Post by archibald on May 23, 2012 0:33:38 GMT -5
calle ocho & broadway ,
Ash gave Jo a leg up into Eight’s saddle, giving her an apologetic smile once she had settled down, gathering up the bay Thoroughbred’s reins. “Again, I’m really sorry about this, I wouldn’t have asked but I needed riders and the ones I usually use are busy... I’ll get both of your pays sorted out either tonight or tomorrow,” he told his ex sister in law, who just shook her head at him.
“That’s about the fifth time you’ve said sorry since you asked if we could ride for you this morning, and I’m not going to tell you it’s alright one more time, okay? I don’t mind helping you out if you need it... Casey, on the other hand... as long as he isn’t hanging around, I don’t mind riding for you if you need a rider. And I doubt Angie does either,” she answered him, glancing over at her younger, equally as blonde sister, who was standing a bit away from them in the mounting yard, astride Broadway.
“Alright, alright. I just want them breezed today, nothing too much,” he told her, stepping back to let her walk off with Eight, not really having to give her any more instruction than that, he knew how well she could ride, and she had been a jockey for a long time now, and after all, she’d grown up around racehorses, just like he had, since their fathers had both been trainers at the same track. She knew what she was doing, and he trusted that. And even though Angie was younger, that didn’t worry him either. He watched them take the horses out onto the practice track, moving to lean against the railing to watch them.
The girls took them around once, warming up both horses thoroughly, before picking up the pace to a moderately paced gallop once they had done a bit over a lap and a half of the track. Both horses willingly picked up the speed, fighting to get their heads for a bit before both riders pulled them back, not allowing them to get away with it, since the trick for this whole workout was to conserve their energy and not completely spend it, and was more to condition the horses, not test their competitiveness. And the last thing he needed was for one of them to go too fast and injure themselves, or spend themselves a little too much and not recover by the time they raced next.
He continued to watch them breeze Broadway and Eight for a lap of the track, before they slowed them again and started cooling them down, although he’d probably stick both of them in the hot walkers for a bit afterwards anyway, just to be sure that they were completely cooled off. He let his attention wander then, now that the work was pretty much over, stifling a yawn behind one hand as he leant a little more heavily against the railing.