a long road [open]

[flatcreek]

Skyrocket & Sarah Mutain, Amazon & Josh Passit

It was much too early to wake up and be going to work. It had been Sarah's turn to get the coffee for everyone this morning, too, so that had meant waking up earlier than normal to accommodate the stop at the cafe and still get to work on time. And then, to make things worse, her coffee had been too hot to drink. It was not a good start to the day at all.

As she walked into the barn, Sarah was flocked by people, each fighting to find their coffee. She grabbed hers away before anyone could accidentally take a sip, then went over to the set list to see who she would be up on in the first set. The answer brought a grin to her face. Maybe it wouldn't be such a bad day, after all.

Sarah made her way to Bullet's stall, hidden in the interior of the stable. They were keeping quiet as much as possible about the son of Rocket and Rissy. "Hey there, handsome," she greeted the big colt, arriving at his stall. He had been born big and bay, but was now big and gray. He was taking after his mother, color wise.

After setting down her coffee, she grabbed his halter and led the colt out into the aisle. While she was tying the colt up, a groom brought the tack over and started to brush Bullet off.

"I've got it, Hannah. I'm ahead on time. You might want to go see if Pete needs help getting Sofie saddled, though." Sofie was blind in her right eye and could be spooky around things. Hannah nodded, then slipped away to help with the filly.

Sarah brushed Bullet quickly, then saddled him. The entire time he stood there silently, his eyes telling everybody who was in charge. Before long, she was slipping the snaffle into his mouth, then leading him out of the barn. It was still dark outside, since they wanted to keep Bullet hidden from onlookers as much as possible. Josh was already outside on Amazon, John rubbing the filly's face.

"Finally, Sarah. It takes you longer to saddle Bullet than it takes you to get ready for awards dinners," joked Josh.

Sarah replied with a glare. She'd only had one sip of her coffee and she had to put up with Josh in a joking mood. Just great. She gave Bullet a pat, then let John give her a leg up onto the big two year old. It was time to get to work.

[symphony]

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Pleasant Disposition and Conclusion
Session #2; Tally Cremer and Sonya Reede; fitness

Sonya worked quickly and efficiently under the critical eye of her boss, Tally Cremer, smoothing a towel over the dark, sloping back of Conclusion, her first of a handful of rides for the day. The thick, heavy saddle blanket was next, requiring only a little adjustment before the small black exercise saddle itself was placed on top, the dark colour swallowing part of the green and gold of the blanket. From the other side of the already towering colt, Terry called out that he was ready, and she pulled up the girth as far as she could get it, then switched, holding the saddle steady while Terry did the same. They switched once more, and then with a nod from Tally, Terry moved off to help Darren with Phe and Sonya reached for the bridle belonging to Conks.

The colt opened his mouth easily at the touch of the bit to his lips, chewing it mindlessly as she slipped the headpiece over his ears and buckled the throatlash. "Good job Sonya," Tally said behind her; she sighed in relief that she had gotten it all right. She messed up sometimes, and now that she was actually out on the track riding at least once a week, she didn't want to get anything wrong. Especially not now, when Tally was going out on a limb and giving her a ride on one of their most talented two year olds.

Beside her, Tally led out a fully tacked Phe, accepting a leg-up from Darren onto the leggy palomino. Sonya was next, leaping up into the saddle with a little help from Tally's assistant trainer. She hadn't gotten to know Darren quite as well as she had the other stablehands, not even over the last couple of months when she had started riding; while Tally took a horse out every now and then, he stayed predominantly around the saddling yards and at the rail with other trainers, rarely ever taking a ride. He used to be the stable's main jockey, she knew, though it seemed he'd well and truly moved on from that, handing it on to Selena, with whom she'd somehow managed to become fast friends.

Waiting for Phe to move off a length or so in front, she gave Conks a small, tentative nudge to follow, not sure if she totally trusted him yet. He snorted and followed his stablemate easily, keeping a light contact with her and walking along calmly, unlike the palomino ahead, who was decidedly skittish. It was almost like the splashed colt was taking care of her, she thought, easing her into it. He was, after all, just as new to this as she was.

[flatcreek]

The walk to the track was a mix of silence and unimportant gossip. Sarah and the horses were just fine with the silence, but Josh was in a talkative mood today. About three quarters of the way to the track, as Josh was going on about some random gossip that Sarah had heard fifty times already, she reached her breaking point. "Josh, shut up or I'll slap you."

He looked over, faking an offended look. "Really Sarah? I get it, you didn't have your coffee yet, but don't take it out on me!" He rolled his eyes. "You're more than welcome to get mad at Dev later, though. He bit me this morning while I was helping John feed."

Even in her bad mood, Sarah couldn't help but laugh, startling the two horses slightly. "You make John mad at you or something? He never has me feed Dev."

"No, he just tells you to stay away so that monster doesn't kill you or something and makes me ride him! I'd say try it, but you don't want to."

They arrived at the track with Sarah in a much better mood and the two grays ready to get on the track. Both Bullet and Amazon had their heads up and ears pricked, looking at the track. The lights were on, since the sun wouldn't be up for another hour or so and everything was still and quiet. The railbirds weren't out yet and the other horses were still in their stalls.

As they moved onto the track, Josh took a look behind them, seeing the figure of two horses coming up from behind. They were a ways back and probably hadn't noticed the two grays yet. "Kings Park alert."

Sarah looked back, seeing the pair. "How do you know it's them? Could be Ferndale or some little barn."

"Really, Sarah? If it were Ferndale, the horses would be trying to tear each other apart, since they mostly have Daemon blood. And no little stable would be out her at this insane hour to work a couple of horses."

"Good point, Josh." Sarah turned Bullet around, eyes straining into the darkness for a minute before she could make out faces. "Hey, Tally, Sonya. Early morning for you, too?" Josh just nodded, being quiet now that it was time to get to business.

[symphony]

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Pleasant Disposition and Conclusion
Session #2; Tally Cremer and Sonya Reede; fitness

For a minute, it seemed like they were the first out for the morning, the track abnormally silent and still harbouring patches of darkness where floodlights hadn't been turned on yet. No trainers lined the rails, no riders threw friendly jibes and greetings to each other as they passed through the gap, on their ways in and out for one stable or another. Even the backstretch, up ahead, was empty.

Then, two greys emerged from one of those dark patches, looming suddenly not too far ahead; close enough to easily catch up to. They were Flat Creek horses, from what Tally could see as they approached, perhaps young ones as she couldn't quite place them. It would make sense; big name stables had a habit of working up and coming champions first, when everyone was just getting out of bed. Heck, she'd done it plenty of times.

The greys turned to face them then, letting them approach. "Morning Sarah, Josh. Isn't it always?" the trainer replied with a smile and a yawn. "I will admit, I'm not usually out on the track this early." Her eyes turned to the two greys. "Who have you got there? Anyone I should be watching out for in the future?"

[flatcreek]

Sarah grinned when the first thing out of Tally's mouth, after pleasantries, was asking who their horses were. "We hope you should be scared of all of our twos, but, yeah, these two are pretty nice."

Josh nodded in agreement. "Amazon here is a full to Skyward, Bullet over there is our Challenger x Skyward foal. What about yours?" If Tally wanted info on Flat Creeks best two year olds, she'd have to give some in exchange. "I'll bet the one you're on, Tally, is a Spiritway, though."

Sarah gave Bullet a pat. The big colt was standing wonderfully, so much unlike his sire. Rocket would have been dancing around, bouncing all over the place. It was weird that father and son were so different, yet so alike.

"What are you doing with those two?" asked Josh, breaking into Sarah's thoughts.

[symphony]

Welcome || Staff || Stable Yard || Studs || Contact Us

Pleasant Disposition and Conclusion
Session #2; Tally Cremer and Sonya Reede; fitness

Tally raised an eyebrow at Amazon's breeding, running a fresh eye over the filly and then over Bullet. Both were extremely well bred; though she didn't expect any less from Flat Creek. They seemed to always turn out top pedigrees, which turned into top racers sooner or later.

She gave Phe a pat on the shoulder as Josh enquired on their own mounts. "Yeah, he's a Spiritway. This is our Autumn Fun two year old, Pleasant Disposition." Snorting loudly, Phe shifted and stamped, almost as if disagreeing with his name, an argument Tally had with the colt on a regular basis. He frequently rejected riders and grooms alike, choosing only a select few who he would deign to let touch him. He'd hardly begun his career, but already he acted like a king.

She motioned to Conks then, standing quietly under Sonya. "Conclusion over there is a full to Constellation; not that you'd know it, looking at him." Dark bay and splashed with irregular strips of white, Conks looked nothing like his flashy older brother, who was some kind of dun-based sabino; the colour was so strange, Tally couldn't even remember it. It looked good though, and had won him many fans.

"We're just out to see how they're going," she said next, half-halting Phe as he shifted from side to side again, growing impatient. "If they're good, they might get to go for a run. How about you?"