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Description

This got way way out of hand.

I'm a little attached to Mossy, since she cantered into my head and found her way to Lakewood, so I thought I'd just draw a quick picture of her - another of my minis (My God, these are addictive). That wasn't too difficult, but then I couldn't decide what the background was going to be.

I just started labelling laters - sky, hill, horizon, woodland - and as I did this, the background appeared in my head. So I started, and the more I drew, the more I could see it and I realised it was way too intense to be a tiny little scribble, so I figured, which horse haven't I shown a lot of?

Contessa. Our Timekin mare So she found her way into the scene too. End result? I really love this (though there's the usual anatomy flaws and my lake water is ) So this is Becca and Chess out hacking one morning in some nice weather, now that the worst of winter is over.

It occurs to me that I haven't drawn Calling Lake, just behind the Farm, but this is one of the regular hacking routes. Anyone familiar with Lakewood's map might know where to visualise this if I say the trail to the woods up by Wickerwood's gate is a short way off to the left of this picture

And now Storytime!
--------------
"Ace, get down you mad dog!" Becca chided, trying to shoo away the excitable dalmatian so she could open the huge barn door. Ace barked, and immediately leapt backwards, bounding off around the Farmyard. Everything was still locked up from the night but Hershey's head appeared over the door of the goats' shared stall, next to Kody's. Ace had done it now; she'd woken them all up.
Becca shook her head and pushed the great door inward. There was some open space before the stalls began, four on either side of the centre aisle, and their light gig was stored on the left, leaning wearily on the arched shafts. To the right were the crooked steps leading up the hay loft. Sat at the bottom, looking supremely annoyed, was Kismet; their snowshoe cat.
Becca cringed internally, even as she stepped over. "Hey, Pretty girl," she cooed, hoping the cat would forgive her if she laid out the compliments. "Have you been here all night?"
Kismet seemed to scowl and she stood regally before slinking down the barn to the Den, giving Becca a wide berth. She was a yard cat - always outside, if unusually cuddly - but she didn't take kindly to being shut out of the Farmhouse at night. Unlike Eskimo - the Egyptian Mau, who often bedded down in one of the empty boxes.
Becca turned her attention to the horses now. Aphie's head looked out over her door, mane full of straw like normal, and Toeki in the box opposite was trying to gnaw his own nameplate off the wall by his head. Becca rolled her eyes and strode in. Mossy on the closest end put her head over and nuzzled into Becca's extended hand in her usual sweet way, before returning to the last of her haynet.
Chess and Austin had slipped into the barn by the time Becca had checked that Karma hadn't torn up her poly rug. They gathered in the Den where Kismet was fed in a hurry to help appease her and found seats. Becca in the swivel chair at the desk, Austin on the sunken couch and Chess in the heavy western saddle on the sturdy saddle horse on wheels.
"It's slow today," Becca said. "Toeki, Karma, Aphie, Matches and Tyke all have the day off. Tessa wants a good long ride; she's been stuck in the Temple for the last two days doing ground schooling."
Chess nodded, swinging her booted feet into the wide stirrups. The whole stand reeled back a foot, making her flail wildly to stay balanced. Austin laughed out loud.
"Remarkable. You can sit on Matches when he's in one of his moods with barely a twitch but a solid object moves an inch and you go flying."
Chess stuck her tongue out at him, settling comfortably again.
"Mature," Becca teased.
There was a whinny from the Barn and footsteps, right before Twitch appeared in the doorway.
"Morning," she said, smiling. "Mum just dropped me at the drive; sorry I'm late."
"It's okay," Austin waved, making space for her on the couch. "You just missed Chess practicing for You've Been Framed."
Twitch glanced over. Chess shook her head. "Ignore him."
The younger girl smirked. "Anyway, I have donuts."
Becca beamed at her, dropping a biro back on the diary. "I love you."
"For later," Twitch sniggered. "Who do you need me to bring in?"
Becca's smile dropped comically, but she turned obediently back to the day's plan.
"We were just saying that most of them have the day off. Only Mossy, Tessa and Oma need work." Becca paused, noted something down, tapped the pen on the page and scribbled something else. "Okay. Twitch; you've got Oma. Chess, Tessa; Austin you can have Tyke and I'll have a fight with Sparky." Matches had been in one of his moods when he was put out the night before, so Becca wasn't looking forward to this.
They all moved to the barn, grabbing headcollars and started the trek to the fields at the bottom.

Nearly two hours later the mucking out was just about finished. The pick up was situated just outside the Farmyard, hitched to the muck trailer. Twitch forked up the last wheelbarrow and freewheeled it down the ramp before pushing it up and securing it. She looked around the side and gave a thumbs up to Austin, in the driver's seat. He returned the gesture, started the engine and gently trundled away to add the mornings wheelbarrows to the muckheap behind the Farm.
Twitch stowed the wheelbarrow in the unused stall in the yard next to the chicken coop - dodged two of the chickens, and quickly closed the gate. Just because the goats escaped often, didn't mean they got a free ticket.
Back in the Den, Becca and Chess were idly sponging soap over hanging bridles as they talked through the day.
They spotted her in the doorway.
"Tweet," Becca exclaimed; a moniker of her own creation for the teenager. "Want to ride today?"
Twitch smiled, but shrugged. "Only if you need me to."
The brunette scoffed, "That was almost convincing. You can get on Oma later. He wants a bit of jumping, since he's done a fair bit of flat this week. You can put him over a couple of grids, if you're up for it."
Twitch beamed, unable to hide her enthusiasm; her soft spot for the sweet natured gypsy stallion hadn't waned in the months he'd been with them. "Yes. I'll do it."
Chess and Becca smiled. Chess indicated the diary on the desk, "For now, do you think you could get a bale in to soak? There's one ready for lunch hay today, so if you could make a start on the nets, that'd be great."
Twitch nodded eagerly. "Sure. Are you two taking out Mossy and Tessa now?"
Becca nodded. "Tessa needs a long ride out of the schools, and Mossy's fit, so they'll keep each other company on a hack. We'll be back probably just before lunch yards, as there's no others to work. Think you can manage Austin til then?"
Twitch laughed. "Sure. I'll get started."
She let herself through to the tack room, and then the side door onto the Stableyard. Chess stood up and stretched.
"I'll get Mossy tacked up. I'm assuming you're getting on Tessa?"
Becca nodded. "Yep. I can't sit in a dressage saddle until my bruise has gone down. Matches and his moods..." The chestnut Arabian had ditched Becca in front of a fence the day before because Aphie coming into season had thrown him for a bit of a loop.
Chess laughed, taking the elegant, straight cut saddle off the wall rack. Mossy's hackamore was next to it, but Chess looked to the other side, and the fine rope halter hung there. She'd found it at the bottom of Mossy's tack box, and called Cole about it - the mare responded well to being rode in that, just as much as the hackamore. Chess hesitated for a mere second before taking the halter off the peg, and scooping up the 12 foot white lead attached. She and Cole had taken Aphie and Mossy to Parelli sessions together a few years ago, so they both owned the distinctive halters and leads.
Becca was balancing Contessa's western ranching saddle on her hip, the woollen pad splayed over the top and simple bridle over her shoulder. They strode into the Barn together.
Contessa was in now, idly lipping up hay from the floor of the box, her mane and forelock still pulled into the running plait that Twitch had worked in while she ate that morning. Becca swung the saddle onto the peg by the door and Chess moved on to Mossy's stable.
The blonde gave the little mare a brush down, though she was remarkably clean, and set the saddle on her withers gently before sliding it into place. Mossy's ears pricked and she lipped up the halter from the door, tossing her head so it flew through the air. Hurry up. Hurry up,

Chess led the mare out, stirrups swinging by her sides and the lengthy lead looped around her neck and fastened to the loops of the halter. Mossy followed her happily out of the barn, into the Farmyard, then through the gate to the Stableyard and finally under the archway to the stretch of green by the School.
Becca was there, carefully mounting up and being mindful of her bruised hip. Chess swung easily onto Mossy's back and settled in the deep seat of the dressage saddle. She coaxed up the lead and gently pressed with her calves. The mare walked happily ahead and Chess glanced back at Becca.
"Ready?"
The brunette nodded, swiping her loose straight hair back over her shoulders. It promptly slipped forward again. "Ready. Lead the way."
Chess let Mossy pick her way up the path past the school and the Garage then the gate to Wickerwood and finally into the trees behind the Farm.
"Take the right path," Becca called. "We'll go up by the canal and over the moor."
"So come back the other side of the Lake?" Chess checked. Becca trotted up beside her, one hand managing the light contact of cotton reins on Tessa's bit. "Yep. That'll take a couple of hours...And we're not stopping."
Chess snickered. Sure enough, now that they were in the open, a pleasant spring breeze whispering through the fresh grass and leaves, Contessa's ears had pricked forward, and her stride surged. She wasn't a huge horse - only 15.3 - but her presence was greater away from the Farm. She truly was wild at heart. Especially in comparison to tiny little Mossy, who would live in the house if she could.
"let's go, then," Chess suggested. "The ground's good, and we won't be able to by the canal."
Contessa had already overtaken, and Mossy needed little encouragement to leap after her, dainty hooves flying.
"We're so racing some of the way home," Becca called back gleefully, half-heartedly trying to bring Tessa's trot back to working from the powerful extended she was immersed in.
Mossy snorted and Chess nodded, remembering the little mare racing against Aphie just 18 months ago. "No problem. Prepare to lose!"
--------------
Some of this may make more sense if you know Lakewood's layout. I don't know. The map's here for those interested: [link]

I've saved an enlarged image of the horses here: [link] for those who want to see smaller details.

Mossy's ref: [link]
Contessa's ref: [link]

Layers - something like 59?
Time Taken - Around 16 hours, if I estimated. I didn't count, but it's taken most of the day
All done from the sketch up in PS CS5. No references used, but a few of the preset brushes in PS.
This tutorial by *equineu helped for the lake: [link]
Tessa is a Timekin [link] - the breed is copyright to *MissDudette
Art, characters and story copyright to me.
Do not take, copy, edit, redistribute or manipulate.

Description

This got way way out of hand.

I'm a little attached to Mossy, since she cantered into my head and found her way to Lakewood, so I thought I'd just draw a quick picture of her - another of my minis (My God, these are addictive). That wasn't too difficult, but then I couldn't decide what the background was going to be.

I just started labelling laters - sky, hill, horizon, woodland - and as I did this, the background appeared in my head. So I started, and the more I drew, the more I could see it and I realised it was way too intense to be a tiny little scribble, so I figured, which horse haven't I shown a lot of?

Contessa. Our Timekin mare So she found her way into the scene too. End result? I really love this (though there's the usual anatomy flaws and my lake water is ) So this is Becca and Chess out hacking one morning in some nice weather, now that the worst of winter is over.

It occurs to me that I haven't drawn Calling Lake, just behind the Farm, but this is one of the regular hacking routes. Anyone familiar with Lakewood's map might know where to visualise this if I say the trail to the woods up by Wickerwood's gate is a short way off to the left of this picture

And now Storytime!
--------------
"Ace, get down you mad dog!" Becca chided, trying to shoo away the excitable dalmatian so she could open the huge barn door. Ace barked, and immediately leapt backwards, bounding off around the Farmyard. Everything was still locked up from the night but Hershey's head appeared over the door of the goats' shared stall, next to Kody's. Ace had done it now; she'd woken them all up.
Becca shook her head and pushed the great door inward. There was some open space before the stalls began, four on either side of the centre aisle, and their light gig was stored on the left, leaning wearily on the arched shafts. To the right were the crooked steps leading up the hay loft. Sat at the bottom, looking supremely annoyed, was Kismet; their snowshoe cat.
Becca cringed internally, even as she stepped over. "Hey, Pretty girl," she cooed, hoping the cat would forgive her if she laid out the compliments. "Have you been here all night?"
Kismet seemed to scowl and she stood regally before slinking down the barn to the Den, giving Becca a wide berth. She was a yard cat - always outside, if unusually cuddly - but she didn't take kindly to being shut out of the Farmhouse at night. Unlike Eskimo - the Egyptian Mau, who often bedded down in one of the empty boxes.
Becca turned her attention to the horses now. Aphie's head looked out over her door, mane full of straw like normal, and Toeki in the box opposite was trying to gnaw his own nameplate off the wall by his head. Becca rolled her eyes and strode in. Mossy on the closest end put her head over and nuzzled into Becca's extended hand in her usual sweet way, before returning to the last of her haynet.
Chess and Austin had slipped into the barn by the time Becca had checked that Karma hadn't torn up her poly rug. They gathered in the Den where Kismet was fed in a hurry to help appease her and found seats. Becca in the swivel chair at the desk, Austin on the sunken couch and Chess in the heavy western saddle on the sturdy saddle horse on wheels.
"It's slow today," Becca said. "Toeki, Karma, Aphie, Matches and Tyke all have the day off. Tessa wants a good long ride; she's been stuck in the Temple for the last two days doing ground schooling."
Chess nodded, swinging her booted feet into the wide stirrups. The whole stand reeled back a foot, making her flail wildly to stay balanced. Austin laughed out loud.
"Remarkable. You can sit on Matches when he's in one of his moods with barely a twitch but a solid object moves an inch and you go flying."
Chess stuck her tongue out at him, settling comfortably again.
"Mature," Becca teased.
There was a whinny from the Barn and footsteps, right before Twitch appeared in the doorway.
"Morning," she said, smiling. "Mum just dropped me at the drive; sorry I'm late."
"It's okay," Austin waved, making space for her on the couch. "You just missed Chess practicing for You've Been Framed."
Twitch glanced over. Chess shook her head. "Ignore him."
The younger girl smirked. "Anyway, I have donuts."
Becca beamed at her, dropping a biro back on the diary. "I love you."
"For later," Twitch sniggered. "Who do you need me to bring in?"
Becca's smile dropped comically, but she turned obediently back to the day's plan.
"We were just saying that most of them have the day off. Only Mossy, Tessa and Oma need work." Becca paused, noted something down, tapped the pen on the page and scribbled something else. "Okay. Twitch; you've got Oma. Chess, Tessa; Austin you can have Tyke and I'll have a fight with Sparky." Matches had been in one of his moods when he was put out the night before, so Becca wasn't looking forward to this.
They all moved to the barn, grabbing headcollars and started the trek to the fields at the bottom.

Nearly two hours later the mucking out was just about finished. The pick up was situated just outside the Farmyard, hitched to the muck trailer. Twitch forked up the last wheelbarrow and freewheeled it down the ramp before pushing it up and securing it. She looked around the side and gave a thumbs up to Austin, in the driver's seat. He returned the gesture, started the engine and gently trundled away to add the mornings wheelbarrows to the muckheap behind the Farm.
Twitch stowed the wheelbarrow in the unused stall in the yard next to the chicken coop - dodged two of the chickens, and quickly closed the gate. Just because the goats escaped often, didn't mean they got a free ticket.
Back in the Den, Becca and Chess were idly sponging soap over hanging bridles as they talked through the day.
They spotted her in the doorway.
"Tweet," Becca exclaimed; a moniker of her own creation for the teenager. "Want to ride today?"
Twitch smiled, but shrugged. "Only if you need me to."
The brunette scoffed, "That was almost convincing. You can get on Oma later. He wants a bit of jumping, since he's done a fair bit of flat this week. You can put him over a couple of grids, if you're up for it."
Twitch beamed, unable to hide her enthusiasm; her soft spot for the sweet natured gypsy stallion hadn't waned in the months he'd been with them. "Yes. I'll do it."
Chess and Becca smiled. Chess indicated the diary on the desk, "For now, do you think you could get a bale in to soak? There's one ready for lunch hay today, so if you could make a start on the nets, that'd be great."
Twitch nodded eagerly. "Sure. Are you two taking out Mossy and Tessa now?"
Becca nodded. "Tessa needs a long ride out of the schools, and Mossy's fit, so they'll keep each other company on a hack. We'll be back probably just before lunch yards, as there's no others to work. Think you can manage Austin til then?"
Twitch laughed. "Sure. I'll get started."
She let herself through to the tack room, and then the side door onto the Stableyard. Chess stood up and stretched.
"I'll get Mossy tacked up. I'm assuming you're getting on Tessa?"
Becca nodded. "Yep. I can't sit in a dressage saddle until my bruise has gone down. Matches and his moods..." The chestnut Arabian had ditched Becca in front of a fence the day before because Aphie coming into season had thrown him for a bit of a loop.
Chess laughed, taking the elegant, straight cut saddle off the wall rack. Mossy's hackamore was next to it, but Chess looked to the other side, and the fine rope halter hung there. She'd found it at the bottom of Mossy's tack box, and called Cole about it - the mare responded well to being rode in that, just as much as the hackamore. Chess hesitated for a mere second before taking the halter off the peg, and scooping up the 12 foot white lead attached. She and Cole had taken Aphie and Mossy to Parelli sessions together a few years ago, so they both owned the distinctive halters and leads.
Becca was balancing Contessa's western ranching saddle on her hip, the woollen pad splayed over the top and simple bridle over her shoulder. They strode into the Barn together.
Contessa was in now, idly lipping up hay from the floor of the box, her mane and forelock still pulled into the running plait that Twitch had worked in while she ate that morning. Becca swung the saddle onto the peg by the door and Chess moved on to Mossy's stable.
The blonde gave the little mare a brush down, though she was remarkably clean, and set the saddle on her withers gently before sliding it into place. Mossy's ears pricked and she lipped up the halter from the door, tossing her head so it flew through the air. Hurry up. Hurry up,

Chess led the mare out, stirrups swinging by her sides and the lengthy lead looped around her neck and fastened to the loops of the halter. Mossy followed her happily out of the barn, into the Farmyard, then through the gate to the Stableyard and finally under the archway to the stretch of green by the School.
Becca was there, carefully mounting up and being mindful of her bruised hip. Chess swung easily onto Mossy's back and settled in the deep seat of the dressage saddle. She coaxed up the lead and gently pressed with her calves. The mare walked happily ahead and Chess glanced back at Becca.
"Ready?"
The brunette nodded, swiping her loose straight hair back over her shoulders. It promptly slipped forward again. "Ready. Lead the way."
Chess let Mossy pick her way up the path past the school and the Garage then the gate to Wickerwood and finally into the trees behind the Farm.
"Take the right path," Becca called. "We'll go up by the canal and over the moor."
"So come back the other side of the Lake?" Chess checked. Becca trotted up beside her, one hand managing the light contact of cotton reins on Tessa's bit. "Yep. That'll take a couple of hours...And we're not stopping."
Chess snickered. Sure enough, now that they were in the open, a pleasant spring breeze whispering through the fresh grass and leaves, Contessa's ears had pricked forward, and her stride surged. She wasn't a huge horse - only 15.3 - but her presence was greater away from the Farm. She truly was wild at heart. Especially in comparison to tiny little Mossy, who would live in the house if she could.
"let's go, then," Chess suggested. "The ground's good, and we won't be able to by the canal."
Contessa had already overtaken, and Mossy needed little encouragement to leap after her, dainty hooves flying.
"We're so racing some of the way home," Becca called back gleefully, half-heartedly trying to bring Tessa's trot back to working from the powerful extended she was immersed in.
Mossy snorted and Chess nodded, remembering the little mare racing against Aphie just 18 months ago. "No problem. Prepare to lose!"
--------------
Some of this may make more sense if you know Lakewood's layout. I don't know. The map's here for those interested: [link]

I've saved an enlarged image of the horses here: [link] for those who want to see smaller details.

Mossy's ref: [link]
Contessa's ref: [link]

Layers - something like 59?
Time Taken - Around 16 hours, if I estimated. I didn't count, but it's taken most of the day
All done from the sketch up in PS CS5. No references used, but a few of the preset brushes in PS.
This tutorial by *equineu helped for the lake: [link]
Tessa is a Timekin [link] - the breed is copyright to *MissDudette
Art, characters and story copyright to me.
Do not take, copy, edit, redistribute or manipulate.