lazy days [ ash ]

[SUN N GLORY]

I'll be your Sun n Glory

count 603 tags ashtaroth status complete

It seemed as though every day was a hard workout. Work, work work. She loved it, though. It was hard to not love her job, she was, after all, a runner at heart and her favorite thing to do was run- even in downtime. It was easy to become a work-a-holic but even they needed breaks eventually and she was starting to show signs of needing a break- and she hadn't even raced officially yet! Her attention had been else where in the last few days of track workouts, she'd simply floated in the pool the night before and she'd been caught actually dozing during the hustle-bustle day hours in her stall! It was long past time she got a day of rest. And the day finally came. Her owner didn't care; he wasn't in a hurry to race her anyway. It took ten words from the trainer to get her a day of rest. "Look, the kid needs a day off, can we just-" "Throw her in a back paddock or something, wipe her schedule clean for the day. 8 hours in the field." it was the most any horse could get, really, and the trainer hustled to it gleeful.

Maybe she wasn't her owners pride and joy but she was the trainers, or one of them at least! The man sent one of the newer grooms, an intern from a school, to fetch her out to pasture. "Don't worry boy, she's an easy one." the trainer assured the timid child. To prove this she lipped at her lead rope, bobbed her head and then snuffled the kids hair. He laughed and clipped the rope in place, leading her from the stall. Despite the energy she'd shown a moment ago she stepped patiently, daintily out, and followed him as quiet as a lamb. She wasn't being worked, they'd have bridled her before leaving the stall, and she wasn't going to the pool- that happened last night. She curled her lip in a grin at the boy, nosing him lightly to hurry his pace up but didn't crowd him.

Finally he turned her lose in the first empty paddock and as soon as she was sure the gate was shut and he was out of the way she took off, digging her heels in and churning up enormous clods of dirt as she raced out into the paddock, kicking her heels and nickering happily. Dust filled the air for a moment, but only on the fence line. They'd made sure to hose down the field. It was incredibly difficult to keep a white horse white especially with one that loved mud and dirt as much as Glory! She threw herself down after six jaunty laps and proceeded to make short work of the hours of careful grooming that had been done over the week. The groom laughed, hanging her halter and lead on a locked hook and walked away to his chores.

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[ASHTAROTH]

He was dozing in his stall, eyes mostly closed and lip starting to droop. It was an odd change from his usually boisterous self, but it seemed that his training schedule was finally touching the energetic colt's reserves, which in the eyes of his trainer and handlers was a good thing. On a good day Ash was normally fractious and seemed to make it a point to be as difficult to handle without pushing too many buttons to make his own life more difficult. He seemed to know what lines to cross before getting stuck in the stall or being equipped with more controlling equipment. He was a master at manipulating his humans and it amused him to no end.

However, for once he was almost docile. The workouts, breezes, training and constant work had reached him. Not to the point of being exhausted, or unwilling he was just less boisterous than normal. "He's getting the day off," the almost gruff voice of his trainer sounded outside his stall, and Ash opened his eyes enough to see the man looking in at him. This caused him to tilt his head slightly, knowing full well that whatever was going on involved him. So when a groom approached his stall, heavy leather halter in hand Ash's ears did prick up. But instead of his usual show he simply stood still for the young man to slip a halter on his head. He wouldn't be opposed to another workout, after all that is what he did, what he loved, what he was bred for. Staying put as the door slid open and the man stepped into the stall with him, Ash allowed the halter to be slipped on his head without any fuss. "Go ahead and take him to one of the back paddocks, lets let 'em soak up some sun for the day. Don't let him fool you though boy. Even if he seems like the steadiest nag around right now be prepared for him to try something. He's a tricky thing." As if to prove the trainer's point Ash who had been gently nosing the boy's sleeve pulled his lips back and nipped at the groom's shirt grabbing the fabric between his teeth. Quickly jerking away he tossed his head and lifted his lip smiling at the boy as he too jumped away from the colt.

Leading from his stall, he picked his feet up a little higher as he pranced along the cobblestone aisle that led through the barn. A soft snort rolled from his pink nostrils as he saw they were heading for the paddocks and he tossed his head again, pulling lightly against the lead chain. Practically dancing by the time they reached the gate to an empty paddock, Ash snorted as the boy fumbled with the latch on the gate, pinning his ears in distaste momentarily. He could open that latch faster than the boy for crying out loud! When the gate finally swung open and he was led into the large space he rushed through the gate, brushing past the kid holding the lead shank a smile firmly planted on his lips. Ash was being nice to the kid, but he still had to make sure he stayed on his toes after all. Pawing impatiently as the stable hand removed the lead from his halter, leaving him with only the turnout halter on, Ash threw his head in the air and took off away from the kid as soon as he was free.

Running a quick few laps around his paddock he slowed down as he saw he had a neighbor. Nickering loudly he trotted over to the fence that their paddocks shared and leaned against the well built fence hanging his head over as far as he could. Watching for a moment as she rolled in the dirt sullying her once pristine white coat he chuckled. "You know that's just going to earn you another bath right?" He laughed out to her. He knew for some reason the humans seemed obsessed with how clean they stayed. With his light coat it was something he knew all to well himself. Yet, he too would be rolling in the dirtiest spot he could find soon as well. There was a strange satisfaction in getting himself as filthy as possible after a day of being turned out like this.

[SUN N GLORY]

I'll be your Sun n Glory

count 603 tags ashtaroth status complete

Satisfied with her first roll of the day, her entire right side now dirty and dull but not yet muddy and stained, she scrambled to her feet and forewent shaking off the excess. Instead she arched her neck, pricked her ears and pranced to the fence line with a nickered laugh. "But I like the dirt. Oh, they're used to it. I don't mind the bathes, but I do love the dirt. Shame they insist on my running on turf." she sniffed haughtily for a moment and then broke into giggles, laying her head on the fence. She was not the hoity-toity-princess some fillies could be. She didn't seem to know she was rare or care that she was pale.

"I'm Glory." her dark eyes glittered with mirth and her pink lips curled in a grin at him. "You're wearing the same colors we must be from the same place. Either you're new, or I'm new, or both. Well, how do you like it here?" she asked him, fidgetting. Already revived by the sun on her back and the roll. She barely gave him time for an answer- if answer he did- before squealing and spinning from the fence to charge across the field, bucking wildly again. Slowing to a trot she shook her mane out, paused to nip at the grass, and returned to the fence.

Whoever might be watching - surely someone was watching! - would get a good laugh from her antics. Normally it was the colt that behaved like so around a filly. Not the other way around! But she was behaving so out of newfound energy and joy at being outside. Not out of flirtation. After all that black colt she'd raced had looked much better to her than this colt- not that the gray wasn't good looking. He was, in fact, intriguing with that shoulder but she couldn't shake the black from her thoughts and couldn't stop comparing everyone to him. She kept wondering what he'd look like mature- and if he'd be racing still once mature. She knew he'd look like that grouchy boy Trick once retired.

Whether Trick liked it or not he was paunchy in the belly. She giggled at the thought. "Have you met Trick yet? Probably not, he works with the yearlings mostly. And the very high strung colts that require ponying."

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[ASHTAROTH]

He laughed, smirking at her answer back to him. Ash understood what she meant about liking the dirt. There was just something about the feeling of scratching your back against the dirt that was so satisfying that it overshadowed the human’s displeasure at their antics. "Well that’s a good thing because I like girls that like getting dirty, " he smirked touching his nostril to hers as he huffed out a breath. That was a statement that could easily be taken as flirting, although Ash didn’t completely intend it to be as such. While he did think she was quite the fetching, attractive lady he meant more along the lines of the personality quirk that made he want to sullen her stark white coat. There were those fillies, and rarely colts, that seemed above getting themselves dirty. Ones that seemed to practically break down if they got a speck of dirt on them, no those were horses that Ash simply couldn’t stand.

With a chuckling nicker he tossed his head and pranced back a few steps, grey lips turned up in amusement. "Nice to meet you Glory, you can call me Ash, " he replied, lipping at her lightly. Shrugging his shoulders slightly when she mentioned they must be from the same stable he smiled again. "So it seems we are. Perhaps we’ll see more of each other then. As for being new, I suppose you could say that. I haven’t been owned by the barn long. How about you? You must be new to not know I was." He nickered and tossed his head leaning forward against the fence once more as she ran away from him. Snorting in indignation he spun away from the fence and reared up thrashing at the air with well-formed legs before touching back down to the ground. Cantering off, he bucked a few times for good measure before returning back to the fence once more as she did the same.

Arching his neck he pawed at the ground a few times somewhat frustrated that a fence separated them. It would be much more entertaining to actually be able to run together instead of being parted by the fence. Snorting softly again he turned to face her again and tilted his head slightly at the mention of another horse. "No, I don’t believe I have met a Trick yet, " but he smiled at her description of him. "But if he’s a track pony I’m sure we’ll cross paths eventually. " He chuckled, "most of the time the humans think I’m difficult to handle. If only they didn’t try to fight with me we wouldn’t have problems." He rolled his eyes a bit at the thought. He knew how to run, he knew how to race, now he just needed the humans to realize this and allow him to do it instead of constantly trying to force him to follow orders.

[SUN N GLORY]

I'll be your Sun n Glory

count 603 tags ashtaroth status complete

Her ears went forward, "They fight with you?" she asked with a soft 'huh' of thought. Must be a colt thing. Although she was a bit of a fighter herself when on the tracks. Her neck muscles- a little too developed - were testament to that! She snorted at Ash and bobbed her head. "Well, if they fight you don't give them a reason to fight. They'll stop fighting if you aren't fighting back." there was a twinkle in her eyes that suggested mischief. "It's fun when they think you won't fight. You get away with odd things. Fun things."

She whinnied noisily towards the barn, swinging her head around to see if anyone else was coming, or who would answered. There had been so few left that weren't in workouts it was likely only these two would be out here. A day off. All day in the field. She pranced in place, tossing her head and snorting. "How long are you here for?"

"Oh! Oh yes indeedy I'm new here. My breeder decided I wasn't worth training to run. According to them "my kind" don't race. We "sit pretty." Whatever that means. I guess he meant I was the wrong color. But color doesn't make a race horse! I don't know what does but I know it's not color." she snorted hard. "Shane's the one that spotted me and I ended up here. My dad was here; I think. The breeder said I was going to where my dad was from." she rolled her shoulders and gave a half hearted kick behind her.

"It's nice not being the only new face though!" another bob of her head and a playful nip in his direction and she was churning up dirt along the fence separating them. It was a good thing the paddocks were longer than wider, or rather rectangular that square! She turned as tight as she could at the end, going halfway down the short fence and back to the one they shared and darted back up it, trying to get him to play through the fence. Three laps of this and she'd be bored with going up and down, but she could do it for now, right?

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[ASHTAROTH]

He smirked and rolled his eyes as she asked him about the humans fighting with him. “I’ve dumped my fair share of jockeys but usually only when they start acting like they know how to run better than I do. They just need to sit down, shut up and hold on for the ride. I can take care of the rest.” He smiled and laughed softly. The biggest issue he had with the jockeys he didn’t like was when they tried to slow him down unnecessarily or were just overly heavy handed on his mouth. Despite his rambunctious nature, Ash was actually very soft mouthed so when he had a heavy handed rider jerking on his face he didn’t appreciate it. That is when he fought the hardest. Sure there were times when he just felt like giving the people a hard time but that was typically easily contained and he settled down. It was when he had some hotshot on his back that thought he could strong-arm him into perfect behavior that drove Ash up a wall. “But now if I don’t fight I’d either be stopping…or they’d think I was sick!” He laughed tossing his head, “plus it’s kind of fun to know that they are always on their toes around me.” He smiled again.

Snorting as she whinnied toward the barns he spun from the fence and crow hopped a few strides before stopping to face her again. Jigging back to the fence, he cocked his hind leg and watched her carefully, head tilted just slightly. Then as she asked her question his head tilted the other way as he thought about it. They hadn’t said a specific time limit on him being out, only the ambiguous “day off”. “I’m not sure, they just said to give me the day off. Like I said when I’m not ‘full of fire’ they begin to worry.” He shrugged his shoulders slightly. “I guess they want me to be ready for my first race,” he smirked once more and pranced sideways along the fence toward Glory again. “What about you? How long do you get to enjoy the sun?”

He watched her amused as she rambled off about how she came to be here, laughing softly at the edge of anger that crept up in her voice when she spoke of where she was before. He could understand the frustration of being told you weren’t good enough to race because of something as arbitrary as the color of your coat. “Humans are the ultimate fools sometimes.” He snorted before laughing and sidestepping along the fence line to her. “I honestly am not sure why I was sold here. Just something that happens I guess,” he shrugged his shoulders slightly. He hadn’t heard a specific reason to his sale and he couldn’t pinpoint anything specific that had caused him to change hands. It was likely it had been just business. He knew that’s all most of their lives were for the humans. Ash snorted softly and pawed at the grass. He didn’t like thinking about the humans much, and even less their motivations for doing what they did.

As she changed the subject though he smiled a crooked smile and a flash of a mischievous look appeared in his eyes. “Definitely good not being the only new face!” He replied excitedly and squealed as she nipped at him, only to nip back at her. His ears flicked forward as she tore off along the fence, obviously a mixture of an invitation and challenge. Launching himself forward he ran hard to catch up with the filly. Steadily gaining on her, he had to throw his head up as the far fence approached so he could slow down and turn.

Making the corner as tight as he could, bucking a few times just for the joy of it as he made the looping turn, as he straightened Ash began down the fence line again. “So Glory, when is your first race?” He asked, his breaths coming out in even short bursts as he ran not far from her along the fence that separated their paddocks.


(OOC: Wow sorry about this one)