Calming Strokes (Open)

[Sonya Williams]

Blake shrugged at the idea of turning around. Remembering Kaye couldn't see, Blake vocalized his thoughts. "There shouldn't be anymore of them. If there are, your horse'll see them or your dog. I'll keep an eye on the trail. Usually copperheads come out just in the summer but its pretty warm today. They're not bad I guess, if you look at em from a distance. They've got bad tempers though."

The first Thoroughbred that Blake had helped his mom foster had been named Go on Green, otherwise known as Go. He'd been an ok horse, getting old but he had had great personality for a Thoroughbred. Cranky before he ate and stubborn as a mule but not as competitive anymore. He'd had all the spunk of a younger racer if it meant anything but, when Blake had been riding him on the trail once, Go had gotten bitten by a copperhead that Blake hadn't seen. Of course the gelding had overbalanced and fallen, sending Blake nearly head over heels and breaking his leg because it got caught in the stirrup. Go had fallen on the snake and killed it but he'd been bitten pretty badly. Since they couldn't move him, Blake's dad had had to put Go down. Six months later Blake had gotten his hands on Tucker.

Shaking his head to chase off the rather unwelcome memories, Blake tapped Tucker's side, letting the stallion start off at a trot. If Kaye really wanted to go slow that was for her to decide. Tuck could do with another quarter mile dash but, Blake wouldn't push it. He knew how much horses meant to people and snakes were dangerous but, not as much so quite yet. Come summer was when the teachers would give them all long lectures on the whole watching out for snakes bit and what to do when you find one. Probably what Blake did wasn't what he was supposed to do. Stepping off the trail would have been easier but someone else would have probably come along and not seen the snake.

Who looked for poisonous snakes in the spring anyway? Blake was lucky he had seen it.

"The snakes around here mostly aren't poisonous but, copperheads are nasty little buggers. Huh, guess you could say me and the snake have a lot in common."

It was a nonchalant comment but it was sort of true. Blake more or less did things for his own benefit, he was liable to bite, had a bad temper and liked to be left alone for the most part. Wow, he just attracted all sorts of prickly animals didn't he? First the competitive and stubborn Thoroughbred, then the angry, bad-tempered copperhead. Sheesh he needed a personality overhaul. Wait...yeah right. His personalty fit him just fine. Whoever didn't like it could get the hell outta his way.

[Kaye~Twins~Koby]

.x.Kayleigh Rae Swift.x.
.x.Blind but not without insight.x.

Kaye could sense his hesitation, he didn’t want to go slow any more then she did and in the end he blew the idea of saying if she wanted too she could, but she didn’t want to either. She listened with a smile to his comment about Junior or Kara seeing them for her and she knew that at least one people could accept that not everything had to be made hard for her. It pleased her more then she realised to know that even though this was going to be someone she would enjoy revving up into heated arguments she could rely on him to be ok with her blindness. Who knows maybe one day they would be friends she thought to herself.

“Alright stuff going slow and common sense.”

She said with a laugh, Just before she kicked Junior into action, she heard his last comment and laughed even more before taking a looser hold on the reins, grabbing a chunk of mane instead and urging Junior on. The gelding was used to her signals and he was off and racing over the ground again Kara was with them, and once again Kaye felt that feeling of freedom, if only they could go on like this forever, if only this ride never had to end.

But eventually it would have to and when it did Kaye would have to go back to the dorm, and she would have to go to classes where the students will be looking down their noses at her, disbelieving that a blind chick could sculpt or draw or ride. They were never as sceptical about maths and English and such once they saw that her books were in brail so those few classes wouldn’t be so bad.

The thought of tomorrow made he mood take a downward dive, she was still enjoying the ride but the magic seemed gone, why did she do that to herself? Why think about the things that got her down when she was feeling so alive and free. ‘Stop it!’ She told herself mentally. She heard Kara give one short yap, and she knew what that meant when she was on the horse, there was something on the path, not dangerous like the snake, but something, like a log, something the Junior would automatically jump over, and Kara was letting her know to get ready for it.

Kaye waited ready until she felt Juniors muscles bunching and his front feet leave the ground, then she moved forward slightly lifting from the seat and still holding onto his mane, legs went slightly forward easily and as the horses front hooves hit the ground she lowered back into a sitting position. It hadn’t been a high obstacle what ever it was that was in the path but it had been fun to jump it. Yes it was true that Junior was mostly trained in dressage but when she and her father had trained Junior they had trained him in all different things, jumping, cross country, dressage, everything really it was just that once Kaye was blind dressage had seemed the easier choice to continue with. It was Juniors strongest point, and Kaye was getting good at learning the track and then using her knowledge of her mounts stride to count everything out in her head.

Word Count ;; 555

[Sonya Williams]

Blake half-smirked half smiled when he heard Kaye let her gelding go again. It was another full out gallop which was fine with Blake. He let the black equine swerve ahead of them before leaning forward in the saddle, partially holding his own weight in the stirrups and clicking his tongue loud enough for Tucker to hear. Again, just like his short racing days, Tucker shot forward in the long-legged gallop his breed was known for. Muscle rippled smoothly under his bay coat, black mane whipping at Blake's face, the sound of breathing just about the only thing Blake could hear apart from the thud of horse hooves like a background base. Clicking his tongue again, Blake urged Tucker faster so they were galloping about even with the gelding's hind quarters.

There, Blake let Tucker linger, keeping stride. Kara was running on the gelding's other side, so Blake didn't have to make sure his horse wouldn't kick the canine but he had almost forgotten about her when she barked. Luckily Tucker didn't find it worth going nuts about though he seldom freaked anymore. Raising his head a little to see what lay ahead, the teen found a big branch that had fallen from a tree during one of the storms probably. Making a mental note to tell Sonya she needed to check the trails later, Blake braced for the jump.

Because Tucker was trained to be a racer, jumper and had dabbled in a little bit of dressage, the bay stallion took the jump with ease. Blake managed to stay in his seat despite the fact that a racing saddle was most definitely not the best thing to go jumping in. The reason? If he over balanced and fell out of the saddle, he would break at least one leg doing so. Luckily that didn't happen this time though Blake was holding the reins a bit tighter when Tucker came down.

Glancing toward the ditch on the side of the trail, Blake looked at the trees all around them. Tucker loved galloping through the trees and it was goo reaction time practice for him. Pondering for a moment, Blake smirked and flicked Tucker's reins. The stallion swerved a hard left, jumping smoothly off the trail and crashing into the old autumn leaves still on the ground from last year. Taking a moment to get equilibrium back, Tucker barely hesitated to start running through the trees. Dead brush was crushed under his hooves as the stallion galloped more or less parallel to the trail.

A fallen log loomed ahead and again, Tucker jumped and once again, Blake got very lucky that he had good balance. Overall though, it was exhilarating to watch trees and plants rush by and know there's a very minimal chance of ever hitting one. Closing his eyes, Blake smiled to himself, hearing a cheering crowd in his ears while his mount crossed the finish.

Blake was brought out of his thoughts by Tucker. The stallion started to snort and slowed his gallop. Frowning, Blake reined the bay to a halt and swung himself out of the saddle. Looking around in the brush he didn't see any snakes but he had a sinking suspicion he knew what was up. Holding Tucker's reins, Blake dropped down on his haunches, carefully unwrapping the riding boot around Tucker's front right leg.

[Kaye~Twins~Koby]

.x.Kayleigh Rae Swift.x.
.x.Blind but not without insight.x.

The smile never left Kaye’s face as she rode, there was nothing like the pure exhilaration of riding to make the young women forget all her worries and just enjoy the moment. She often forgot about being blind while she rode, as she could pretend she just had her eyes closed as she enjoyed the freedom of the ride, having full trust in her mount and her little warning system running along beside.

She heard the horse behind her running along just behind following her easily over the log before he was turned to run alongside the trail in the bush. She smiled as she heard them do it, there was nothing more exhilarating then racing through pure bush, with no trails, dodging around tree’s soaring over logs, she remembered doing that all too often before she was blind. God she had loved it, racing through the Australian bushland on the backs of barely broken horses her father hadn’t wanted her riding.

Small laugh escaped her lips, from the exhilaration of the ride and the humour of the memories, but then something happened, she couldn’t hear the hoof beats in the bush beside her, she pulled back on the reins slowing and stopping Junior who seemed uneasy about something, she heard someone drop to the ground a little distance back and reined her mount around she urged him into a walk back to where she thought she had heard the boy drop from off the back of the horse.

“Blake? What’s going on? Is everything ok?”

She asked the general bush not exactly sure where the young man was, he was too silent, she couldn’t get a location on him, it frustrated her. She had great hearing and it hardly ever let her down but when people were quiet around her she couldn’t hear them, she couldn’t get a read on where they were and it frustrated her to no end.

Then she heard a twig snap, and she knew where he was, jumping off the gelding she walked blindly toward the edge of the trail to stare emptily down at the bush where she knew they were, she could feel Kara beside her and the soft muzzle of her gelding nudging at her neck.

Word Count ;; 375
Note ;; Gah sooo sorry its so short my muse is zapped I don’t know what’s wrong with me lol

[Sonya Williams]

Frown deepening, Blake examined Tucker's ankle and foreleg. Reaching forward, the jockey-to-be brushed the tips of his fingers against the stallion's leg to find the skin warmer than it should have been from a simple trail workout. Maybe Blake had overtaxed it? All that repetition in the jumps today had still had its merit. Maybe had gone overboard nonetheless when he'd gotten Tucker galloping. This was why Tucker had been so easily dismissed by the racing stables back near where Blake had lived. He had fallen once, recovered but had always taken tending before he raced, more so than other racehorses. Competitions were fine and whatnot but they had had two equestrian classes today plus the trail ride might have been a bit much.

"You getting cranky because your tired or your leg hurts?" Blake whispered to Tucker as the stallion lowered its head next to his.

Leaning his head against Tucker's muzzle, Blake examined the leg in question. Tucker should not be having muscle problems after just this. Sure it wasn't the usual workout for a racehorse but Tuck hadn't raced in almost a year. Surely the stallion should still be ok? He had gone into being a stable horse well enough, a bit agitated but...he'd adapted to the different disciplines well enough. Checking the boot, Blake found no tears in it so, none of the brush had cut Tucker's leg to cause the irritation.

"What's wrong with you?" Blake asked Tucker softly, head still resting against the stallion's muzzle.

In truth, Blake had almost completely forgotten Kaye was there. When she spoke though, Blake looked up. She was a few yards in front of them standing on the edge of the trail, Kara beside her and the gelding standing just behind her.

"Its ok" Blake told her, lying poorly, still crouched next to Tucker's swelling leg. ]b\"Tuck just caught a rock in his hoof."

[/b]

Ok that was the lamest of all lies he could have ever thought up but, Blake wasn't paying much attention. The racetrack Blake had bought Tucker from had warned him he had been temperamental when it came to his legs. They explained the reasons they'd almost put him down before Blake had bought him. Tucker sprained and strained easily despite being a pretty young horse. What was he? Four, five years old? Well, maybe that was why Blake's mom was shopping for him. She had mentioned cancer once but, Blake had blown it off. Racehorses and jumpers like Tucker put strain on their joints a lot or course he would strain.

Checking his watch, Blake, straightened up. "We need to start heading back. Curfew at seven and if you want dinner you need to be back by six." This was probably the first time he had bothered with the curfew.

Grabbing Tucker's reins, Blake led the stallion toward Kaye. Tucker wasn't limping so it was probably nothing. It just seemed like the swelling around the knee joint was making it hard to gallop but, he seemed ok with walking for now.
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[Kaye~Twins~Koby]

.x.Kayleigh Rae Swift.x.
.x.Blind but not without insight.x.

Kaye kept her mouth shut, you didn’t have to be a genius to know he was lying about the horse being ok she could hear the concern in his voice. Obviously though he didn’t want her to know how concerned he was though as she listened to peoples voice rather then reading their faces she could still guess just how concerned he was anyway.

After a little while she could hear the two of them coming back to the path, she knew that Blake wasn’t riding the horse as she could hear his footsteps along side the horses. No worries, she was sure it wasn’t long back to the barns and a walk would be nice, yes riding was better but if the horse was hurt which seemed to be the case then walking was fine with Kaye.

“Oh right they have curfews here.”

She said at the mention of it, she wasn’t used to curfews, her parents had never been that strict as long as she gave them a rough estimate of when she would be home they were cool with it. It would take some adjusting to get used to the whole idea of curfews that was for sure.

Regardless she took hold of the reigns on Junior and with Kara walking along on the other side of her they headed off down the trail at a walk. If Blake decided that his horse was ok to ride back then she would ride Junior but otherwise she would enjoy the walk.

After all even when you cant see the nature around you, she could still hear it, the wind blowing gently through the tree’s above them and the birds twittering as they flew amongst the tree’s. In the back of her mind she was worried for the other horse, more because she didn’t know what was wrong with him as his owner Blake didn’t seem to want to share that piece of information.

Kaye could hear other horses shifting in their stalls and wandering lazily around paddocks, so even though they were still on the trail and in the tree’s she knew they were not far of being back which was a relief, at least Tucker would be able to be checked out properly to see what was wrong with him.

Word Count ;; 383
OOC ;; So totally sorry its so short I’m running real low on muse at the moment, please don’t hate me lol (:

[Sonya Williams]

Blake was dead certain Kaye probably guessed he was lying. Really it probably wasn't too bad though, now that he thought about it. Maybe Tuck had been spending too much time in his stall or too much time working out without winding down? There was also the chance there might be an inflamed cut somewhere that he hadn't noticed. Sure he had touchy legs when it came to running three races a week but who wouldn't? Blake was almost sure his previous owners hadn't even bothered to treat him right after the races anyway. Still, Blake didn't want to push it so, he just let Tucker walk. Using the reins to keep a guide on the horse, Blake walked Tuck slightly behind Kaye, Junior and Kara. Slipping a hand into his pocket, Blake glanced at the time on his phone. They had plenty of time and they hadn't ridden the whole trail so, they would have plenty of time to get back before dinner.

"You can ride ahead if you want, don't need to slow down on our account" Blake told Kaye, patting Tucker's neck.

The bay Thoroughbred snorted softly, bobbing his head a little as he walked alongside his owner. Blake smiled, thinking of the filly his mom was shipping in. Two years old, only spent a few months on the track before they decided she wasn't meant to race. Her name was Rhythm is a Dancer and Blake couldn't wait to get his hands on her but, he had to take care of Tucker first.

Blake was brought out of his thoughts when Tucker stopped and pulled on Blake's hold, trying to reach down and nose at the leg with the irritated joint. Frowning, Blake tugged his reins lightly to discourage the stallion from pestering the joint. The knee was bent slightly but that wasn't unusual for a joint irritation. Clicking his tongue, Blake took a step forward.

"Come on Tuck, none of that" Blake said, clicking his tongue a second time.

This time Tucker did as he was bid, moving forward, again without a limp. Or, at least if he was limping it wasn't very noticeable. Blake would have to get the school's vet to take a look at him before tomorrow. They were supposed to work on higher jumps tomorrow. He needed to know if Tucker was going to be able to jump or if he needed pasture or stall time.

"Hey Kaye, what riding classes are you taking?" Blake asked out of the blue, struck by a sudden thought. Though she couldn't see, Blake really didn't want her around to know if he messed up during a class. He didn't need to give her material to tease him with.

[Kaye~Twins~Koby]

.x.Kayleigh Rae Swift.x.
.x.Blind but not without insight.x.

At first Kaye was going to push his offer to ride on ahead and use the excuse that junior would need cooling down anyway so they may as well walk and kill two birds with one stone. But even more she wanted to ride, and to ride fast, she wasn’t really worried about curfew to be honest she had a good excuse for missing it. After all how was she supposed to know the time when she couldn’t see? And after all if she was riding who checks their watch anyway? Well other then Blake but that was more out of worry for his horse she thought so that so didn’t count.

She heard the horse stop behind her and Blake coaxing him into walking on, maybe she should hang with them, then again maybe she should ride ahead and get help. She wasn’t exactly sure which she should do, to be quite honest she would rather just ride off into the sunset and enjoy a carefree ride but she knew that this would likely not be the case.

She heard the hoof steps start up again and knowing he was on the move again she swung up into the saddle.

“You know what I think I will, I’ll let someone know you need someone to look at his legs if you like.”

She said right before he asked her what equestrian classes she was taking, she laughed slightly smiling down at him.

“What worried about competition? I’m only doing dressage this time, might do something on top of that later on”

She said with a smile, before she kicked junior into a canter down the trail heading back to the stalls, she may as well get him settled for the night.

Word Count ;; 292