Post by creativecause on Feb 19, 2016 22:07:57 GMT -5
Yours
Alex Shade and Spirit Of The Angel
I was a boat stuck in a bottle
That never got the chance to touch the sea
Just forgot on the shelf
No wind in the sails
Going no where with no one but me
I was one in one-hundred billion
A burned out star in a galaxy
Just lost in the sky wondering why
Everyone else shines out but me
Alex Shade and Spirit Of The Angel
I was a boat stuck in a bottle
That never got the chance to touch the sea
Just forgot on the shelf
No wind in the sails
Going no where with no one but me
I was one in one-hundred billion
A burned out star in a galaxy
Just lost in the sky wondering why
Everyone else shines out but me
Alex watched the tiny chestnut filly prance about in the stall. She’d had a real rough go these past few weeks and as a result had a jockey change, Andrew was still a little sour over it but Aaron thought Nelly could benefit from having a different point of view on her back. She’d thrown a shoe in her last race but she seemed perfectly fine right now, more energetic than she normally would be.
Alex had seen some scrawny thoroughbreds in his time around the track but he’d never seen a thoroughbred as small as Nelly. She was not only narrow but just short in general. She had a powerhouse dam line and a no-name sire. It was infuriating to see her finish out of the money twice in her past two starts, no horse that ran as fast of workouts as she did should have been considered anything less than HOTY quality so that was where she would stay until she finally racked up some wins or her losing streak got so bad that she would need to be put into undercards, assuming her record was enough for her to even beat up on undercard horses.
She’d be running in yet another HOTY race in the third week of March and Aaron had given Alex permission to just let the filly blow off some steam out on the miles of trails that were behind Grayson Meadows. Alex would be a liar if he said he wasn’t excited to just let the filly get out and be a horse for half an hour.
He gave the chestnut a pat on her scrawny neck. She had the stereotypical yearling thoroughbred build, long gangly legs, scrawny neck, tiny belly, overall she was more muscle than anything else right now but even taking a look at her she looked like a toned toothpick.
Nelly let out a soft nicker at Alex as if telling him to get on with things so he quickly slipped her o ring snaffle into her mouth and slipped her bridle over her ears with ease. He’d decided to do something that he may find himself regretting later but he didn’t bother to throw a saddle on the filly. He’d played a large part in breaking her as he’d been rather fond of her from the beginning and trusted her more than most of his mounts.
He couldn’t help but let out a small smile thinking back on the day the filly was born, he was coming into ride Daddy’s Overdraft out on the back trails that day. Tanner was a nervous and excited reck. She was tiny then too, but sweet from the moment she took her first breath. Alex knew the filly would be special, and over the years she’d put up with a lot of beatings but still loved unconditionally. That was a rare find in a horse, and she loved her job, but she just needed to put it all together. She was so much better than everyone was giving her credit for and she was just as likely to follow in her half sisters and brothers footsteps to the path of greatness. She may be more of the black sheep of the family from the start but she wasn’t just a horse to be overlooked. She was so much better than that and she was being cheated by not getting more attention.
“Alright girl, let's see what damage we can do today.” Alex calmly walked with the filly that he was sure he could throw a three year old up on and she’d babysit it for him. “Why are you so trusting? You haven’t got a reason to be.” He continued and the filly bumped his shoulder with her head as if to say she didn’t care.
He shook his head and popped himself up on the filly’s back, something he normally couldn’t do on an average Grayson Meadows horse. Nelly however was the exception, she was basically bombproof for one thing and on top of that she was so short just about anyone could hoist themselves up onto her back if they wanted to.
Nelly walked out calmly, keeping an ear on Alex waiting for him to give her the signal to go at a faster pace. After a short walk he pushed her to a trot which he easily sat as she was a very well put together horse and her gaits were among one of the smoothest he’d ever ridden. She loped along calmly and they were now getting into the hills.
Alex found the trails more therapeutic than most of the rest of the staff, Hadley would rather just blaze her way around the track, Andrew would rather beat Hadley and her speed demon horse and Jessie would rather sneak up from nowhere and steal their thunder right at the end. Then there was Aaron who occasionally took a horse for a ride, she was more tactful like Alex but her objective wasn’t to win, it was to just spend enough energy to get a decent placing or learn something and then live to fight another day. Seemed like a crappy way to go about things but more often than not she ended up winning a race with those instructions and tactics.
Alex pushed the filly to a gallop and sat back and let her fly, she rejoiced in her speed and gobbled up the ground with big collected strides that would put even a well-seasoned horses to shame. She was so balanced when she ran, unlike anything else he’d ever really ridden before. He let out a joyful hollar into the wind and they galloped off until the filly was ready to call it quits.