I awoke due to a light beam coming through my window. The beam shone right on my face, causing me to awake from my deep sleep. I groaned as I rolled over to check the time; 7:15, as if I were expecting to find another time on my alarm clock. You may call me crazy, but every morning I woke up at the same exact time, that was the schedule I had for myself, my routine. I wasn't one to disrupt my routine. A well-kept routine meant a well-kept life. I sat up and threw my crisp white duvet off me, landing on the german shepherd curled up at the end of my king sized bed. I sat in bed a while, admiring my room. I had lived here all my life, 17 years to be exact, but every morning I was taken aback by the size of it. It was a huge room, to say the least. My bed covered in a white duvet and with multiple pillows in different shades of gray sat in the middle of the room. A simple yet elegant night stand at each side. A wall at my left side, but it was a couple of meters away giving me more room space. To the right there was a huge glass window currently covered by curtains.

I stood up and walked over to the window and opened the curtains to it revealing a beautiful view of London in the warm daylight. Once the window was open, my room was covered in a soft glow coming from it. The light immediately hit the wall across it bringing attention to the multiple pictures I had on it. The pictures were organized perfectly to fit the elegance of my room, but to bring life to it. The pictures on it ranged from home with my family and friends, to some of the amazing places I had visited, and most importantly some with North, my horse. Beside the array of pictures, there was a light wooden desk with my computer and my notebooks organized on it, along with some other pictures. I walked across my room, Dali, my dog at my heels. I got to the bathroom and got myself ready for the day.

After a warm shower I got dressed in some platinum gray breeches and a blush pink base layer. I applied minimal makeup, swiping mascara on my eyelashes to bring out my blue eyes. I brushed my golden locks and let them fall on my back in loose, natural waves. When I was done getting ready, I went down the stairs and made my way through the open concept home to have breakfast. I was greeted by my mother who sat at the light wooden table with a variety of breakfast options. I said hello to my mother by kissing her cheek before I pulled out a chair and sat down to eat. We ate in comfortable silence, both of us thinking about our own things when I noticed that my father was gone as he had not come down at the usual time to have the meal with us.

"Dad's out?" I asked my mother.

"Yeah, something came up last night so he took the first plane this morning to Germany. Apparently there was some kind of problem with a breeder over there" my mother answered my question.

"Oh" I simply responded. If you haven't caught on, my family is quite wealthy, my father co-owns these huge equestrian facilities called Elysian Equestrian Center, it was located in the outskirts of London. I loved that place so much, my life revolved around horses, and so did my parents' life. We also took part in this huge breeding project, that's why my father was gone, sorting things out in that industry.

Aside from the common stereotype of "wealthy families only care about money and nothing else" my family wasn't quite like it. We were actually super close, my father, my mother and me; and we spent lots of time together, either at home or at the barn.

"Mom? Since dad is out, can I go to the barn with Grace?" I asked. My father was usually the one to take me to the barn, I had my drivers licence and all, but there was no use in taking two cars to the barn. I went to ride and my father went to run the breeding program. As he said, "there is no work done better than the one you do yourself". He loved going to the barn and working his business there, as did I. Grace is my best friend, her father co-owned Elysian Equestrian Center with my dad, so we had known each other our whole life. Grace was also pretty wealthy and owned some amazing horses as well. She is basically the sister I never had, we do everything together. We both love riding, therefore we spend our majority of the time at the barn, or we would go out together and just be teenagers.

"Of course darling! Have fun, text me when you are on your way back" She said like any other mother. I smiled at her and ran up the stairs to text Grace before I grabbed my stuff. I slipped my boots on and got my helmet and my purse and went down stairs once more.

"Bye El!" My mother said using my nickname. I gave my mother one last kiss before I left home. I took the lift down that took me from the pent-house to the lobby. On my way out I greeted the workers and gave them a small smile. Treat people with kindness right? I hated how rich people are always seen as snobby and rude, that wasn't me, so I tried to be as nice as I could, even if it was just a smile. My mom always told me that people that didnt know me would always look at me like the stereotype, but I was willing to change that.

Pushing the glass doors open, I was met with the way to the familiar white Mercedes Benz car. I opened the passenger's seat and greeted my best friend with a hug before she pulled out of the entrance to my apartment.

Grace was the sweetest girl I had ever met. She was flirt, yes, but she had an amazing big and kind heart that made not only the boys, but everyone to love her and respect her. Her brown eyes were like pools of gold and her blond hair made her more beautiful, inside and out.

"What's your dad up to in Germany?" Grace asked in a thick British accent that sounded much like mine.

"If I'm completely honest, I don't know" I said with a small chuckle. "But I'm not really complaining, I get to go to the barn with my favorite person in the world".

Grace's gloss covered lips curved into a smile as I spoke those words. We sat in silence for a couple of minutes, I just stared out of the car window and took in the scenery around me. I always loved spring, it made all of London look lovely, but once you drove for a few minutes and got to the outskirts of London, that was truly amazing. All of the trees were  covered in blush pink cherry blossoms that stood out from the forest green of the surrounding trees.

"What horses will you be riding today?" Grace asked, tearing her warm brown eyes away from the road for a split second to look at me.

"I think today I'll prioritize riding Griffin, Dublin, and Luzifer; and North obviously , and see what others I can work on before I have to head home. I can't stay too long today, I need to study. If I haven't worked them all I'm  thinking of coming late in the afternoon after studying so I can work Marvel and Captain and hopefully. " I said with a sigh. I had to keep up with school, whether I liked it or not. I was homeschooled which made things easier for me as I could balance school and riding better.

"You study too much!" Grace said exasperatedly, I just chuckled.

"Well, I actually care about my grades" I accused her with my sentence and shot her a playful glare. Grace was also homeschooled but she didn't really pay attention to school at all, she couldn't care less about her grades unlike me. I was a "control freak" like my mother and Grace liked to call me. I had everything organized, even the most irrelevant things. I needed to do well in school, mostly for my satisfaction as I knew that my parents would be proud of me either way. I overall had good grades, but I liked to push myself as much as I could, that's why I always made time for studying so I could get the best grades I could.

"Which ones are you riding?" I asked

"I think I'll ride them all. Delilah and Raven are pretty straight forward, I'm looking to sell them soon, I think they are ready. And well I will have to work Loop, Bourbon, Jazz and Panama." The blond girl beside me explained. Grace and I both did eventing with our own horses, and quite competitively I might add, but we also trained horses from the stables. We had the task of training horses for different needs and they then got re-soled and new come in. As we are both quite experienced riders because we have been riding and been around horses for the entirety of our lives, our parents trusted us with the task of working with the horses that needed to be re-trained and therefore re-soled.

Our fathers were also very close and they had high expectations from us both in the business, and they said that by working with the re-sales, we would gain experience for the day we got to own Elysium stables. To be honest, I'm quite excited for that day to come. I love horses so much that I want to build a life around them. When William, Grace's father, and my father gave us the chance to work with in the retraining and re-sales industry we were beyond happy, it was one step closer to becoming the owners of these amazing stables I was glad to call my home.

"Will you be attending the show jumping show this weekend?" Grace inquired.

"I think I will. I want to show Dublin before I sell him, so I think that that show would be perfect. And I might show Captain also and hopefully I will get some clients that might want to buy him in the process." I explained my plans that included both of my most advanced horses.

"Cool! I think I'll show Delilah in the 90 cm course." Grace added with a smile that mirrored mine.

"Will you enter with Raven also?" I asked referring to the black stallion that Grace had worked with for so long.

"No. I want to focus on Delilah since she needs to gain show experience. It will be a huge task since she is so frisky, and I think that if I have Raven with  me, my attention won't be fully on Delilah."

"You got a point there." I said, pulling my attention from the window to look at my friend. "I'm wishing you luck from now on because I don't want you to die anytime soon" I said in a teasing tone, a smile taking over my gloss covered lips.

With a roll of eyes, Grace added "I'm not going to die! I might fall off but not die!" She scoffed but then laughed. Delilah was quite a handful. The blond girl might have worked with the black mare for over 8 months, but when the mare got frisky or scared, she would get a mind of her own. Grace really knew how to work with her, and managed to get her to her full potential, but she was going to be a difficult horse to sell because of her being so frisky.

We pulled up to Elysium Equestrian Center, Grace's G-Wagon rumbling down the drive leading to the main stable block. As Graced parked, I gathered my purse and riding stuff and hopped out of the car with a smile on my face. Grace turned off the car and hopped off as well. Both of us made our way to the locker rooms located in the main house to leave our stuff. When we had got rid of our purses and we made our way to the tack room to gather the horses headcollars.

"Eleanor, Grace." One of the stable hands, Matt, greeted us both. Matt was the groom who took care of the training horses I worked with, so I knew him quite well as I see him and work with him every day. We returned the warm smile and made our way to the tack room. I had decided to ride Luzifer first as he was the youngest and needed the most work, I would be able to put my full energy and attention to getting the best out of him. I got out the stallion's leather headcollar and made my way down the stable block corresponding to stallions until I found the stall belonging to the certain dappled gray I was looking for.

I peeked in his stall and found him eating from his haynet. I stood outside for a couple of minutes just watching the stunning dappled gray eat. With one last smile, I unlatched the door to his stall bringing Luzifers attention to me. When the thoroughbred looked at me he instantly turned around. I scoffed at the stallion's attitude, a grin on my face. I approached Luzifer and ran my hand up his neck making him aware that I was there. With gentle movements, I managed to put on his head collar and successfully lead him out to the crossties. I groomed the dappled gray stallion removing all the shavings and dust off his platinum coat. When he was clean, I went back to the tack room and got a black saddle pad and his corresponding saddle and bridle.

I smoothed the saddle pad on Luzifer and gently placed his saddle on. When I went to tighten the girth I noticed that he blew his stomach up making the task so much harder. I sighed but asked him to move a step forward making him let out all the air he was holding. Catching the dappled horse off guard, I tightened the girth successfully even though he pinned his ears back in annoyance, I managed to slip the bridle on and place on his protection boots as well.

When I was done taking him up, I gathered my golden hair into a low ponytail so my helmet would fit over it. I slipped on my leather gloves and placed my sleek black helmet over my hair adjusting it. When I was all done, I clipped the lunge line to Luzifer's bride and led him out to the outdoor arena.

It wasn't too often that the days in London were this sunny, so I took advantage of it. I passed several other riders on the way down, Luzifer obviously pinned his ears back at them in annoyance, I just rolled my eyes. I passed the indoor arena and saw Grace already working with Raven, the black horse with a big blaze. I smiled a bit and continued my way to one of the outside arenas which luckily was empty. I guided the stallion to the center and let the lunge line slip through my fingers as I gave him slack. Before I could even click my tongue to cue him to canter, Luzifer was already galloping around me in an uneven circle. I sighed and let the stallion canter and blow off some steam, I knew too well that if I brought him back in it would do no good.

After a minute or so of cantering, I pulled the line and asked Luzifer to slow and come to me. Much to my surprise he did, and this time I managed to cue him to canter before he did so on his own. The dappled gray centered around me before I asked him to trot and later on change his hand. When we changed hands, I asked him to canter, the horse immediately took off and cantered wildly around me. I pulled on the line slightly regaining his attention and he calmed down a bit. After a few more laps, Luzifer let out a buck and then continued to canter. I checked his legs and noticed that he was disunited so I asked him to trot and canter once more, this time he got it right so after working him on the lunge a bit more I unclasped the line and mounted the tall stallion.

Once I was on, Luzifer once more took off at a consistent canter.  This horse sure does have a lot of energy I thought to myself. Our schooling went quite well besides the stallion's excessive energy. We worked on basic walk-trot-canter exercises as I had only been working with Luzifer for a bit over two months. We were not so far on, Luzifer was a hard horse, but I had hope. The horse was beyond talented once he actually quits being stubborn. I had come to the conclusion that he didn't like me working with my leg, as when we would change gates he would always give me trouble, but yet again, he wouldn't respond with voice cues either and in the end only worked when I tapped him with my crop. I still had to figure him out, but it was a process, one that I had just started.

As Lucifer was still quite new, I decided to end the lesson on a good note after we completed a 20 meter circle  one last time. Luzifer was covered in sweat due to the heat and the work he had done. It seemed that he had finally calmed down! I walked him back to the stables and handed the reins to Matt, who would cool him down and take care of him while I worked with other horses.

I met up with Grace once more as I went to tack up Griffin, she was going to work Bourbon, and since both horses were at a similar level, we decided to school them together, it would be more fun for both.

"Looks like Luzifer didn't have much energy in him today." Grace said with sarcasm oozing out of her sentence and a smirk on her freckled face.

"Wow, that horse sure does have energy!" I said with a grin "I think I cantered him for 20 minutes and he was still bubbling with energy!"

"Comes with the industry right?" The blond girl beside me asked.

"It sure does! But in the end that's what makes it fun."

When Grace and I were both done, I led the handsome bay to the indoor arena, Grace and Bourbon close behind. After we warmed up, we both started working on our own thing. Griffin was more advanced as I had worked with him more time, so I could work on more complicated things. We made lots of circles, and I made sure that Griffin was on the bit and supple the whole time. I guided the bay horse through his paces, him placing each hoof perfectly each time and executing all the transitions on point. We even worked over some trotting poles, which worked out quite well. When I was happy with his progress for the day, I ended the lesson and took him back to the barn ready to mount the next horse.

"How did this big guy do it?" Matt asked as he took Griffin's reins.

"Really good actually! I think we might start jumping next lesson, he is getting too good at flat work. Aren't you bud?" I asked the horse as if he would respond. With one last grin from Matt, I went to fetch Dublin, the next horse I would ride.

Dublin was an easy and uneventful ride. I had worked with the liver chestnut gelding for over 7 months now, so I knew how he worked and what buttons to push. He was becoming quite the jumper, flying over a meter course with ease. I was hoping to start competing with him and get some wins under his name before I put him for sale.

In the lesson with Dublin we worked on some bounce lines which stood at about 90cm; we popped over flawlessly, and we ended the lesson with some basic flat work. As much as the horse loved to jump, flat work was also important. After approximately 40 minutes of working with Dublin, I dismounted and handed him over to Matt. I got my helmet off and gloves and headed over to the staff office with Grace walking by me. We had a lesson in half an hour on our own horses for a change, but as always, we decided on going to the staff office for a drink and a well deserved rest.

The staff office was basically the room in the stables Grace and I had taken over. The room wasn't too big or too small. In the middle there was a gray sofa with some cute cushions. There was a small round coffee table as well as a desk that held all our horses' information. We of course had a mini fridge stocked with snacks that we could eat throughout the day, and most important we had a coffee maker which was practically my life saviour when i had late nights or early mornings. The walls were plain except for the two frames that hung above the sofa that adorned the wooden texture of the barn.

"How was Loop this morning?" I asked Grace as I poured hot water into my cup with a tea bag already in it. Yes, im british, and yes, I love my tea.

"He was quite good. Who knew that one single horse could need so much leg?" The girl I was glad to call my best friend chuckled.

"Yeah, Loop is a handful" I said with a smile myself. Loop, or Looping Flash, was fairly new here. Grace had worked with the young gelding from the start, but he was still a mystery to her, and to me as well. Grace was hoping to re-train him to be a hunter horse. Loop's confirmation was on point, and after a couple of months of working with him we were hoping that under a good rider he could succeed in the show ring.

Grace and I were both eventers, but it was rare for us to train a horse to become one. My father sometimes told us that if they became good jumpers, it was easier for them to branch out to eventing if the owner decided. Besides, it was easier to just train them in one discipline than three at the same time!

When my phone buzzed in my pocket with the alarm clock, Grace and I headed out to the main stable block to get ready for our lesson of today.

"Hey North!" I cooed greeting the light gray  gelding in the stall. North was my horse, he was my pride and joy. I got him a few years back from my parents, and since then we have been climbing the levels in eventing with the hopes of going profesional one day. Standing at 17.3 hh, North was a huge horse, but it comes with the breed. North is a Irish Sport Horse, but besides all that, he is a sweetheart and a super talented horse that I was glad to call mine.

After taking the gray horse up in his corresponding tack, I led him out to the covered arena where Camille, our trainer, was waiting. Grace came in a few seconds after me leading Aspen, the dappled gray stallion behind her.

"What are you waiting for? Let's get working!" Camille said in a cheerful voice as I cued North to trot around the railing warming up for our jumping lesson of the day.