ASHTAROTH (129)

"Okay kid, this is the first time you've been on this colt so take it easy. He's a hard case, tends to have real strong opinions." Jonathan warned the new jockey as he kept a tight hold on the lead shank, guiding the jigging horse out to the track. The big colt had been a handful since the day he was born, and now that he was learning to run it had seemed to actually make him even more ornery.

"Yeah, yeah I got it," Damien said, tightening his grip on the reins and shifting his seat a bit as the colt he was on hopped forward a bit, pulling against the lead, making it obvious he wanted to move faster than they were going. This wasn't the first time he had ridden an unruly horse and he was confident that he wouldn't have any major problems with the colt.

The older man shook his head at the jockey's cockiness. "I'm serious, you can't just muscle this colt around. Try and start em out slow, get him warmed up well before you let him out. Keep him to just a few good furlongs, then start bringing him back down." He spoke while rubbing the anxious colt's neck as he chewed on his bit. Lighting taking a hold of the reins, Jonathan unclipped the lead from the colt and slowly released him. "Remember what I said, don't try to strong-arm him, and keep him going steady." He looked back to the jockey, as the colt tossed his head and pranced sideways.

As soon as Ash was out of reach of the trainer, he angled himself across the track and heading for the rail. The young man on his back reached down and patted the colt's neck before tightly gathering the reins and bracing as the horse tried to pull them back from his hands. The horse snorted and pulled back against the man, only causing him to jerk up on the reins once more, but as soon as the young jockey did this the colt dropped his head and kicked out his hind legs in a buck. Before the man could get resettled on the colt's back, he hopped up in a small rear and spun in a circle. Loosing his fight with gravity Damien fell to the earth with a hard thud, and the moment Ash was free of his rider he squealed and took off at a gallop along the turf track.

Jonathan heard the commotion as soon as he had turned his back to move to the outside of the rail, and spun around just to see the flash of hooves and the jockey hitting the ground. "Damnit boy!" he shouted running to the young man's side just as he was beginning to stand up, brushing himself off. "You okay kid? And what did I warn you about? I told you not to try to bully that colt!" He grumbled before peering down the track searching for the horse in the predawn light. Thankfully it was still early so the track wasn't that busy yet, there were maybe only a few others out getting started with their horses. Otherwise a loose horse on the track could be disastrous.