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Post by .*.Brandy.*. on Mar 24, 2008 21:23:37 GMT -5
The steel gray filly pranced underneath me as I sat quietly in the racing saddle. Persephone or Seph as we liked to call her was ready to go. Auds pricked forwards, I felt every muscle tremble in the two year old's body. She wasn't from any fancy bloodline or had any real intense training before she came to CCI. In fact, we purchased her from a huge stable that barely even recognized her talent. After seeing her in that stable, I knew that I needed to have her with me. I just couldn't fathom the idea that if I didn't snatch her up, there was a good possibility that she would just sit there forever and ever and ever. I was glad I had gotten her from there and she certainly had not disappointed thus far.
Dylan, one of the workers we had at CCI and my good friend, held Seph on a chained leadline as we stepped out onto the track. I felt Seph's tongue roll over the bit and she flicked her tail slightly as her elegant hooves took up on the track. She had worked here several times before but the nice thing about her was it didn't even matter whether she knew the track well or not. She didn't care. She just loved to run and compete. This game-ness was rare to find in a filly. Generally, they didn't have the same physical strength as colts but Seph was different. She was well muscled but still had that feminity to her that made her obviously a female. The sun glinted off of the fountain in the centre of the track and I shaded my eyes with one gloved hand. It was fairly sunny out today and the track was nice and dragged. Seph and I would be the first to work on it today and I was glad of that. All the better for her.
I pressed my heels into Seph's sides and she loaded easily into the practice starting gate that we had on the track. Dylan unclipped Seph, smiled briefly at me and gave me a thumbs up before running off. I smile in his direction, knowing that he would open the gates in just a couple of seconds. I mentally prepared myself & I felt Seph come into tune with me for that brief second. She was only two years old, granted, but she was intelligent enough to know that when she was loaded, she would soon be let out and needed to focus on getting that good start. The gates fly open now and Seph leaps forward, getting a clean start. I lean into my two-point position over her neck, our two bodies resembling a long and low bird of some kind. Seph settled into an even and easy pace as we rounded the first turn. I knew that if there were a partner horse to work with, Seph would probably try harder but today was just a breeze. Besides, I didn't want her to become track-sour.
As we gallop down the backstretch, I allow for a little more rein. Seph took this graciously, picking up the pace just a little bit. She was very responsive to her mouth and weight shifts but if you used your legs, forget it. She didn't even care about that. As we galloped along, my eyes scanned the rail. Reed had come to watch beside his younger brother and I assumed that Kayla was on her way. This was really the first time that they had gotten the opportunity to see Seph go. They had all been skeptical about this purchase, considering that they had seen about a gazillion horses just like Seph that amounted to nothing. But I was glad that I had my instincts that told me try. Seph started on the homestretch but I put a little pressure on the reins, sitting back just a little, telling her that we would circle the track twice. She took this into account, settling back on her hindquarters a little bit more than before. Considering that Seph was a juvenile racer, she was very keen on racing smarts for her age.
Seph's face while she was racing was completely relaxed but from my angle, all I could see was pinned ears. It was interesting to me. She always pinned her ears when she raced. It wasn't anything hostile. It was just... her. I smiled in spite of myself as we finish the homestretch and start around the turn. I leaned back a little bit more into a half-seat, trying to help her around the turn. Young horses generally didn't know how to ride the turn without unbalancing themselves so I figured I could at least do her the favor of helping her out. Seph took the turn with ease, even gaining a little speed before she set onto the backstretch. My eyes shifted back to the rail and just as I had guessed before, Kayla had come to join her brothers to watch me and Seph go. I saw Reed lean to Dylan and whisper something. Dylan nodded, eyes following Seph's movement. She moved cleanly now without any inhibitations but still had something left in her. If Seph trusted in your abilities and allowed you to navigate her speed and effort, she would save enough for the end of the race to overtake whoever she needed to. She wasn't one of those horses who had endless amounts of energy. She needed to conserve some for the end.
As we rounded the final turn, I felt Seph's body shift in preparation for the final push. She knew it was coming. All horses knew that it would come at some point. It was the only thing that racers trained for. Seph stretched her long steel gray neck down towards the dirt, pulling speed from somewhere that I didn't even know that she had. Her juvenile muscles rippled underneath her shiny, sleek coat and she began to increase in speed. The increase was gradual but it was obvious that it wasn't because of a lack of trying. She did care about the results. She did care. Sometimes, you came across the horse that didn't even care. The problem was you could never train a horse to 'care'. You could train a horse about speed, about racing smarts, about conditioning but never about 'caring' about what they did. It was something that they had to be born with. As I felt Seph's fragile legs kick into their highest gear, I knew that she was born with it. What was it? The will to win.
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Post by .*.Brandy.*. on Jun 13, 2008 19:06:02 GMT -5
I couldn't help but grin to myself as Seph powered from the starting gate, collecting her steel gray pillars underneath herself and propelling off with great form. The two and a half year old filly had learned SO much in a short amount of time and was certainly ready for her first BC race. She was certainly more consistent than her racing counterpart, my brother's mount, CCI Surprise Party and Seph had the maturity of a three year old racer. She was absolutely beauty to look at when she was racing. The focus on her face was completely undeniable. She would stop at nothing to defeat everyone.
She had become much more motivated as her training continued. She understood that the point was to put your everything into each race. Sometimes she was defeated but at least I knew that every time she raced, she always tried her best to please us. As we rounded towards the backstretch, I felt her take the turn with expertise. She had been learning how to balance our weight together around turns to allow for the most speed. She really was extremely intelligent and rarely ever displayed the 'thoroughbred spirit'. I was a lucky girl to be able to work with such an easy racer. She reminded me of the female of Jet Ski and I was glad since Jet was retired, I had another.
As we galloped down the backstretch, I watched the inside of the track to keep myself from getting dizzy. Yep, we were going that fast. The filly's auds pinned to her skull, she was ready for the leap around the corner. She had great traction too and could gallop faster around the corners than most which made her more likely to overcome because not many horses could pour on the speed during the turn. She poured on the speed as we turned towards the homestretch. As we galloped down the long side, Seph reached forward further with each stride as she ate up the ground with quick succession. I loved this mare, I thought as I slowed her to a walk. The mare was barely huffing as she raised her head royally, auds pricked. She flared her nostrils a few times. I was really interested to see where this filly went. I patted her neck lightly as I glanced over where she was looking. We were ready to do it. I knew it.
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