Oak Valley Stables

Chapter eleven

Gale told Victoria everything that happened on the Sunday after the date. Of course, Victoria was completely over excited and couldn't stop talking about it for hours. Gale had, in the end, left to go down the stables.
Vlad was waiting in his stable, chewing at the hay Carol had left for him. Gale noticed that Goldrush's stable was empty and the door was open.
"Howdy-" Jackson appeared, pushing a wheelbarrow.
"Hey!" Gale smiled. Jackson put the wheelbarrow down and walked towards her.
"I just put Goldrush into the field while I mucked out his stall," Jackson told Gale. She nodded.
"I was about to muck out Vlad's," She replied.
"I'm almost done. If you like, I could help you and then we could go out for a ride," Jackson suggested.
"Sure!" Gale smiled. She picked up Vlad's head collar and put it on him, before leading him out of the stall. Jackson pushed the empty wheelbarrow in behind her and started to muck out.

Once they'd finished, Gale and Jackson tacked up Vlad and Goldrush.
"Where should we go?" Gale asked as she put her foot into her stirrup and mounted.
"Carol told me that there's a forest trail past the bottom field," Jackson explained. "We could go down there-" He kicked Goldrush on. Gale followed them. They broke into a trot, passing the barn and the bottom paddock. Jackson pulled Goldrush into a walk when they got to the pathway leading into the forest. There was a sign that read 'Oak Valley Bridlepath'.
"Is Goldrush fast?" Gale asked.
"One, he's a barrel racer and, two, his name is Goldrush... Notice the rush part?" Jackson raised a eyebrow, sarcastically.
"How about a race?" Gale smirked. Jackson smiled back and, when they got to a bit of the path that was wider, he stopped. Gale pulled Vlad along side Goldrush and steadied him.
"Ready?" Jackson asked. After an affirmative nod from Gale, he started the count down. "One... Two... Thr-" His voice was cut off by the thundering of hooves, pounding at the ground. They sounded like heartbeats and, as the trees started blurring and Gale focused on what was in front of her, everything slowed down. Vlad was fast, she could feel his rocking horse stride throwing her back and forth, yet everything was slow. The deafening hoof beats made everything seem silent.
Gale leaned forward, bending her knees and resting her reins on Vlad's neck. As his head swung backwards and forwards, Gale leaned back and forth with it. This let him reach forward with his head and increase the length of his stride, making him go faster.
Jackson was now struggling to keep up. Goldrush wasn't slow, not in the slightest, but he had been trained to go fast for small amounts of time and they had been galloping for a couple of minutes now. He hardly stood a chance in the first place considering Vlad's bloodlines. Vlad was, of course, an Anglo Arab, the offspring of a Thoroughbred and an Arabian. These breeds are two of the fastest horses in the world, the Thoroughbred build for speed and the Arab for endurance. It truly did show with Vlad.
He was practically a flash of blackness in the green. His tail sailed behind him like a flag, that he got from his Arabian ancestors. This is also where he got his stamina and his slender physic. But, it was his Thoroughbred side that gave him his muscle, great agility and spirit. And, Gale could feel Vlad's spirit. She'd seen many racehorses and she'd always wondered whether their jockeys felt the same way she did now. She was one with her horse's movements and she felt free. There was no way on Earth she could run this fast but on a horse she could gallop for miles.
Maybe Vlad could feel that connection too, that teamwork and balance. He moved from left to right when Gale tugged her reins ever so slightly and when she breathed a little too loudly his ears fluttered back to hear her command. However, no branch nor falling leaf seemed to phase him now. Before he had been frighten and fearful but now he trusted Gale. He powered on down the track, mane dancing in the breeze. Gale's hair did the same and for once they were the same. Both were creatures driven by the power of speed and the race. Both had their eyes locked on the land ahead. Both were, for just a short while, free and dependant on each other. They were a team.
Abruptly, the bridleway broadened into a forest clearing and Gale pulled Vlad to the side, slowing him to a halt. Goldrush came hurtling into the clearing a second or two afterwards. Jackson pulled the American Quarter horse alongside Vlad, stopping him.
"He's pretty fast," Jackson smiled as he leaned back in his saddle.
"Pretty fast? I'd say he was super fast!" Gale laughed. Vlad dipped his head slightly and a droplet sweat trailed down his neck. "They look pretty tired. Maybe we should take a break," Goldrush was sweaty and tired too; he was probably a little worse than Vlad was.
"Yeah, we could let them rest here. It's in the shade and, when they're okay to go back, we can go the way we came," Jackson nodded. Gale let Vlad lean over and eat some of the grass on the edge of the clearing.