when it rains

grr. I growled from my bed. Outside I could hear the rain pouring down, pattering on the roof, spilling from the gutters, splattering the windows. It was a grey day, my least favourite kind. I hated the rain. The only time I liked it was when it was during a thunderstorm. We had horses to work this morning, and that meant getting wet and cold and perhaps muddy, depending on how much it had rained. James, my boyfriend of nearly a year, rolled over and put his arm around me. He too hated rainy days.

We forced ourselves to get out of bed, quickly takng a hot shower together and then dressing in warm clothes. it was the beginning of Autumn, and unseasonably cool. The rain wasn't helping at all. After a quick breakfast, we each got umbrella's and jogged down to the stables in our paddock boots, left at the front door. We'd decided to leave some of the horses off work completely today, and give the rest a little swim in the heated pool. It was excellent recovery exercise for them; the ones that would be swimming had run the weekend before and needed a different workout. They were all used to mostly track work, so a swim would be a pleasant change for them.

Bank On Glory was last on the list for todays workouts. Cold, damp and shivering I entered his stall and gave him a hug. Okay, come on precious. I said once I'd given him a quick grooming. We jogged through the rain to the indoor swimming pool where James was just finishing up with Simply a Flyer, who'd needed a break from track work.

Brrrr. I shivered. Flyer shook , with drops of water flying in all directions. Glory snorted in annoyance, grunting as he shaked too, tryiing to rid himself of the water. Sorry Glory. I said apologetically. But swimming is the regimen for today. James and I hooked longer leadlines to the colt, and steered him in the direction of the rubber ramp that lead down into the water. When He saw where he was going, Glory stopped dead, throwing his head up and planting his feet in protest. Sorry boy. I repeated. But either way today you're going to get wet, and this is warm water.

Eventually we coaxed him in. As we walked on either side of the pool, Glory swam energetically, eager to get out the other end. I frowned, deep in thought. Glory had recently suffered his first out of the top three placing. This was exactly what he needed, a rejuvinatng swim. Hopefully then he'd continue winning and placing second and third. Preferably just winning. I thought, a grin quickly spreading across my face. It would be nice to once breed a horse so perfect it never lost. That would require tonnes of special horses in it's pedigree. If I bred Euphoria to Merry Bay King, i'd have the three first Hall Of Famer's in her foal's pedigree. Hopefully, just hopefully SOPS would agree to it. It would take years and years to eventually breed such thing as a perfect racehorse, if such thing could ever exist.

Glory was swimming strongly, taking big strokes with his front legs and kicking out powerfully with his hinds. His eyes rolled slightly as he fought against the slight current to keep his head above the water.