working off steam

VINDICTIVE FURY AND MARISSA STAR

Vindictive Fury was one of those horses that seemed to be race ready again the day after a race. She was always on her toes. Today, she was fighting me with all she had, clearly in the mood to give me grief. I tapped her sides sharply with my heels to get her moving forward, as she was side stepping all over. Today we were going for a gallop on the beach while Bank On Greatness went for a swim.

Vinny, seeing that we were not headed for the track but the trails instead, finally decided to cooperate a bit. She moved in the direction I wanted, at a brisk, bouncy trot. I rose quickly in time to her strides, keeping the reins taut. I glanced over at the track as we passed by, and watched as Stella rode Here's the King at breakneck speed down the stretch. He'd recently won a race in the Stable Face Off. Suddenly I realised that Vinny hadn't really won anything of note in her career yet. That had to change, and soon.

I held the four year old mare in trot until the end of the beach trail, where we plunged into the dunes at canter. Vinny snorted loudly. She loved the beach. We cantered at a slight angle along the beach, eventually reaching the harder sand where the water had recently washed. The tide was going out. Vinny dropped to trot, turning to face the ocean. She continued to trot forward until the water hit her feet, when she stopped suddenly and just savoured the coolness. I let her just stand there for a while, then turned her away from the water and urged her straight into gallop.

We raced down the beach at full speed for about a minute, then slowed back down once we reached the rocks and headed back towards the water. This time, I urged the mare in until the water touched her stomach. She jumped in delight and nosed the water. Another wave came alone and hit her in the face. I laughed, and held on tightly as she plunged towards the shore again, snorting in surprise. It was nice to see a nicer side of Vinny. She was a much better horse when she was away from the track and stables. So much more pleasant to be around.

After a little while longer, we started to make our way home. Vinny behaved nicely now, not sidestepping and tossing her head and carrying on. I smiled to myself, and dared to take one hand off the reins to scratch between her ears. When we got back to the stables, I gave her a good hose off and then turned her loose in the pasture so she could have a good roll and be a horse.