rogan had started acting quite hostile toward Ash, and Lilly toward Alex. It was all too confusing. and it seemed to be going on right after Ash had come back. Not to mention Ash's old crush for Alex had sparked back up.

Turning in his spacious room, Ash pulled open his closet and pulled out a pair of relaxed fit Carhartt blue jeans. Most of the jeans Ash wore were Carhartt and Wrangler; they stood up to what kind of work he did. Working with horses and on cars were his hobbies. But mostly horsework. Ash had always had a deep rooted love for horses; it was what made him and Alex so close. He had unknowingly met her in an excitement at a show, and they bonded from there. Ash, Alex, and Sam, a new girl the young man had recently met, all loved horses. Great minds think alike, right? Ash blinked once and pulled on his jeans, shirtless in his room. Just reaching into his closet and pulling out some random shirt was fine with him. He grasped a faded blue rodeo shirt and pulled it on, his toned arms bulging the sleeves. Lastly, the eighteen year old pulled on a pair of well-broken-in Ariat work boots. They were sturdy and definitely Ash's favorite shoes. It was about 4:15 when he left his room, his suitcase in tow.

Ash headed downstairs to find the house still dark. His dad knew he was leaving today, and Ash had made his departure plans yesterday. He grabbed his car keys and headed outside. A brisk northern wind caught him in the face, but the coolness felt good in the warm morning air of summer. Tossing his bag into the bed of his silver Ford F350 pickup truck. Next to it, already loaded, were his two bags of personal horse supplies that he kept with himself: first aid kits, splint boots and polo wraps, spare girths and straps, bits, hackamores, grooming supplies, horse blankets, you name it. Everything was stuffed into two large duffel sport bags with "WRANGLER" emblazoned across it. Strapping them in securely, Ash then closed his tail gate and blew out a breath. It was time to go! Hopping into his truck and pushing his keys into the ignition, Ash turned it and the truck roared to life. In the darkness of the morning, Ash could just make out the shape of Alex's ranch across the street. Her trailer was already gone. Dang, she left before him! Smirking, Ash figured it just would give him more ambition to beat her there. Oh well! Ash slowly pulled out of his driveway and sped on down the street. Metaphorically, of course.

About five hours later, with a couple breaks for breakfast and to stretch his legs, Ash was pulling up into the driveway of a very large beach house. His big truck pulled itself up inch by inch as Ash curved around the house to find a lot of people clustered by the stable. His eyes gazed over Sam, Aaron, Rogan, Lilly, and Alex. But he didn't look too close at any of them; the loves of his life were sitting outside the trailer, loosely tied to allow their necks to stretch. Grinning, Ash switched off his truck and shoved his keys into his pocket. He hopped out of his truck and quietly closed the door, locking it with the keypad on the outer door. He rubbed the back of his neck with a charming smile on his face. "Hey, guys!" Ash greeted, approaching the group with a relaxed grin on his face. He raised an eyebrow toward the trailer, as if debating what to do. With a lopsided smile, Ash hustled over to his two horses; his leopard appaloosa, Dances on Black Snow, called Casanova for short, and Autumn's Call, his sleek chestnut Morgan mare, called Autumn for short. He kissed them both on the muzzle, running a hand through each horse's mane. Autumn's gold tinged one and Casanova's white one. Eagerly, the pair nosed their owner. Ash pushed them away gently and untied them, his eyes going to the pasture beside the barn.

Deciding against putting them in their stalls, since they had just been on a four to five hour trailer ride, Ash led them simultaneously to the gate. Opening it and stepping through it, Ash 's horses followed his adoringly. With a swift motion, Ash shut the gate and turned to the two equines. He slipped his hand underneath Casanova's black halter and unbuckled it, sliding it off of the appy's nose. With a squeal and a playful buck, Casanova shot across the field, pushing himself down onto the lush grass. He rolled around and jumped up, kicking up his hooves and then shoving his head down to eat. Rolling his eyes in amusement, Ash watced Casanoca for a moment before turning to Autumn. The pretty Morgan mare was waiting patiently. Undoing her camoflauge halter- it was true camo, with the leaves and branches that took Ash FOREVER to find- he slipped it off of her baby doll head. Rubbing affectionately against him, Autumn loped off much more gently, only to kick her heels into Casanova's face playfully. Shaking his head, Casanova nipped at her playfully back, and off they went, chasing each other around the paddock. A smile spread across Ash's face. Letting his horses be, Ash turned and hopped the fence to rejoin the group. He slung the halters over his shoulder, then when he made it back to his truck, he grabbed his two sport bags. He slung them over the other shoulder, then headed into the barn. He noticed a couple of open tack racks, and slid his bags down underneath them. He left the tack room and found two stalls with his horses' nameplates already on them. Ash smiled at the small favor and hung the halters on the corresponding doors. He headed back outside and grabbed Autumn's tack first: her bridle, Western saddle, camo pad, and shipping boots. He returned to the tack room and hung them on the empty racks. His saddle was a barrel saddle, because he was a rodeo guy: Autumn was his barrel horse, Casanova was his cutter and roper. Autumn's bell boots and splint boots were in his sport bags. He headed back out to the trailer and grabbed Casanova's tack, another Western saddle with a larger horn, a hackamore, a lasso, and a black saddle pad. He placed them on the other rack when he reached the tack room. Since everything was now in place, Ash headed back outside and gave a small smile to everyone around him. "At least I'm not the last one here, right?" Ash joked feebly, his charming lopsided smile appearing on his face in a futile attempt at a joke.

Well, you had me from hello
I felt love start to grow
The moment I looked into your eyes
You won me
It was over from the start
You completely stole my heart
And now you won't let go
I never even had a chance, you know
You had me from hello

Girl, I've loved you from hello

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