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lily anderson.

Come on, sweet thing!

The dark bay filly underneath me flicked an ear towards my vocals, her bright brown eyes scanning the area around her eagerly. This was her first time on the trails alone and with any other horse, these familiar surroundings could possibly turn into horse-eating dangers. Lila was nowhere near that point and she glanced around with an interest that was hard to find in a two year old thoroughbred. With a flick of her tail, I knew she was ready to breeze through the forest, a nice break from the monotony of the track. Her bright white blaze lit up in the dimly covered wooded area and I clucked to her lightly. She took my signal with a quickness of reflexes and we were off.

The sound of her thundering hooves reminded me of the wins I had had on racers in the past. Lila had been losing recently and that discouraged me. However, the filly was game to keep trying. She just lacked the volatile behaviors of other racers her age. I just needed to get her to shoot off like others did. I asked for a bit more speed and the filly responded beautifully, going off of my leg in a great long, sweeping stride. She was a sprinter but had the length of stride of a huge long-distance runner. I leaned further down and I heard her ask for a little more rein. I gave it to her and she revved up her speed to more of a quick gallop. Auds pricked forward, I saw a happiness in her here that she lacked on the track.

Then I realized. She needed to breeze out here rather than on the track so she didn't get bored. Her muscles flexed as I felt her pace increase even more than it ever had on the track. If I limited her breezes on the tracks, then she would be more interested when she ran in a race. The epiphany I just had left me at ease as the filly underneath me galloped at a blinding pace. Hearing the hoof steps of a horse ahead of us, I leaned back into my saddle softly. Lila snorted now, shaking her head, wanting to gallop in this fun and invigorating place more. I glanced up at the rider on the equine and offered a sweet smile as Lila finally slowed to a walk.

Up for a little race?