minsung - (( of horses and hay ))

1

hello there ! real quick thing before i start this fic !! i know more about western disciplines than english disciplines so im relying on my english jumping friends for advice and im gonna be researching lots,, sorry if there's any factually incorrect things in here or i get smth wrong !!

enjoy (:

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The familiar smell of the stables greeted Minho as he entered early that saturday morning where Chan and Woojin were already prepping for the day ahead. Minho was pretty much convinced that the two practically lived at the stables at this point, somehow they always seemed to be there whenever he walked in. He quickly made his way to where his own horse, North, was currently playing with a salt block Minho had chucked into his stall the other day.

North was what Minho called his 'pride and joy'. A seven year old dappled grey Hanoverian gelding. North was everything Minho could ever ask for and wouldn't change a thing about him, even if he did like to get pretty rowdy during the odd session. Other than that, he was bomb proof and would jump pretty much anything you asked him to.

Minho finally approached the stall and began his nearly daily routine of playing and giving small treats to North. He made sure North saw him as a friend, he didn't want him to associate all of his visits with work and this seemed to do the trick. Minho thought they formed a better bond with each other this way as well, which was nice. He was supposed to do some training a bit later, so he had some time to kill. He quickly grabbed a book once he'd caught the horse's attention and started reading aloud, pacing back and forth. Minho didn't know why the gelding was so interested whenever he'd read aloud, but he seemed to like it. He'd found this out quite recently and managed to get a lot more of his school reading done this way which Minho was grateful for, so he quickly added it to the routine.

"Minho!!" A deep voice sounded from down the corridor. "Oh, you're reading again. Sorry to interrupt!" It was Felix, a younger jumper at the stables who seemed to look up to Minho. He didn't know why the kid looked up to him so much. It was nice though, being acknowledged for his skills by someone, even if that someone was younger.

"It's fine Lix don't worry about it, I think North has had enough anyways." He turned to the stall where North stood, starting to get a bit antsy. "Better leave him alone for a bit now before my session. Don't want him getting me into too much trouble!" As if he could understand, North let out a soft snort. The two boys laughed at the noise of agreement and headed back to the lounge. Once they got there, they found the eldest two relaxing on the couch, taking a quick break from their daily chores before the others would arrive.

"Well, well, well, look who it is. If it isn't the jumper duo." Chan smiled at the two and gestured for them to sit, Minho immediately sinking down into a chair opposite the pair. "Where's the youngest of the three musketeers?" He asked. Jeongin (the youngest at the stable), Felix, and Minho, made up what everyone liked to call, 'the three musketeers'. They were the three jumpers and were usually found together whenever they were there. Jeongin also did cross country, which Minho wanted to try himself in the future. It seemed more interesting than just jumping verticals and oxers all day.

"Probably sleeping. That kid could sleep for weeks if he wanted to, i'm tellin' ya." Minho answered, scrolling through his phone. Chan gave a hum of approval and went back to looking at the sheet of paper he was checking over.

"Oh yea, I almost forgot." Woojin suddenly spoke. "Speaking of 'the three musketeers', there's a new jumper coming to the stables today. I hope you'll take good care of him you two." Minho smiled at Woojin in approval, it'd been a while since anyone had joined their club. "He's actually Felix's age," Chan piped up again. "only about one day older I believe." Thank god, he wasn't extremely young. Minho didn't think he could handle a really young kid, let alone having to be a possible mentor for him. Just then, Seungmin, the stables farmhand, popped his head through the door.

"Oh, morning! Didn't think you guys would be in here yet." He laughed taking a seat on the floor. "Garden is all watered, I think some of the carrots and tomatoes are ready so i'll go pick those later." Woojin gave him a look of thanks, Seungmin smiled back and turned to the jumpers. "So, what's up with you two today?"

"I think Jeongin is crashing my lesson later in the indoor ring." Felix explained. Felix always came to the stables way earlier than his actual lesson times. Minho never found out why since he learned not to question the younger on the matter. Whenever he would ask, Felix would always brush it off or change the subject. He decided it wasn't his place, so he stopped trying to pry.

"I have dibs on the outdoor ring in about an hour and a half, so if you need me i'll be there." Minho knew how much work maintaining the farm was. He was put on farm duty for a while before Seungmin came, so he tried to help the boy out whenever needed. It was the least he could do to take a load off his shoulders, and he could tell Seungmin appreciated it.

Slowly, one by one, the other patrons of the stable showed up. First came Hyunjin who tacked up almost immediately, he had a dressage show coming up so he was always training as soon as possible these days, then came Changbin who went and watched Hyunjin for a while before tacking up his own horse and joining him, and finally, the last of the three (although soon to be four) musketeers, Jeongin, arrived with his usual book bag of homework and had joined them all in the lounge.

It was about 45 minutes later when Minho decided he should probably stop being lazy and actually tack up. He was planning to wait and say hello to the new kid when he got there, being a jumper and all, but knew his own session was also important. Making his way to North's stall, he noticed a boy with blonde hair approaching him. Minho stopped almost dead in his tracks when he spoke.

"Uh, excuse me? Do you mind telling me where the main office is? I came here alone and i'm kinda lost sorry." His voice wasn't too deep or too high, just right, and to Minho, it sounded like heaven. Almost getting immediately lost in the boy's adorable yet extremely hot features, he realised he should probably actually speak and not just stare at this kid he just met extremely awkwardly like he was right now.

"Oh, you must be the new jumper Woojin was talking about! It's just this way. Here let me take you there." Minho replied as if nothing happened and gestured for the younger boy to follow him. "Holy shit." He silently cursed, turning away and walking back towards the office where he'd yell at Woojin later for not warning him about how good this kid looks before he ran into him.

"I'm Jisung by the way! What's your name?" Jisung questioned, now walking alongside him.

"Minho." He smiled. "My name's Minho."

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the first chapter is done !! i had so much fun writing this and i'm lowkey excited to write more ?? anywhomst i'm a bit more organized in terms of planning for this story so hopefully i'll be able to have somewhat fast ?? updates ?? at least fast for me ooF,, thats all for me for now uwu - joey💕