(When your dog turns the armrest into a buttrest.)

The next day started out a bit of a mess. A leak had decided to make itself known in the roof of the house and their mother had made the decision to deep clean the place. That, in turn, meant that both boys had to be out of the house so that they didn't get in her way. Of course, Marshall was allowed to stay since he slept most of the time... and she clearly doted on him, but Walker was sentenced to working on the roof while Ranger had all of the farm animals to deal with.

He didn't mind, since he was definitely happier being with the animals than on top of the roof, but that's where another small, or rather, large, problem decided to show itself.

"Nope, not today," Ranger grumbled as he stomped toward their herd of horses after letting their few older ones free from the barn.

He knew that stallion standing in the field several hands over their own herd.

"I swear, he can never keep you over there, can he?" Ranger said as he walked up to the beautiful black stallion.

It was a gorgeous animal, a Friesian with a hint of something else mixed in. Every so often it showed up in their paddocks, no doubt looking for their females. Thankfully, no foals ever came of it, but he wasn't willing to just let the beast hang out.

"Let's go, horse. You're not staying here anymore. I'm sure your owner is waiting for you... again," Ranger said, chastising the beast as it slowly lifted its head from grazing on the few remaining bits of weeds that hadn't been completely knocked out by the cold yet.

Since he'd seen it from a good distance away, Ranger already had a rope on his waist to wrangle the large animal.

"Come on. Time for you to go back home. I'm too busy to mess around with you today," he said as he grabbed the rope and tossed it toward the horse.

He was a pretty good horseman and rarely missed, so when the horse intentionally took a few steps back and snorted at him, he scowled and rewound the thick nylon. Figuring that it was just being stubborn, he stepped closer and tried again. This time, the horse hopped up on its hind legs just in time for a second dodge, then stomped back down to the ground with a swing of its head.

"Alright alright. I get it, you're bored. I don't have time to mess with you today, though. Mom is having a cleaning frenzy in the house and Walker is fixing the roof while his new bear boy sleeps inside. I've got to do all the animals chores by myself now, so I really don't need a distraction," he growled at the animal, knowing damn well that it didn't understand a thing he was saying.

The horse stared at him for a long moment, but as soon as Ranger started lifting the rope to try and lasso it again, it dropped its head and began eating.

Pinching his brow in frustration, he glared at the stubborn beast before stomping off toward the barn. He could hear it following him at a distance but didn't bother looking back. It just wanted his attention. He decided to just leave it be for the moment since it never really bothered their females, and went about cleaning out some of the stalls. He'd done a good amount of them the previous day, so the few that still needed work didn't take more than an hour.

After he was positive that they were spotless, he added a good amount of straw and sawdust for padding, then smacked the stallion's nose away from the bale of hay he needed to distribute to the feeders.

Once the barn looked ready, he whistled for one of his main riding horses to come over. He hopped up onto its back when it stopped in front of him, but right as he was about to start directing it to do their daily check of the fence-line, he felt a thick nose shove upward at the bottom of his boot, then send him fumbling off the other side of his horse.

Thankfully, he grabbed the animal's mane before he could break something, but he was pissed.

"What the hell is wrong with you? You could have killed me doing that!" he yelled as he stormed around the front of his horse... only to see the much larger equine nibbling at a few dropped pieces of hay on the ground as if it hadn't just nearly broken his neck on purpose.

When the animal simply swished its tail and turned around, giving him its backside, Ranger had half the thought to kick it. He knew better, however, because that would really end with him having something broken.

Deciding to ignore it again, he turned back to his horse and was just about to jump back up when he felt something abruptly slide between his legs, then lift. His arms flailed in the air, desperate for something to grab onto, but the only thing that stopped him from falling off of the massive creatures back were his legs that somehow wrapped tightly around its neck in his panic.

He got himself sitting up properly right as the horse began walking toward the fence-line.

"Excuse me, but I have my own horse that is quite capable of doing his job," he said in frustration.

Yes, it was kind of cool to ride such a huge, well cared for stallion, but it wasn't his and he definitely didn't need it to be giving him rides. It was almost like it didn't want to go back to its own farm.

"You know what? You want attention so badly then let's go. Move your butt so that I can get my job done faster and get my freezing backside back in the house," Ranger said with a bit of snark as he squeezed his legs into the beast's sides.

It shook out its mane and glanced over its shoulder, as if daring him to do it again. Well, he was more than happy to oblige. Ranger gave the horse a medium-strength kick to both of its sides, making it abruptly lift up onto its back legs with a loud neigh. He'd seen it coming, though, and easily held on with his arms so that he wasn't thrown off.

As soon as its hooves slammed back down to the ground, it took off.

"H-hey!"

He didn't expect it to stop at his shout, and of course, it didn't.

Fine. We'll just get this done faster.

Locking his arms and legs against the animal as tightly as he could, Ranger watched as the fence-line blurred by. Thankfully the crazy beast seemed to at least understand where he needed it to go.

They finished in record time, and as they finally came to a stop a bit inside the barn, Ranger grabbed his lasso that he'd refastened onto his waist and yanked it over the animal's head before slipping off of its back. He stumbled immediately but refused to release the rope.

"Jesus, my legs," he groaned, not used to riding so quickly without a saddle.

His normal perimeter horse was more than happy to take things nice and slow and never gave him sass about where to go, which was why he didn't bother to saddle it.

"You're a demon," he moaned as he hobbled toward a stall, pulling the huge horse behind him.

He was kind of surprised that it was actually letting him lead it, but at the same time it was panting pretty heavily, too. Perhaps it didn't get ridden often so it was a little out of shape. The cold weather probably didn't help, either.

"Alright, you're just going to stay in here for now. I'll give your owner a call as soon as I finish with my last few chores," he said as he gave the horse a pat, then turned around to slip out the door.

He was just about to start sliding it open, just enough so that he could get out without the horse being able to escape, when a large hand came from over his right shoulder and slammed against the door.

The abrupt action made him jump, but thankfully his inner shift wasn't worried enough to try and force its way free... yet. It was watching quietly, curious about the sudden change in situation.

There was definitely no one in here when I brought the horse in...

He felt a cold hand gently press against his abs over the long-sleeved shirt he wore. He'd unzipped his jacket after their crazy ride, but he regretted it now as a warning growl slipped from his lips. And not a moment after that he heard a familiar, deep voice speak far too close to his left ear.

"No need to call the owner, he's not there to answer."