Post by creativecause on Feb 16, 2016 21:17:53 GMT -5
Tanner stood at the entrance to his whole life. The entrance to Grayson Meadows that is. He closed his eyes for a moment, long enough for him to take in a deep breath and look across the land that gave him life. There hadn’t been snow in the forecast that morning, however a light snow had started in the last thirty minutes and there was talk that perhaps it would last throughout most of the day. The current weather had sent Sam and his crew into a frenzy trying to get all the horses inside and get blankets on the ones that couldn’t be stalled and turn them back out. They’d had nearly all of their horses brought back after February week three and four for a short break at home before they would ship out again. A few days for them to just be a horse as Tanner liked to describe it.
Hadley came down the aisle of the barn with a travel mug sporting the Grayson Meadows logo, a gift to all of the staff and some family friends from his grandparents. She let out a yawn and stood next to him huddled in a black coat which clearly hadn’t been washed in a while as it had horse spit and snot rubs all over it.
“How many cups is that this morning?” Tanner asked his sister with a smirk on his face.
“Two.” Hadley mumbled and took a sip.
Tanner grabbed the travel mug from his sister and took a sip of it himself. He scrunched his nose up at the sweetness of it. “Did you dump half of the sugar in the house into this?” He handed it back to Hadley.
“No! It was like two spoonfuls.” Hadley shot back before taking another sip. “Ya know Tanner, we just got rid of a foot of snow in this past week. I’m going to be pretty upset if all that comes back. Besides this only puts our workout schedules back about an hour and a half.” She grumbled.
“Well, maybe we could make that fifteen minutes if you go out there and help them.” Tanner shot back now smiling at his sister who stuck her tongue out at him. Hadley sat her mug on a stall door and grabbed a halter in moments she was out with the rest of the GM crew.
Tanner recognized the whinny of Call Me Crooked and caught Aaron walking the bay mare into her stall. Crook was scheduled to ship out sometime today, she’d been on a brief break from the track for about two weeks and she was going to be running in the finish cup coming up in the second week of March. The Turf Triple Crown champion hadn’t started off the season winning but nonetheless was as brilliant as ever, she left every workmate in the dust and Alex said she felt as strong as she had before. She’d be ready and Tanner had little doubt that she would be somewhere close to the winner if she wasn’t the one with her nose on the wire first.
Aaron gave Crook a pat after removing her halter and slipped out of the stall, shutting the door on her way out.
“Morning.” Tanner purred grabbing the morning workout schedule off of the barn’s cork board. He’d made the schedule last night and already knew it like the back of his hand but he checked it over once again. Aaron grabbed it from him and took a look at it.
“You know, you’re no help in here by yourself.” She smiled at him and grabbed another halter before walking out of the barn and slapping the schedule onto Tanner’s chest.
He shook his head as he watched Alex bring in Take Flight who was bucking about every two steps he took. He’d been home for a few days but he was going to be on the same trailer as Crook back to the track as he too was going to be making an appearance in the finish cup. He’d appeared nearly unbeatable in his first three starts that season and recently threw in a clunker that had left Tanner irritated and swearing for days. They’d had the horse examined twice over and there wasn’t a thing wrong with him, he just didn’t show up that day and it terrified him because the exact same trend happened last year and he never picked himself back up. If the stallion didn’t do well throughout the rest of the season Tanner had serious thoughts of retiring him before his stud fee could go down too much. Given he wouldn’t be available to just any mares, mostly in house breeding but if the horse didn’t want to run anymore... he wouldn’t force it.
Alex threw a halter at Tanner and Tanner let out a groan, “I know, I know I’m coming.” He shuffled the halter into a more understandable position and headed out into the snow. The squeal of A True Hero greeted him along with Daddy’s Overdraft’s lower pitched nicker. Without much hesitation he climbed the fence and quickly slipped a halter over Cobweb’s nose and was leading her into the barn. She was rounding into outstanding form lately and would be shipping out with Crook and Fly for the finish cup. She tugged on her lead as she spotted the grain awaiting her in her stall and Tanner let out a nervous laugh and backed the white mare up before opening her stall door and letting her in where she devoured her grain. He had recently found her full brother and quickly bought him for a small price of $5,000. It excited Tanner to think about having another horse that brought as much energy to the barn as Cobweb did.
Hadley had Tia and Chatoyant walking lazily behind her. He smiled at his sister and headed back out into the snow, which had started to come down harder than it had been previously.
Sam and a few of the other grooms were cussing and chasing the impossible to catch yearlings while everyone else were bringing in as many horses as they could at once. The mares and foals had been brought in earlier that morning and were likely to be turned out again once they had everyone ready to ship out and fed.
Andrew raced by with Excalibur’s Stone, one of his favorite mounts, followed by Jessie with Rough Diamond, Sugar Demon and a grumpy All That Jazz.
Heroine was frantically racing up and down the fence, Incineration and Spirit Of The Angel must have already been brought inside. Heroine would absolutly destroy her stall if brought inside so she was typically left outside with a nice blanket which she typically ripped every other month. Momentarily Herself and Royal Charm sat patiently at the gate waiting to be let in. Tanner clipped leads and halters to both of them as someone had left Heroines halter on the fence. Surely she wouldn’t mind if Charm borrowed it. He rolled his eyes when Alex walked by with Hadley on Honorary’s back.
He loved that gray mare but she drove him crazy. She’d be running until she was ten years old before she really showed the world her true potential. He looked back at the fillies behind him and got a great idea he handed them off to another groom who offered to take them and quickly formed a snow ball which he cleverly aimed at Hadley’s back which hit it’s mark exactly.
Hadley let out a yelp and Alex and Honorary froze. Not much fazed the grey mare, she almost got a devilish look in her eye like she wanted to join in what was soon to become a snowball fight.
Hadley leaped off of Honor’s back and Alex ran the mare into the barn and was soon joined by the rest of the staff and snow began to fly from all directions. Yes, this was certainly not you’re everyday visit to Grayson Meadows.
Hadley came down the aisle of the barn with a travel mug sporting the Grayson Meadows logo, a gift to all of the staff and some family friends from his grandparents. She let out a yawn and stood next to him huddled in a black coat which clearly hadn’t been washed in a while as it had horse spit and snot rubs all over it.
“How many cups is that this morning?” Tanner asked his sister with a smirk on his face.
“Two.” Hadley mumbled and took a sip.
Tanner grabbed the travel mug from his sister and took a sip of it himself. He scrunched his nose up at the sweetness of it. “Did you dump half of the sugar in the house into this?” He handed it back to Hadley.
“No! It was like two spoonfuls.” Hadley shot back before taking another sip. “Ya know Tanner, we just got rid of a foot of snow in this past week. I’m going to be pretty upset if all that comes back. Besides this only puts our workout schedules back about an hour and a half.” She grumbled.
“Well, maybe we could make that fifteen minutes if you go out there and help them.” Tanner shot back now smiling at his sister who stuck her tongue out at him. Hadley sat her mug on a stall door and grabbed a halter in moments she was out with the rest of the GM crew.
Tanner recognized the whinny of Call Me Crooked and caught Aaron walking the bay mare into her stall. Crook was scheduled to ship out sometime today, she’d been on a brief break from the track for about two weeks and she was going to be running in the finish cup coming up in the second week of March. The Turf Triple Crown champion hadn’t started off the season winning but nonetheless was as brilliant as ever, she left every workmate in the dust and Alex said she felt as strong as she had before. She’d be ready and Tanner had little doubt that she would be somewhere close to the winner if she wasn’t the one with her nose on the wire first.
Aaron gave Crook a pat after removing her halter and slipped out of the stall, shutting the door on her way out.
“Morning.” Tanner purred grabbing the morning workout schedule off of the barn’s cork board. He’d made the schedule last night and already knew it like the back of his hand but he checked it over once again. Aaron grabbed it from him and took a look at it.
“You know, you’re no help in here by yourself.” She smiled at him and grabbed another halter before walking out of the barn and slapping the schedule onto Tanner’s chest.
He shook his head as he watched Alex bring in Take Flight who was bucking about every two steps he took. He’d been home for a few days but he was going to be on the same trailer as Crook back to the track as he too was going to be making an appearance in the finish cup. He’d appeared nearly unbeatable in his first three starts that season and recently threw in a clunker that had left Tanner irritated and swearing for days. They’d had the horse examined twice over and there wasn’t a thing wrong with him, he just didn’t show up that day and it terrified him because the exact same trend happened last year and he never picked himself back up. If the stallion didn’t do well throughout the rest of the season Tanner had serious thoughts of retiring him before his stud fee could go down too much. Given he wouldn’t be available to just any mares, mostly in house breeding but if the horse didn’t want to run anymore... he wouldn’t force it.
Alex threw a halter at Tanner and Tanner let out a groan, “I know, I know I’m coming.” He shuffled the halter into a more understandable position and headed out into the snow. The squeal of A True Hero greeted him along with Daddy’s Overdraft’s lower pitched nicker. Without much hesitation he climbed the fence and quickly slipped a halter over Cobweb’s nose and was leading her into the barn. She was rounding into outstanding form lately and would be shipping out with Crook and Fly for the finish cup. She tugged on her lead as she spotted the grain awaiting her in her stall and Tanner let out a nervous laugh and backed the white mare up before opening her stall door and letting her in where she devoured her grain. He had recently found her full brother and quickly bought him for a small price of $5,000. It excited Tanner to think about having another horse that brought as much energy to the barn as Cobweb did.
Hadley had Tia and Chatoyant walking lazily behind her. He smiled at his sister and headed back out into the snow, which had started to come down harder than it had been previously.
Sam and a few of the other grooms were cussing and chasing the impossible to catch yearlings while everyone else were bringing in as many horses as they could at once. The mares and foals had been brought in earlier that morning and were likely to be turned out again once they had everyone ready to ship out and fed.
Andrew raced by with Excalibur’s Stone, one of his favorite mounts, followed by Jessie with Rough Diamond, Sugar Demon and a grumpy All That Jazz.
Heroine was frantically racing up and down the fence, Incineration and Spirit Of The Angel must have already been brought inside. Heroine would absolutly destroy her stall if brought inside so she was typically left outside with a nice blanket which she typically ripped every other month. Momentarily Herself and Royal Charm sat patiently at the gate waiting to be let in. Tanner clipped leads and halters to both of them as someone had left Heroines halter on the fence. Surely she wouldn’t mind if Charm borrowed it. He rolled his eyes when Alex walked by with Hadley on Honorary’s back.
He loved that gray mare but she drove him crazy. She’d be running until she was ten years old before she really showed the world her true potential. He looked back at the fillies behind him and got a great idea he handed them off to another groom who offered to take them and quickly formed a snow ball which he cleverly aimed at Hadley’s back which hit it’s mark exactly.
Hadley let out a yelp and Alex and Honorary froze. Not much fazed the grey mare, she almost got a devilish look in her eye like she wanted to join in what was soon to become a snowball fight.
Hadley leaped off of Honor’s back and Alex ran the mare into the barn and was soon joined by the rest of the staff and snow began to fly from all directions. Yes, this was certainly not you’re everyday visit to Grayson Meadows.
