it's a long road to glory

[Snowflake]

I grinned as I felt the colt's power beneath me. It was obvious in each stride just how strong and determined he was. Just the kind of horse I liked best. His trotting stride was long and reasonably smooth, and I could feel his reluctance to obey my experienced hand. He thought he knew best, but he would have to learn to co operate with me and work with me as a team. It was surely the only way to win big time.

The bay moved with ease, I noticed with pleasure. Each of Road's paces we had seen him demonstrate on the lunge seemed even more wonderful as I rode him now. His canter was delightful; gentle and smooth. I turned him through figure eights and circles, and even the odd serpentine as I worked out his kinks. We weren't sure of how fit the colt was, or his two filly stablemates who we had bought from the same sale. They all looked very fit and healthy, but had apparently been out of work for about two weeks. Fortunately, two weeks wasn't much and within another two weeks, given some luck, all three new horses would be ready to run their first race of the season.

I eventually crouched lower over the bay withers, and urged the colt on into gallop. Road roared into the faster pace eagerly, his strides lengthened considerably and his hoofbeats became more pronounced. I felt a rush of pure exhilaration, despite the fact that we were still going quite slow for a gallop and the adrenaline drove me to urge the colt on faster. The three year old pounded up the backstretch, heading for the turn. I guided him around it with a practiced hand, pleased to see he had had enough experience to slow down just enough around corners. It showed he was intelligent.

Unfortunately, I couldn't make him go all out just yet - it was his first actual work in two weeks and it would only hurt him now. We had to bring him back to top form properly - this was just a warmup, really.
I slowed him down gradually, taking him around the track once more, four furlongs at canter, and four at trot. Then we exited the track.
How was he? Sarah questioned interestedly. Her eyes were drawn instantly to the colt's bright eyes, and his barely damp neck. Obviously it had been a good run. Great! I grinned, petting the three year old's neck as I slid off his back to the ground. He was hot to handle at first, but once I had his interest he went like a dream.
Good, good. Sarah muttered, checking the colt's legs. He looks like he'll do eight to ten furlongs quite nicely.
He felt that way. I replied.

She smiled at me, then went right back to business. Cool him out, then take care of him yourself. I want you to be his regular rider, so you guys need to make friends. She then walked off, looking a little preoccupied. I smiled at her back. I knew something she didn't know.. James was at the Green Horse Fields Racecourse this morning, entering some horses in the races for the next few weeks and reserving us a stablerow. I knew he also planned to get something else while he was out..

I cooled Road To Glory out, noting that he was spirited and fiesty after his run. After fifteen minutes of wandering around the stables and pastures, Road was cool and dry, ready to be groomed and put out to grass for a few hours. As Sarah had told me to do, I groomed the colt thoroughly, talking to him and petting him, slipping him a piece of carrot from the stash in the feed room every now and then. After half an hour of pampering, the colt seemed very comfortable around me, almost totally at ease.

I lead him back out of the barn and took him to his pasture, where my girlfriend Marissa was fetching in Gorgeous George, who hadn't worked this morning. She just smiled at me when I walked past, keeping George a distance away. Just a friendly smile - not the one I usually recieved from her. Boy, was she acting weird lately.

I opened the gate, lead Road through and closed it behind me. As soon as I let the colt go, he wandered off, sniffed around and then galloped around for a bit before dropping to the ground and rolling in the dirt, undoing all the grooming I had just done. I grinned - I could tell I was going to like this colt.