Post by morgana on Nov 28, 2011 22:05:05 GMT -5
From the moment we unloaded her from the van, got her into the shedrow and took her out later that night, Enchantress was nearly airborn every step of the way. She was running soon and we were hellbent on getting her head in the game. Maybe letting off some steam would help the two year old grey filly focus.
As Harriet and Nathan both tried to settle Nessa while getting Grace up on her back, the filly's ears were constantly on the move, rotating back and forth at every new sound that crossed her line of attention, every new sight. She had been at this track before, but for some reason it was like out of sight, out of mind. Nathan checked the girth as Grace got settled on Nessa's back, murmuring gently to the filly to calm her as he and Harriet led her onto the track. At the same time, Katie Reimer, their newest exercise rider and jockey, was on their other grey colt; the yearling Azrael. Enchantress needed to focus while Azrael needed to gain experience for his first race.
"Alright, you two," Harriet said, watching the two girls come up near. "Katie, you just need to keep Azrael at his comfortable position at least near Enchantress. She's going to want to hang in back and I want to try them both at about six furlongs so they're not both knackered before the race."
"Who am I coming up behind, though?" Katie, the other British exercise rider who was a few years older than Grace, pointed out. "Azrael isn't going to have any clue what to do with himself if he's not using another horse as a lead, and Enchantress is going to come from the back."
"We're not having them match-race each other," Nathan said, trying to settle Enchantress. Azrael, though he was younger, was relatively calm, ears pricked as he watched the going ons with wide-eyed curiosity of a youngster, though his fearlessness showed much promise on the track, at least that's what Harriet and Nathan were hoping. "This is just a simple workout to keep them conditioned and to prevent Enchantress--or Azrael, for that matter, from crawling over the boards in the middle of the night."
"And besides," Harriet added. "Though I'm sure she's going to be off her nut the moment she gets on the field and pitch a complete conniption, Enchantress does have more experience than Azrael; far more. She's grand, and I know she has the potential to be successful, just need to get her head in the game."
The two headed out on the track at a steady canter before picking up a gallop, both of them holding back. Grace held Enchantress back a bit at Azrael's flank, the filly's ears flicking back toward Grace as the joy of being able to use the muscles she was bred for released much of the tension in her body that had her tightened like a coiled spring. Grace could still feel that, and Katie hunkered along Azrael's neck, though stood in the stirrups as she let the colt stretch out in the slightest. They weren't ready for an all out breeze yet and Harriet didn't want to blow the colt out before he even ran his first race.
"You think Azrael's going to lose his mind?" Harriet said to Nathan, glancing his way. "He always wants to be in back of the leading horse, but nowhere further back. I don't want to confuse him."
"He's not, he's still figuring out what all of this is like," Nathan assured her, squeezing her shoulder gently.