The creaky iron gates greeted me as I entered the LRRA campus. I got my parking pass and completed registration at the entry, and headed towards where signs said the barns were.

Pulling into a gravel parking lot, I got out and stretched, my muscles popping all over as I finally got a good look around. There were three barns, two big ones and one small one.

The middle barn, labeled BOARDING & LEASE (main barn), was a big blue barn that was annexed into 4 separate isles; 2 for boarding and 2 for lease horses I assumed.

The other big barn, a red one, was labeled as LESSON HORSES and finally a smaller one, about a quarter of the size of the other barns, called STALLIONS.

Phoebe's stomping in the trailer pulled me out of my awed gaze and I opened the doors, greeting by pissy nickering and snorting. I pulled Philippe out first, tying him to a nearby tie pole and got Phoebe out, swapping out which horse was tied.

Leading Philippe to the stallion barn, I looked around again, this time at the other people and horses and ponies that were walking around. It was busy, but not crowded like I'd originally thought.

Philippe's stall was already ready for him, so I put him in it, taking off his shipping sheet and fly mask, and he immediately shot out to the connected paddock and peered out to the beautiful scenery of the Rocky mountains.

I hung his halter and fly mask but took the sheet back to my truck before grabbing Phoebe and heading to the main barn, spending about 10 minutes trying to find her stall.

All the stalls in main were labeled with silver name plates that read out the horses' registered/show names. When I found Phoebe's, the name plate said Golden Sky.

I checked to make sure her fan was working and that she had hay and water before heading back to my truck and backing into a trailer space near the back of the property; a parking space I rented out for the year.

I drove to the dorms next, picking up my key and room number and parking in a lucky spot that I snatched before someone else could.

I heaved all my crap to the door, thanking whatever watched over me that it was on the first floor. The main room was a small living space, with a loveseat and rocking chair with a small tv stand in front of it but no tv. Off to the side, there were 3 desks on a step up platform next to a big window.

2 of the 3 rooms were already taken by 2 people named Jack Ringer and Quinn Danvers. I had forgotten the dorms were co-ed. The last room remaining was a small one, with a twin bed, a small wardrobe, and a vanity.

I unpack what I can in the wardrobe and shove the rest in the drawers of the nightstand.

Putting away my toiletries, I headed back out to the common room and pulled out my phone to check social media.

Looking up Jack Ringer and Quinn Danvers, I found out they were best friends from Alaska, and had been riding for 10 years both. Jack was an amazing eventer and Quinn's dressage skills were way beyond my dreams.

After about an hour, I decided to head back to the barn and fully unpack my tack and stuff.

I abandoned my nice parking spot and drove back to the stables, parking near my trailer and unlocking the tack room door, heaving my tack trunk into the tack room in the main barn.

The tack room was huge, with about 2 dozen cubbies that were two people per cubby. I found the one with my name on it and the other person's name was Chloe Terris.

I thunk my trunk down in the bottom space and went back out to get my saddles, and being me, I attempted to take both at the same time so I didn't have to go back for another trip. Bad idea. Not even a few steps into the barn and I stumbled, my expensive western saddle slipping from my grip and as I tried to grasp it better, my barn shoes slid on the aisle way and I grimaced, waiting for the impact on the fall; anything to protect my handfuls of $3K tack.

But the fall never came. Instead, someone grasped my arm and yanked me back up, pulling the western saddle into their hands. "Thanks," I gasped out, lifting my jump saddle back up.

The person who helped me was a pale girl with blond, shoulder length hair and bright brown eyes. Beautiful.

"You need help there?" She smirked. I chuckled lightly.

"Is it that obvious?"

The girl snorted. "I'm Jenna by the way," she nodded in greeting, walking with me to the tack room.

I put the jump saddle on the top rack and put out my hand for a proper greeting. "I'm Beau."

When our hands met there was a spark of electricity that ran through my body and I shivered.

"So, you jump?" Jenna asked. I nodded.

"Yep. Eventing and barrel racing. How about you?"

Jenna's eyes lit up in excitement and grinned. "I do eventing too! My strongest phase is xc. What about you?"

"Definitely stadium. Did you bring your own horse or are you leasing/lessoning?"

Jenna and I talked for about an hour, lounging around the air conditioned main barn. I learned that Jenna owns a horse, Artemis, a sweet black Hanoverian mare whose show name was of course Goddess of the Hunt. I tell her about Philippe and Phoebe, my Arabian stallion and Andalusian x mare. She had been riding for 7 years, and does the same level of eventing as me – Training. But soon I'd be moving up to Modified, as Philippe and I were both ready for something more.

I say bye to Jenna who had to go check in with her roommate and took Phoebe out of her stall, planning to hand walk her around the property.

It was too hot to even attempt to ride, and it wouldn't be fair to the horses either; being cooped up in a trailer with no way to stretch their joints for hours on end.

LRRA's stable hands and grooms turned out all the horses for the full night and until 9 AM, so the horses only had to be in their stalls 10 hours a day.

Phoebe was happy to be out of confinement and I was sad to leave the cool breeze of fans in the barn.

We stopped by Philippe's paddock, where he was peacefully eating hay and chilling, unlike his spastic sister. I scratched the stallion's nose real quick before heading into the outlet area of the campus.

It had a couple of tack shops, cafes, and places to eat. There were even more people here than there were at the dorms. A few horses milled around too, so I assumed it was okay to bring Phoebe into the stone cobbled "street" (no cars allowed).

We walked around for 20 minutes, until I was drenched in sweat and Phoebe was looking extra shiny with hints of heat.

I haphazardly hung Phoebe's halter back up on its hook and dragged myself back to the truck, absolutely exhausted. God I hated summer.

Back at the dorms I had a plan to collapse onto my bed and sleep for a few hours before orientation, but those plans were delayed when I noticed that Quinn and Jack were back.

I entered the room with precaution, and a girl with a teal bob, Quinn, bounced over to me and the male, Jack, followed more calmly. "Hi! You must be Beau!"

I nodded. "And you are Quinn and Jack?"

Jack nodded and stuck out his hand for me to shake. Quinn did the same. I yawned, pulling my hand out of Quinn's as I went to cover it. "If you don't mind me," I muttered. "I'm going to sleep for a little before orientation. You okay if we do introductions later?"

Quinn chuckled but nodded, yanking Jack back to the living area and turning on a TV I just noticed. Guess one of them brought it.

I changed and laid down in the bed for the first time, enjoying the cool sheets they provided and drifted off.

Orientation was the usual welcome to school stuff most schools did, along with some extra instruction about the stables and rules that go along with riding.

One I was worried about the most was that you weren't allowed to join a competitive team unless you had an A-B average grade. Better study hard.

After, as it was beginning to cool down to a nice 32*c and the staff decided to show all the students a small piece of the 350 acre campus.

They split us up into 13 groups, alphabetically- two letters to each group. And about 20 students per group and 3 staff. Quinn's last name was Danvers and Jack's was Ringer, so none of us were in the same group.

I forgo my saddle for tonight, hopping on Phoebe with a neck rope. I rarely used my bareback pad on her, as she was like a trotting couch when riding. It was mainly for Philippe, who was on the slimmer side and his withers liked to puncture my crotch.

We walked out to where the sun was slowly setting into the Rockies, finding my group and waiting for the staff and rest of the group to appear. Then, Jenna and Artemis sidled up to me.

"Looks like we're in the same group," she said. "What's your last name? Mine's Tolburn."

"Selli," I responded, smiling. "This is Phoebe. That Artemis?" I nodded towards the sleepy black mare. Jenna nodded.

"So, do you think you'll try out for the competitive team?" She asked.

I shrugged. "Maybe, Philippe and I have some catching up to do so we might be doing Novice for a little bit. And barrel racing doesn't start till winter," I added with a pout. Jenna snorted.

"I bet you two could come out easily in Training. Thankfully Artemis just took me through Novice a couple seasons ago and Training last season," Jenna muttered, patting Artemis' neck, who snorted. I smiled.

At the end of the trail ride, I was burning up again. Phoebe was huffing and puffing and I was close to passing out on her neck, which I'd already done during the trail ride.

It was almost pitch black out, stars gleaming in the sky and street lamps flickering to life. I slid off Phoebe's gross back and walked her to one of the wash racks, thankfully snatching the last one.

I didn't bother with a full hose down, just sponged her real good before sweat scraping and grooming her off.

Putting her back in the stall, I checked the time. 8:45. Curfew wasn't until 10, so I decided to check in on Philippe.

Going to the tack room, I put away my neck rope and sat down for a hot second before picking up some treats for both horses.

I gave some to Phoebe and headed to the stallion barn, where a few more horses had joined. A beautiful paint and a calm gray. The paint was throwing his head around, aggravated, but I ignored him; he wasn't my problem and I wasn't about to get in trouble with his owner for interfering.

Philippe dipped his head out of his stall door in search of treats, which he graciously gobbled down. Then, another girl walked in.

She was a lithe teen, around my age (16), and had brown hair which was up in a ponytail. She went over to the paint, opening his stall and scolding him, calling him "Pride," which I guessed was his name.

I tried to mind my own business again but she stopped by Philippe's stall as I began pulling off his snuggy and combing my fingers through his pulled mane. "Who are you?" She asked snidely, leaning on the stall door.

"Beau Selli," I responded kindly, ignoring the snotty tone in her voice. "And you?"

The girl snorted in exasperation, flicking her ponytail away from her face. "Delilah Hampton. And I suggest you stay away, new girl. This school is mine."

I blinked at her and was silent for a moment. "Okay?" I finally said. "No offense but I don't really care."

With that, I grabbed the snuggy and stormed out, now not in the best mood. Back in main, I opened my tack trunk and shoved the snuggy in there before hanging up my bridles and neck rope instead of them getting dusty in my trunk (again).

I noticed the saddle racks below mine were occupied now; a dressage and jump saddle. Guess Chloe Terris was also an eventer. On her hooks hung two bridles; a double and a standard figure 8 with a double jointed bit.

I waited around for a few minutes to see if Chloe would come back and I could meet her, but gave up after 5 minutes, deciding to head back to the dorms.

I claim a nearbyish parking spot and unlock the door, hoping to shower and go to bed within the hour. While our curfew was 10, it wasn't "bed time". Besides, there were college students here too.

LRRA ranged from middle school grades to sophomores in college. I was currently a sophomore in high school so I have at least another 4 years here if all goes to plan. They used to have elementary, but the kids were too much of a hassle, especially with boarding and dorms and staying put, so they canceled the k-5 program. Because of this too, the middle schoolers had very strict rules that lightened in 8th.

The cold shower cooled my overheated skin and I was relieved that Quinn and Jack weren't back yet because I had forgotten my clothes in my room and didn't take them into the bathroom.

I changed quickly and snuggled into the comfortable mattress, the ceiling fan blowing heavenly in the hot room. My door was cracked slightly so I could hear when Quinn and Jack came in, and I did.

It was right before I was drifting off, and Jack's loud laughter scared me awake and I pouted. I stayed in bed though, eavesdropping on my roommates' conversation.

"She's kinda weird," Quinn giggled. Jack snorted.

"No weirder than you," he retorted.

"But like, what kind of name is 'Beau?' Who would name their daughter that?" Quinn's almost mocking tone hurt.

Beau was a nickname my dad had given me because I refused to be called beautiful for years. And after he passed, I kept up the nickname and rarely ever told anyone my real name.

"How about we don't judge people by their names?" Jack then suggested, and I smiled a bit at that. At least one person was sorta on my side.